Imprint (Lycan Wars Book 1)

Kira rubbed her arms and continued to gaze out the window at the diminishing light of the setting sun over the wharf below. She extended her legs across the lounge chair and pulled a nearby afghan to her chin. She’d been cooped up for hours inside Jace and Kip’s condo. Jace was out doing PI work and Kip was in his bedroom sleeping off his night shift security detail. Jace had warned her not to go anywhere. Her being here with Kip allowed him to worry about her less. Kira had reluctantly agreed.

  She’d spent most of the morning furiously scouring the Internet for sources for a paper she had due next week. Then she decided to call the registrar’s office and inquire about a leave of absence from school. If she didn’t find her father soon, there was no telling when she’d have the time to complete her coursework.

  Her father’s disappearance was too much of a distraction and for the last several hours, she’d pored over her father’s journals to find anything and everything she could about being a seer. Her mother had warned him about her powers. Did she possess them as well? If I inherited them from her, why didn’t my father tell me? If not, then how did they find out about my powers? How am I supposed to predict the future? All were questions she was unable to find answers to in his journals.

  But the most pressing question was what the vision she’d had last night meant.

  When Jace had kissed her, something in her had awakened. It wasn’t like any other kiss she had. Not the guy she’d dated in college for two months — not even her first kiss with Johnny at her junior prom. No, with Jace it was strangely…different. Her body had gone cold and then white hot, and that’s when she’d seen it.

  She was in pain — laborious pain…literally. Jace was beside her, encouraging her, speaking of his love, telling her she could do it when everything in her wanted the pain to stop. The baby was coming and she wanted both to push and to hold it in.

  It was our baby… Jace was clutching her left hand; on her ring finger was an antique ring that she didn’t recognize. She was sitting up in a large mahogany bed in a room with stone walls and a fire burning in the fireplace.

  When she’d broken off the kiss, the vision had disappeared. How long she was entranced in a possible future she didn’t know, and all afternoon she had tried to return to it with no luck.

  Kira let out a breath of frustration. She really needed to talk to someone who knew more about these things since her father had written little on the subject. She had hoped Kip would’ve awoken by now, but it was only early evening and he had been up all night and most of the day before.

  She trudged to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. After taking a few sips, she opened the refrigerator to graze. Lunch had been hours ago and her stomach growled hungrily. Maybe if I cook something it will wake Kip. Except the thought of spending energy to cook suddenly drained her. On the refrigerator door she spotted a magnet with the number to a local pizza restaurant. She dialed the number and ordered two large pizzas, thinking Jace might return soon and want some.

  After she placed the order, she sat back down at her spot near the window and opened one of the journals to the history dated before Jace’s father’s death. Her father wrote of a lycan called Kata who had supposedly participated in a coup with Roman against Jace’s father, Byron. Beyond the history of the coup, there were very few references to Kata: the leader of a small clan of lycans, from a city in the south, who had been intent on merging his own clan with the Bana clan. The Bana brothers had built a large and powerful pack, following in the leadership of their grandfather and his father before him. Kata’s history was relatively unknown past that of his father — who’d had dealings with Byron and Roman’s father, Jesse.

  Kira thought it strange that Jace would still acknowledge Roman; the man had killed his father. And Kip worked for him! Her eyes strayed to the hall past the kitchen that led to Kip’s bedroom. They had to know Roman had betrayed Byron, right? That’s why Jace and Roman’s greeting had been so cold and why Kip had wanted them to talk before Roman could know she was at the restaurant. Or maybe Jace didn’t like the kiss Roman gave me, Kira thought with a smile.

  If they didn’t know… I have to tell them. Her throat thickened at the prospect. Her father had written that the clan had been divided after Byron’s death and many of the lycans followed Roman. Perhaps they all knew about the coup beforehand. It was the deciding factor that led Malcolm to leave the clan and choose a life as a full-time archeologist. Her first memories were of playing in dirt holes where her father and other archeologists had excavated artifacts from a distant time. I must have been born much later, after the coup. Which would make Jace…how old? Lycans, she had read, aged slower than humans, a few of the most powerful on earth boasting a lifespan of hundreds of years.

  Kira heard a knock at the door and launched from her seat. She retrieved the bills she had left out on the kitchen island minutes before and bounded to the door, her stomach in a full-on howl. She gasped when she opened the door.

  Jace stood in front of her with narrowed eyes and thin lips. He held two pizza boxes in his hand. “What are these?” he asked and quickly moved past her into the condo.

  “Um, pizzas?”

  He tossed the boxes onto the kitchen island. “Why are you ordering pizza?”

  Kira bit her lip. Was this a trick question? “’Cause I’m hungry?”

  “Is that pizza I smell?” Kip yelled from behind his closed bedroom door. Kira snickered until she saw Jace’s disapproving frown.

  “We’re in a locked building, which means you’d have to buzz the pizza guy up.”

  “Okay…”

  “We’re trying to keep you out of sight, Kira,” Jace said, exasperated. “You shouldn’t be inviting anyone inside, and definitely don’t answer the door.”

  When he turned his back to drop his satchel next to the boxes, Kira rolled her eyes. The protective side of him was really annoying. She watched as he kept his back toward her and raked a hand through his dark hair. She walked to him and touched his arm. He flinched beneath the contact, but didn’t pull away. He was angry, and probably incredibly anxious due to the imprinting. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was reckless.”

  His green eyes met her gaze from over his shoulder. They softened the longer their gazes held and Kira was suddenly wishing he’d kiss her again so she could see more of the vision. His five-o’clock shadow, the shoulder-length wavy hair, his impressive build, and the way his body felt like it was on fire beneath his shirt made her mouth go dry and her lips part.

  “Wow, Kira. The pheromones you’re giving off are something else,” Kip said from behind them. “If I have to keep breathing you in, I won’t be able to help myself. Jace will have to kill me.” He laughed, came around them, and opened a box of pizza. “I don’t know how he keeps his paws off you.”

  Kira swiftly dropped her hand and turned away, her cheeks aflame. Was that why Jace was looking at her that way now? Because of pheromones? She was sending off an invisible chemical that his species couldn’t resist. At least that’s one thing imprinting doesn’t control. He doesn’t love me. He’s responding to…a chemical. Relief washed over her. Jace was still in command of his heart, if not his desire. And desire she could control; she just had to stop releasing pheromones…

  Kira busied herself with retrieving plates from one of the cabinets even though Kip had already started eating the pizza.

  “How did you know I wanted pizza?” Kip said around a chunk of food.

  Kira glanced over her shoulder to see Jace’s intense gaze on her. She grabbed a roll of paper towels and tore off a few.

  “Seriously, Kira, stop it!” Kip said with a laugh. “Your scent…Jace, how ’bout you stop staring her down like a piece of meat.”

  Kira cleared her throat and slapped the plates and towels on the island.

  “Thanks, but I don’t need ’em,” Kip said with a full mouth. Kira shot him a disgusted look and he answered with a sloppy grin.

  “Kipper, she answered the door,” Jace said
firmly.

  Kip paused midchew. His gaze swerved between the two. “Um, I’m guessing that’s a no-no, Kira,” he said sheepishly. “There. Problem solved.” He slapped Jace on the shoulder and snatched a plate before taking a piece with him to the living room. “You still reading your father’s journals?” he called to Kira.

  “Er, yes.” She put a couple of slices on a plate, avoided Jace’s gaze, and rushed to her seat near the window. “I…uh, read something interesting about the clan’s history.”

  “What about?” Jace settled onto the sofa cushion beside Kip.

  Kira took a bite of pizza to give herself time to think about how she was going to bring up the coup and who had been responsible for it. It didn’t help that two pairs of eyes were trained on her and one of them belonged to the son of the murdered lycan. “Uh…”

  “Spit it out,” Kip encouraged.

  Kira swallowed and decided the best way was the most direct. Her gaze moved to Jace. “Your Uncle Roman is responsible for the coup that killed your father, Byron. He had help from another lycan named Kata, who might be the one behind my almost-kidnapping.” There. She’d said it.

  Both Kip and Jace sat with their mouths hanging open, eyes wide in shock.

  “Say what, now?” Kip asked.

  “My father believes Byron’s death wasn’t just the result of Kata’s war with the Bana clan. He believes it was a power grab by Roman and that Kata was in league with him. I think that may be why he left the clan before I was born.” If Roman could have his own brother killed, what would he have done to my father if he’d protested? Kira shivered at the only gruesome possibility: his death.

  Jace’s gaze dropped to the floor. “He’s sure of this?” came his soft, yet gruff voice.

  “He doesn’t mention any concrete proof…”

  “Then it’s possible that it’s just a theory,” Jace’s voice hardened. “Because this is my uncle you’re talking about.” His eyes burned with anger. “He told me Kata murdered my father during an attack on the Bana clan.”

  “Yeah, if Roman wanted power, he’d have had to kill Jace as well, and he let him live,” Kip added.

  “My father didn’t list any other theories.” She held out the journal. “You can read it for yourself. About your father being the only lycan in that part of the tunnel underneath the city, Kata being able to escape when he and his force were supposedly surrounded and outnumbered, the assassinations of those most loyal to Byron.”

  “Wait a minute.” Kip held up a hand. “What assassinations?”

  Kira flipped a few pages in the journal and listed the names of lycans who had supposedly been killed during the battle, but who her father believed had been executed by those closest to Roman to secure his sovereignty.

  Kip shook his head. “I had heard Moncrief died fighting off a dozen lycans, giving a group cut off from the main line the chance to get to safety. He’s a legend.”

  “He was also a huge supporter of my father. Captain of his guard, if I recall,” Jace said.

  “Yeah, you’re right. He was the captain. Wow.”

  Jace hadn’t touched his pizza since she had mentioned her father’s theory on Byron’s death. He kept his gaze downcast, and his face held a perpetual frown. Kira spoke after a minute of silence. “He might’ve died fighting off a dozen lycans, but they could’ve been those from the Bana clan who were loyal to Roman, or those from the Kata clan who’d been told where Moncrief was going to be.”

  “If that’s the case,” Kip said after taking another bite of pizza, “then Roman is dangerous. There’s no crossing the man.”

  “You did,” Kira said, her eyes on Jace. “You left the clan.”

  Jace smirked. “Maybe he has a sentimental bone in his body for family.”

  “Tell that to your dead father,” Kip responded.

  Jace’s face clouded. Kira watched his mood darken as he ate his pizza in silence. When he had finished, he abruptly stood. “I’m going to take a shower. It’s been a long day.” He dropped his plate on a nearby table and walked out of the living room.

  Before Kira could call his name, Jace was in his room with the door closed. She looked to Kip for explanation.

  Kip shrugged. “Family.”

  “I didn’t mean to upset him.”

  “He hated his father but he’s on good terms with his uncle, despite their disagreement about Jace’s duty to the clan. Now he finds out that Roman probably killed his father. Upset? He probably doesn’t know how to feel.”

  “I understand how that can be conflicting.”

  Kip put his hands behind his head and relaxed into the couch. “What’s conflicting is how the two of you were acting earlier in the kitchen.” He wagged his eyebrows. “And how I’m going to suffer under the looks and not mention your smell again.”

  “I saw a vision,” Kira blurted. Anything to change the subject.

  Kip leaned forward. “A vision? When? Of what?”

  “Jace…ah, kissed me earlier, before he left, and that’s when it happened.”

  “Whoa, that was quick.” Kip laughed. “That kid. It’s because he’s denied himself too long. Now he can’t wait to pounce — hold up. Did you say you had the vision during the kiss?”

  Kira nodded.

  Kip blew out a whistle. “That was some kiss.” His mouth widened into a grin.

  “I think that’s part of it, though. It was some kiss.” Kira stood and paced the large area rug. “I’ve been trying to figure out if I’ve ever had access to this power and I think I have…in dreams.”

  “Dreams?”

  “You know, like déjà vu? Except I had them frequently, and I just thought maybe everyone else did too. But this time, I had a vision awake. I dunno, maybe Jace awakened something in me that was trying to get out before.” Kip raised an eyebrow. His lips trembled as he fought to keep a straight face. “Come on, Kipper, help me out here. I’m trying to understand this.” Kira plopped into her seat.

  “Well, maybe. Passion brings out the best and worst in us. Maybe kissing Jace kinda freed you up somehow, you know, uncorked the bottle, so to speak.”

  Kira frowned. Was she corked? Is that why she hadn’t been able to replicate the experience all day? Because she was stifling her own power? Kisses by previous boyfriends had been nothing compared to Jace’s. With Jace…it’s like I’d never really been kissed.

  “You don’t think so?” Kip asked, interrupting her thoughts.

  “I hate to think I’m the cause of my not being able to actually be a seer.”

  Kip snorted. “Guess that means you’ll be doing a lot more kissing.” Kip wagged his brows again. “That’ll be great news to Jace.”

  Kira groaned.

  “What? You didn’t like it?”

  “It’s not that. It’s…”

  “You don’t know him.”

  She nodded, grateful for his understanding. It felt comforting and safe to have a friend in Kip. She was too close to Jace; her attraction to him caught her off guard.

  “Well.” Kip stood and stretched. “I think I better get going. I’ve got night shift again.”

  Jace entered the living room just then. “Any pizza left?”

  “Sure,” Kira answered. She gathered the journals and her laptop and stuffed them into her bag, then jumped at the sound of a loud howl. Followed by another. And another. And a fourth.

  “Are they crazy?” Kip cried. His eyes scanned the view outside the glass windows. “There’s actual people in this building. Who would be that brazen?”

  Kira’s eyes swerved to Jace. His nose was up in the air and his chest was rising and falling with deep breaths.

  “I recognize one scent.”

  “I don’t recognize any,” Kip said.

  “Kira!” Jace called and rushed forward with arms outstretched.

  Kira swung her bag over her shoulder and darted to meet Jace. The windows shattered and the room filled with growls and groans. Four fully transformed lycans were crouched on top of
shards of broken glass. Kira screamed.

  Kip chuckled. Kira barely heard him say, “This is going to be fun,” as he effortlessly shifted into lycan form. His clothes shredded from the force of his muscles expanding. Dark hair sprouted from his tanned skin. Long, sharp nails lengthened from massive hands that only grew larger with the transformation. Kipper stood on his hind legs and growled.

  “Kira, we have to leave. Now! ” Jace dragged her toward the door.

  The four lycans rushed toward Kip, with two leaping past him and bounding after her and Jace. The faster of the two swiped at Jace, who had shoved Kira against the front door in time for him to use both his arms to block the hit. The second lycan caught up and swung.

  With her back against the door, Kira watched the second lycan’s claw make contact. “Jace!” she screamed. She cringed at the impact. Jace half groaned, half howled. When he faced her, Kira gasped at the slash running from his forehead down to his chin.

  Jace ducked another attempt to connect with his face. Kip crashed head first into one of the lycans at the same time as Jace’s fist landed on the side of another’s nose. Jace sprinted toward Kira and they were out the door and down the nearest flight of stairs.

  Blood ran down Jace’s neck. “Your face!”

  “It’s fine. We’ve got to get to my car.”

  Kira’s hand gripped Jace’s as they ran across the parking garage. “What about Kipper? We just can’t leave him there,” she cried. She looked over her shoulder. They weren’t being followed. Were all of the attackers on Kip? How could he defend himself, alone, against four lycans?

  “He’ll catch up.” Jace unlocked the doors, opened the front passenger-side door and practically threw her in. “You’re what’s important. I’ve got to protect you.”

  “But the lycans—”

  He slammed the door and leapt vertically in the air. Kira sucked in a breath and nearly slammed her face into the window to see where he’d gone, but as soon as she looked up, he was getting behind the wheel.

  “How did you…” Did she have to ask? He was a lycan.

  “I’m taking you to my uncle.”

  “But…I thought you didn’t want me near the clan.”

  His jaw tightened as he turned the key in the ignition and looked behind him. They tore out of the parking space, and he sped through the garage, almost hitting the drop gate as it slowly rose. “I don’t think I have a choice,” he said grimly. “The clan is the safest place for you now.”

  “Why do they want me?” she asked softly, more as a rhetorical question. She racked her brain for answers and tried to recall what her father’s journals said. She reached into the bag at the floor near her feet. “Maybe I missed something in my dad’s journals. Maybe something he said about my mother.”

  “Think back to things she said or did that didn’t make sense to you at the time.”

  “That’ll be pretty difficult. I honesty can’t easily recall anything out of the ordinary. She was very loving and attentive, and she loved history and digging up the ground.” Kira gasped and gripped the side of the door as Jace took a sharp turn.

  “Sorry.”

  Kira righted herself. “Aren’t we far away from them?”

  “Lycans are pretty fast in their animal form.”

  “Fast? How fast?” She eyed him curiously. They were driving at a high rate of speed: twenty over the speed limit at least. Kira prayed there wasn’t a cop from here to the waterfront, but that was more than ten miles.

  “Look out your side window.”

  “What?” She saw only storefronts. “I don’t see anything…”

  “Look up.”

  She followed his instructions and her gaze rose to the night sky. In the light of the full moon, she saw the roofs of buildings and a shadowy figure leaping. Kira put a hand over her mouth and swallowed a gasp. “I…they’re on the roofs!”

  “That’s how fast.”

  “If they’re following us, does that mean Kipper…?”

  “One or two might have stayed behind to catch or kill him.”

  “Kill him? Jace!”

  He reached over and put a hand on her thigh and squeezed it. “Don’t worry,” he said softly. His hand returned to the wheel for another turn. “Kipper’s an excellent fighter. He’s fast and very intuitive. Out of the times I’ve seen him in a match, few were able to make contact with him.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “I’m positive. Besides, he’d kill me if I stayed.”

  “But you could’ve helped him!”

  “And kept you in danger?” he said with grit. “That wasn’t an option.”

  Kira bit her lip. She appreciated the level of importance both Kipper and Jace placed on her safety, but the gravity of its burden on them was suddenly very real. It was one thing — one fantastic thing — to see Jace fend off three bumbling lycans in human form the other night, but the animals she’d seen just minutes before in his condo were a hundred times more terrifying. Just their height alone stole the breath from her lungs and nearly paralyzed her with fear.

  “We’re almost there.”

  There? Kira looked out her window. The wharf was nowhere in view.

  “I’m taking you to a residence further inland. You might like it there, actually. The rooms are fairly grand.”

  Grand? A four-poster bed flashed in her mind.

  Chapter Four

  The Bana Clan