Most of the emotions washed over her like a wave, but there was one that actually tugged at her. Almost as if the person was calling her name.
Compelled forward, she dodged past a group of drunken men who were intent on capturing her attention and headed toward a service door nearly hidden beside the bathrooms. Hesitating only a second, she entered the stairwell and quickly jogged up the steps to a steel door at the top. Pushing it open, she found herself standing on top of a flat roof.
The late night breeze tugged at her hair that had come loose from her ponytail and cut through her thin sweater. Wrapping her arms around her waist, she cautiously moved across the tarred shingles. The sense of despair that had been calling to her was almost deafening, battering against her with an intensity she hadn’t expected.
Stepping around a large air-conditioning unit, she at last caught sight of the cause of the emotional avalanche.
A young woman stood on the edge of the roof, her slender body wearing nothing more than a skimpy waitress outfit and her pale face turned upward, as if seeking an answer to her problem from the heavens.
“Don’t,” she called out, sensing the woman a breath away from jumping.
The woman impulsively took a step back before turning to send Bianca a furious glare.
“Stay away.”
Pretending she didn’t know what was going on, Bianca lifted her hands and continued to inch forward. She wanted to get close enough she could grab the young woman if worse came to worse.
“You’re standing too close to the edge,” she said. “You might fall.”
The woman reached up to angrily brush aside the tears that stained her pale face. She had blonde hair that was going dark at the roots and dark eyes that were bloodstained. As if she’d been crying for hours.
“Are you an idiot?” the woman snapped. “I’m standing here because I want to fall.”
Bianca took another step forward. “Why?”
The woman bit her bottom lip. “Because I can’t take any more.”
Bianca grimaced, her heart twisting. “I feel your pain.”
The woman released an angry breath. “Dammit. I’m sick of hearing that. No one can feel my pain.”
“No, I really can,” Bianca said, close enough to reach out and lightly touch the woman’s arm. “It’s a gift I was born with.”
The woman continued to glare at her, but she didn’t pull away. “Feelings aren’t a gift. They’re a curse.”
“Some days they are,” Bianca agreed, allowing her fingers to trace up the woman’s shoulder in a soothing motion. She’d discovered she had a strange ability to offer comfort with her touch. Even her burly bodyguards had mentioned that they felt better after she gave them a hug. “But the wonderful thing is that while they can cause us distress, they also bring us our greatest joy.”
The woman sniffed, her tears drying as she gave a hesitant shake of her head.
“Not tonight.”
“No, not tonight.” Taking care not to startle her, Bianca wrapped an arm around her waist and urged her toward the center of the roof. “But the dark will pass and the sun will rise. You just have to give it time.”
For long moments the woman leaned heavily against Bianca, her head nestled on Bianca’s shoulder. Then, sucking in a deep breath, she slowly straightened and looked around. The blank expression that had been settled on her pretty face was slowly replaced by one of horror.
Clearly she was realizing where she was, and what she’d nearly done.
“Oh my God,” she rasped, shaking her head. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Bianca tried not to stiffen as she felt a sizzling heat flare down her back. At the same time the––well, whatever it was deep inside her that seemed connected to Kayden––was stirred to life.
He was on the roof. And approaching from behind.
“You’re safe,” she murmured, trying to concentrate on the woman shivering in her arms.
“I almost did it,” the woman breathed. “I truly wanted to end it all.”
“It’s okay,” she said in soft tones, her hand continuing to rub up and down her arm.
The woman lifted her head, her face as pale as the moonlight that spilled over the roof. “Thank you. Thank you. I––” The woman’s eyes widened as she caught sight of the man walking toward them. “Oh. I have to go.”
Darting away, the woman headed toward the opposite side of the roof.
Bianca watched until she disappeared from sight before she slowly turned. Tiny bursts of excitement raced through her as she discovered the tall, fiercely beautiful man standing only inches away, his eyes glowing with cognac fire.
God almighty. Lust thundered through her. A new, ferocious hunger that she feared wasn’t going to go away.
Not unless…
She licked her dry lips
* * * *
Kayden studied the female who was surely destined to drive him nuts.
Dammit. He’d gone into the privacy of the bedroom to make his call to Joshua Ford. Not only because he didn’t want Bianca to overhear his conversation with her father, but because he needed space to think.
Being near Bianca was beginning to cloud his brain.
The slender temptation of her body. The vulnerable sweetness in her eyes. The sweet honey scent that made his puma growl with need.
He’d never dreamed she could actually get out of the suite. After all, it was custom designed for Pantera. Which meant the security locks shouldn’t open for anyone who wasn’t a puma-shifter.
Or had the blood of a puma-shifter.
Furious with himself for risking everything, he’d jumped into the elevator and headed down. He hadn’t needed to follow Bianca’s scent. He’d been able to sense her. Which only increased his fury.
He could pretend that he’d kidnapped her to punish her father. And to even act as if the throbbing awareness was nothing more than mere lust. She was a beautiful woman. He was a healthy guy with a normal sexual appetite.
But there was nothing that could explain why his cat was bonding with her on a spiritual level.
The puma was trying to mate.
His anger had lasted until he’d entered the casino and seen her wandering through the crowd. She hadn’t been trying to escape. Or even to capture the attention of the numerous security guards.
Instead, it looked as if she’d been captivated by her surroundings, her gaze darting around the noisy crowd as she’d moved deeper into the vast room.
Kayden had followed in her wake, unwilling to steal her moment of wonder. Then, she’d been angling straight toward a back door, as if she was on a mission. He’d followed behind, telling himself he had to make sure she wasn’t going to slip away. Or that she wasn’t in contact with her father.
The last thing he’d expected was to witness her save a young woman’s life.
Any hope that he could treat her as nothing more than a bargaining chip was forever gone.
“I wondered where you were hiding,” he said, his tone rough as he struggled against the urge to sweep her in his arms and carry her back to the penthouse.
Predictably, her chin tilted to a defiant angle. She might be innocent and vulnerable, but she had a spirit that would refuse to ever let him dominate her. At least not on an intellectual level. On a physical level he had high hopes it would be a whole other story.
His cat purred in approval.
“I wasn’t hiding,” she said.
“I told you to stay in the suite.”
“No,” she countered. “You told me to behave myself.”
He thinned his lips to hide his sudden urge to smile. “Hmm. I’ll remember that.” He tilted his head to the side. “How did you get the door unlocked?”
She shrugged. “I placed my hand on the screen and it opened.”
It was obvious she had no idea just how extraordinary her feat had been. His lips parted to explain, only to pause.
The anger toward her father still flowed through his body l
ike acid. It warned him to say nothing that could be used against his people if he decided to return her to her home.
Then he gave a small shrug.
There was no way he was letting this female go.
Not only because he suspected that she was more Pantera than human, but because his puma wasn’t going to allow her to walk away.
End of story.
“That shouldn’t have been possible,” he said, holding her wary gaze. “Not unless you’re a Pantera.”
He could feel her sudden tension, as if she already sensed he was about to shake the very foundations of her world.
“I don’t understand,” she muttered.
Unable to resist temptation, Kayden reached out to lightly cup her cheek with his hand. Desire punched through him. Her skin was as milky soft as he’d suspected and warm to his touch despite the cool breeze.
Far warmer than the skin of a human.
She might not be a full Pantera, but she certainly had some of their blood.
“You’ve heard of Pantera?” he asked.
“Yes. They’re puma shifters who live in the bayous of Louisiana,” she said, her brows drawing together. “Are you one?”
He nodded. “I am.”
“Oh.” Her gaze skimmed over his face, as if looking for some sign that he wasn’t human.
His thumb absently brushed her full lower lip, the animal inside him pacing with a restless hunger.
“Does that scare you?”
She shrugged. “I’ve already been kidnapped. There’s not much more that you could do to me.”
He made a sound of disbelief before he was abruptly wrapping her in his arms around her waist and pulling her hard against his body. Then, lowering his head, he pressed his face into the curve of her neck.
“So innocent,” he muttered, glad she couldn’t see all the things he wanted to do to her. Not that he would hurt her…but he was a male who enjoyed the scrape of fangs and the gentle kiss of claws during sex.
She shivered, her hands lifting to rest against his chest.
“Kayden, what are you doing?”
He sucked in a deep breath, his blood pumping at the sweet scent of honey. Dear Goddess, he wanted to lap her up.
His tongue stroked a rough path down her throat, his cock stiffening as he wondered if her taste would be just as addictive between her legs.
“Trying to figure out what the hell you are,” he groaned.
Her nails dug into his sweater, her body arching in an unconscious invitation.
“I’m just a woman––”
“No,” he interrupted. “There’s more than that. You shouldn’t have been able to open that door.”
She trembled, the scent of her arousal spicing the air. She was no more immune to the potent chemistry between them than he was.
“You must have forgotten to lock it.”
He slowly lifted his head, staring deep into her wide eyes.
“And the way that you eased that female’s pain.”
She licked her lips, a habit that was making him insane with the need to cover those lips in a kiss of sheer desperation.
“She just needed someone to listen,” Bianca protested.
“No, she needed a healer,” he told her.
She stilled, studying him with a spark of interest that she couldn’t hide.
“A healer?”
“My people are born with specific talents,” he explained, not going into the full details of how the Elders could sense the spark in each of them. “Some are Hunters. They’re our warriors. Some are Diplomats, which include the Geeks––”
“You call them geeks?” she abruptly demanded.
He chuckled at her expression. Clearly she thought it was an insult.
“Trust me, princess, we claim the title with pride.”
“You’re one of them?”
“Yes.” His hands absently rubbed up and down her back, savoring the feel of her slender curves. She fit against him with a perfection that had everything to do with fate. “My specialty is creating programs that can retrieve miniscule amounts of computer data and turn it back into a readable file. Like a scientist taking a tiny amount of DNA and being able to duplicate it until they have a full human profile.” He abruptly grimaced, realizing he was bragging as if he was a cub trying to impress his childhood sweetheart. Yeesh. What had this female done to him? “And we have Healers,” he continued, finally getting to the point. “They’re capable of using their powers to ease wounds, whether they’re physical or emotional.”
Her frown deepened, as if a part of her was trying to reject what he was telling her.
“What does that have to do with me?” she at last demanded.
“You have Pantera blood,” he said in clear, concise tones. “There’s no other explanation.”
“No.”
Although he was prepared for her shocked disbelief, he hadn’t anticipated the frantic struggle to escape.
Briefly his arms tightened around her, holding her close. He couldn’t let her flee when she was clearly upset.
But as she pounded her fists against his chest and tried to kick at his shins, he reluctantly allowed his arms to drop. She wasn’t hurting him, but she was going to injure herself if she continued to batter at him.
Once out of his grip, she turned and ran toward the door. Almost as if the very devil was on her heels.
Shit. Kayden heaved a sigh, shoving his fingers through his hair.
That could have gone better.
Chapter Four
Joshua Ford was just stepping into the veranda of the sprawling mansion built on the fringes of Miami when the call came through.
He listened in silence as the unknown man gave him orders to meet him in the desert outside of Vegas. Then, pocketing the cellphone, he considered his options.
They were limited.
Far more limited than he was accustomed to.
After all, he was a man who had a strategy for every emergency. And usually more than one. There was a plan A, plan B, and plan C.
How else could he ensure that his clinic was the most successful of all of the Benson Enterprise laboratories?
His dedication to detail had at last started to pay off.
Not only had the innermost circle that surrounded the head of the corporation, Christopher Benson, started to crumble beneath the strain of the past few months, but his own research in using Pantera DNA to cure human diseases had at last started to gain the attention it deserved.
Everything was perfect.
And then he’d received the call and he realized that his assumption that he was incapable of being caught off guard was nothing more than sheer arrogance. The damned Pantera had not only invaded his home, but he’d managed to strike where Joshua was most vulnerable.
With a shake of his head, Joshua gestured toward one of the uniformed guards that was standing next to the heavy double doors leading into the house.
The man hurried forward. “Yes, sir?”
“I need you to give my apologies to Mr. Benson,” he said in clipped tones. “And call the airport to tell them to prepare the jet.”
The guard blinked, obviously hired for his skill with a gun and not his intelligence.
“The jet?” he muttered in confusion. “You just arrived.”
Joshua’s lips thinned. “I’m aware of that.”
“But––”
The man’s protest was cut short as one of the doors was pulled open and the shadowed outline of a thin male form was revealed.
“Is there a problem?”
Joshua felt a chill inch down his spine. Although he’d been traveling more and more to Miami to deliver the serum that Christopher used to increase his lifespan, he rarely met with the older man. Now he struggled not to look away from the ravages on the thin face caused by time and disease.
Once Christopher took the serum, he would once again look like a robust, middle-aged man, but for now it was difficult to meet him eye to eye.
&n
bsp; “Nothing I can’t handle,” he murmured. He’d sacrificed everything to become Benson’s most trusted researcher. There was no way in hell he was going to let this bump in the road threaten his ultimate goal
There was the sound of a harsh, rattling breath. “Those are the exact words that Stanton used before he ended up dead and yet another of my valuable assets was invaded by the Pantera.”
Joshua forced a stiff smile to his lips. Stanton had once been treated as Benson’s prodigal son. The man had been given everything. Money. Stature. Power. All the things that Joshua lusted after.
Now he was dumped in an unmarked grave.
An ignoble fate that Joshua had no intention of sharing.
“Stanton might have been loyal, but he never possessed the proper ambition,” he said with a well-rehearsed confidence.
“And you do?” Christopher wheezed, leaning on a cane he clutched in one skeleton hand.
Joshua held up the small cooler that contained the vials of serum. “Do you doubt me?”
Christopher gave a snap of his fingers and instantly the guard reached out to take the container.
“I have been disappointed too many times in the past,” the older man continued to complain. “At this moment I doubt everyone. Including you.”
“I have never disappointed you,” he murmured.
Christopher made a petulant sound. “I’m disappointed that you’re running off.”
Joshua nodded toward the cooler. “I did bring the serum, as requested. I’m certain one of your private nurses can administer the necessary dosage.”
“I wanted to discuss bringing your daughter to Miami.”
“Bianca?” Joshua stiffened. “Why?”
“Our military contracts have temporarily dried up. I need another source of funding to keep my numerous clinics open,” Christopher rasped. “Your daughter’s miraculous cure from cancer will provide us with a way to convince the pharmaceutical companies to invest in Benson Enterprises.”
Another chill inched down Joshua’s spine. This one far worse.
A part of him had always known this was a risk.
But as he’d developed methods of using the Pantera blood to create various drugs, he’d hoped that his cure of Bianca would be forgotten.