It was no wonder she’d blocked out the memories even after Sebastian had brought her to the Wildlands.
“This is why she went ballistic when she entered The Haymore Center and caught a glimpse of Stanton Locke,” she said. “She might not consciously remember what happened to her, but her cat no doubt sensed it’d been held captive there.”
Hakan leaned over her shoulder to study the picture, the heat from his body blazing around her. She didn’t doubt that it was taking every ounce of his willpower not to charge back to the Center and destroy everyone associated with it.
“Why would she be in a human medical facility?” he snapped.
Payton searched through the remaining photographs, hoping to discover some clue to those responsible for her captivity. Instead what she saw was pictures of Reny going back more than fifty years.
“Dear Goddess,” she breathed, her voice tight and tears flooding her eyes. “She’d been there since she was just a newborn baby.”
The back of her chair cracked beneath the force of Hakan’s grip.
“Is there any mention of her mother?”
Payton pointed a finger toward the last picture of a pretty, dark-haired female with jade green eyes.
“Not directly, but this looks like it might be a photo of her.”
CHAPTER 5
Hakan abruptly straightened and paced from one end of the shadowed library to the other.
Inside, his cat roared, demanding vengeance for the helpless female Pantera who’d obviously been abused since she was a mere cub. Unfortunately, until they knew exactly who was behind the secret lab in The Haymore Center, he had no true enemy to battle.
“Hiss was right,” he at last said between clenched teeth.
“What do you mean?” Payton studied him with a wary expression and just for a crazed minute he was nearly overwhelmed by the urge to haul her back up the stairs and keep her in the bed until she agreed to complete the mating.
Okay. It might be arrogant to assume that after twenty years of denying the attraction between them, she would be eager to bind herself to him just because he’d decided it was time.
And maybe he deserved to do some squirming.
But dammit, she wasn’t the only one who’d suffered. Couldn’t she at least give him a lifeline? A smidgeon of hope that she wasn’t going to make him wait forever?
Then, with a muttered curse, he forced himself to focus on what they’d just discovered.
The mess he’d made of his personal life was going to have to wait until they’d identified and destroyed the people responsible for holding Reny captive.
Dammit.
“Hiss always swore that his family was still alive, but the elders insisted they’d been killed in a fire,” he explained, belatedly wishing he hadn’t dismissed his one-time friend’s insistence that the elders were lying to him as the grief of an orphan.
Payton frowned. “Could he have been involved with the Center?”
“No.” Hakan paced back toward the desk. “The bastard might have helped the disciples of Shakpi, but he was genuinely shocked by the blood tests that revealed Reny is his sister.”
“The kidnappers did try to negotiate to get their hands on Hiss,” she reminded him.
His hands clenched at his side. “And now they have him.”
She studied him in confusion. “How? I thought he was being guarded?”
“Yeah, that was the general assumption,” he said. “But right before I left to follow you, Parish learned that someone had taken him out of the Wildlands.”
She stiffened. “A Pantera?”
Hakan didn’t blame her for her painful assumption. Once he would have sworn that no Pantera would ever betray them. Now they’d discovered that no one was above suspicion.
“No, they believe it was a human.”
She studied him with an anxious expression. “And you still don’t think Hiss is involved?” she asked.
Hakan shrugged. He’d been shocked and deeply wounded when he’d discovered that Hiss had been working with Shakpi’s disciples, but he’d accepted the truth without hesitation.
He’d known his friend had suffered throughout his childhood. It made sense he would try to punish those he held responsible for his pain.
But this…
He shook his head. “It doesn’t feel right.”
She blinked, studying him as if she thought she might have misheard him.
“Feel right?”
“Geeks depend on facts and logic. A Hunter uses his gut instincts.”
“Hmm.” Clearly unimpressed with the idea of depending on intuition, she returned her attention to the computer. “I’ll stick with facts and logic.”
Hakan moved to stand behind her chair, watching as she scanned through the medical documents that were in the file.
“Is there anything that reveals what the humans were doing to Reny while she was here?” he asked.
“It looks like they were taking several vials of blood from her every week.”
“Were they testing it?”
She continued to scroll through the information that all looked like Greek to Hakan.
“They wouldn’t need that much blood just for testing,” she said, her tone troubled. “They had to be using it for something else.”
Hakan agreed. There was something in her blood they needed.
But what?
The realization struck without warning.
Oh, not the answer to the puzzle of why they’d taken Reny and held her captive. But why they’d risked everything to sneak into the Wildlands.
“And now they have Hiss,” he said.
Payton glanced over her shoulder, instantly following the direction of his unwelcomed thoughts.
“His blood would match Reny’s,” she said.
A sense of urgent unease pulsed through his body. He might not know what they wanted with Hiss’s blood, but he knew it couldn’t be good.
They had to get him back.
He watched the data flicker over the computer screen. “Are there any other files?”
“Yes, but they’re corrupted.” Payton gave a frustrated shake of her head. “I’ll have to send them to Xavier. He has a program that can salvage fragmented bits of data and piece them back together.”
Hakan turned his head to glance toward the row of monitors set on the bookshelves. The live feeds from the outside cameras revealed nothing moving in the surrounding yard and no cars hidden in the alley.
“We need to get back to the Wildlands,” he said, knowing they had to take a calculated risk.
The sooner he could get Payton home safely, the sooner she could help to decipher the files. And the sooner he could be on the hunt.
She instantly rose to her feet. “I’m ready.”
His gaze slid down her slender body, resting on her ridiculously bare toes. Suddenly the biting need to be on their way was tempered by the tidal wave of tenderness that rushed through him.
“Don’t forget that we have unfinished business,” he warned.
She shrugged, turning to hide her expression as she shut down the computer.
“Later.”
Hakan swallowed a curse. He’d wanted Payton to develop a will of her own, but…Christ.
Clenching his hands, he moved across the room to pull on his T-shirt before heading to the ugly-ass velvet Elvis painting that was hung over the fireplace. A joke from Lian, no doubt, who’d been stationed at this safe house until he’d recently mated.
Pushing the painting aside, he pressed his hand against the fingerprint reader and waited for the door of the built-in strongbox to spring open.
He reached in to grab a set of car keys, turning to toss them toward the startled Payton.
“You drive.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. Hakan could be a little…anal when it came to being in charge.
“Really?”
He reached into the safe to pull out two loaded handguns. “I need my hands free.”
“Oh.” She stepped toward the door, only to abruptly turn back toward the desk. “Wait.”
Hakan watched in confusion as she pulled open a drawer and extracted one of the extra phones that was always kept handy.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
She kept her gaze locked on the small screen as she tapped in her personal codes.
“Lian said the enemy has a sophisticated GPS system, so I developed a signal that any Pantera can download to jam tracking devices,” she murmured, seemingly unaware that she was a fucking miracle to her people. Hakan, however, was well aware of her worth. And he couldn’t be more proud. “I doubt the guards were competent enough to hide a bug on me, but I want to make sure we can’t be followed.” At last she lifted her head, looking puzzled as she met Hakan’s awed gaze. “What?”
He slowly shook his head.
He’d always admired her razor-sharp intelligence. It was one of the reasons he’d been so determined that she would finish her training before they mated.
But he’d never seen her in action until the past few hours.
“You dazzle me,” he said softly.
She blushed, a pulse fluttering at the base of her throat as she hastily headed toward the door.
“Let’s go.”
***
Stanton Locke stood in the basement of The Haymore Center, looking distinctly out of place in his thousand dollar Armani suit and his black hair smoothed to a short tail at his nape.
Currently his brilliant blue eyes were narrowed as he glared at the two stooges who’d managed to create a minor disaster.
Perhaps he should take a portion of the blame.
When the guards had called to say they’d locked two intruders in the cells, he’d told them to keep a watch on the captives, even knowing they were idiots barely capable of tying their own shoes.
But he’d been in the middle of his delicate mission to capture Hiss. There was no way in hell he was going to risk his one opportunity to get his hands on the well-guarded Pantera. So he’d waited until he had his prisoner secure in the warehouse before at last coming to the Center to deal with the interlopers.
Now he realized he’d made a tactical error that might very well cost him his life.
Planting his hands on his hips, he ignored the icy chill that inched down his spine.
Bloody hell. He hated this place.
The stench of antiseptic. The squeak of shoes on the waxed floor. The knowledge that before he’d torn down the previous building and constructed this modern clinic, it’d been a private sanatorium where they’d experimented on the Pantera females.
It was, after all, one thing to hold a full-grown male hostage. It was quite another to be responsible for a fragile child stretched on the gurney as she screamed in agony.
Grimly he slammed the door on his dark thoughts.
He’d known since his master had taken him off the streets of London that there was a cost to his new life. It was too late to fear that the price had been higher than he’d ever dreamed possible.
“So who wants to explain how this little clusterfuck happened?” he demanded.
Both men flinched at his low tone, capable of detecting the lethal edge beneath his polished English accent.
“It wasn’t our fault,” the older guard said, denying any blame.
Stanton arched a brow. “No?”
“We had the prisoners locked up just as you ordered,” the guard insisted.
Stanton allowed his gaze to move from one upturned face to another. One was lean and wrinkled. The other was plump with heavy jowls. Both, however, were drenched in sweat and pale with a fear that tainted the air.
“You’re certain?” Stanton demanded.
The younger guard pumped his head up and down. “Of course. They were locked up tight.”
Stanton’s lips thinned. “Then how do you suppose someone managed to use my own computer to steal highly sensitive information?”
The two exchanged baffled glances before the older one tried to scramble for an excuse.
“After they broke out of their cells they must have stopped by here and hacked into the system.”
Stanton gave a shake of his head. It was difficult to believe they could truly be that stupid. His master would tell him to kill them. Such incompetence had to be nipped in the bud.
Tonight, however, it all seemed like a colossal waste of energy.
“Impossible,” he instead snapped.
The older guard licked his lips. Smack, smack, smack.
“I don’t understand.”
“Clearly.” Stanton reached beneath his jacket to pull out a thin dagger, deliberately running his finger along the razor-sharp edge. He wasn’t going to kill them, but he was willing to scare the shit out of them. “Even the most sophisticated program would have taken days to break through my layers of security.”
“Someone must have snuck in and—” The older guard’s words ended on a shrill scream as Stanton leaned down to place the point of the dagger beneath his chin.
“Do you know what I think?” he asked.
The man’s breath sawed in and out of his lungs. “What?”
“I think that the supposed prisoners could have waltzed past you two morons any time they wanted,” he said. “And that the only reason they stayed was to steal my private information.”
“No, we would have known if…” The guard pissed his pants as the dagger dug into his flesh hard enough to draw a bead of blood. “Please, don’t kill us.”
He curled his lips in disgust. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t.”
“We…” The younger one cleared his throat. “I…I…have kids.”
“They have my condolences.” Stanton stiffened as his phone gave a distinctive ring. “Bollocks,” he breathed, straightening to pull out the phone and press it to his ear. “Sir, I’m afraid there’s a problem,” he said, pacing away from the guards as he listened to his master’s icy reprimand. “No, we have the male Pantera, but there’s been a breach in our security. I have my men trying to track them down.” He grimaced at the mere thought of his security chasing after the escaped Pantera. There was no way in hell the guards were going to catch the animals before they reached the Wildlands. “I fear it’s too dangerous for you to travel to New Orleans until we can be certain that we haven’t been compromised.” He winced, capable of feeling the fury humming through the phone. “Yes, I know we’re running out of time, but we can’t risk having you exposed. I will call as soon as it’s safe.” Pushing the button to end the long-distance connection, he turned to stalk back toward the guards who cowered on the floor. “You made me disappoint the man I consider my father,” he said, holding the dagger so the silver blade shimmered in the overhead lights.
“We’re sorry,” the pudgy guard sobbed, his face pale with terror.
“Not yet.” Stanton crouched down, a deadly smile curving his lips. “But you will be.”
***
Payton stood at the window of her office in the Wildlands, watching the tall, dark Hunter stride away from the Diplomats’ official headquarters. Even from a distance she could detect the rigid line of his spine and the stiff set of his shoulders.
With a grimace she hoped that there weren’t any humans remaining on the borders. She knew that Hakan had been working with Parish to clear away any reporters who were foolish enough to linger despite Raphael’s warning that there would be no more interviews. In his current mood he might create a diplomatic disaster.
It was the sixth time he’d tried to see her since they’d returned to the Wildlands ten hours ago and she’d retreated to this place that’d always been her haven.
She told herself that her refusal to speak with Hakan was necessary. After all, she might not be a warrior, but she did have the skills that could help them learn more about their enemies. For now, she needed to concentrate on deciphering the files.
But deep in her heart, she knew that the true reason she was avoiding the Hunter was beca
use she couldn’t hide her intense physical arousal whenever he was near.
It’d been bad enough before she knew what she was missing. Now the memory of being wrapped in those strong male arms as he buried himself deep into her body made her ache with the need to ignore everything but the physical pleasure he could offer her.
Giving a sharp shake of her head, Payton stepped through the door that led to the communal room where a dozen computers had been arranged on a long table. Each of them was running the fragmented files through the filtering programs in an attempt to piece them back together.
At her entrance a tall, dark male with blue eyes and buzzed haircut rose to his feet.
Xavier was leader of the Geeks and one of her dearest friends.
“Anything?” she asked.
He arched a dark brow, planting his hands on his hips. “The program’s still running,” he said. “Just as it was fifteen minutes ago.”
It’d only been fifteen minutes? Shit, it’d felt like an eternity.
She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t mean to pester you. I’m…”
“Trying to avoid the large Hunter who keeps stalking through our offices causing panic?” Xavier finished as her words trailed away.
“Yeah.” No use trying to lie. This male knew her too well. “I’m not ready to speak to him.”
His gaze never wavered. “It’s none of my business, but I suspect that you’ve been doing more than speaking with Hakan.”
She bit her bottom lip. There was no way to hide Hakan’s musk that continued to cling to her skin.
And if she was being honest, she didn’t want to.
She liked being surrounded in his comforting scent.
“You’re right, it’s none of your business,” she said before she realized how bitchy she sounded. This male wasn’t being nosy. He truly cared about her. “Oh, hell. I’m sorry, Xavier,” she muttered, shoving her fingers through her tangled copper curls.
He moved forward to place a finger beneath her chin, tilting back her head so he could study the shadows beneath her eyes.
“Don’t be. You’re like a sister to me, Payton,” he said. “Which means that I’ve been tempted to kick Hakan’s ass more than once for hurting you.” He held her gaze. “If you need me to take care of him, I will.”