****
Two hours later, after a detour to Kira’s to retrieve her father’s package and some of her clothes and toiletries, the three of them were settled in the living room of Jace and Kip’s condo. Kipper and Kira chatted with each other as if they were old friends. Their growing intimacy irritated Jace. It’s just the imprint. I’m feeling this way because of biology.
While his friend and his target talked about Kira’s father, Jace sat nearby with his laptop, pretending to be working on the write-up for his surveillance on the cheating husband for his client. He glanced down at the to-do list application on his phone. He had to complete the write-up of last night’s surveillance, conduct a couple of records checks that were due to another client by tomorrow afternoon, and input financial transactions into his spreadsheet. Life didn’t stop because he’d imprinted on a girl hunted by a pack of lycans.
“Well, will you, Jace?” Kira asked.
Jace looked up at the sound of his name. “Huh?”
“He’s not even listening to us. Or are you pretending to work on your computer?” Kipper winked.
This situation was going to be intolerable. Jace had been avoiding eye contact with his best friend because with every chance Kipper got, he’d say something inappropriate or make some obscene gesture to tease him about Kira. The innuendos weren’t lost on her, Jace was sure, but she feigned not hearing them or knowing their meaning.
Of course he was working. It was the only way to manage his frustration over the fact that Kira was more at ease with Kipper than with him, the man who’d saved her life just last night. “I’m working. I have a long list of things that are due.” Jace stared evenly at Kipper.
“For your cases?” Kira asked.
Jace nodded.
Kira let out a sigh. “I should probably check in with my department.”
“Department?” Jace asked.
“Yes. I’m working on my PhD thesis in archeology. I have a qualifying exam next semester.”
“Like your father,” Kipper stated.
Kira smiled. “I’m following in his footsteps. I believe he wanted it that way. When I was a little girl…” Kira paused. A shadow crossed her face. She swallowed thickly. “Before I was sent away, my father insisted I spend more time reading history than studying biology. I had thought I loved animals more, but the dirt calls me like it did him, and I remember how fun it was to spend all day digging in it.”
Jace narrowed his gaze on her throat. His ears tuned out every sound but her heartbeat. It was rapid, and her throat remained stiff. She was sent away as a child?
“Ah, fragrant and smart,” Kip remarked.
“Kipper,” Jace warned.
Kipper cleared his throat. “That’s my cue. I’ve got to get some sleep anyway. I’m on detail tonight.” He stood.
“Detail?” Kira asked curiously.
A confident grin spread across Kipper’s face. “I lead a team in patrolling parts of the city. We also do a bit of reconnaissance outside the borders and operate a source network within. It’s pretty complicated.”
“It’s not,” Jace said under his breath.
“I’ll be in my room if you need anything.” Kipper winked at Jace before shooting Kira a serious look. “Do yell if he gets too frisky.”
Kira blushed. Jace stood slowly, his gaze on Kipper, who took the hint and hurried out of the room.
Kira’s uncertain gaze found Jace. Her hands disappeared beneath her thighs and she leaned back casually into the couch cushions, although her stiff position gave away her feelings of uneasiness.
Jace closed his laptop and set it aside. He ignored her fear of him and wondered instead about the statement she had said earlier. Before I was sent away… Her father hadn’t raised her? What of her mother? When exactly had she been born? During Dr. Warner’s tenure with the Bana clan? Jace barely recalled that name. His father had had him on a strict schedule almost from birth. Combat lessons twice a day, in the morning and the evening, with a myriad of hunting assignments and leadership roles in between his lessons and school. He knew a bit of Bana clan history from the books his father had had him read, but Jace preferred studying criminal cases.
Kira had since picked up a leather-bound book Jace surmised was one of her father’s journals. She silently read on the couch.
“You said your father sent you away?” Jace interrupted.
Kira looked up from her book. Her lips drooped into a frown. She nodded. “My mother died when I was young…maybe five years old? It’s hard for me to remember that night. Soon after, my father sent me to live with an older woman who was a friend of my parents.” Her eyes narrowed. She tossed the book aside. “I did not like her. I counted the days until my high school graduation.” She smiled with wicked glee. “I left that day. Literally, right after we tossed those caps in the air. I had secured a summer internship with one of my father’s former colleagues and after that, I went to college.”
Her voice shook slightly, and Jace wasn’t sure if it was due to her anger at her upbringing, or her father. “Why did he send you away? Because of your mother?”
Kira shrugged. “He’s never said. Only that it was safer if I was away from him.” She stared out the window, off into the distance, as the setting sun bathed the city in an orange glow. “I think he blames himself for her death. Maybe he couldn’t stand to look at me because I look like her.”
“I doubt that,” Jace said softly. Whatever the man’s reasons, he clearly wanted her safe.
Kira sighed loudly. “Well, whatever. I’ve been doing everything I could think of to find him. I called the university where I thought he was a visiting professor, I checked in with his old colleagues. Kip was my last hope…” Her voice trailed.
“I’m sorry.” He came up behind her. Her jaw was firmly set, arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes, however, held a bit of moisture along the brim. An overwhelming sensation of compassion struck him and he resisted the urge to draw her into his arms and comfort her. “For what it’s worth,” he whispered, “if I hadn’t been on surveillance that evening, I wouldn’t have been in the alley yesterday. Who knows what would’ve happened?”
“I might be with my father right now,” she said softly. The look in her eyes was distant.
“Maybe. Or dead. We don’t know what their motive is.”
“I’m a seer, Jace. They’d probably want me alive.”
“Until they discovered you don’t know how to use your powers.”
She closed her eyes and sighed. All arguments ceased. It was then that Jace’s resistance broke down and his hands found her shoulders. She stiffened slightly, but her eyes remained closed. He began kneading away the tension in her muscles and slowly, over the course of a few quiet minutes, she relaxed beneath his touch.
“That feels amazing. Are all lycans good message therapists?”
Jace snorted. “Why do you ask that? Because our hands are huge?”
Kira shrugged. “I don’t know much about you except for what I read in my father’s journals.”
“And what did you read?”
Kira slipped out of his touch and faced him. “I read about what imprinting does to you. How these feelings…they’re out of your control. I appreciate the massage, but you don’t have to do something you don’t really want to do.”
She sidestepped him, but his hand caught her arm. Jace held her gaze. He shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”
“Isn’t it?”
“I wanted to save you before I imprinted on you.”
“So…”
“So, giving you a massage—”
“Isn’t impulse-driven?” She smiled sadly.
Hardly, but he wasn’t able to tell when his will dropped off and the imprinting took over. All he knew was that his hands wanted to do more than just massage a few tight muscles. And that’s the imprint in me. “I’m not sure, and that’s the truth.”
The sadness vanished from her face and the tightness around her mouth relaxed. S
he nodded her understanding.
Jace looked at the blue-and-purple bump on her forehead. He reached a hand out to touch it. “Does it still hurt?”
This time, she didn’t wince when he touched her. His fingertips skimmed over the mound and traced the curve of her cheek and the path of her neck. She shuddered instead. Her eyes, however, never left his face. He heard her increase of breath and felt the rapid rhythm of her heartbeat beneath his fingers.
“It’s okay,” she breathed.
Her dark brown eyes were wide with fear. If I hadn’t imprinted… The only person who knew he’d feared imprinting was Kipper. After leaving the clan, he had spent his life trying to be a normal human — except for using his lycan hearing, every now and then, to eavesdrop during an assignment. If Kira was uneasy about the effects of imprinting on him, then he was terrified.
Except he wasn’t.
His mood swings were completely insane, however. Not knowing where she was or if she was in danger; seeing her practically in Kipper’s arms; his uncle’s unnecessarily long greeting. Despite his increased heart rate and the feeling that he could transform in half the time it would normally take him, he was determined for Kira to trust him and be at ease around him as she had instantly been with Kipper.
Jace let out a long breath to stem the rising tide of irrational jealousy. Kipper knew she belonged to him. His friend would never come between him and Kira. If necessary, Kipper would remove himself from the picture out of loyalty to him. Kipper — the ever-proud lycan — was himself waiting to imprint on some lucky girl.
His fingers lingered on her skin, his heightened lycan sense of touch feeling her heartbeat, which maintained its rapid pace. Her gaze remained on his face, her brown eyes wide, perhaps with fear. “Are you scared…of me?”
Her cheeks reddened when she smiled. “No, not you.”
“Then what?” he rushed to say, a bit overwhelmed that he wasn’t the cause of her anxiety. “Whatever it is, I’ll take care of it.”
She chuckled. “You sound a bit mobster-ish.”
“Mobster-ish? Because I want to take care of you?” His fingers traced a path around her small ear and down to the soft skin underneath. She shuddered beneath his touch, bit her lip, and remained silent. “Look,” he continued. His hand came to rest on her shoulder. “I know your father told you not to trust anyone but Kipper, but in my defense, your father…he doesn’t know me, or know that—”
“That you imprinted on me? That you have no choice but to protect me?”
His hand dropped from her and he walked toward the kitchen. He needed a stiff drink, quick. “You say it like if I had a choice, I’d walk away.”
“Like you’re doing now.”
He rotated to see her teasing grin. “I didn’t walk away when I saw those three in the alley with you and that was before I imprinted,” he said without jest.
“Fair enough.” She joined him in the kitchen and took a seat at the island. “Can I have one too?” She pointed to the bottle in his hand.
“Sure.” He grabbed another tumbler from the dish drainer and poured them both a drink. He threw his back while Kira sipped hers. “I hope you can learn to trust me, Kira.”
“I already do. You saved my life and I owe you—”
“No.” He put a hand up. “I don’t want you to trust me out of obligation.” He came around the island and took a seat next to her. “I want you to trust me because…because you want to.”
She grabbed one of his hands. Her eyes held an intensity he hadn’t witnessed before. “I’m eternally grateful to you for saving me last night. And I know you’re willing to protect me, and not just because you imprinted on me. Although…” Her gaze dropped and her tawny cheeks went crimson again. “It is kinda nice to have a bodyguard who can’t help himself.” She raised her eyes to meet his.
He relaxed and intertwined his fingers with hers. “You’re making fun of me.”
“No, no, no.” She giggled nervously.
Her heartbeat was erratic. He sensed her blood warming, and the softest hint of pheromones. Jace’s own body responded with a heat surging through him.
“I…I’m just…”
“I can’t control myself and you think it’s hilarious.”
“No!” She laughed. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make light of the situation.”
Jace kept a stern expression on his face. He popped up from his seat and turned away, to keep from giving away his own jesting.
Her hand squeezed his and she pulled him back around. “Come on, I’m sorry. You know I wasn’t trying to be mean.”
He cracked a grin.
She playfully slapped him on the arm. “Now who’s teasing whom?” Her cheerful laugh rang out in the condo.
He took her other hand in his and shared a laugh with her. When the joviality died down, Jace didn’t release her hands, nor did she pull them away. He sensed her nervousness by the increased and irregular beat of her heart. He stepped forward and pulled her from her seat. “Please trust me,” he said quietly.
“You don’t have to beg.”
“I will if you want me to.” And he meant it. Every part of him was humming in expectation as a stronger dose of pheromones washed over him. He swallowed, and wished he had poured himself another drink so he could reach for it and take a swig. Something was happening to him. Not only was his skin on fire but also an urge to mate was building at an alarming rate.
Her lips parted, but she didn’t speak. Jace couldn’t read the strange look on her face as she continued to hold his gaze. His own blood was boiling and flowing to places that would soon take control of his mental judgment. Her full lips remained parted and his gaze dropped to take them in. Her heartbeat thundered and her breath ceased.
She still held on to his hands.
Taking a risk, Jace released her hands and wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her into his arms. He dropped his head and gently pressed his lips to hers. She didn’t pull away at first. Her body shuddered and her lips clung to his momentarily. “Wait!” she cried, leaning back.
“Why?” he asked gruffly. His hand settled on the back of her neck and guided her back to his mouth.
He tasted the strong flavor of the drink on her pillowy lips, smelled the faint, soft scent of her perfume. Her skin heated beneath his touch and the sensitive receptors on his skin felt the slightest bit of moisture. A light moan escaped her, and then a heavy groan as she tore herself from his arms. She backed away into the kitchen sink, shaking her head the whole way.
For a minute, neither of them spoke. She breathed rather heavily, a look of profound shock in her eyes. But her gaze seemed to go through him until she blinked and refocused on him. “I know why you’re kissing me, but I don’t know why I’m kissing you.” Her voice shook.
“It’s not what you think.”
“Yes, it is. You’re under the imprinting influence and I…I…I’m under…” She didn’t finish. She stood there staring at him in disbelief and amazement. Was she trying to deny her attraction?
Jace slowly closed the distance between them. Her lips trembled, whether from the fear he read in her eyes or their passionate kiss, he wasn’t sure. What he did know was that she wasn’t afraid of him — the kiss, maybe. He placed his hands on the counter on either side of her, cutting off any possible way of escape, and forcing himself not to touch her again.
Now he was trembling. His father… The image of the man filled Jace’s vision. Was this how it had started with Byron Bana and the woman he raped? My mother… Had she had the same look of fright on Kira’s face now? Had she been afraid of Byron? Had she felt any attraction to him at all?
Jace forced himself back from her. He retreated to the other side of the island. Her heartbeat slowed to a normal rhythm and her facial features relaxed. “That was my fault,” he said in a scratchy voice, his desire still surging within. “I’ll try to keep my distance.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Whatever you nee
d to find your father, I can help,” he insisted, hoping he hadn’t ruined any trust he’d built with her in the last few minutes.
“Kip, too?”
Did they really need him? “Kip too,” he agreed. He had read her father’s letter and wasn’t sure why the man placed such value on Kipper. Was he loyal? To a fault. But if Kipper hadn’t seen her father in a long time, nor talked to him…
“You’re wondering about Kip, aren’t you?” She assessed him with a curious gaze.
“Maybe.” He didn’t want to lie, but he also didn’t want to appear jealous of Kip and her instantaneous confidence in him.
“It might have something to do with history.”
“What does?” He sat opposite her at the island.
“My father wrote an extensive history of the clan. Kip is still involved with them, right? And you aren’t?”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t—”
“No, I don’t mean anything negative by it. I’m thinking Kip will be able to move freely within the clan.” She averted her gaze and reached for the bottle. She poured herself another shot and the liquid sloshed over the side of the glass. “What you said earlier about your uncle…” Her hand shook as she took a sip.
Jace eyed her curiously. “What about him?”
She downed the drink in one gulp. Instead of meeting his gaze and explaining, she slid off the stool and headed toward the bathroom. “Never mind.”
Jace watched as the door closed behind her. As soon as he had an opportunity, he’d read her father’s journals. It wouldn’t hurt to know a little more history about the Bana clan and Kipper’s relationship with the archeologist.
Chapter Three
One More Makes Four