Hunger's Mate (25 page)

“I need you,” he said before licking his lips, his voice deep, gruff, sexy as hell. “I need you to tell me everything you know about the Shadow Shifters and about that thing called ADAM.”

*   *   *

Ezra, the man, was very intelligent. He hadn't graduated tops in his private school classes as Eli had, but that could be attributed more to the awakening, his
acordado
that had occurred just three days before his sixteenth birthday. He'd missed more than a few days from school because his parents were afraid his desire for a female was simply too strong to be safe. They had no idea, then, how accurate they really were. His cat, on the other hand, worked on instinct alone. Its cunning and guile a part of its genetic makeup, along with the DNA that led it through its entire life with one sole purpose—to find its mate.

For the weeks he'd been in Perryville he'd been inextricably drawn to Jewel Jenner. Now he knew why. She'd held a part of his past, a very painful part, and he doubted she had any idea. He'd admitted to needing her, then quickly followed up to make it seem like that need was related solely to the issue with Crowe. It wasn't, but it was safer for both of them to think that way.

“Those diamonds over there,” he said while pulling a black T-shirt from the duffel bag he'd kept in the SUV over his head. Just a moment ago he'd pulled on new boxer briefs and jeans. “They're from a mine in the Sierra Leone.”

While his other jeans were in shreds from his shifting, his boots were still intact as he hadn't been wearing them at the time. He didn't put them on just yet, but leaned back against the dresser, folding his arms over his chest instead.

She shook her head. “They were in his safe. I took them from there.”

Ezra nodded. “And you never thought to sell them, did you? You were going to use them as insurance against Captain Lawrence Crowe, the man you were sleeping with.”

She sucked in a breath then, her eyes closing as she held her head down for a fraction of a second, before lifting it to look directly at him. “Yes, I was sleeping with him. And then I decided to leave. Yes, I needed insurance because he said he would never let me go, he would never let me live without him. I was safe as long as I had the diamonds.”

She was telling the truth, partially, Ezra thought grimly. Always partially with her. Only now, they were running out of time, and he couldn't afford to simply wait until she came around and decided to bare all to him. Answers were needed now if they were going to hopefully save more lives, and save the Shadow Shifter secret.

“There's more, isn't there? More that you found that you're not saying. I'm going to guess that Crowe had some information regarding that ADAM thing in the safe and you found it. I'm also going to guess that's what led you to Perryville.”

She tilted her head then, a ghost of a smile lifting the left side of her mouth. “Do Shadow Shifters have telepathy as well, Ezra? Tell me, are there more secrets your breed is hiding from Crowe? Is that why he was really looking into Perryville?”

Her words didn't rub him the wrong way, they didn't incite a flash of anger, which he suspected she'd been looking for, and they did not evoke any fear. If Jewel Jenner wanted to tell the world about the Shadow Shifters, she would have already done so. Just like if she'd wanted to sell those diamonds and run away to another country, she would have done that as well. No, there was more to what she was saying, or wasn't saying.

“Why don't you just tell me?” he implored. “You can trust me, Jewel.”

“Can I?” she asked. “Can I trust a man who walks around with his chest all puffed out, his dick hard whenever he gets near me, panting with need, his words smooth and arrogant? Can I trust someone who just showed up from across the country using an alias to work at a company for lord knows what reasons?”

When Ezra didn't immediately respond, she continued.

“Tell me why exactly I should trust you when you've been less than forthcoming with me this entire time. The only thing I can truly believe that you said was that you wanted me. Well, now you've had that,” she said, shrugging. “What else do you want from me?”

“I want you to trust me enough to tell me everything that happened between you and Crowe. I want to know why you're running from him and what other insurance you have against him. But really, first priority,” he said with a wry chuckle that had no inkling of humor in it. “First priority is finding that motherfucker so I can put my foot on his throat for daring to have you arrested and caged.”

She moved quickly then, going to her backpack and pulling something out. Turning, and with the right arm of an experienced pitcher, she hurled two flash drives at him. Moving on instinct he caught them, holding them tight in his palm.

“Take them, dammit! The information on them is more than three years old but if you want to know what Crowe's about, here they are.” She was on the move again, grabbing the black velvet bag and kneeling down to begin picking up the diamonds. “But these are mine,” she said, intent and anger mixing to flash brightly in her eyes. “I earned them and I'm taking them with me. Once I'm gone this time nobody will ever find me. I'm doing what I should have done in the first place, getting the hell out of here forever!”

Ezra heard her words and something inside him exploded. He pushed away from the dresser, going to her and grabbing her by the arm, pulling her up to his chest. “I can't let you,” he told her. “I won't let you go!”

She pulled away and he instantly felt bad. He knew he'd hurt her when he grabbed her and he was ashamed. He was also very aware of the feelings churning inside him. The thought of her leaving made him feel desperate. While the thought of her staying and being in danger of him, of all people, scared him shitless.

Desperation won the battle and he stayed close to her, so close she could do nothing but breathe and glare at him with the same confusion and anger and desire that ripped through his insides like a raging storm.

Jewel was about to say something to him, to most likely tell him to go straight to hell and make no U-turns, when a cell phone rang. She looked at him, then down at her hip where there was a bulge in her jeans. Pulling out her cell she put it to her ear and said in a voice far more shaky than it had been just a few seconds ago, “Hello?”

Then her face went pale, her eyes growing larger, her chest heaving up and down as she shook her head.

“Who is it?” Ezra said, moving close to her again.

She did not speak, just kept shaking her head. Tears filled her eyes while she held the phone to her right ear.

“Jewel, I said—” Ezra stopped the second a tear fell from her eyes, rolling down her cheek in one big drop. Cursing, he grabbed the phone from her hands.

“Hello? Hello?” he yelled. “Dammit, I said hello?”

“You keep my daughter safe. You keep her from this asshole,” a raspy old voice said just before another, deeper, angrier voice took over.

“You need to return what belongs to me before I slit her father's throat then send ADAM and the rest of his friends out to hunt her down like the bitch in heat she's always been!”

*   *   *

“He will kill him,” she whispered, falling to her knees in the center of that old motel room, diamonds still scattered across the floor around her. “He will kill my father.”

Ezra's teeth clenched at her words, the desolate sound of her voice reaching deep inside his chest and squeezing until he almost wheezed for breath. Her head dropped as she whispered those same words over and over again until Ezra thought the sound of them was akin to a hot-bladed knife sticking him in the side. No, it had been his back, along the base just before his buttocks began. That was where Acacia had attempted to brand him, to make him her sex slave for the rest of his life. He'd stopped her that night with a tight fist around her wrist, so tight it should have broken the bony body part in half. But she'd been stronger than he'd imagined, stronger and crazier because the forceful sex that followed his rage at being cut had turned her on.

He went to his knees in front of Jewel, touching her shoulders with the gentlest movement he could manage.

“No. He won't. I won't let him,” he promised her.

She jerked away from him instantly. “You are not a god! You cannot save the world! You cannot save my father from that maniac! You couldn't even stop that thing he created!”

Right was right, Ezra thought dismally. He hadn't been able to stop ADAM but he vowed that would be the first and last time that happened.

“Look at me,” he insisted and when she didn't immediately reply he shook her shoulders sternly. “Look at me, Jewel.”

Her head lifted slowly and the sight of her tearstained cheeks slapped him with full force. His teeth gritted as he tried to tamp down on the anger boiling within his gut. “I will not let him hurt you or your father. Not now or ever, do you understand me? Not ever,” he repeated, the words a mantra growing with intensity in his mind.

Moving his hands from her shoulders to her cheeks, he used his thumbs to wipe away the tears before lowering his forehead to hers. “I will protect you with my life,” he said softly. “With everything I am.”

“Why?” was her instant response. “You don't know me, you don't know why, you don't—”

Ezra kissed her, his lips touching hers with just enough force to quiet her, enough contact to arouse him. Her hands came up to clasp his wrists as she kissed him back. Again their lips touched, then their tongues, a soft moist heat that spread through him immediately. The urge to take was instinctive, his heart pounding with the thought of spreading her legs and thrusting deep and hard inside her. His mind warred with a vision of wanting, no, needing something more, something on another level entirely.

Inside the cat called to its mate, its other half and Ezra could no longer ignore it. He had to accept, he thought when his eyes opened to see hers staring back at him. He could not walk away from her and would not let her walk away from him. It was inevitable, just as the shaman had predicted it would be.

He kissed her again, this time holding her gaze as his tongue slipped inside her mouth, rubbing along hers like they were old friends. No, not friends, lovers—always lovers and mated forever. Those words echoed in his head as if he'd actually said them to her.

He pulled her closer, until they both were lifting up, still on their knees but the top halves of their bodies coming upward until they were completely touching. Her hands slid up his arms, pausing on his right bicep where his tat was and resting there for a moment. The spot warmed to the point of burning, his chest rising and falling with the incessant pressure from his cat. It wanted out, wanted to once again rub its fur-lined body against the softness of her skin. It had enjoyed the opportunity of scenting her through its own nose, having it sift through the length of its six-foot, two-hundred-and-seventy-pound animal body. When it had gotten close enough to her, when she'd let its tongue touch her hand, it had purred its pleasure, and now wanted more.

Ezra, however, held the cat on a tight leash. It would settle for what it could get through him. As for the darkness that still invaded his body and much of his senses, Ezra fought with all his strength to keep that away from Jewel as well. He would not hurt her and vowed to do whatever was necessary to keep that from happening.

When she'd looked up into his eyes he'd seen trust and longing, desire that meant more to him in that moment than any part of his past had. If she could trust after all she'd been through, then he could fight what was inside of him, he could push past that dark part that believed she would at some point become his victim. He would fight with all that he was to make sure no harm came to her from anyone, least of all himself. Because she was his mate. It was that simple and that monumental, all at the same time.

“I can't get enough of your taste,” he whispered, his lips dying to touch her skin once more.

Her hands had finally moved from his biceps, up to cup the back of his head where she held firm, keeping his lips perfectly aligned with hers. There was strength here and determination. She wanted just as desperately as he did.

“This has never happened before,” she told him, her teeth biting at his lower lip. “No matter how much he demanded, I never felt like this. Ever.”

“Because you didn't belong to him,” was Ezra's immediate and just a bit harsh response.

She stilled, waiting until his tongue had traced a long, hot line along her neck, and he came face-to-face with her once more. “I don't belong to anyone,” she told him with undeniable defiance.

A part of him wanted to reply that she belonged to him, but he held that thought, knew that it was not the time or the place for her to accept that small fact. Instead, he would show her.

“I need you, Jewel,” he readily admitted. “I need every part of you.”

She blinked at his reply, her hands tightening at his neck once again, her body pressing even closer to his. Ezra didn't hesitate but pushed his hand beneath the hem of her shirt until he could unsnap the hook of her bra. When it was loose, he pushed her shirt up, leaning back only to give her space to lift her arms so he could pull it up over her head. The bra went with it, tossed on the floor alongside the forgotten—for the moment—diamonds.

In seconds her breasts, heavy, full, lush, were filling his palms. His mouth watered and before he could think of anything else, he was dipping his head to take one thick nipple into his mouth. He did growl then. The feel of the turgid pebble rubbing along his tongue as he suckled, the weight of her mound as his hand kept a firm hold, sent ripples of pleasure throughout his body. His dick was so hard, the need to be inside her so desperate, the zipper of his jeans was about to rip. He palmed the other breast, bringing it closer to its mate and tilted his head so that each delectable mound was touching his face. His tongue slipped from one nipple to the next while she pressed further into his embrace, her breathing hitching each time he licked over her skin.