Southern Shifters: Pryde and Precious (Kindle Worlds Novella) (5 page)

“John.” If he liked saying her name, he liked hearing his on her lips more. Ignoring the thought, he nodded to her. “What about the email do you want to discuss?”

Good girl.
She rose to the occasion. “Everything.”

A
rianna unlocked
her device and slid it across to John. If someone had told her she would spend twenty-four hours outside the sanctuary of her apartment, much less in the company of a shifter in an undisclosed location...
Well, not undisclosed. He said this was his place and a couple of hours from Deal’s Gap.
Since interrogating her about what she knew on Project Pryde and feeding her, John spent a lot of time on the phone and pacing. She’d finally dredged up the courage to ask for a shower and, fortunately, when he’d taken her he’d also taken some of her clothes.

Seated in his living room, she clasped her hands together and watched him page through the report on her digital tablet. His fierce expression kept her transfixed. The man moved with a sensuous grace and, when he focused, he radiated a wild kind of intensity. It disturbed her and fascinated her in equal turns. When he’d had his hand around her throat, she’d thought for sure he would kill her, and then he told her he would protect her.

None of it made any sense. Yet, when she’d fallen asleep he’d covered her with a blanket. When she woke, he was sitting nearby, his gaze vigilant.

“I can feel you staring at me,” he said, stroking his finger across the screen.

Heat flooded her face, but she didn’t look away. “I don’t understand you.”

He spared her a glance while taking a sip of his coffee. He drank a lot of it. “You’re very direct.”

The desire to apologize hovered on the tip of her tongue, but she resisted. “I’m trying to be honest and direct. I don’t understand you. Before yesterday, we’d never met, yet you’ve brought me here and you’ve promised to protect me. You’re taking care of me. What I don’t know is whether you’re lying to me and using me to get to the information you have in your hand or…I don’t know what.”

“Well, if it’s the former, I have the information. I don’t need you anymore.”

The story of her life. No one needed her. Her plants did, but John had them, too. “You haven’t killed me.”

“So that leaves us with your second, indistinct option.” His dry humor earned a reluctant chuckle from her. He was an odd man. “If you really want to know if you’re safe with me, read me. I’ll allow you to scan me.”

Rubbing her face, she shook her head. The dull ache behind her eyes spread like a vise around her skull. “I can’t read you.” Though she didn’t look at him, she could almost feel the full weight of his gaze resting on her. She had his attention. “I can’t really read anyone and I should probably not tell you this, but what the hell…I’m a pathetic Psi. I might as well be human. I’ve never had much in the way of telepathy. I can barely keep out anyone who really wants to get into my head, and my shields are like a tent made from old sheets. I’d have better luck keeping people out with a pillow fort.”

“Then why did they assign you to this project?”

“Dumb luck? Bad fortune? A mistaken identity?” She spread her hands, daring to glance at him. “I have no idea. I keep telling you, I’m a botanist. I didn’t even know who Darcy Ashwood was until I saw her name on some of the early research. After I sent the requests to the chem companies, I looked her up. She was an amazing telepath, profoundly strong…and she disappeared. One of the rumors says a shifter killed her for her work.”

“She’s not dead.” John placed the tablet on the coffee table and rose. Pacing to the windows, he studied something in the distance.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. She mated a snow leopard…a scout who used to work for the clans. He went AWOL and took his mate with him.”

“AWOL? Your military side is showing.” Still, it was a comfort to know the powerful telepath who’d come up with the plan for erasing scent wasn’t dead.

“He didn’t have much loyalty for those who’d given him shelter, and apparently the feeling was mutual.” His shrug echoed with discomfort. “As far as I know, she isn’t dead and neither is he. They are somewhere out west, happily mated, and living beneath the radar. It’s a good plan, considering if they had been found, they would have been banished.” Something in his tone tugged at her.

“Or worse?” She didn’t really need to ask.

“Or worse.” Twisting away from the window, he slid his hands into his pockets and studied her. “You’re feeling better.”

“That wasn’t a question.”

“No, but you’re feeling better.”

Was she? She rubbed her jaw. The soreness in her head seemed to be ever-present. “I have a headache.” She spread her hands to show him her palms. “And I still don’t know why they sent me this project or how this is supposed to end…or where my plants are.”

A brief smile softened his mouth. “You’re more worried about your shrubs than you are the project.”

“I can’t do anything about the project…but the plants are mine.” Chances were, no one knew she was missing. Simon never came to her apartment. All she had to do was answer her emails promptly—though she’d avoided reading anything new when she’d unlocked the tablet. She hadn’t even checked to see if the tablet connected to the Internet.

“Well, I hope you accept my apologies, but we can’t do anything about them at the moment. The team on your apartment scrubbed your presence, which meant everything had to be moved. I’ve put it into storage…”

“There were delicate experiments in my fridge. I need them to be maintained at the same temperature…”

“Arianna,” he said, raising a hand. “I understand your concerns. For now, I need your patience.”

Sucking in a deep breath, she tried to control her rapidly escalating pulse. “My patience.”

“Yes.” He glanced at the window again. A muscle ticked in his jaw, and his distant expression did nothing to ease the tension coiling in her gut.

Attempting a different course, she stood. “I’ve answered your questions.”

“As much as you were able, yes. Why were you chosen? What specialty do you possess that made them select you for Project Pryde?”

“I don’t know, and I told you I’m a botanist. I create hybrid flowers…”

“To what purpose?”

“To survive. Some of the world’s most beautiful flowers are found in remote areas with very specific climates. Others, such as those with medicinal purposes, bloom only in tropical regions. They could be beneficial to people in arid areas, but they cannot grow there.” Clenching her hands into fists, she fought to get her breathing under control. The last thing she wanted was another anxiety attack, but the panic swelling in her chest had other ideas. “My work could make lives better.”

“Human lives.”

“Lives. Does it matter if they are human? Shifter? Psi? We’re all human on some level. I don’t care what species you are…I care that I can improve life expectancy, quality of life, and that the hybrids I’m growing can do that. What if you could provide a hearty seedling, which can grow in the absence of light or regular water? What if its blooms can help with fever? Or illnesses? Or simply become a new source of food?” She blew out a breath and stared at the ceiling. “Do you have any idea how many lives were saved by dwarf wheat? Do you know how many are starving because their countries do not get enough rainfall? Or their soil is depleted?”

John raised his eyebrows. “No, but I’m already certain you know the answers. I will do what I can about your plants. All right?”

Hardly mollified, she pointed at the tablet. “You have what you wanted from me. Why don’t you just let me go?”

He swung away, not answering her, then began striding to the entrance. “Stay here.”

“What?” She stared to follow him. “We’re not done.”

Opening the front door, he glared at her. “I said
stay.
” Then he was out the door and it closed behind him.

Arianna stared after him. She wasn’t a dog or a pet. She didn’t have to obey his orders. All true, so why was she standing still? Scowling, she glanced at the door then the window. He’d told her to stay there—did that mean the living room? The spot she was in? The vise like pressure on her mind squeezed until she imagined she could feel her pulse behind her eye.

The sharp pain intensified. Minds. Three—no four new ones and they were close. Closing her eyes, she attempted to erect her shields. They crumbled faster than she could get the building blocks into place. Retreating from the window, she stumbled toward the sofa.

The Psi needs to be turned over to the council.

We should just execute her.

What are they up to?

The colonel doesn’t look happy with our presence.

Why can’t they leave the project alone?

Does she know where Ashwood and Nelson are?

The thoughts didn’t belong to her, and they collided in her mind. The anger rumbling beneath them, throbbing with barely restrained rage, simply dug the white hot pokers deeper into her mind. The sofa wasn’t far enough. On her hands and knees, she crawled across the living room toward the kitchen, then across the cold tile until she reached the decorative, pot-bellied stove in the corner. The metal was icy, but she pressed her cheek to it.

Old-fashioned cast iron helped her to stymy the flow of thoughts. The chilly surface of the floor combined with the cold of the iron suppressed the fire burning her synapses.

To build her shields, she needed to focus, and she flattened her palms against the metal. The colder it made her, the more clarity she gained. One brick at a time, she began to work on a barricade.

Why does he want to keep her here?

Inferon employs witches as well as humans in their military contracts division.

A whimper escaped her. She needed the flow of information to stop. It was why she liked her apartment and her isolated life. The animalistic nature of the voices in her mind didn’t help her concentration any.

One screen up, she retreated into her mind and slammed a second one into place, then a third. They were thread-bare, thin and utterly ineffectual against a real attack but they muted the voices. With every layer, the voices dimmed a little further until she was alone with her headache.

Curling into the corner next to the stove, she rubbed her face. Exhaustion swamped her, but she refused to collapse into a puddle. She’d bought herself time.

Now she needed real shields. John promised to protect her and from the reaction of the others, he seemed to be making good on his word. No matter what he told her, however, she needed to be able to function. Why his mind didn’t bombard her was a problem for another day…
Step one in shield construction, you have to calm down so you can feel the framework of your mind.

The litany of her previous instructors began to stream from her memory.
Breathe…

T
hough he’d expected
some push back, the council dispatching four of his men to retrieve Arianna went beyond routine. “Sir, I understand you want to keep her isolated, but they want a chance to question her directly.”

Folding his arms, John studied each of them. Unlike majority of the clan, he didn’t prefer company to solitude. At least the four they’d sent had the wisdom to only discuss what they’d come for and not push him. “I already told you, the Psi stays with me. For the time being, she is under my protection.”

Confusion sparked in Carter’s eyes. “Your protection? She’s the enemy.”

“The Psi are not our enemies.” They were simply another clan—a clan who had the right to protect themselves as he and their kind had the right to protect theirs. “She is a scientist and, from the sounds of it, not one who had anything to do with this project prior to two days ago. I will question her. I will determine what she knows or doesn’t.”

Daniel slanted a look at Carter then at him. While John had a passing familiarity with most of them, he knew Daniel best. The cat liked power. He also liked games of dominance. “John, no matter what you think, this isn’t your call. The council wants her. The council gets her. You should turn her over and return to your duties.”

Amusement curved through him. The other cat had no business giving him orders, much less thinking he could get away with exerting his strength. Locking gazes, John let his cat take a long look at the other. Claws flexed inside his soul, and Daniel bared his teeth. He took a step forward, but Carter stopped him with a raised hand. Yes, Daniel might think he had the power, but he couldn’t stand up to Carter. Carter definitely had no sway where John was concerned.

“John, we can’t go back empty handed.”

“Then don’t. Go after Inferon. Find out what they know and what they are doing. If they have a piece of the formula, they may not even understand what it is…that’s fine. We can have a virus implanted in their system, one which can corrupt their data.” He’d already considered their options.

“How do you expect us to do that?” Of course, Daniel challenged the suggestion.

Sparing him a half-smile, John almost hoped that the cat would go for him. It had been a long time since he’d been able to unsheathe his claws. “You’re the bright one. Figure it out.”

Daniel snarled, but Carter shook his head. “We can check with the council, but Inferon has more than humans for us to deal with…”

“Of course it does, that’s the point. Use our assets in the field.” The four ranged out, but despite Daniel’s tension the others remained relaxed. “Until I’m done with my interrogation, Miss Ferrars remains here. If you want to challenge my authority, feel free to try.”

Had Daniel been alone, the jaguar likely would have given it a shot. “No one wants to challenge you, sir,” Carter answered. The panther had served a military assignment as well, though he never rose above the rank of lieutenant. “Please understand, sir, you identified the threat. We were sent to deal with it.”

“Then deal with the threat. None of you will touch her. She is as much a victim of the project as the clan will be if someone makes it work.” Despite her reluctance to answer his questions, she’d not lied to him. If anything, her focus on her plants told him more about her than her lack of knowledge about the scent formula. Her focus was not on scent…was that why the council had selected her?
Dammit.
“You need to go.” He scanned the perimeter. “Now.”