Vision Revealed (25 page)

side for the rest of my life.”

Jin’s heart pounded so hard in her chest she was positive the change would take over in

spite of her efforts to keep it at bay. Never in her life had a male stood up for her like this.

But more than that. Kane just declared his love for her, the extent that he honored her,

and in simple words stated why. Suddenly it didn’t matter what the other hunters thought.

Nor did it matter what would happen after this meeting. She was a fool to think she

should walk away from Kane.

“Jin won’t die tonight,” Race announced. He looked pointedly at Tore who muttered his

agreement.

“Tell us what you know,” Josh said.

“We’re not going to kill you,” Thad concurred.

“Right. It isn’t your death that will bring closure to all of this,” Josh added.

Kane moved to the nearest table and pulled out a chair, taking Jin and seating her before

she fell over. He smelled her pride when he announced his feelings for her in front of the

hunters. Grabbing the chair next to her, he waited for her to continue and listened as his

female shared the atrocities she endured while under the hold of her sire.

“After my sire moved us to Arizona, he once again left me alone for the most part.” Jin

reached for her beer, managing several swallows before placing the mug on the table and

then staring at it for a moment. “Life smelled so much better without him in it.”

“I bet,” Race grumbled.

Jin laughed dryly, although there wasn’t much humor in her scent. Kane watched the

hunters closely, aware of their eyes all on her. He would have expected to see disgust in

their faces, or even pity, but as she continued speaking, her voice soft and gentle as she

pulled memory after memory from her brain, what he saw surprised him. They appeared

astonished and a few times disbelieving and wary. It wasn’t that they disbelieved her

horrific story. Kane realized as he studied each one of them they were shocked at this

new Jin. The only Jin they’d ever known wore a black wig, existed only in dead animal

flesh and way too much makeup.

“It was during this time when I learned very well how leopards viewed my breed. No

matter what bar or night club I went to, making friends was almost an impossible task. I

didn’t despise being alone, but there were times when I longed for company, for a group

of friends to hang out with.”

She took breaks, studying her fingernails that no longer were painted, or to draw lines

with her nails over her blue jeans. No one interrupted her as she took her time

remembering and sharing her life with all of them.

“When I reached my early twenties, my sire started coming around more. He returned

home with a new female, once again one who wasn’t a white leopard. I don’t remember

her name. She didn’t hang around long and then there were others. My sire didn’t seem to

have problems gathering friends in spite of his full-blooded heritage. There started to be a

handful of males and females in our den living with us. During the few times I joined

them for the evening kill, I started piecing together bits and pieces of a grand plan they

were all howling about.”

Jin sat with her back straight and the knit sweater she wore hugging her large breasts and

narrow waist. Her pale blonde hair reflected the light from the fire, giving it a healthy

shine. She was so beautiful with her hands folded in her lap and her gentle features giving

her an almost angelic look. When she told everyone how she confronted her sire one

evening, threatening to expose him after learning of his plot to abduct leopards who had

strong visions, sparks of energy sizzled in the air around them. The hostile energy didn’t

drown out her compelling scent. Her sire beat her that night, almost taking her life, but

then standing over her told her she wasn’t worth killing. He would allow her to exist in

the nightmare she claimed he was creating.

“I started wearing heavy makeup after that day, basically to cover the bruises. The

beating I took that night healed quickly but I discovered with enough makeup I wasn’t

shunned quite as quickly at the local clubs. I found a black wig and then eye contacts and

suddenly the world changed for me. Everyone assumed I was a regular leopard, not a rare

breed to be wary of. That was when I met my first hunter,” she told them, turning her

attention to Tore. “It was your sire. He came to the house, confronting my sire, and the

two of them got into it. Leo laughed at the idea of hunters, announcing they were no more

than pawns at the mercy of all of our species. He told your sire there was no honor in

being a servant to the community.”

“My sire never mentioned meeting him,” Tore growled.

“I doubt Leo was worth mentioning at the time. Hunters deal with so many derelicts and

my sire would have been just one more. During their conversation I learned hunters

didn’t know a lot about the other hunters. It was that week I took off, heading across the

country with no particular destination, just fed up with life at my den. When I ran into a

skirmish in a bar one night, I was able to settle the fight by announcing I was a hunter.

After that I held on to the title and for the first time knew respect and honor from anyone

I met.”

“That explains why there was no traceable history on you,” Thad mused.

Jin nodded, although she didn’t appear apologetic. “When Leo announced on the

Panthera Incognito website he would be uniting leopards who were stronger and more

powerful than most, I knew holding the title of hunter would appeal to him. He was so

proud of my title he didn’t even smell the lies I told him as to how I gained the rank.”

“Yet he told my sire it was a despicable rank,” Tore growled.

“Yes, he did. But now having an offspring with the rank appealed to him. For the first

time in my life, my sire howled about me with pride. He was anxious to introduce me to

anyone who came to our den. And more and more leopards were showing up, all filled

with the stench of starting a new line of leopard, of creating a master race who would be

stronger and better than everyone else.”

“Why didn’t you try to stop it at that point?” Race asked, smelling sincerely curious.

“I’d heard them talk about this for years,” Jin explained. “Nothing ever came of their

howling. I was gaining somewhat of a reputation for being a hunter and traveled a lot,

taking care of disputes and arguments among different communities down that way.”

Kane listened to what Jin said, but what he heard were the words she hissed at him

earlier while they waited in the parking lot. Her plans were to leave. He smelled it on her

as well. She’d refused to open her heart to him. Granted, he only had four days but it

hadn’t been enough time to make her fall in love with him.

He smelled her honor, her admiration of him. Jin was proud of him, he’d picked up on

that emotion earlier when he fought for her right to continue living.

It was the worse part of having visions. Times like these were enough to make him wish

he never had the damn things. Kane knew beyond any doubt Jin was his mate. He’d seen

them together, older than they were now, and their den. But it was getting from here to

there that wasn’t clear. He wasn’t sure he could bear the thought of letting her go only for

them to meet up at a later date and then mate. He wanted her now. Not later.

Kane cleared his thoughts, knowing if he smelled worried it wouldn’t help Jin while she

discussed such delicate matters. As he managed to quit trying to speculate how things

would work out after they left here, the bar and hunters and Jin sitting next to him all

vanished.

He focused on the new vision, which appeared in front of him as a flash of light.

Maintaining steady breathing while a leopard flew through the air at him was damn near

impossible. If it weren’t for the intensity and regularity of his visions, Kane would be

discovered and called out on the spot by the hunters sitting around the bar with him.

Kane didn’t see the four hunters or Jin anymore. Instead, the harsh night wind whipped

around him, chilling him to the bone. He didn’t have time to focus on how fucking cold it

was though. A leopard landed next to him, the male in his fur with teeth and claw bared

and pounced on a male still in his flesh. Kane took in his surroundings quickly, noting the

rural home nearby, but then gave his full attention to the leopard who would kill the male

in a matter of moments.

There wasn’t time to think or focus on who else might be with him. Kane raced toward

the leopard who landed on the male. “Kill without honor and live the rest of your life

dishonored,” he howled, reaching the leopard and grabbing him by his coat between his

shoulder blades.

It was a fool’s act. Which was why it surprised the hell out of him when the leopard

tumbled to the side and continued rolling until he slithered away, as if he were part snake

hugging the ground as he scurried into the darkness.

“Do you really think provoking a leopard will further your cause?” Kane yelled at the

male, who still was on the ground.

“You’ve crossed the line being here,” the male snarled, slowly pushing himself to all

fours. His speech was slurred and rough. “No matter how many times it takes, we’ll set

traps and disrupt your runs until you accept that you need to hunt somewhere else.”

“This land isn’t claimed.” Kane didn’t have a clue how he knew that but he spoke with

enough confidence to make it sound true.

“It runs along land belonging to our pack.” The male stood, his hair tousled and his teeth

extended as he glared at Kane with silver eyes.

“Tomorrow I’ll speak with your pack leader.” Kane glanced over his shoulder as the

smell in the air changed. “Through proper channels leopards and werewolves can fight

and run without interfering with each other.”

The male facing him stiffened as it became apparent they were far from alone. As a

handful of werewolves appeared from the dark shadows along a grove of trees, from the

other side, heavy footsteps announced more company.

“You’ve got some explaining to do, werewolf,” Tore called out, impervious to the

members of his pack forming a wall of support behind him. “The den up the road

confirms a pack of werewolves broke into their garage less than an hour ago.”

Kane blinked when once again he sat at the table in the bar, the warmth from the fire

almost too much as his skin prickled underneath his shirt. He straightened his legs under

the table, feeling the tightness in his muscles from having not moved while he’d had his

vision. It sucked not knowing how much time passed where he didn’t know what went on

around him. Years of being yanked out of the present and thrown to some unknown time

in the future helped him maintain a calm resolve and not give away the fact he hadn’t

been paying attention to anything around him. More so, he hadn’t really been there, but

somewhere outside of town where werewolves were breaking into leopards’ dens.

Scratching his head, he focused on Jin’s profile, her tone pensive as she explained what

she’d heard from her sire after the Vision Controllers organization formed.

“Leo believed he’d destroyed VC,” she explained, shifting in her seat and putting down

her empty beer glass.

Last Kane knew that glass was well over half full. He took a moment, sniffing the air for

any new scents as he glanced at each hunter. None of them appeared to be giving him any

more attention than they had since he arrived. They weren’t aware he’d just had a vision.

Now all he needed to determine was how serious what he just witnessed was. Would it

happen tonight? Was that why it popped into his head? Or was he being shown

something down the road, yet even more verification he’d be staying in this area and

running to protect leopards and maintain peace between his kind and the werewolves.

“When he got wind of VC activity still going on up this way, he sent me to sniff out the

situation.”

“So you came up here a year ago to sabotage the efforts of my mate’s den,” Race

snarled. “You approached us as a hunter yet were doing the work of a leopard hell bent

on destroying our species. I’m having one hell of a hard time here, Jin Pard.” Race curled

his lip, making her name sound like an insult. “What proof do we have you’re here now

to make amends?”

“You can smell the truth on me.” Jin offered the obvious fact without batting an eye. She

sat relaxed, fingering her empty glass, although no one stepped forward to bring her a

fresh beer. Apparently only one mug was on the house. “I’m not asking for my rank as

hunter back.”

“Damn good thing,” Josh grumbled.

“Honestly, I’m not asking for anything.” She let out a loud sigh and stood, causing

tension to flare to life in the room. Ignoring the males around her when they straightened

in their chairs, Jin stretched and looked down at him. She looked exhausted. “I had hoped

by sharing everything I knew with all of you I’d be able to restore my honor and run from

this place knowing in my heart that in spite of damage done in the past, all of you would

know I would never do anything to jeopardize the leopard race.”

“That’s hard to believe when you’ve already admitted your association with the largest