Rapture Untamed (Feral Warriors #4)(16)

Stay where you can hear me,Olivia.

Of course, she replied, knowing full well she wouldn't.Can you hear me? Only once had she ever communicated telepathically, last week when she'd first met with Lyon at Feral House. Things had gone a little crazy when several of the Ferals had shifted unintentionally, and Lyon had pushed a request for the Therians' help into her head.

But she'd never tried to speak to someone telepathically herself.

I hear you loud and clear.

A horrible thought occurred to her. If he could hear her thoughts,could he read her mind? Real fear banded around her chest, squeezing her lungs.

Jag?

What is it,Olivia? he demanded, his voice sharp.

She must have communicated her fear, dammit. Calm down, calm down, calm down.

I was just wondering how this works. How many of my thoughts can you hear?

She heard his chuckle in her head.Worried I'll learn all your secrets ,Little Red? The lazy drawl was back.

Taking deep breaths, she struggled for control.Just wondering.

Relax,sweetheart ,I only hear the thoughts forcibly directed my way. Usually. Though as tuned to you as I am ,who knows. I might hear all the lurid things you want to do with my body.

Olivia pushed the hair back from her face with an unsteady hand. Was he toying with her? Or telling the truth? Shit. Could she take a chance?

With a groan, she started counting backward from a thousand. Anything,anything, to keep him from reading her mind. Because if he did, if he learned her secrets, her life wasgame over.

Jag took off on all fours, his cat's senses straining to pick up the foul scent he remembered all too well from the cavern where the Mage had first released the three wraith Daemons from the enchanted Daemon blade. The smell had reminded him of rotting meat, only worse. Much worse. As if evil itself had an odor.

Recognizing that scent should be easy if he came across it again. Unfortunately, that might prove a mighty big "if." Harpers Ferry was a long way from that cavern. In all probability, all they'd stumbled upon was the work of a human serial killer. A problem for the humans to deal with, not the immortal cavalry.

He padded through grassy yards, staying close to the bushes, where he could hide his true appearance as much as possible from prying eyes.

Too bad he hadn't been able to talk Olivia into joining him. He'd have enjoyed her company. The woman had claws, nice sharp little claws that dug into him in all the right places. As hard as she tried to hide her attraction to him, she failed. It flashed in her eyes and rose from her skin in a lush scent that stroked his loins until he turned hard and throbbing and ready.

He loved sex, had loved sex since he first stumbled upon a pair of teenage humans rutting in the woods when he was fourteen. The female had seen him and smiled, watching him as she screamed her release. The next day, she'd come alone and indoctrinated him into the carnal world - a world forbidden young Therians. But he'd never been much for following rules.

That was nearly three and a half centuries ago, hundreds of sexual partners ago, yet never could he remember feeling the blazing-hot attraction he felt for Olivia. If he'd thought she'd obsessed him before he'd tasted her skin and felt her explosive response to the heat of his hands, it was nothing compared to now. He could hardly think of anything beyond touching her, tasting her. Beyond the need to feel her shatter with release.

Of course, he wanted to be inside her, too. That went without saying, except...that wasn't everything. It wasn't even half of it.

Usually when he felt desire for a woman, it was all about sex. About finding his own release. Why then did the thought of feeling Olivia's pleasure excite him almost more than the thought of finding his own?

He wanted her beneath him, on top of him.

Beside him.

On some oddball level he didn't understand, he wanted her company, her frosty gaze, her sharp heels and tongue. He loved trading barbs with her, loved watching her try to hide the attraction she felt for him.

Damn, he just loved being with her.

Which was completely f**ked up. He was perfectly happy with his own company and always had been.

The scent of dog had him detouring across the street. Not that he couldn't hold his own against any creature, even as Mini Jag. But the less attention he drew to himself, the better, all the way around.

With a conscious effort, he pulled his mind from Olivia and concentrated on picking up the scent he searched for. A short while later, as he traipsed through a cemetery, that unique whiff of evil and decay hit him.

Daemon.

Found it,Red.

He threw the thought out there before he bothered to find her with his mind.

Red?

Dammit, where the hell was she? Had she accidentally wandered out of range? Or had she just gotten tired of driving around with the windows down?

Neither. If there was one thing he was sure of with that woman, it was that she didn't do anything accidentally. No, if Olivia left the half-mile radius he'd requested she remain within, she'd done so deliberately and for a damn good reason.

So, what the hell was it? Had she spied the Daemon and taken off after it without telling him? No. She was too good a soldier for that. So what was Little Red up to?

A middle-aged human couple strolling through the cemetery ahead caught sight of him. The woman gasped.

"Bryan, look at him! Isn't he the strangest cat you've ever seen? Here kitty, kitty, kitty."

Damn humans.Jag ran before they could trap him. The trail of Daemon scent led him into the woods on the other side, growing stronger as he ran. Little by little, the scent became mixed with another. Blood. Human blood.