“Fuck you,” Hiss ground out.
Roch leaned in, bile forming in his throat. “No. Fuck you. No matter what your reasons for doing what you did, they weren’t good enough. You screwed your kind, your blood. You have forced us out of hiding. You have created fear in the hearts of our females. Including your sister.” Concerned that he could vomit on the male with all the seizing up going on inside his belly, he stood up again. “You know they have Rosalie, right?”
Hiss’s expression turned pained. “Yes, I know.”
“She’s a good friend of yours, isn’t she?”
This time Hiss didn’t answer. He turned away.
“You know what, you don’t even deserve to breathe, you—oh, fuck me—” Roch sucked in air, his legs threatening to buckle. A wave of dizziness was moving over and through him. If he remained, he was going to lose his shit. He pushed away from the bed and growled to his colleague. “Take over, Damien.”
“Hey,” the male called after him as he headed for the door. “You all right?”
“Just keep at it,” Roch ground out. “I’ll inform Raphael.”
He stumbled out into the hallway. This was bullshit. Whatever was going on with him. He didn’t do sickness. He didn’t accept anything that pulled him away from his work. His cat scratched at his insides as he walked down the hall. The thing wanted out. No. It wanted to take over. It knew his male form was weak, and this scratching, pawing—it was a protective instinct.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?”
Roch gave Raphael a quick nod as the male fell into step beside him. “Just something I ate.” Or drank. Or came into contact with. Or…who the hell knows.
“You look like shit,” the leader of the Suits remarked. “Come to think of it, you looked like shit when you got here. You should go get checked out.”
“No,” Roch said quickly and gruffly.
“Come on, brother. Jean-Baptiste can take a quick look. Or if you want a female, Doc Julia—”
“I said I’m fine.” Roch picked up the pace. He needed to get outside. Air. Sun. His puma. A Pantera’s digestive system was quick to flush out anything it didn’t like, so whatever was going on with him should pass in a few hours. “I’m going home.”
Raphael continued to follow him. “Are you sure you can make it on your own?”
The growl Roch tossed the male’s way ended the question and answer session. But it also stole some of Roch’s strength. “I left Damien with Hiss…” he managed to mutter before he hit the glass doors.
“Fine. Just go,” Raphael called after him. “I got this.”
Roch burst through the doors, and the second the sunshine hit his skin and the breeze of the bayou entered his nostrils, his cat took over. It was as though his male form melted into his puma, and he instantly felt strong and healthy.
With a quick snarl at the surrounding Pantera who were heading for the bayou and midday meal, Roch took off. For the forest, and for the border of the Wildlands—so sure about what he had to do next, he didn’t question it.
After all, he was pure instinct.
* * *
“The baby will have defects, right?” Lydia said before the woman, Erin, could utter another word or thrust a pen her way. “That’s what you’re telling me? It may be born with a deformity.” She tossed the papers on the doctor’s desk. “Well, let me say I don’t care. I don’t care. This is my child.”
Erin turned to the doctor and raised her eyebrows. Clearly, she wasn’t expecting such a response. Well, she could just suck it. Her heart slamming against her ribs, Lydia inched forward on her chair and fought for a serious, businesslike expression. “I’m not going to sue anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about. I knew the risks when I had the procedure.”
“Legal action isn’t what we’re concerned about, Ms. Page,” the doctor put in.
Yes,” Erin agreed. “As you said, you knew the risks, and you did sign a contract—”
“Then what else is there?” Lydia interrupted. “Look, there’s got to be some chance. I’m sure you’ve seen situations like this before. Isn’t it at all possible that the baby could turn out to be normal?”
“Normal?” Erin repeated, then sniffed as if she scented something vile. “No.”
Tears pricked Lydia’s eyes.
“We’d like to take care of this today, Ms. Page,” the doctor stated.
“No,” Lydia said. This was ridiculous. Why were they pushing her? Why weren’t they at least letting her think? Have some time—
“We need you to trust us,” Erin put in, her tone strangely calm.
“I told you, I’m not getting rid of the baby.”
“It isn’t safe,” the doctor pressed.
“I’ll take that risk.”
The doctor sat back in his chair. “You’ll be a pariah and your child will be a freak. Is that what you want?”
Lydia’s heart stopped. Or that’s what it felt like. Cold, alone, disgusted. Her hands shaking slightly, she stood up.
“What are you doing, Ms. Page?” Erin asked warily.
“Leaving,” Lydia informed her. “And I won’t be coming back.”
The doctor cursed softly. Erin, however, wasn’t giving up. “Wait. Please. The donor you chose—”
Lydia swung her purse over her shoulder. “What about him?”
The woman glanced at the doctor, then turned her attention back to Lydia. “He was a mistake, Ms. Page. He should never have been allowed in the program. I swear to god I’m going to find out who did this and—”
“What?” Lydia asked, her heart starting to pound hard once again. What was happening? What had she done by trusting these people? “What the hell is going on?”
“He isn’t human, Ms. Page.”
It was as if the lawyer switch suddenly flicked on and Lydia moved closer to the woman. “Really? That’s how you’re going to play this? Telling me I have an alien baby? Not only is that pathetic and ridiculous, but it makes you—”
“You have heard about the race of shape shifters discovered out in the bayous?” the doctor asked.
A thread of unease moved through her. “Yes, of course. I’ve seen them on TV and online. The Pantera, I think they’re called. But what does that have to do with—” She whipped around to face Erin.
For the first time since Lydia had seen the woman, she genuinely looked distressed. “I don’t know how this happened, Ms. Page. But I swear to you we will find out.”
Flies were buzzing in her head. She couldn’t hear very well. Her skin felt prickly too. And she was shaking her head. “No.”
“I’m very sorry.”
She started to back up. “That’s impossible.”
“Your blood tests confirm the match,” Erin said.
Reeling, Lydia turned away and headed for the door. She had her fingers around the knob when Erin called out to her.
“Take the day. We’ll schedule the termination tomorrow morning.”
Tears pricked Lydia’s eyes.
“You’ll only need to wait a few weeks and we can try again—”
Her hand left the door and went to her belly. “No. Never.” She whirled around. “This baby is mine.”
Erin and the doctor both stared at her like she was insane. And maybe she was.
“Ms. Page,” the doctor began. “Besides this being against our laws of nature, the Pantera will not look kindly on this mistake. Our government is working with theirs to foster a relationship. It’s only at the beginning stages. We don’t know how these…beasts…will react.”
Beasts? It was as if the man had sent a knife through her heart. She didn’t know what was coming. Didn’t know how she was going to manage any of it. But she did know that she was going to protect this child from people like these.
“You could be in danger if anyone found out.” Erin had her arms crossed over her chest. She looked pensive. “Not everyone has sympathy and understanding for these animals—this new species.”
“Like you?” Lydia asked bitingly.
Erin’s lips thinned. “I urge you to think very carefully about this, Ms. Page. And we hope to see you back here in the morning.”
“I don’t have to think about anything,” Lydia told her fiercely, her hand finding the doorknob once again. “No one is taking this baby from me. Pantera, human—it belongs to me.”
As she swung the door wide and walked out of the doctor’s office, she felt both sets of eyes on her back.
Chapter 3
His cat had taken him to the edge of the Wildlands, but after his shift into his male form, his mind and body, and something he couldn’t explain—or resist—had led him into New Orleans. He’d been there a hundred times for both business and pleasure, but this was the first time he’d had no clear purpose.
As he roamed the sunlit streets, enjoying a respite from the many hours of sick stomach and fuzzy head, he wondered why he was drawn here—what his cat was after.
Who it was after.
It wasn’t unusual for a Pantera to follow a feeling, an instinct—see where it led. But it was an unusual practice for Roch. He rarely used his instincts unless he was in his puma form. In his male form, as a Suit, he relied on information, deduction and logic.