Lion's Dangerous(Kings of the Jungle #1)(52)

"I don't follow?"

"The Jungle. It's not a BDSM club, but that's easy for people to grasp, so that's the reputation it's gotten. The cameras caught a man with a limp. Not long ago, I confronted a man with a limp who was nosing around the Jungle. When I called him out, he made up an excuse about looking for his errant wife." A pointed look in her direction.

Lily dug her fingernails into her elbows. "I've never been married, Jude. My ex was just a-" She balked.

"I know who he was." Jude's voice lacked censure. There was an edge that she instinctively knew was … maybe not jealousy, but some deep predatory male reaction to thinking about his mate with another man.

She sucked a breath, practically tasting the claim-staking scent that rolled off him, but didn't comment. She would not apologize for her sexual past.

"I don't think it was him, anyway," he went on. "If this guy has some kind of direct link to you, it's less obvious than that. His story was bogus, but my gut says there was a thread of truth in his motivation. He was looking for someone."

"Jude, I can't with this. Honestly, I'd rather talk about spiders," she shuddered, "than some pervert stalking me. Can we focus on that instead of the connection to me? There was this look on your face when Bailey floated the crazy idea of a spider shifter. Why?"

"Because they've never been documented. But that's a problem for another time. Shifters can create two ways," he said, eyes on the road. "We have parameters in which we can reproduce naturally and under other circumstances, we can produce artificially."

"Naturally. By giving birth?"

"Yeah. Or by biting. They don't result in the same kinds of beings. Shifters who are born come into their own mind and will, while shifters who are created with a bite are susceptible to mental interference."

"Mental interference," she echoed. "Mind control?"

"Being controlled by their creators. Puppets," he clarified when he caught her staring at him.

"Is that why you didn't bite me that night at the Jungle?" She couldn't help but remember the heat of that, how delirious she'd been in her pleasure. How badly she'd wanted him to sink his teeth into her flesh. Now the thought of what could have resulted from that made her want to throw up.

"I didn't bite you because I don't want you like that. When I take you, I'll be taking a lifelong mate."

He said it so evenly, she wasn't sure she heard right. But then he gave her a look so full of hunger that her core clenched in response and her lips parted involuntarily.

"I'm hard as a fucking rock, Lily." His even voice sounded strangled.

"Good," she muttered, wrestling her brain back into her skull. "It's not fair if I'm the only one affected like this."

"You're not," he said shortly.

By silent agreement, they abandoned that line of conversation, too. Lily inhaled, blew the breath out. "So assuming this man targeted me. What then? You think somebody else realized he could be useful and bit him in order to … ?"

"If Bailey's on to something with his spider theory, we have to think about what they are, how they're made. A spider has eight legs, the freedom to travel invisibly by spinning a web. What does he do if he's limited to the body of a man, but still has the instincts of a spider?"



       
         
       
        

"I don't know. I can't even begin … " But maybe she could. "He looks for a way to replace what he's missing, the way we do with crutches."

Jude was nodding, not in the way of a professor acknowledging a correct answer, but more like a man processing new ideas. Despite the bizarre and creepy topic, knowing he'd invited her into the conversation as an equal did something to her.

And then he acknowledged her theory, which did even more.

"Yeah, I think you've hit it on the head. He looks for extra arms, and that's what he's done. Created tools he can use in this unfamiliar environment. So there's a chance that we can trace the master back through its puppet. I need you to think about who would have had reason to come after you in the first place. He could be anyone. Someone whose wife took a knitting class at your shop and made him wear wool socks when he's allergic to wool."

Her mental wheels were already spinning but at his last words, she snorted. "That's a pretty weak motive."

"I'm just saying you should think about it. Don't dismiss any anything out of hand. Make a list if you have to. Write down the names of anybody you've been in contact with in the last two years. Anybody. Don't stop to reason your way out of putting a name on the list." He exited the highway and navigated her neighborhood with ease.