Therian Prize(46)

“I only heard them leave. Was Natasha still unconscious when they took her away?”

“She was, and Grace, the healer I called, said it was likely a side effect of the mind control rather than my kick. Grace is talented. She’ll do everything possible to bring Natasha out of this.” Heather bowed her head until her hair swung forward, shielding her face from view. Jake sighed. Would she ever feel comfortable enough with him to stop hiding? “What’s the matter?”

“I’ve never met anyone like you,” she whispered from behind her hair. “Dad’s first concern would be interrogating her.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at him, a wealth of emotions shining in her expressive eyes. “She shot at us. Aren’t you even a little bit angry?”

“Of course I’m angry, but from what I could tell, Natasha was just the messenger. Did you see her face? She was trying to shift the entire time we fought. It was like she was fighting some inner battle as well as trying to kick my ass. There was no way she was in control. We need to find out who was operating the puppet.”

“I agree.” Heather smiled and her gloom started to dissipate. “So where are we going?”

“Erin is going to meet us at a network safe house. I told her what happened and she’s going to see if she can find anything in her journals that explains what we witnessed.”

“What you witnessed,” Heather grumbled. “I was cowering in the water.”

“As any rational—”

“If you say female, I’ll smack you.”

He grinned, pleased by her returning spirit. “You did exactly what I needed you to do. If I’d had to split my attention between you and Natasha, I wouldn’t have been able to take her down as quickly or with as little damage as I was able to do.”

“You can’t be with me 24/7 for the rest of my life. I want to be able to protect myself.”

A secret smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. The possibility of spending the rest of his life with her wasn’t as unthinkable as it should have been. Reality generally paled when compared to fantasy. With Heather it had been just the opposite. Kissing her, touching her, tasting her had been everything he’d imagined and more. Each shiver and gasp that escaped her fueled his imagination. He wanted to finish what they’d started in the hot tub and keep right on exploring until he knew everything there was to know about her.

“Needing protection is nothing to be ashamed of.” Had she heard the sudden huskiness in his voice? “That’s why you came to me.”

“I’m tired of being helpless.” After a long pause she added, “I want you to define me.”

He shook his head. “You don’t want your future shaped by a knee-jerk reaction to Natasha’s attack. Let’s stick to the original plan. We’ll back off your father and once things settle down you can make long-term decisions.”

She didn’t seem pleased by the suggestion but he thought she’d acquiesced until she said, “Then I want to know more about Devon’s formula.”

“That’s easily arranged, but I thought you’d decided it was too risky.”

“Is it more risky than being ambushed or hunted?” She finger-combed her hair back from her face as she continued. “None of this would have been necessary if I were truly defined. Dad is bullying me because he knows I’m not strong enough to stand up to him. I don’t want to run for the rest of my life. And I won’t be his sacrificial lamb.”

“I’ll arrange a meeting with Dr. Garran after we’ve spoken with Erin.”

“Thanks.”

They lapsed into companionable silence for a while. Heather stared out the window and Jake tried not to be distracted by her. Despite his best efforts to concentrate on the road, his mind kept drifting back to the hot tub. He felt her sleek body slide beneath his hands and tasted the chlorine-kissed softness of her skin. His cock hardened in response to the memories and he gripped the steering wheel so tightly his fingers ached.

Desperately needing a distraction, he accessed the common link shared by Therian tigers and pinged Ron. With Natasha out of commission, Ron was now head of security. Ron responded by opening a private link and Jake reinforced Ron’s shield before using the connection.

Any luck?

No, sir. No tracks of any kind. Whoever we’re dealing with either has incredible range or teleported in and out.

The ability to teleport was extremely rare. But then so was taking over someone else’s mind. Understood. I asked Natasha to have Lexxie picked up. Do you know if Natasha followed through?