Page 43 of Covert Affections (Shadow Agents/PSI-Ops #5)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Jesse

Cold.

So fucking cold and wet.

Why was he freezing and soaked? He moved slightly, recognizing instantly that he wasn’t in his base form—human. Nope. He was in his animal form. But why? And why the hell was he wet and cold?

Jesse struggled to open his eyes and remember what had happened.

His mind raced before landing on what had happened.

He’d gone to Charley’s rescue, wanting to protect her from the hybrids.

There had been an altercation. He’d fought against the hybrids and been seriously injured.

He’d given chase, unconcerned with his wounds, wanting to put an end to the hybrids’ reign of terror.

I lost them, he thought, his head foggy, his body heavy, not to mention ice cold. Everything on him hurt. His nose twitched as he caught the scent of blood. His and someone else’s. Recognition hit him right in the gut.

Hers!

Lindy’s!

She’d hurt herself. Cut her hand.

The smell of her blood drew him from the depths of darkness, summoning him forth.

His eyes snapped open. He was met with a sideways look of a parking lot.

It took a minute for his vision to adjust. When it did, a security light that was flickering came into view as did the building it was attached to.

He recognized it instantly— The Hell Tap.

What in the fuck was he doing lying in the parking lot behind the bar?

Lindy!

He jerked, his body screaming in pain, his limbs not wanting to cooperate.

He was unsure if it was because of injuries or the bone-deep cold.

He lifted his head more, still in cat form, and caught sight of a mass of dark, wet hair spread out over him and onto the wet ground.

It was then he saw Lindy. She was partially over him, her body pinning his.

He couldn’t see all of her’ but from what he could see, she was missing her shirt.

Had she been awake and alert, he was sure his dick would have responded. As it was, she was still.

Too still.

Something was wrong.

He struggled to remember why in the hell he was behind the bar in the first place and what had happened to Lindy.

Everything came rushing back to him all at once.

He remembered leaving the job fair and going to his Airstream, where he’d found signs that the hybrids had been there.

He remembered tracking them for hours before ending up in front of the horse rescue.

He could remember Charley being in her truck and the storm.

He’d tried to warn her. Then the hybrids had attacked.

Ace.

He'd come in horse form, plowing through Jesse and one of the hybrids. Which one?

Jean-Guy.

That had been after another had bitten Jesse’s front leg.

Then Jean-Guy had taken a chunk out of his side.

Jesse could see the arm Masturbator had bitten.

There should have been some signs of injury.

There was none. While he couldn’t see the side Jean-Guy had bitten because Lindy was pressed against it, he could feel it. He was fine. But how?

Peters!

Jesse remembered him being there. And he remembered Peters trying to lure him in one direction while the rest of the hybrids ran in another.

He thought harder about it all and remembered being seriously injured and feeling the need to get to Lindy. He’d been headed for her home. Was that how he ended up behind the bar?

No , his cat side pushed at him.

Jesse thought on it more and remembered changing directions and running to the bar. He’d watched the bar from the back grassy area, wanting to keep watch over Lindy but mindful to keep his distance.

Wolf-shifter!

He remembered that—there had been a man with Lindy, out back, a sheriff.

He’d been hugging her. More memories flooded Jesse’s mind.

The sheriff was more than human! He’d gotten a call about a body in the woods, one Jesse was sure Peters and the hybrids had a hand in. That had left Lindy there alone.

Jesse could recall shifting forms into human and carrying trash bags across the parking lot in the storm, naked as the day he was born, bleeding everywhere, and in serious pain.

He then remembered knowing he was going down and fearing Lindy would come out to find a naked, bleeding male there.

He’d shifted back into a mountain lion. She’d rushed toward him, not away from him.

She was crazy! Didn’t she know how dangerous that was?

Oh God, had he attacked her while in animal form?

His beast roared within him, offended he’d even suggest such a thing. It didn’t want to harm her. It wanted to possess her, to take her far from here and everyone, and keep her all to itself.

Concern for her was like a shot of adrenaline going through him. He would have bounced up if he wasn’t worried about jostling her too much. If she was injured, he could do more harm than good if he moved her.

His cat side didn’t want to take it slow.

It wanted to spring to its feet and assess the woman.

It needed to know how badly she was harmed.

For a second, he thought the cat would win out and manage to overpower his rational thought.

When Jesse caught the faint sounds of her pulse followed by her shallow breathing, the cat restrained itself, but it didn’t permit him to shift back into human form.

He wiggled with great care as he eased out from under Lindy and got to his feet.

His legs were shaky, and he stumbled, acting anything but agile and cat-like.

It took him far longer than he’d have liked to get something close to his bearings.

When he did, he tried again to shift back into human form.

No luck.

He stepped closer to Lindy, who was now lying directly on the ground, partially in a puddle, the rain pelting her body. He nudged her with his head, trying to wake her. Nothing happened. He nuzzled his face to her cheek and neck area. A sudden urge to sink his teeth into her left him jerking back.

His cat side was a predator. It liked to kill things, but this didn’t feel like it wanted to make a meal out of her. At least not in the way most would assume.

The rain increased. Jesse positioned himself over her, using his large cat body in an attempt to shield her from the elements.

Lightning crackled overhead, and he realized how futile his efforts were.

There were less than a handful of times in his life when he’d had to move a person while he was still in cat form.

One had been when Charley was attacked at the ranch when she was four years old.

She’d been tiny then. Small enough for Jesse to pick up with his mouth (gently, of course) and carry her to safety.

He couldn’t do that with Lindy. She was a grown woman.

He lowered his head, intent on doing the only thing he could think to do—drag her toward the bar. Every bone in his body screamed at him that doing so would put her at risk. That he’d harm her by dragging her that far and that she’d be vulnerable here, at the bar, alone.

Fuck.

He tried, yet again to shift forms.

Nothing happened.

His legs began to shake, and he wondered how long he had before they gave out fully. Reluctantly, he moved back from Lindy, worried if his legs gave way, he’d crush her.

A soft moan came from her.

Hope surged through Jesse at the same second his legs did as he feared. They went out from under him. He collapsed onto the unforgiving ground with a thud, right as Lindy lifted her head.

Her glasses were askew and covered in rain droplets. Her gaze was sleepy. Between that and the soaked state of her hair and the fact she was in a bra that the rain had basically left see-through, she looked more like temptation personified.

Now that he could see she was alive and seemingly well, his dick had no problem showing its reaction to seeing her in the skimpy bra. As it hardened, Lindy tipped her head, lifting a hand to wipe the lens of her glasses.

This is not happening, he thought, trying to stand in a way that would leave his cat dick on display for her to see just what she did to him.

She rubbed the lens more than once but didn’t seem to be making headway with seeing through the lens.

He glanced upward, thankful for that at least.

She pulled the glasses from her face, holding them in one hand while she narrowed her gaze, squinting in his direction. “What in the… Fluffy? Is that you?”

Jesse stilled as if freezing in place would somehow render him invisible.

Fear radiated from Lindy as she pushed up partially on the ground. “Ohmygod, please be Fluffy and not some other killer animal.”

Wanting to ease her fears, Jesse eased forward, purring, hoping to convey he wasn’t a threat to her. She didn’t calm down until he was about six inches from her.

A smile broke over her face. One that could light the night. “It is you! You’re alive. Yay! Good boy.” Her smile faded fast. “Don’t eat me.”

He was torn between laughing at her and entertaining just how yummy she’d taste if he licked between the swells of her breasts, which were on display nicely for him from his vantage point. If only he could convince her to take the bra off.

She pushed her long wet hair back from her face, over her shoulder, and shivered. It was then that Jesse noticed the faint blue tint to her lips. She was freezing cold.

He purred again, easing even closer, wanting to give whatever warmth he had to her.

She tensed. “Seriously, no making me dinner. Okay?”

He lowered his head, trying to appear less threatening.

She put her glasses back on, but they were still wet, not to mention the rain was still coming down.

She lifted a hand and stopped just shy of touching Jesse’s head.

When he was able to shift back into human form, he was going to have a very long talk with her about her lack of self-preservation around wildlife.

For now, he just wanted to ease her fears, so he lowered his head more, stepping even closer.

She began to pet him, and as much as he knew he should be offended, he wasn’t. In fact, he liked it. A lot. So much so he entertained turning in a way that would leave her petting his still hard dick.

Her lips trembled, and guilt left him easing back from her.

She pushed to her feet, and for a second, he feared she’d fall. Once she’d righted herself, she glanced toward the bar. Her hand went to her stomach as if she was fighting the urge to be sick. “Fluffy, everything in me is saying taking you in there is a bad idea.”

Took her long enough to recognize how dangerous he was.

She took a deep breath. “All right. It’s settled. You’re coming home with me. I’ll get my car.”

For fuck’s sake!

His legs gave out on him again, and he crashed to the ground.

She was to him in a fraction of a second, worry knitting her brow. She rubbed behind his ear. “Let’s get you back to my place. You’ll be safe there.”

Yep. The second he was human again, he was going to give her a stern-talking to about her own safety. All thoughts of reading her the riot act vanished as he watched her running toward the back bar door. Her jeans hugged her lush ass in a way that left nothing to the imagination.

He stifled a groan, his dick hard enough to hammer nails with.

Of course the thing would start working again when he needed to have his head in the game, not on the ass of a hot chick. One who could be in the crosshairs of the hybrids.

Lindy vanished for a minute or so into the bar and emerged with keys in her hand.

She jingled them in his direction, and it took him far longer than it should to realize she was using them as one would a squeaky toy with a dog.

“Come on, Fluffy.” She made a kissing noise and jingled the keys more. “Come on. You can do it.”

Jesse was happy there were no witnesses to the event and instantly thought of Nick—a man he’d not seen since the lab incident. Nick would never have let him live down a moment like this.

She shook the keys more, holding them up, the act leaving her breasts bouncing, looking as if they might spring free from the wet bra at any second.

A guy can hope.

Jesse pushed to his feet, albeit less than gracefully, and started toward the clearly insane woman. It had less to do with her jingling the keys and more to do with him wanting an up-close and personal view of her tits bouncing around.

He stopped six feet from her, worried about his control, especially with the rock-hard nipples he could see through the wet fabric of her bra.

Lindy popped the back hatch of her vehicle and nodded to him. “In you go.”

She could not be serious. There was no way in hell she was really considering putting a massive mountain lion in her vehicle.

She patted the back interior of her vehicle. “Come on, Fluffy. Be a good boy. Hop in. I don’t think I can lift you.”

Holy shit. She was serious.

He growled.

Her eyes widened. “Oh God, are you going to eat me?”

He lowered his head and upper half, wanting to look less threatening to her.

With a tentative movement, she tapped the inside of her car. “Please get in. My gut says you can’t stay here.”

If he could have rubbed between his nose to stave off the pending headache that he was sure was being brought on by the knowledge Lindy was trying to get an injured and as far as she knew, wild animal into her car, he would have. Unfortunately, he was stuck with paws for now.

Lindy bent some, her breasts pressing together.

He did an inner moan.

“If you’re a good boy and get in the car, I’ll flash you my boobs,” she said with a pout.

The words had barely left her mouth before Jesse was leaping into the vehicle, his weight making the entire thing rock and dip. He twisted around, waiting to see the full show.

She shook her head, blew at a wet strand of dark hair that was plastered across her beautiful face and shut the back hatch.