Page 15

A sardonic amusement swept through him when the PA staggered down the steps.

The fox slipped behind the buildings, retracing his earlier path.

He would let Wyland know about the upcoming move, but not about the woman.

No, this one had captured his curiosity.

He still needed to find out where the location of the new compound was, but he could do that when he took the woman. She would know.

He silently wove his way back to the delivery truck. Carter was sitting on a stack of crates, drinking a soda instead of unloading the boxes. He shifted back into his two-legged form, retrieved his clothes, and dressed before joining the warthog again.

Carter belched and wiped his dirty hand across his mouth before he spoke. “Find out anything?”

“No. I see you did what you were supposed to do,” he replied in a sarcastic voice, noticing the box truck was still half-full.

Carter shrugged. “It’s hot. Nobody cares what I’m doing.”

Bishop shook his head. “I do. I want to get back to town.”

Carter muttered a smothered expletive and rose.

A half-hour later, they were stopped at the gate where security agents for the complex scanned their truck before allowing them to leave.

A movement in the side mirror caught his attention.

The human female from earlier was glancing furtively around before she disappeared into the kitchen storage unit they had just left.

He studied her with a thoughtful expression before she disappeared from sight as they pulled away.

“So, whatcha gonna tell the boss?” Carter asked as they drove down the long, winding dirt road.

“That next time I would like to pick my partner,” he retorted.

Carter, completely unaware of the underlying insult, responded with a simple, “That’s good.”

Jayden’s heart thundered in her chest. She had reacted on instinct when the Shifter PA had reached for her.

Her fear came two-fold. She had been afraid he would find out that she had taken a lot more than just band aids from the cabinet.

Her second fear came at the idea of him injecting her with stuff she didn’t understand.

Yes, her parents and the others had received these so-called vaccines.

They were supposed to help keep them from catching some disease from the shifters…

or giving some to them. She had overheard a few of the shifter guards saying something about tracking devices just in case a human was kidnapped or took off.

The humorous laughter between the men had fueled the flames of her distrust and anger. When the big guy with the brownish-black hair had reached for her, she had kicked him between the legs as hard as she could.

The shock in his eyes told her that he had not been expecting her to react the way she did.

His lips had parted on a low hiss before his eyes had watered and he fell to his knees hard enough to shake the structure.

She barely had time to jump out of the way before he fell over onto his side and curled into a ball.

She hadn’t stuck around to find out how long it would take him to recover. Clutching her bag, she had grabbed her lance that she had left by the door and bolted as if the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels.

The little breath she had whooshed out of her when she rounded the corner of the kitchen area and ran smack into a hard chest. She would have fallen if not for the muscular arms that caught her around the waist and steadied her.

She dropped her bag and lance and splayed her hands across a broad chest.

Dread filled her when she recognized the shirt the man was wearing. She slowly raised her chin. Her eyes locked with a pair of startled brown eyes. They were dark with a hint of red in them the same as the bark of a redwood tree. He immediately dropped his hands and stepped back.

“Sorry.”

She gave him a wary stare. “I was the one who ran into you. Why are you sorry?”

Van nodded his head in the direction she had just come. “Well, if the way Brennan is holding his balls and his expression is anything to go on, I figure I’ll ask for forgiveness just in case you might think of doing the same thing to me.”

Her lips twitched at the teasing amusement in his voice.

She glanced over her shoulder and grimaced at where he was staring.

It looked like the PA was searching for her.

The shifter didn’t look like he was in a too forgiving mood.

She didn’t relish the idea of running into him again—especially so soon after what had just happened.

She turned back and bent to pick up the stuff she dropped. Her head collided with Van’s when he leaned down at the same time. Stars danced in front of her eyes for a second before she scowled at him.

“Ouch!”

She rubbed her head where they connected before she reached out and pulled her bag out of his hands. Another quick glance showed a large box truck with a produce sign on the side had blocked the PA’s view of them.

“Here you go. Uh, were you going to the kitchen?”

“Yes.”

She tried to ignore the way his voice washed over her.

The warm timbre was doing all kinds of weird things to her body that she didn’t like, or understand.

Cradling her bag against her chest, she tried to hide the way her nipples had hardened into twin peaks.

He held her lance in his hand, away from her.

“Listen, I was about to get a snack and a drink. Would you like something?”

Behind them, Jayden heard the truck changing gears. If she didn’t move soon, the shifter from the medical tent would see her. Her stomach growled at that moment, and she rubbed it under the bag.

“Okay. Yeah, I’d like something. Where’s Peterson? You two always seem to be together,” she replied, casting a wary eye around.

He chuckled. “That’s what brothers do—hang out together. Or at least we do. He’s intercepting a rather bent-out-of-shape lion shifter at the moment,” he answered.

“Oh. Well, that’s nice of him,” she mumbled, stepping around him when he moved to the side and motioned for her to precede.