Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Jeremiah nodded. “Of course.”
“She saved my life three days ago, but unfortunately was wounded and is recovering from an infection. We would have waited longer, as her leopard is also coming into her first heat and is unpredictable, so it isn’t the best of situations for her. Still, the situation is problematic enough that we thought it best that you be informed as soon as possible.”
“We appreciate the complications,” Drake said.
Are you ready, baby? You don’t have to do this. I can explain it as best I can if you want to duck out. He’d made the offer several times. She was still running a fever on and off, although the antibiotics were doing their job. They were also holding Wraith’s heat at bay, which was fortunate, because shifting would hurt like hell with that laceration. In fact, it could open it all over again. Leopards healed quickly, but three days was asking quite a bit.
I have to get used to working with your people sometime.
That was true. He would have to get used to sharing her. If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t like the idea. He was that selfish. He wanted her all to himself. She’d slept most of the last three days, and he’d slept next to her, something he’d never done in his life before with another person. He hadn’t thought he’d be able to do it, yet he’d fallen asleep, and it felt right. Much to her astonishment, Maya had slept as well.
“Drake, she has worked for your company using the name Teona Kyva. She also has done research for others connected to our project, as well as the research she was doing on her own, looking for leads she needed.”
Drake turned his head for the first time to pierce the shadows where Maya sat very still. “Teona Kyva? She happens to be the best researcher of anyone we’ve ever hired. Not once has she let us down. What a crazy and fortunate coincidence that she turned out to be your woman, Gorya.”
“And that you found her,” Jake added.
Neither sounded as if they doubted her in any way. That was a relief to Gorya.
“Teona, you have no idea how many times you’ve helped us rescue kidnap victims. You’ve saved countless lives,” Drake said. “That talent you have is beyond anything I’ve ever seen, and I’ve come to rely on it. I try to convey to you each time our mission is successful so you realize what you do is truly valuable.”
“I’ve always appreciated that you let me know lives were saved,” Maya answered. “That’s part of the reason it was important to push this meeting forward as quickly as possible.”
She emerged from the shadows, and as always, Gorya was taken with how completely innocent and young she appeared. Even knowing she was wounded and undergoing treatment for an infection, she looked pale but perfectly composed and serene. He knew what it cost her to face those seated at the conference table, but looking at her, nerves didn’t show at all. She appeared completely at ease.
She smiled at Drake as she moved around the table with the fluid ease of a leopard, coming to a halt near Jeremiah’s chair. She was just to the right of him, at an angle, where Gorya knew a swipe of her blade could cut Jeremiah’s throat. He had no idea he was in peril, but Timur did. His cousin froze, but to his credit didn’t protest or make a sound.
No one else seemed to realize Gorya’s woman was a threat at all. He couldn’t blame them. She had perfected her role as a deceiver, the girl next door, an introvert, shy and reclusive, with a gift for tracking criminals with her computer. It would never occur to them that she took her work a step further and assassinated the criminals she hunted.
“Jeremiah, your family comes from Panama. Would you mind telling me the lair you belong to?”
Such an innocent question. Gorya heard that mild note in her tone as if it were a casual inquiry, not mattering in the least, but he felt the stillness in her. That waiting.
“My father, very early on, disliked the direction of the lair and he took our family away from the others. We were all very young. He wanted us, especially my sisters, to stay away from the other shifters. I thought that was shortsighted of him. They would need mates.”
“I suppose you told him that,” Gorya said with a little sigh.
“Yes,” Jeremiah admitted. “More than once.” He rubbed his ear, a faint smile on his face. “He cuffed me a few times, but my mom and sisters protested. He said they babied me.”
“What happened to him?”
“He didn’t come home one night, and my mother and I went looking for him the next morning.” Jeremiah’s voice was devoid of all emotion, but Gorya could feel the sorrow in him. “We tracked him through the forest and came to a spot where there had been a terrible fight. I could see where he’d attacked three men who had trapped a woman. That was like him. He stood up for others.”