Page 12 of A Cougar's Kiss
His eyes darkened and he took a step back, running his fingers through the golden-brown hair that was longer on top than on the sides of his head. That muscle in his jaw now pulsed with an incessant rhythm as his lips thinned and he glared at her.
“Rome thinks I was the one who hacked the database. He thinks I’m a traitor whose feeding information about us to the Ruling Cabinet.” His words were spoken with a tightness that said he was restraining his anger.
It didn’t matter she could smell the overpowering pungent emotion and felt her cat rise in defense.
“If Rome really thought that he wouldn’t have you guarding a shifter who’d been like a brother to him.” That seemed so obvious to her yet hearing the underlying hints of disappointment in Keller’s voice made her wonder if he really believed it.
He stepped toward her then, until there was only a breath of space between them.
“Then why didn’t you tell him what you’d done? Why didn’t you tell your father? They were both trying to figure out how and why the system they’d built to resist infiltration had been invaded and files stolen. Nisa’s your best friend and you didn’t tell her. You didn’t defend her work when they were all questioning her.”
And if she told him why he’d never understand. Or rather he’d think she was a childish and jealous shifter trying to get back at the world for the raw hand she’d been dealt. Shya had thought the same for a very long time. But then she concluded that this was her life and she needed to live it the way she wanted to, not in the way that was expected of her. Every shifter born into this world had a purpose, she was just figuring hers out and she wasn’t about to let this cougar—no matter how sexy and enticing he was—stop her.
“I did what nobody else thought to do and because of it, I know things that nobody else does. You want to know why I stole the codes to Cole’s room? Because he knows what’s going on up there. He knows why it’s happening, and he knows how to stop it, that’s why they want to stop him.”
“Who wants to stop him? Nobody knew where he was for years and only we know where he is now.”
“That’s not true. Blaez Trekas knew who Cole was and what he was doing. His lycans even helped Cole hunt down the Desert Cat. Now ask yourself why.” This time she took the step, until her breasts rubbed against his uniform shirt. “Why would lycans help Cole hunt another Shadow if that Shadow was reportedly burning down the SICs and setting the shifters held captive there free?”
The Shifter Isolation Camps had been Ewen Mackey’s pride and joy. They were his way of putting his boot on the neck of every shifter he saw and warning those who hid.
She saw the moment he pieced her words together, the second he realized she was on to something, and he grabbed her arm, turning her so that she now stood beside him as they walked quickly through the halls. Shya had no idea where they were going or what was going to happen next. Was he going to turn her in to her father and the leadership? Or would he take her to some remote cave and get rid of her? She really wasn’t considering the latter, but the thought had flown through her mind anyway as they pushed past shifters of all tribes in the hallway and eventually the courtyard. Finally, he guided them down another narrow hallway before he slipped through a door, she had no idea was there.
Once inside the dark, tight space, he turned her so that her back was against a rocky wall. He didn’t touch her but leaned in so that his mouth was close to her ear.
“Don’t say that again, don’t even whisper a word of what you’ve done to anyone else. Go back to your room and pack a bag. Meet me right here in one hour, not a second later.”
His breath was warm and the proximity of their bodies—even without touching—was very close, and extremely frustrating. But his words were making her nervous or anxious, she couldn’t decide which.
“I don’t know where here is.” She was certain the door he’d pushed her through wasn’t really a door which wasn’t totally out of the norm in Oasis. There were notations on the Holodeck maps for secret doors and passageways that were only to be used by those with level 6 clearance—Lead Enforcers and FLs.
“I think you do,” he said and then pulled back slightly. “You know way more than you should which is why you’re coming with me.”
She suspected those words should have held more conviction or force, maybe. But instead, they seemed almost sorrowful. And when he leaned in, resting his forehead against hers Shya was certain something more was happening here than him telling her what to do next or confiding in her about this place or whatever he was planning to do in an hour.
“What are we doing?” The question came in a whisper so soft she barely heard it and would have thought it had been spoken only in her mind except he eased further away.
“One hour, Shya. Don’t be late.”
And then he was gone, and she was alone in a dark passageway somewhere in their underground city.
