Chapter 14
Umberto Alamar walked slowly off the private jet to the waiting black SUV. A different type of breeze hit his exposed skin, a scent of untamed and dangerous land tickling his nostrils. Approaching the open door of the vehicle, he unbuttoned the two buttons of the suit jacket and stepped inside.
Human clothes, he thought, itched like the devil.
The interior of the vehicle was dark and he was alone, as he was most of the time. As he had been most of his adult life. Save for the three years his jaguar mother had stayed with him, Umberto had been parentless, taken in by the females of the tribe, trained by the males to become the leader he was today. One would think at fifty- two years old he would have found some sort of solace in the life that had been chosen for him before he’d taken an initial breath.
But he hadn’t.
He was where he was supposed to be, doing the job that was destined to be his. But it wasn’t enough. He knew this just as he’d known three days ago that this trip to the States was imminent.
Things were changing, long-ago rules were proving deficient in this new battle that approached. And it was on foreign ground that the first spoils of this war would lie.
With a heavy sigh he sat back on the seat, wondering how they’d come to be in this position, knowing instinctively that it would not only be up to him to bring them out.
X greeted the Elder, holding open the door to the SUV that had brought him from the private landing strip in Virginia owned by the Shadow Shifters but titled to a couple of fake stockholders in Rome and Nick’s law firm. With appropriate respect and honor he bowed and waited as the Elder stepped from the vehicle and stayed in that position until a heavy hand clapped onto his shoulder, granting permission for him to do otherwise.
He’d received word from the Assembly just an hour ago that Elder Alamar was arriving. He’d also been told to keep the arrival time and place a secret, until otherwise notified.
X did as he was told.
Usually.
Tonight was one of those off times that he listened to one of the Elders and kept his mouth shut about the arrival of Alamar. He did this for two reasons. First, he’d been instructed to take Alamar to Rome’s house. This meant he wasn’t keeping anything from his friend and Faction Leader. And two, it was either leave his apartment to pick up the Elder or sit there and let the walls close in around him, choking the last remnants of life out of him.
Normally X liked his solitude, enjoyed the quiet that calmed the darkness raging in his soul. Tonight he’d needed something else.
Driving the almost hundred miles to Rome’s house from the airport gave him time to think, or more like not think, about the needs building inside. He was not a simple man, nor a simple beast, for that matter. No, it was not only X’s genetic makeup that was different, out of the ordinary. It was so much more. Since first realizing that deep dark desires ran thickly through his blood, he’d been careful to keep it a secret. Only one kind of shifter craved the things X did, only one branch of their species took pleasure in the darker side of sexual exploitations.
The Rogues.
But he was not one of them. Every day he arose and with every breath he took, X convinced himself he was not like those betrayers, those killers. He was different. He always had been.
Pulling up in front of Rome’s house, X got out of the truck, walked to the back, and opened the door.
“Where is Roman?” Elder Alamar asked pointedly.
“If he is not at home, I will find him, sir,” he said.
Once they approached the front door, Baxter was there holding it open.
“Welcome, Elder Alamar. Come right in, sir.”
Elder Alamar nodded and proceeded into the house. When X would have walked in behind him, Baxter put up a thin hand to stop him.
“You must go. Mr. Roman received a call and rushed out. I believe it is the woman.”
The woman whom both X and Nick were very suspicious of and whose file had been blocked when X attempted to check on her. The woman who was beginning to play an integral part in whatever was going on. “Where and how long ago?”
“West Forty-first Street. About five minutes before you pulled up.”
“Call Nick and make sure he knows.”
Baxter nodded. “Yes, Mr. Xavier.”
X headed back to the truck without any more questions. There was no need; all he needed to know was that Rome was out, possibly fighting in the night by himself for a woman they still knew nothing about.
She screamed, his name bouncing off the walls like high-pitched wails. Nick thrust his hips, pumped frantically until thick spurts of semen filled the condom he wore over his dick, which was buried deep inside her heated pussy.
His fingers were twisted in her long hair, pulling her head back as he fucked her from behind. The muscles in his arms and back bunched as he stroked, his body seeking release, his mind holding on to memories.
This was how he took his women, with fierce quick strokes, their backs turned and his eyes closed.
That way he couldn’t see her.
Not the woman he was with.
But the one he couldn’t have.
Even after all these years she still haunted him, filled his mind and his soul as if they’d never parted. As if they’d never been forced to separate.
An angry growl vibrated in his chest, pulling his lips over his teeth as he forced his body away from hers. She’d facilitated his release; that’s all he’d wanted from this other woman. From the moment she’d rubbed her voluptuous body against his while he’d been sitting in the bar, he’d known they would end up like this. She wanted to have sex with him, he needed a diversion—it was a perfect match.
He hadn’t kissed her, had applied no pretty words. This hadn’t been a seduction, more like a production of sorts. Get in and get out, that was his motto. It had to be or he’d lose more of himself than he had before.
And that was not an option.
But this woman whom he’d just met tonight hadn’t brought his release. It was the other. The dream of the other female that aroused him continuously, pushed him toward that pleasurable precipice even though she was millions of miles away.
“Wow,” the female voice said. “Let’s get a shower, baby.” She’d followed him, her hands roaming over his bare back.
His dick was still hard, his teeth clenching painfully, his mind at war with his soul. “No,” Nick replied tightly. “You can leave.”
The silence that followed said she was hurt. Nick couldn’t care. His feelings had been held tightly in check for far too long to even venture down that route.
Instead he began walking into his bathroom, alone.
When he’d finished, the hot water from the shower all but scorching every dirty molecule of the sex he’d just had away, Nick came out to an empty apartment.
She was gone. The woman whose name he could barely remember and would no doubt never see again. And he was relieved.
His cell phone rang and he cursed.
“Delgado,” he answered roughly.
A few seconds later he followed with, “I’ll be there in ten.”
