so that her long neck was bare.
“So nice to see you again, Kalina,” she purred.
That’s right, her voice, her movements, everything about her said cat. Okay, so maybe Kalina was overreacting. Just because Rome admitted to being a cat shifter didn’t mean that everyone she saw was one now. Still, this was a different Melanie.
“Hey, Mel. What’s up? You sounded like it was urgent.” Kalina talked and measured the distance between her and the house. Mel was on the other side of the gate in a car with tinted windows, which told Kalina she was probably not alone. Besides that, it was a luxury car worth much more than the meager salary Mel was making at the law firm. This entire situation was off, and when Kalina inhaled she could swear she smelled a setup.
“Just wanted to see you again. You haven’t really been in the office. I asked Nick about you.” She was walking, touching her fingers along the gate and looking at Kalina with a sultry sort of smirk. “He seemed convinced you were all right. I guess if you’re staying at the boss’s place, you would be considered all right.”
Kalina shrugged, trying to remain calm. She didn’t have a gun on her—nothing that vaguely resembled a weapon. Still, her fingers flexed at her sides as if preparing for a fight. “It’s a temporary situation. Why did you call me?” Kalina decided to just cut to the chase.
“I said I wanted to see you again.”
“Why? We just met.”
Mel stopped walking. “Well, I thought we’d made a connection. You know, like you connected with Rome and with his … kind.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mel tilted her head, thin wisps of hair circling her face. Her eyes did something funny, changed color. No, it’s the sun, Kalina told herself, but she knew better.
“I think you know, Kalina. You know a whole lot,” Mel said, coming to stand by the section of the gate where Kalina was.
“Listen, maybe we should have this girls’ day another time,” Kalina said. She was about to turn and leave when something behind her made her freeze. She couldn’t see but she knew there was something there, something that wasn’t human. She could feel the slow movement, knew the eerie eyes that would be watching her back.
Looking to Mel she asked simply, “Why?”
The she-cat tossed back her head and laughed. “So naive, little cat. So fucking naive. Well, that’ll all change in time.”
Before Kalina could say another word Mel had reached a hand inside the gate, grabbing her arm and pulling it until her shoulder slammed painfully into the iron. Next there was a stinging sensation in her upper arm and then there was blackness.
Chapter 26
Sabar needed a mate, one who would stand by him in this battle, who would watch his back and bear his children. Rogue children that would grow up to rule when he was gone. There were other things on Sabar’s need list, but this was by far first and foremost. It was so important that he was beginning to doubt his own logic in sending Mel to get her.
He should have done it himself. He’d been in close contact with her before; surely she wouldn’t be alarmed to see him again. Darel and Chi had redeemed themselves by taking care of that lying bastard congressman who thought he could cheat him out of his money. These humans were so fucking stupid. Just because they had titles and money, they believed they also had power.
Until they met him.
Sabar relished the fear he was spreading among Washington’s elite. Soon everybody in this stinking town would know that if they wanted to play, they’d have to pay. He was taking over the drug game here, slowly but surely, knocking off the lower-level dealers until he could get the big ones out of his way as well. Drugs and guns were a multibillion-dollar industry and Sabar wanted his piece of the American dream.
And he was willing to kill to get it.
It was dark. Late night had come upon him quickly as he’d gone about some business waiting for his enforcers to do their jobs. They’d been told to be here tonight with his goods and his money. As Sabar entered the back door of the abandoned row house he’d claimed as the enforcer headquarters, he inhaled deeply.
His dick hardened instantly as her scent sifted through the humid air.
She was here.
His mate was here and his mouth watered to touch her, taste her. Finally.
Kalina felt sick, bile forming in the back of her throat as she tried to look away.
She should have stayed in Rome’s room, locked behind that door. Leaving had been a mistake, one she’d realized too late. Now she was in what looked like a room inside an old dilapidated house. She’d been blindfolded when they bought her in, but she’d smelled wood and mold. The extra-sensitive senses she’d had all her life had her smelling and hearing things much more specifically since her eyes were covered.
They’d taken her from the car, one carrying her and two others walking with them. They’d traveled up two flights of stairs and into this room, which she suspected was in the back of the house judging how many steps they took from the stairway. Then she’d been plopped down into a chair that squeaked under her weight.
Knowing that plotting any kind of escape would work better if she could see her surroundings, she’d prayed they would remove the blindfold. Now, though, she almost wished she couldn’t see at all.
Standing in front of her was the man who’d delivered the first envelope of pictures to her. Or at least it seemed to be. Tonight, in this dank old house, he looked different—almost deranged. Now he was in her face, his hand cupping her chin roughly as he leaned in closer.
“I’ve waited a long time for this moment,” he said, his hot breath fanning over her face.
His eyes were an eerie shade of orange, darting around like those of the people she used to find high on cocaine or some other drug. His voice was deep, much deeper than the day he’d showed up at her door. But as she looked into his eyes, she remembered him clearly. His eyes hadn’t been this orange color on that day, but they’d been strange. She remembered thinking how odd they looked. So this was the man who’d been watching her, taking pictures of her. This was her stalker. She wanted to spit on him, to kick him in the balls, then in the face as she watched him squirm. What she really wanted was to cause him some kind of damage for all the worry and fear he’d brought to her life these last few days. But they’d gagged her so she couldn’t say anything.
“This is going to be monumental,” he said, licking his lips, leaving a glistening sheen over the fatter bottom lip that made Kalina gag. “We’re going to rule together, baby. Me and you, together,” he said, letting his fingers slide from her chin to touch along her neck then down to grab her breast.
She didn’t care that they’d tied her hands together behind her back—her ankles as well—didn’t care if she was gagged. Kalina was determined this filthy man was not going to touch her. She kicked out, both her feet flailing in the air toward his groin while her bottom held her firm on the ground. When she wobbled a bit, he just held on to her breast, squeezing until tears pooled in her eyes.
“Yeah, you’re gonna be so hot.”
“That’s the same thing I said,” the one called Chi murmured.
Of the three in this room Kalina knew just who to be afraid of, and it wasn’t Chi. He took his orders from Darel, who obviously took his orders from this new one, named Sabar. Mel was off in a corner, her golden gaze locked on Kalina’s in what looked like a feral challenge. They were all idiots in Kalina’s mind, stupid, selfish idiots to think they were going to get any cooperation from her.
They’d brought her here after drugging her. She knew this because when she’d awakened she’d felt the hazy effects of whatever had been in that needle. At first she’d only been tied and seated in this chair in the middle of the room, like she was on display or in an interrogation—whichever didn’t creep her out the most. The three of them circled her, looking at her with equally disturbing glares.
They were all shifters, she knew now. The two men who’d been at that party had watched her with the
