Feral Passion (2 page)

She shut her eyes tightly as she said, “The
races need to be separated. The fighting and killings can’t go on
any longer. We used to have a status, and we need to make it happen
again. You know it’s the best we can do.”

The sound of static rang in her ears at her
last words.

“I. . .see.” The voice was surprisingly calm,
almost detached.

“It’s the way it has to be. . .” She felt
like she had to explain herself, that everything was her fault. The
reality of it was settling a weight in her chest that she was
struggling to ignore.

“Mary, don’t worry about it. I understand.”
Ulrich Waters sighed into the phone, and she felt her chest
lighten. The chief of the community was agreeing with her, or at
least understood why it was happening. Mary needed the chief’s
agreement and that was close to being it.

Now that she had it, she had to start
organizing it. Mary winced, her chest hurting deep down.

“Do you want me to talk to Mom and Dad about
it?” her brother asked.

Just thinking about the disapproval her
parents would express about her decision made her want to sniffle.
“I would prefer that you keep it to yourself for now. I just want
you to be prepared for everything, and make sure that I have your
back on this. It isn’t for a couple of months, so I want to keep it
at a down low and slowly reveal it to everyone.”

“You do realize what this is going to do,
right?”

“I do.”

“I just hope that the smaller divisions of
the Acutos are alright with this. They might be numbered, but they
are vicious,” Ulrich warned, sounding worried.

“Don’t even worry about me.” She snorted,
knowing that her brother only worried because he cared but also
knowing that she could take care of herself when the time came.

Fucking Kevin,
she thought, glaring at her counter top as if it were the
object of her anger.

“If this gets too out of hand too fast,
I
will
be telling Dad about
this, got it?”

She sighed into the receiver. “Fine, but it
won’t so don’t hold your breath.”

A grunt came from him. “I have to go,
but I’ll call you later on to talk about this. I also need to talk
with the other
Pacchetto
leaders. Until then, be safe and don’t go too hard on Jared
about crap. Old bastard can’t handle it anymore.”

“Yeah, love you too,” she said drolly, then
hung up her phone and slipped it into her pocket. Grabbing her car
keys and purse, she headed out the door to her silver Audi, turning
on the engine when she was seated.

Before she knew where she knew where she was
going, she felt her hands steer her in the direction of the
hospital, St. Mercy. It only took her a couple of minutes to find a
parking space and when she did, she strode into the lobby.

The building smelt of death and old people,
yet sterile and. . .empty. A bald child was sitting in a wheel
chair, playing with blocks on his lap. Her heart clenched when she
saw a girl of equal age, only about seven or eight, go up to him
with a drawing book.

One of her arms was missing.

Taking a breath and fighting tears at the
sight, Mary walked to the desk.

“Visiting hours are from eight AM to nine
PM.” She got that as her way of greeting. The fading-haired lady
didn’t even bother to look up from her computer, just kept
typing.

Mary frowned, leaning onto the desk. “I’m
here to see Jared Hillard. Car accident victim?”

Alert eyes snapped to hers, and when Mary got
out her ID and let the lady read it, she received a look that
seemed off. Shrugging mentally and forgetting about it, she gave
the lady an impatient glare. “I need to talk to him, if you don’t
mind.”

“Just a second here. . .” The ladies fingers
got to typing and when she was done, her manicured nail pointed
behind her, to the left. “Take the elevator up to the second floor
and he should be on the right side of the hall. Room 209.”

Nodding shortly, she followed the directions,
walking through the white painted walls. Her eyes scanned the
number tags on the wall, and when she found the one she was looking
for, she paused at the door.

Under normal circumstances, Jared and her
were barely civil. Only because he knew she was trying to help, and
he obviously didn’t want it.

Tough for him.

“Jared?” Her voice was soft as it floated
into the room, earning a grunt for a reply.

She stepped into the room, gearing up
for the fight.
The joy of being a
do-goodie.

Chapter 3

As Mary sat in the chair across from the man
who was currently propped up against the reclining chair, she gave
a smile and reached out a hand to cover his. He was wearing a plain
white, dotted hospital dress that was glaringly bright against his
dark skin.

“So how are you, pops?” she asked, smiling
wider when he gave a snort.

“I’m not that old that you need to be calling
me pops.” He glared at her through icy blue eyes, and she couldn’t
help but chuckle.

“Right, so. What happened to your leg?” Mary
let her eyes dart to his bound leg, which was being held up by
straps on the wall.

Jared shrugged his shoulders, eyes
moving away from her as if bashful, or maybe petulant. She didn’t
know, and she could honestly care less. Mary only wanted the
straight answer of what had happened to him, and the admission that
he had actually done something
good
.

“A lady was about to get hit—A nice lady,
very pretty with kind eyes. I remember. . .” He frowned, then
continued, “I saw the car coming for her and thought ‘nice ladies
like that shouldn't be in pain’. So I grabbed her. And the car hit
me.” Jared shrugged his huge shoulders, still avoiding looking at
her.

Staring at him, the only question that came
to her mind was: “What was she.”

His nose twitched, as if he was
confused about something. “See, I’m not
sure
. When you get close to her, you can sense
that something is. . .off, like wrong, you know?”

Mary nodded silently, mind working like a
race horse to come up with an explanation. One reason why Jared was
so dangerous: his senses were off the chart. One of the highest
trackers in the region, he was slowly going mad—at least, that’s
what other people thought.

Late at night he would be seen going out, not
coming back till early in the afternoon. Mary didn’t know what to
think, and she wasn’t up for the facts that would slowly be coming
in about him. She was set on her belief that he was actually a good
guy, and that people were just misunderstanding him. Sometimes she
had her doubts, but it was rare and alarming.

“What did she smell most of?” she asked,
putting her hands against her temples. Mentally groaning at the
rapidly growing headache, Mary wished she could get this meeting
over with and go take a nap. The feline in her was all too ready to
curl up in a ball under the blankets, but this had to be done.

Her eyes closed as Jared talked. “She
smelt of. . . Archaeos. Very
strong
, though. Like nothing I had ever smelt
before. But then, something different came in. It wasn’t Acutos;
actually it was like. . . burnt.”

The hair on the back of her neck raised.
“Burnt?”

Jared nodded, eyes closing as he recalled the
details. Mary lifted her head and stared at the man avidly, praying
that whatever was going on was going to have a solution.

“Burnt. . . like ash. Like burning wood—I
really don’t have any idea on how to explain this.” He sounded as
frustrated as she felt.

“Did you find out her name?” she asked,
reaching for her purse. Pulling out a ball point pen and a notepad,
she flipped it open to a clean page and looked back up at him.

“No, I didn’t. One second, she was there. The
next, I was on the ground with a bloody leg and she was missing.
Like she had vanished into air or something.” As she wrote that
down on the pad, he groaned and the sound of the hospital bed
creaking brought her head up.

“Want me to call a nurse?” Mary was about to
stand up, but he waved a hand.

“No, I’m fine. Just some leg pain. They said
the IV or whatever that crap is should kick in soon.”

Mary nodded, sitting back down. She stared
down at her notes, lip between her teeth. “Okay, so what was her
physical appearance? Anything striking to you at all, that you
might be able to remember her by?”

Jared turned over and his eyes latched onto
her suspiciously. “What do you plan on doing? Questioning her?”

“I can’t do that, and you know I can’t.
She hasn’t done anything—that we know of. I want to know why she
smelt like ash just as much as you do, and she
was
involved in an accident. This girl would need
to be present at court if the hitter got put on trial.”

Jared’s blue eyes went downcast; she could
almost see how hard he was thinking.

“She was short, maybe a head smaller than me.
I didn’t get a look at her face exactly, like her eyes, but I can’t
be sure of exact details. A lot of what happened is a blur to me
right now.”

More scratching sounds from her notepad, and
then a sigh. Whoever this chick was, Mary felt the urge to find
her, to talk to her. . .to see if she was connected to any of the
recent murders.

“Do you remember what she was wearing?”

“She had on a blue overcoat, like a navy
blue. Brown slacks, light blonde hair. It was pretty long, went
down her back.”

Mary nodded as her hand wrote fast, getting
in all the important parts. As she did, he said tiredly, “That’s
all I can remember right now. I have a distant relative coming in
soon, and I would really like to get in some sleep before the big
sha-bang happens.” Even as Jared spoke his eyes were closing.

Sometimes, she compared the older man to her
grandfather. While he hadn’t been so dangerous, they both had the
same. . .temperament. She had grown up with it, lived with it.

Depended on it.

While Jared might not like her hovering or
concern, or constant questions, they had a business relationship
with a small amount of personal. Mary, as close as she liked to get
to people—it was the cat in her, you couldn’t blame her—always
tried to keep things professional and unattached.

Mary stood up, patting his hand. “I’ll be
back later, have fun and get some rest.”

He nodded, closing his eyes. Right as she was
walking out of the door, a light snoring sounded and she left the
room, smiling.

The woman at the front desk spared only a
bitter glance before going back to her clicking. Mary walked out of
the building and started for the parking lot, checking the time on
her cellphone.

The sun was setting down, Spring about to
start. Patches of snow covered the ground with sprouting grass
peeping from the ground. Mary barely held in a sigh of
distaste.

Kevin could be down
here
, she thought, irritated. He could be down here,
doing something for his own creations. But no, here she was.
Walking around, playing nice, and listening to complaints of others
for him.

He could at
least
—

Mary’s head turned.

Froze.

Connected.

Her heart thudded in her chest as she saw
someone staring at her from a short distance. He was on his way
toward her, his stride calm yet arrogant. Dark hair thick enough to
run her hands through. Tall enough to jump onto. Dark enough to
make her veins burn.

His pure black suit fell beautifully on his
shoulders, his slacks emphasizing his long legs. He looked like a
professional business man, like he could own the whole world if he
wanted to.

At first, she was too shocked to do anything.
Her reaction was foreign, too instant. Who was this guy, and why
had she never seen him before? Was he from around here?

Right when she thought he would stop his
stride to talk to her, his arm brushed against hers.

He kept walking.

The place where his arm had touched almost
burned, she realized as she stared down in vague shock. She looked
down to see if it were really as red as she felt it should be, and
when it wasn’t, her head turned around and watched as the strong
back disappeared into the hospital.

“God. . .” she breathed, eyes wide. He had
smelt. . .wonderful. Like a dark, spicy scent that had sent her
senses whirling out of control. Was she going into heat or
something? She wondered.

The man had been. . .hot. As hell.
Literally.

Unlocking her car door slowly, trying to get
herself back in order, she breathed out and tried to calm
herself.

The day had barely begun, yet so much was
already happening.

Chapter 4

“You’re early.”

Raffaele shrugged, taking the seat by his
uncle. It was warmed, like someone had been sitting there
already.

“I know, just had to make sure my only uncle
was okay.” They both knew that wasn’t the case.

Jared’s eyes, as light and sharp as
Raffaele’s, narrowed. “What do you want, boy? Isn’t everything in
Happy Land all fine and dandy right now?”

Another shrug. “Would be better if you would
get home, where you belong.”

“I belong
here
.” His uncles hand splayed out, gesturing to
the space around them.

“You belong in a hospital? Tied down with a
broken leg?” Raffaele’s eyes rolled. “Somehow, I doubt that is what
you really need.”

“Don’t back talk to me, boy. I don’t care how
much you’ve grown or how much power you hold now, I am still your
elder.”