In Like a Lion (27 page)

She rolled back onto her heels. His skin was unmarked, but still he didn’t move. Could a single scratch have delivered enough drug to be lethal?

A frown tugged at her forehead. Her trembling hands found his wrist, but her own pulse thundered too loud and she shook too much. She lowered her cheek to his mouth. Hope flowered in her chest. Her heart rapped like a watchman’s stick against her breastbone.

A sweep of warm air made her throw back her head and issue a sobbing laugh that rocked both their bodies and echoed through the cavernous room.

He was alive.

But her relief was tempered by his unresponsiveness. Somehow, the dart had failed to pierce his skin. Why didn’t he wake up?

She checked him over, half-rolling him to examine his back and found a bloody lump on the back of his head. He’d struck the leg of the metal bench where it was riveted to the floor.

He wasn’t dead, but he could still die if his brain swelled.

A tear slid down her nose and landed on his chin. Anjali wiped it away, thinking back to her residency. It was imperative to keep the victim awake.

She shoved him firmly. “Wake up, Jake. If you die, Kincaid says I die, too, and I promise to make your next incarnation a living hell.”

Jake groaned, eyelashes fluttering.

Anjali’s heart hiccupped in her chest. Hope made her smile. She leaned over and kissed him. “Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. I love you.”

Jake opened his eyes. Anjali was relieved to see both pupils were the same size. He moaned and pressed a shaky hand to his head. “Who hit me?” His hand came away bloody, and he winced.

Anjali smiled so hard her cheeks quivered. “
You
hit the bench.” She propped him up so she could explore his wound. Though there was plenty of blood matting his hair, the break in the skin had already mended, and the bump subsided even as she inspected it. “This is healing.”

She planted a swift kiss on the crown of his head. “Maybe we should check the bench,” she teased, before pressing her face into the warm hollow of his neck and shoulder, her hand resting over the reassuringly strong beat of his heart.

She stayed like that for a moment, just savoring the warmth of his body.
Thank you, God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

She drew back and shook her head. “But what happened with the dart?”

Something fluttered under her palm and she looked down at his chest. What had been smooth skin a moment earlier was now covered with midnight-blue scales.

“To quote my brother, ‘Sometimes it comes in handy to change only one part.’” He slanted a glance her way. “Hmm, maybe this wasn’t the part he was talking about.”

Her face heated. She hit him lightly on his chest, which had already reformed into smooth skin. “Hey, remember, I’m a good Indian girl. We don’t talk like that—until we’re married.”

Jake loved the way Anjali’s face colored. The blush started in her cheeks and spread to her ears and down her neck in a visible wave. She was embarrassed about what she’d just said. Wanted to take it back, maybe.

But no way would he let her do that. “You want to get married, then? Because of the baby?” He watched her expression, straining to interpret every nuance.

Swimming up from the depths of unconsciousness, he’d heard her admit that she loved him, but he couldn’t help prodding her.
Yeller eyes.
The scared, unwanted boy he’d been needed to hear the words again.

She bit her lower lip, compressing the plump pink flesh with her white teeth, making it moist and rosy. The move slayed him as it always did, but he resisted the urge to soothe the abused skin with his mouth. As much as he craved her touch, he needed her answer more.

She met his gaze with brimming eyes. The sheer emotion in her face made him breathless. “Because I love you.”

She took his hands, enfolding them in her petite grasp and held his gaze, mahogany eyes liquid with emotion. “I would endure a lifetime of grief for one
moment
with you.”

Inside him the lion purred, content. It seemed he’d run his entire life, but maybe he hadn’t been running away—maybe he’d been running home. And Anjali was home.

“I love you, too,” he said.

She inhaled shakily, her eyes misty, and he realized she’d been worried he didn’t return her feelings.

He pulled her into his arms, wanting there to be no doubt about how he felt. The kiss was soft, but soon flared from reassurance to passion.

And then he wanted nothing more than the heat of her body, the taste of her mouth.

He slid his hands down to press her closer. But a noise drew him back. Anjali looked at him, eyelids half-lowered, lips swollen.

“This isn’t the time.” He concentrated on his brother for a minute.
Kyle, you OK?

I’m fine. Some of these guys aren’t getting up again, though
. Regret threaded Kyle’s mental voice.

A spasm of sadness flexed through Jake for a moment. No one knew better than he what his brother was going through. He wished Kyle the same kind of happiness he had.

Anjali helped him stand. It wasn’t really necessary, but he loved the feel of her under his arm, so he let her take more of his weight than he needed to.

Worry creased her forehead, filled her almond-shaped eyes. “The bump was healing. Are you dizzy?”

He hid a grin. “Just a little. It’s getting better.”

Kincaid groaned. The sound raised the hair on the back of Jake’s neck.

The lion stirred, summoned by the sound of dying prey, but Anjali’s presence rooted him, allowed him to accept and control his other forms and Jake easily reined him in.

Anjali turned toward Kincaid, tugging away from Jake. “He’s alive.”

But his alter egos weren’t the only ones who wanted Kincaid dead. “Leave him. He would have killed us both.”

She crouched beside the dying man. “I may have left after my residency, but I believe in the oath, not to mention karma.”

Jake ground his teeth, but he shoved his hands into his pockets and didn’t interfere. “You know if he lives, he’ll never let us be. He’s a danger to our family.”

Despite the anger anything to do with Kincaid roused in him, the words, “our family” swamped him with satisfaction and pride. Hard to believe he, who’d never had been part of an “our” at all, let alone a family, now had both.

Anjali pressed her left hand over the wound in Kincaid’s chest. Her hand was soon red with blood.

Kincaid was forever tied to blood in Jake’s mind, blood and pain. He turned away. He couldn’t forget Kincaid’s crimes so fast.

Facing his own death had been easy. Locked in that cell, he’d always been at Kincaid’s mercy, but when Clara had threatened Anjali, he’d truly known fear. He’d never hated Kincaid more than he had in that moment, knowing if he died Anjali would follow him.

He surveyed the room for the blonde and growled. She was gone.

Anjali noted his glance as she continued working on Kincaid. “Where’s that woman?”

“She must have slipped away while we were preoccupied. It doesn’t matter. I have her scent. Kyle and I will track her down.”

Anjali wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her wrist and turned back to Kincaid. “I missed his heart. But the bullet is very near the blood supply to his left arm. He needs an ambulance.”

“I’m surprised you hit him at all. Have you ever shot a gun?”

“No, but I watch a lot of television.” She leaned harder on the hand pressing Kincaid’s wound and examined her free hand. “I should have known better than to get my hand caught in the slide. Anyone who watches
CSI
knows that.” She raised her chin. “Now about that ambulance?”

He had to smile at the bulldog stubbornness of her normally sweet face. “You’re determined to have him chase us the rest of our lives, aren’t you?”

“Don’t you worry.” Anjali gave him a radiant smile. “I have a plan.”

He made a mental note to watch out for that particular expression in the future.

Kyle followed the heady scent of human blood. He was low on energy, dulling the call of his feral side, but still his mouth watered. Though generally less volatile than the lion, the dragon wanted feeding.

He stopped at the open door to a room stinking of blood and sweat. He knew Jake and Anjali were in there. Their even respiration and heart rates told him everything was fine, but the dying man inside made it torture to hold back the beast.
And John had been anxious about Jake.

He mopped the moisture from his forehead with his sleeve and gathered his strength. Across the threshold, he found Jake with his arm around his mate while she applied pressure to Kincaid’s wound. The sight gave him hope.

“I see you made out OK.” He ran his hand over his face to hide the electric green glow the older man’s weak pulse elicited. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here, but I was trying to be gentle, and not all of them got the hint.”

An hour later, wrapped in an EMS blanket while she spoke to the police, Anjali yawned into her hand. Kincaid had been rushed away as soon as the ambulance arrived, but she was stuck explaining everything ad nauseam to the powers that be. She checked the clock.

Admit it, you regret calling the police, now.
Jake sent a heated gaze her way from across the room where he was being interviewed separately.
Don’t feel bad. The man is a murderer.

Her body reacted to the steamy glance, everything that could standing at attention, and she couldn’t resist retaliating.
Stop distracting me. I think this nice policeman is flirting with me. He reminds me of Orlando Bloom.
She tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear, gazing at the muscular policeman taking her statement, and pressed her lips together to hide the grin triggered by Jake’s mental growl.

“Well, that’s it.” The detective flashed a dimple her way. “I don’t want you to worry. Given the evidence, your employer will probably get a one-way-ticket up to Maddox State Hospital.”

Anjali nodded.

Serves the bastard right
, Jake said.
Let him know what it feels like to have everyone believe he’s crazy.

Stop eavesdropping
. Anjali sent him a warning look.

Kincaid had better hope he rots in ‘Mad’ State.
Jake’s brother broke in.
It was all I could do not to take a piece out of him, and I’d be happy to finish the job.

Earlier, Kyle had left the room almost as soon as he’d come to gather and destroy any evidence of their abilities. He’d returned to support their story, and now he paced the edges of the room, as if guarding them, looking big and dangerous. He was clearly eager to leave.

As far as the police knew, Gareth Kincaid had bought a lion on the black market, turned it loose in her apartment, then kidnapped her to fulfill some insane plan. The footage of the lion on the interstate and in the desert backed up their story.

Most of his men didn’t know the truth, and those who did were unlikely to share the information and risk joining their boss at the state hospital for the criminally insane.

She thanked the officer and handed him the blanket, smiling at him in goodbye. He jerked his head toward the door at his partner, and they left.

Kyle stopped pacing and headed for the door. “I’ll wait outside.”

Jake held a hand up in acknowledgement. “We’ll be right out.”

She walked over to slip her arm around her mate’s waist and smiled into Jake’s beautiful face, vowing to keep him safe. She inhaled, and the scent of blood reminded her how close she’d come to losing him. Kincaid . . .

The thought of that bastard wriggling out of this somehow roused the protective lioness. The drug had worn off and she could feel a hint of fang showing.
After what Kincaid did to you, if he gets off, I’ll kill him myself.

Jake jerked her into his body and nuzzled her neck.
That’s my girl.

Chapter 34

Several minutes later, Anjali kissed Jake and slid from the rental car parked in front of her apartment building. “Wait here with Kyle. I want to talk to Meena Masi and then get some clothes.”

“But—”

She held up her fingers. “It’ll be hard enough without two huge men looming over me like bodyguards. Please?”

Jake huffed a frustrated sigh, but nodded, his face closed, and she couldn’t resist leaning in to plant another quick kiss on his lips. “I’ll only be a minute.”

Anjali pressed her lips together as she bounded up the stairs.

Hopefully the story she’d told the police would convince Meena Masi, as well. She blew out a stream of air and knocked on the steel door. Only one way to find out.

“Who is it?” Meena Masi’s voice sounded soft and feeble through the metal.

Anjali bit her lip, wondering if the old woman had been ill while she was gone and was having trouble walking. “It’s me, Anjali. Can I come in?”

“Anjali!
Ander Avo
.” Come in.

Anjali opened the door and stuck her head through the doorway, but the lights were off and the curtains shut. She didn’t see her friend. “Meena Masi?”

She swiveled, inhaling the familiar blend of spices that hung in the air. The scent prompted the same rush of emotion it always did, but this time Anjali imagined her mother standing at the stove, an apron over her sari, and smiled.

A tear dampened her eye. She flicked it away with her finger. She still missed her family, but they would always be with her. A tiny laugh lifted her chest.

How many movies had she heard that line in? She shrugged inwardly. Well, they were clichés for a reason.

A sudden whoosh of air triggered the impulse to duck and Anjali lurched to the side, blinking as a cricket bat hit the wall beside where she had been standing and knocked a hole in the wall with a loud bang. Chunks of drywall flaked off as the wielder wrenched the weapon from the crater.

She spun, searching for her assailant in the shadows and found Meena Masi in her usual tracksuit, taking another swing with the bat. Anjali froze for the blink of an eye. Only her chimera reflexes allowed her to dodge the second blow. She felt it skim by, unable to believe the evidence of her eyes. “Masi! What are you doing?”

Meena’s eyes narrowed and she swung again, grunting with effort. “Kincaid promised me that body and I’m going to have it.”

Anjali rolled across the square kitchen table and out of the way, realizing to her horror and humiliation that she’d been conned. This sweet old lady had been in league with her employer from the start.

Jake, I need you!
Anjali called out mentally. She shook her head, her chest burning with the knifelike stab of betrayal. She’d helped the old woman. Run errands for, eaten, and prepared meals with her.

The table was a polished shield between them, and she stalled, trying to think, not wanting to hurt the older woman despite her growing anger. “What body?”

“The one you’re wearing, of course.” Meena took another swipe, and Anjali had to lean back. The air from the movement brushed her face and the lioness perked up her ears.

Meena Masi showed none of the fatigue or unsteadiness she’d displayed before. The older woman’s sudden nimbleness and hawk-like gaze, not to mention her odd turn of phrase, unnerved Anjali.

“You want my body?” Anjali stifled a nervous giggle at how that sounded, still reeling from the unexpected and treacherous attack.

Meena Masi didn’t answer, leaping straight on top of the table from where she’d stood.

Anjali gaped. She couldn’t have done that before her change. Now seeing an eighty-year-old woman do it sent an electric jolt of fear through her. There was something very wrong here. “What are you?”

“The new owner of that body.” Meena jumped down in front of her.

The lioness howled for release, but Anjali restrained her inner cat, running for the bathroom.

Meena Masi got there first. She lifted the bat.

“Hey!”

The shout drew their attention to the doorway. A dark shape stood framed there, but with her new keener vision Anjali could see it was Jake.

He rushed Meena Masi. Anjali tried to rip the bat from her hands, but the old woman hung on like a pit bull. She couldn’t be human. They wrestled for the weapon.

Jake grabbed Meena Masi from behind, wrapping her up in his powerful arms.

Meena Masi let go of the bat without warning. Anjali flew backward, striking the kitchen counter with her shoulder blades as she went down. The bat tumbled away, coming to rest over by the table.

Meena Masi fought like a wildcat, kicking and punching at Jake. She landed a blow to his throat.

Jake choked and dropped the old woman. She scrambled to the table and grabbed the cricket bat, wheeling to confront him and Anjali.

His eyes were wide as they faced off. “What are you?” he asked.

Anjali stood, wincing, and rubbed her shoulders. “That’s what I want to know.”

“What’s going on?”

Jake glanced back as Kyle barreled in the door.

His brother’s eyes glowed green and claws tipped his fingers.
Shit
. He hoped Kyle could keep himself under control. A dragon the size of a bus was the last thing they needed at the moment.

The old Indian woman cocked the cricket bat over her bony shoulder and eyed them as if she planned to knock their heads out of the park.

“Be careful!” Anjali held out her hands. “She’s in with Kincaid, and she’s far stronger and faster than she appears.”

The old woman swept the room with her gaze and seemed to come to a decision, throwing the bat at Jake and dashing past Anjali to grab a knife from the counter.

Jake and Kyle ran forward, but she danced aside, using the square table as a barrier. “Back off.” She thrust the knife at Anjali. They retreated and she vaulted over the table, then made a beeline for the door.

“You weren’t kidding!” Kyle snatched the knife from Meena Masi’s hand and Jake hurtled to the door, slamming it before the old woman could escape.

Blocking it, he growled. “Kincaid might still be alive, but you won’t be, unless you start talking.”

The old woman glanced around the room as if noting their positions. “I’m just an old woman. Why don’t you let me go?”

Kyle moved closer and sniffed the air. “She’s lying. I can smell it.”

“I don’t need to smell it.” Jake folded his arms. “No old human woman moves like that.”

Her glance flitted around the room as if surveying for weaknesses or escape routes. “Very well, I’m a step-in.”

“A step-in?” Anjali leaned forward and Jake could see her scientific curiosity taking over. He waved her back.

“A spirit that’s not ready to die takes the body of a person who moves on,” Kyle said, and they all stared at him. He shrugged. “I used to watch
Ghost Whisperer
. Guilty pleasure.”

“But that doesn’t explain the strength.” Anjali tilted her head, eyes focused.

The old woman gave a disgusted chuff. “The bodies I’ve chosen have all been more than human and I’ve been able to bring their talents with me.”

“Bodies?” Anjali’s mouth dropped open in horror. “You mean there’s been more than one?”

The tiny woman rolled her eyes. “Well, I didn’t want to die, did I?”

“How did you get this one?” Anjali’s face was a picture of disturbed fascination.

“I got this one from the hospital. She had something incurable.” The old woman’s shoulders twitched. “I was a witch in my first life and I took care of it once the other spirit had departed.”

Kyle practically spat on the floor. “More witches.”

The old woman smiled, then dove toward Anjali with dizzying speed. Jake shouted and he and Kyle leapt after her.

There was a thud and when they drew back, the old woman was on the floor, moaning. Anjali held a pretty, decorative box in her hands, which it seemed she had used to bean the other woman on the head.

She flipped open the lid and took out something silver and diamond-shaped, bit into it, then held the box out to him and Kyle. “
Kaju katri
?”

Anjali rubbed her nape under her braid, closed the laptop on the table with a forceful click, and glanced at the old woman they’d tied up after her attempted escape. The emails on the old woman’s computer painted an ugly picture and Anjali felt sick. “You pretended to have a son so you could get matrimonials to find a mate for Jake? But how did you know which one would be a good match?”

Meena Masi pursed her lips and stared at the ceiling, eyes stubborn beneath their veil of wrinkles.

“I’ve got this one,” Kyle said, grabbing more papers out of the old woman’s desk and brandishing them. “Astrological charts.” His eyes glowed, literally and figuratively. “This could be our break to finding more mates.”

“So you saw my birthday online. Convinced my mother you had a perfect match and that’s why she urged me to move here.” Anjali groaned. Was it possible to be numb and furious and hurt at the same time? “She even found this apartment before she died. I thought it was a miracle it was still available!”

Anjali could only guess at what schemes the old woman had used to keep the flat vacant.

“But why a chimera?” Kyle asked.

“I’m sick of these frail human bodies. Chimeras are powerful and long lived.”

Anjali bounced an assessing glance at Kyle and Jake. She could see neither of them felt the urge to tell Meena Masi about the destiny that might have met her without a mate.

Suddenly exhausted, Anjali stood, rubbing her chilled hands on her blue-jeaned thighs. “What are we going to do about her?”

Kyle smiled, but it was not a nice smile. “Leave her to me.”

Jake looped his arm around Anjali’s slim waist, enjoying the feel of her tucked against his ribs, and they headed for the hallway, where Kyle, having taken care of Meena Masi with a few phone calls, was leaning, arms folded, one leg bent, against the wall.

He joined them, his usual aura of being on the edge of changing subdued for once. “You ready for New York?”

Jake patted his brother’s arm, grateful for his help and not sure how to show it. He was starting a whole new life and he hoped his brother would be part of it.

Kyle hesitated then slung his arm over Jake’s shoulder. A barrier in Jake gave way. He followed suit and sensed some of the tension always simmering around his brother, ebb.

Tucked between Anjali and Kyle, Jake savored a feeling of belonging he’d never experienced and a hope for the future he’d never dared imagine. His whole body felt light, as if he rode a thermal.

The trio walked in tandem for a stride, then Jake said. “I was thinking we should stop at Vegas first.”

Anjali stopped dead. “Vegas?”

Jake turned toward her. “To get married.”

Anjali shook her head, sending a jolt of stark terror through him.

“No? You changed you mind? You don’t want to get married?”

She smiled, dark eyes shining. “Of course, I’m going to marry you, but no way am I getting married in Vegas. I’m getting the full five day Hindu wedding.”

Relief washed over him and he scooped her up into his arms and spun her around. “You got it.”

Kyle poked him in the side as they exited the building.
Nice proposal, bro
, he ribbed.

Jake knew he was grinning like a fool as he helped Anjali into the back of Kyle’s rental car, but he didn’t care. He had everything he wanted, more than he had ever dreamed, and life was good.
Got the job done. Think you can do better?

His brother raised an eyebrow and slid into the driver’s seat.
Couldn’t be hard.

Jake slanted his brother a considering look.
Ten bucks says you choke.

Kyle threw the car into gear.
You’re on.