Talon/Xavier (Bayou Heat) (3 page)

“She helps by being in the same room?” he demanded.

“She helps just being in the Wildlands.”

Talon shook his head. He didn’t like the thought that the female could somehow tamper with Ashe by her mere presence.

It was one thing to stir up a potion. Or even do one of those mysterious rituals they seemed to love.

But this…it was strange.

And he didn’t trust strange.

“Do the Healers know why?”

Raphael’s expression tightened, his eyes glowing gold with the power of his cat. “They’re divided.”

“Why do I sense I’m not going to like this?”

“Because you won’t,” Raphael said bluntly, halting his pacing to meet Talon’s wary gaze. “Isi is Ashe’s sister.”

Talon blinked, his brain struggling to process the words.

“Sister?”

“Her
twin
sister.”

Twin sister. God almighty.

“I thought you said Ashe’s only relative was a drunkard mother,” Talon said.

“That’s what Ashe had always been told.”

Talon narrowed his gaze, his vague unease solidifying into ruthless suspicion.

“And now this Isi claims to be her long-lost sister?”

Raphael shook his head. “No. The DNA revealed their connection.”

The scientific proof of the two women’s biological connection did nothing to ease Talon’s distrust. Hell, it only made him more skeptical.

“That’s one hell of a coincidence,” he muttered.

“Yeah, that was my thought.” Raphael shoved his fingers through his hair. “And it gets worse.”

Talon rolled his eyes. When were things
not
getting worse?

“Great.”

“The elders are convinced that Isi is some prophesied agent of doom.”

Talon made a sound of disbelief at the cheesy, sci-fi description. He might even have laughed if it hadn’t been for Raphael’s grim expression. He had a feeling a laugh would earn him an ass-kicking even worse than the time he’d set up a moonshine still in the caves and sold the potent liquor to his classmates. How was he supposed to know he’d brewed the alcohol so pure it would make them sicker than dogs?

“Now you’re just screwing with me,” he instead growled.

“I wish I was,” Raphael muttered. “The elders claim that Isi and Ashe’s father was the Pantera Shaman.”

It took a minute for Talon to recall the human who had once been called on by the elders to reveal the faction of an unborn Pantera. There were also rumors he’d had visions of the future.

It’d been years since Talon had last seen him.

He at last managed to dig the name from his memories.

“Chayton?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t he die?”

Raphael grimaced. “The elders assumed he had.”

Talon made a sound of disbelief. The elders rarely made mistakes.

Or maybe they just never admitted to them.

“Go on,” he urged.

“They said that Chayton had a vision that his first born child would destroy the Wildlands,” Raphael said, a hint of pity in his voice for the man who must have been devastated to reveal that his own daughter was born to be a force for evil.

Talon was far less sympathetic. He wasn’t a firm believer in prophecies. There were too many ways they could be interpreted to offer a blueprint for the future.

But if the first born child was a danger to his people, he damned well intended to stop her.

“Isi was the first born?”

Raphael gave a sharp nod. “After the vision, Chayton took his pregnant wife and fled to the north of the state. The babes were just being born when the elders tracked them down.”

“They intended to sacrifice the child.” The words were a statement, not a question.

The elders weren’t the sort of females to wait and see if something might become a problem. They were firm believers in preemptive strikes.

“They did, but Chayton managed to distract them long enough to slip away,” Raphael revealed. “The Hunters found traces of blood and a baby blanket, but no sign of the Shaman. When Dixie returned to La Pierre with Ashe the Elders kept a close guard on Dixie expecting Chayton to try and contact her if he remained alive. When the years passed with no word from the Shaman the Elders assumed he and the babe had died.”

The Shaman had to have been extremely talented or extremely lucky to have escaped the elders for so long.

“Ashe knew nothing about her father?” he asked.

“No.” Raphael narrowed his gaze, as if daring the younger man to call his mate a liar. Yeah. Talon was more likely to stick his head in the mouth of a gator. “The elders obviously tampered with Dixie’s mind, forcing her to believe she only had one child and that her husband abandoned her.”

Talon shuddered. Mind alterations on such a large scale could be extremely destructive to humans.

“Maybe it’s not so surprising she turned to booze,” he said. “What was the elders’ response to Isi’s arrival?”

“Cataclysmic.” The lean features tightened. No doubt Raphael had been at the epicenter of that cataclysmic response. “They arrived at Ashe’s room once the DNA results revealed her connection to Isi. Until that point they’d assumed that Isi’s only threat was her connection to her voodoo shop.”

Talon wasn’t expecting that.

“They knew about her?”

“They’ve been keeping a careful watch on artists who specialize in tattoos with malachite.”

Ah. Talon had to admit it was a reasonable precaution. The mineral was used to ground a cat inside a Pantera’s body. Or for Nurturer therapists to soothe patients who couldn’t control their minds or their cats. And, of course, the elders used it as punishment to cage a Pantera.

“Only a person with intimate knowledge of our cats would understand the magical properties of the mineral,” he pointed out.

“There’s also this.”

Reaching into his pocket, Raphael pulled out his phone and flicked through the photos. Finding the one he was searching for, he turned the phone so Talon could see the image.

Talon leaned forward, easily determining the picture had been taken on the streets of New Orleans. It appeared to be a small store. The sort you could find in any narrow street or alleyway. The only thing to make it stand out was the blood-red shingle that read, THE CARE AND FEEDING OF VOODOO.

“I assume this is Isi’s shop?” he demanded, not entirely sure what he was supposed to be seeing.

“Yes. And this is her vehicle.”

Raphael zoomed the photo until Talon could see the white van parked in front of the store, the emblem of a spread-winged raven flying across a full moon painted on the side.

A low growl trickled from Talon’s throat at the unmistakable Mark of Shakpi.

“Shit.” He glanced up at Raphael’s bleak face. “Do they intend to kill her?”

The golden eyes glowed with a dangerous determination. “Not as long as I keep them away.”

Talon frowned. Raphael was usually the levelheaded one. The one who looked at every situation with a cool logic that was as annoying as hell.

Now, Talon couldn’t help but worry that his friend was allowing his devotion to his mate to blind him to the potential danger of having Isi so near.

“Look, Raphael, I get that she’s related to your mate, but if she’s one of our enemies—”

“I don’t give a shit if she’s related or not,” Raphael sharply interrupted. “Her presence is helping Ashe fight back the toxin.”

Talon chose his words with care. Raphael was on the edge of snapping. He didn’t want to be the one to tip him into a homicidal rage.

Not when he was standing only a few feet away.

“You’re sure it’s not some trick?”

“I’m not sure of anything.” Raphael gave a low growl of frustration. “But know this, I’ll do whatever is necessary to protect my mate and child.”

Talon swallowed the words of warning that trembled on his lips.

They were a waste of breath as long as Raphael truly believed Isi was able to help his family.

“As we all will,” he instead muttered, his tone grudging.

The golden gaze narrowed, the air prickling with the heat of Raphael’s cat. “I hope you mean that.”

“Why?”

“I have placed Isi under my protection, but I don’t trust the elders,” the older man bluntly confessed. “They’re convinced she’s the doom of the Pantera. They’ll kill her if they get the opportunity.”

That didn’t seem like a bad plan to Talon. With Isi dead, then they could return to finding a less risky way to protect Ashe and the babe.

But his loyalty belonged to Raphael.

There was nothing he wouldn’t do for the leader of the Suits.

“What do you want from me?” he asked.

“We haven’t been able to do more than moderate Isi’s illness.”

Talon grimaced. “The Wildlands are probably trying to drive her out.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Raphael waved a dismissive hand. “We had to move her to your parents’ home.”

Talon flinched, his eyes widening.

The pretty cottage that was hidden on the edge of the deepest marshes had been shut up the day that they received the news that Talon’s parents had been killed in an airplane crash. Talon had moved to the Hunter house, and while he visited the cottage to perform the necessary upkeep, no one had actually stayed there for years.

He didn’t keep it as some tragic temple to his dead parents. Or at least, not intentionally.

But he sure the hell didn’t use it as a B&B for the potential doom of his people.

“You put her where?” he rasped, unable to believe that Raphael could be so insensitive.

Raphael met his accusing glare with a stubborn expression. He wasn’t backing down.

“It’s the most easily defended location,” he pointed out, referring to the marshland that was deep and thick enough to keep out all but the most determined predators. “Besides, there’s something in the house that eases her sickness.”

Talon didn’t care if it made her sprout wings and a halo.

“You’re asking a lot,
mon ami
.”

Raphael shoved his phone into his pocket and folded his arms over his chest. He’d lost weight in the past month, but he was still big, tough and capable of twisting Talon into a painful knot.

“I’m not done,” he warned.

Talon counted to ten.

“What?”

“I expect you to become her guardian.”

Talon made a sound of shock. “Say that again.”

The golden eyes narrowed. “You heard me.”

He had. Unfortunately.

“Why me?”

“I trust you.”

The words struck straight at his heart, and Talon threw his hands up in defeat.

“Fuck.”

CHAPTER TWO

For the first time in weeks, Isi felt warm. Not just ‘wrapped in heavy blankets until she was nearly smothered’ warm. But warm from the inside out.

And even better, the constant sense of nausea was gone.

Completely, utterly gone.

With a sigh she snuggled closer to the source of the warmth, breathing deeply of the intoxicating musk that was driving away the hideous illness that plagued her at varying levels of hell since she arrived in the Wildlands.

She didn’t know what was creating the delicious scent, and she didn’t really care.

She just wanted to wrap herself in the soothing sensations.

As if answering her prayer, a warm hand slid down her back, cupping her ass.

“Oh, thank god,” she groaned as the touch sent heat rushing through her veins. “Don’t stop. That feels so good.”

“I haven’t even started, darling,” a rough male voice whispered in her ear.

Isi was jerked out of her lovely dream, belatedly realizing she was no longer alone. What the hell? She forced open her heavy lids, her breath squeezed from her lungs as she encountered a pair of glowing golden eyes rimmed in jade.

They were spectacular eyes.

Clear, cunning and lethally male.

And they were set in a face that was drop-dead, do-me-now gorgeous.

Wide brow, a narrow blade of a nose, high cheekbones and sensually carved lips.

A true masterpiece of DNA.

Still foggy from sleep, Isi felt a surge of female appreciation tingle down her spine.

That was the kind of face that made smart women do stupid things.

And enjoy every second of it.

A dark, enticing arousal stirred deep inside her, shocking Isi with the intensity of her response.

She might enjoy the sight of a handsome man in a purely artistic way, but she didn’t immediately consider how quickly she could rip off his clothes and wrap herself around him.

It was at last the inhuman glow in his eyes that snapped her out of her growing obsession.

Oh, shit.

This wasn’t a man.

He was Pantera.

And he was currently rolling until he was perched on top of her.

“Hello, darling,” he drawled, his lips curling as he watched her expression tighten with a surge of angry suspicion. “If I’d known you were waiting in my bed I would have returned sooner.”

She shoved her hands against his chest, not surprised when he refused to budge. Even through the thin blanket she could feel his lean body honed to sleek, chiseled muscles. The shove was just a distraction so she could knee him in the nuts.