Tempting the Fire (7 page)

OF a weapon and the huff of a dart gun. The chupacabra roared, clutching at the dart in its belly.

The man holding Sela down leaped to his feet, giving her the opportunity to come to hers.

“Oh, my God,” she breathed. “You’ve got a chupacabra. But how? It was a human. How did it turn—”

“Fuck if I know,” Logan said, as he eased toward the creature, which had slid to the floor. If he was surprised that she recognized a chupacabra, it didn’t 39

show.

It began to writhe, and slowly, its form changed to human again. “What …

happened …?” Chance panted, clutching at his belly.

Logan crouched next to him. “Hey, man. It’s okay. It’s me, Logan.”

“I … remember. What happened in the jungle.” Chance swallowed, panted.

“Attacked … attacked by some creature. My team … dead.”

“I know.” Logan looked at Wes. “Did you see any signs that this could happen?”

“No. Nothing.”

Okay, so these guys were clueless. And clearly, they hadn’t known the injured guy was going to turn into a monster.

“Who is this man?” Sela asked, though given what he’d said, she suspected he was a member of the SEAL team that had been slaughtered in the jungle.

Instead of answering, Logan signaled to the guy who had grabbed her earlier. The one whose nose was bleeding from her head-butt.

“Get her out of here.”

The jerk came at her, but she ducked and darted to Chance. “Chance. Hey.

Did the thing that attacked you have spines on its back? Red eyes? Claws?” Like you had.

“Yeah,” he rasped. “Yeah.” He closed his eyes, his breathing settling into a steady, shallow rhythm.

“He’s out,” Logan said. “Anyone want to share a theory on what the fuck just happened?”

Sela frowned. “Was he normal before this?”

“Before he was attacked, you mean?”

“Yes.”

Logan and Wes exchanged glances, and Logan shook his head, as if telling the other man to keep his mouth shut. He turned to her. “Go with Eric. Now.”

“I can help,” she snapped. “I’m a cryptozoologist, and chupacabras are my specialty.”

Logan cocked an eyebrow. “Really? I thought you collected bugs.”

Sarcasm dripped from every word.

Clearly, he hadn’t bought her lie, but then, she hadn’t wanted him to. “I didn’t think you’d believe me. But obviously, you’re running some sort of scientific operation here, and you have your own pet chupacabra. So yeah, I’m thinking you’ll believe the truth now.”

He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Fine. Tell me what you know, O

great chupacabra expert.”

“You’re an ass.”

He stared at her. The ass.

“Maybe you could start with what’s going on with this man.” She crossed her arms over her chest in a blatant imitation of Logan’s arrogant stance.

“We don’t know. We found him injured in the jungle.”

40

“And what are you doing here in the first place?”

He didn’t miss a beat. “We’re researchers. Studying the local fauna. It’s our job to know what kind of dangerous wildlife we could run into.”

“Really? Do all botanists carry semi-automatic weapons and set up military base camps?”

“We hired mercs as guards. This area is a hotbed for drug cartels.”

He made it all sound so legit. Too bad she knew his company made even the worst drug cartel seem like a bunch of kittens. Anyone who dealt with Itor needed to be taken down.

She glanced at the men standing around her, all armed except for the doctor, who was listening to Chance’s chest with a stethoscope. “Look, maybe we could talk in private? Call me a wuss, but I’m a little unnerved by all this.”

Besides, rule number 246 in spywork was to get your target separated from others. A man alone was less likely to censor his words.

Logan narrowed his eyes at her, but after a moment, he nodded. “Let’s go.”

She followed him to a tent near the shower. It was smaller than the medical tent but still sizable, with a cot, two folding chairs, a small table scattered with papers, a laptop computer and an open satellite phone case. A duffel large enough for her to climb inside took up one corner.

“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing to one of the chairs. She sat on the end of his cot. One corner of his mouth tipped up, and he reached for a bottle of Glenlivet. “Drink?”

“Make it a big one.”

He poured two fingers of Scotch into a clear plastic cup and handed it to her. “Sorry about the plastic, but we’re not running a country club.”

She clutched hers to hide her fingers’ trembling. Her adrenaline still raced from coming face-to-face with a creature she hadn’t believed existed, and now she was alone with another creature, who was better-looking but no less dangerous.

“So tell me about chupacabras.”

“Have your boys bring Marlena first,” she countered.

He cocked a dark eyebrow. “Why?”

“Maybe you didn’t notice that she was cuffed inside a tent with a dangerous creature? She’s got to be terrified. Maybe hurt.”

“I’d have been informed by now if she’d been injured.” Still, he went to the tent flap and shouted for Marlena to be brought to him.

A minute later, Marlena arrived, somehow looking like she’d stepped out of the pages of Playboy. She’d taken her hair out of the ponytail, and now it fell in soft waves around her shoulders. Her tight tee outlined braless breasts, and she’d tied the hem in a knot that exposed her flat stomach. Her BDU bottoms, specially made by ACRO for her build, rode low at the hips, giving her a dangerously wanton appearance.

“See?” Logan said, giving her a lingering once-over before gesturing to a chair. “She’s fine.”

41

Maybe Marlena wasn’t injured, but she was far from fine. She was too pale, her posture too stiff. What had happened in the medical tent had shaken her.

Marlena sat, but before Logan could do the same, Sela stood.

“Logan? Could I get a minute alone with Marlena? Please?”

He narrowed his eyes at her, but nodded. “You have one minute.” He slipped out of the tent, and Sela knelt beside the other woman.

“Are you okay?”

Marlena smiled so brightly that Sela could almost believe that nothing had happened. “I was scared for a few moments, but really, I’m fine. We see weird things all the time.”

At ACRO, yes, weirdness was the order of the day. But it wasn’t often you got chained next to a man who turned into a mythological creature. “Look, we’ll forget the plan. You just take it easy—”

“Sela.” Marlena’s voice cracked like a whip. “I’m fine. I can handle this.”

“But—”

Marlena grabbed Sela’s wrist, her nails digging in as she put her lips to Sela’s ear. “Don’t treat me like I’m a fucking China doll,” she whispered harshly.

“I will do my job, and don’t you dare tell Dev otherwise.”

Okaaaay.

“Now, this is the kind of thing I like to see,” Logan drawled, and Sela leaped to her feet. He was smiling, that cocky, sexy one she hated. “I knew you two were a thing.”

“Oh, go screw yourself,” Sela snapped, and he laughed as he planted himself behind his makeshift desk.

Marlena, as if she hadn’t just dressed Sela down, shifted her hips far forward in the chair, so that her back arched, allowing her breasts to subtly push up and out.

Damn, she was good. When Sela had worked as a Seducer, her methods had been more aggressive, but then, she’d had less to work with than Marlena, who needed only to sit there in order to draw men.

Logan handed Marlena a drink, which she downed in a single shot before holding out her cup for more. He poured, and then turned to Sela.

“So. The chupacabra.”

“They’re mythical creatures whose origins—at least, the legend of their origins—are rooted in Puerto Rico. There have been numerous sightings, mainly in the American Southwest, Mexico and parts of Central and South America.

Recently, sightings here in the Amazon have been reported, which is why we’re here.”

Logan ran his long fingers up and down his cup. “Is anything known about their behavior in the wild?”

In the wild? As opposed to what? Zoos? Sela shook her head. “Everything is theory. Based on kills and sightings, some cryptozoologists think they might be territorial. They’re not pack animals, probably loners, but there have been 42

sightings of pairs, so they may take mates rather than breeding nonselectively. But like I said, there’s little fact here, and a lot of speculation.” Unless Grady’s book was truly an account of chupacabra life.

“Has anyone ever captured one?” Logan asked, and Sela shook her head.

“A few strange creatures have been killed or caught, in places like Texas, but scientists determined that those animals were diseased coyotes, and they never did fit the profile of the infamous goat sucker.”

“Which apparently looks like that thing in the tent,” Logan muttered.

Marlena’s hand shook as she poured herself another shot of liquor, but she covered quickly by bracing her forearm on the table. “That was … weird.”

“You think?” Logan snorted. “So, what exactly are chupacabras?”

Marlena downed the shot. “Some theories floating around out there suggest that chupacabras are actually escaped alien pets.”

“Which is ridiculous,” Sela scoffed.

Logan took a gulp of his Scotch. “You just found out the thing is real. So why is the idea that it’s an alien so out of the realm of possibility?”

“Because aliens don’t exist.”

Marlena shrugged, regaining her Seducer persona with a slow roll of one sexy shoulder. “Until ten minutes ago, you didn’t think chupacabras existed.”

Sela shot her a scowl. “In any case, not once has the chupacabra legend been associated with humans turning into them.” She turned her gaze on Logan. “I need to know who the man in your medical tent is.”

Logan looked up at the roof. “We found him nearly dead. He’s American military. The only survivor of an animal attack. We expected him to die, but he healed so quickly it’s miraculous.”

“So you don’t know anything about him.”

“I know the military doesn’t make a habit of enlisting people who change into man-eating beasts, so I’m going to throw out a wild guess that whatever attacked him also infected him.”

“We need to talk to him,” Marlena said, coming to her feet. She swayed drunkenly, and Logan caught her. She smiled apologetically, but when he tried to release her, she clung to him. “Sorry. I’m just … a little tipsy.”

“Jungle heat will do that to you.” He guided her back to her chair, but still, she clung to him, running one hand up his arm, the motion causing her breasts to rub against his chest.

Sela watched curiously, wondering if he’d take advantage of Marlena’s

“drunken” state.

“I want my backpack,” she purred.

“Why?” Logan’s voice was rough, but with irritation or arousal, Sela couldn’t tell. “Want your little vibrating buddy?”

“I’ve never been one to deny myself pleasure whenever I can find it. And in a hellhole like this …” Marlena shrugged.

“Really …” Logan tugged her close, and for some reason, Sela felt a twinge 43

of jealousy. “So if I wanted to get down to it with you, right now, you wouldn’t have a problem with that?”

“Why should I?” The words were casual, but there was a slight tremor in Marlena’s voice. She was definitely not okay, but she was soldiering on, determined to do her job.

He turned to Sela. “What about you?”

She nearly choked on her own tongue. “What about me? I’m not into threesomes.” She ground her teeth and added, “Not with women anyway.” God, she hoped things didn’t come down to that. To a threesome of any sort.

“I wasn’t talking about a threesome. Mainly because I don’t share well.” He plunked Marlena in the chair and left her to sink down beside Sela, so close his heat rolled over her like a caress. “I’m wondering about you. Do you look at sex the same way? A moment of pleasure to be had in any situation, no matter how extreme?”

She smiled sweetly. “You mean, like jerking off in a shower while your prisoner is cuffed to a pole right outside? That’s a pretty extreme situation. Seems to me that given your little shower adventure, you have a lot in common with Marlena.”

“You’re mouthy.”

“You like it.”

His gaze dropped to her mouth. “I know where I’d like it.”

An image of her with her lips wrapped around his cock swamped her brain, which was insane, because no way was she having sex with him. Then again, he was showing no interest in Marlena, and even if he were, Sela couldn’t let Marlena continue this charade. The woman had been through enough.

“Logan,” Marlena began, but he cut her off with a wave of his hand and called for one of his men, who must have been right outside, and told him to take Marlena away.

Sela couldn’t decide if she was relieved or not, but as Marlena exited the tent, she flashed Sela an apologetic look, and Sela knew without a doubt that Logan’s balls were now in her court.

44

Sela waited until the flap closed, and then she came to her feet with an indignant huff. “Where are you taking her?”

“Supply tent for now. There’s a cot in there. She’ll be comfortable until we find a more permanent solution.”

Well, it was better than putting Marlena back in with Chance. “And where will I stay?”

Logan poured more Scotch into his cup. “You stay with me.”

Sela managed an outraged gasp that wasn’t entirely feigned. “Why?”

“Because you’re a troublemaker. I want to keep an eye on you.”

She jabbed him in the chest so hard the last of his liquor sloshed out of the cup. “You have no right to hold us like this.”

He dropped the cup and seized her wrist. “You’d rather be out in the jungle with that creature? It tore apart an entire SEAL team. What do you think it’ll do to two helpless women? And if it doesn’t get you, there are plenty of drug thugs who will.”

The helpless thing really pissed her off. She’d show him helpless soon enough. “So I’m supposed to believe you’re keeping us prisoner out of the goodness of your heart?”

His laughter cut through the air. “I don’t do anything out of the goodness of my heart, babe.” He hauled her close, so her breasts mashed against his chest …