Jaguars' Reward [Impulse 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  Vadim was swamped with guilt. He had no idea how a body came to be floating in the ocean off the coast of Impulse, but if he and Zayd had been paying proper attention they might have gotten to it sooner. They weren’t supposed to be on duty, but Vadim and Zayd were head of security in Impulse, so technically they were always on call. If the person was dead, Vadim would never forgive himself.

  “It’s not your fault,” Zayd said.

  “Then whose is it?” Vadim flexed his jaw as he maneuvered the boat as close to the floating body as he dared, careful not to get anywhere near it with the propellers. “When it comes to security in this community, the buck stops with me.”

  “That would be with us, not just you, and we can’t be all things to all people.”

  “Save it!” Vadim put the engines in idle and ceded his place at the helm to Zayd. “Hold her steady. I’ll go take a look.”

  Vadim dove over the side and swam toward the body, covering the distance with speed and strength, hoping against hope that he wouldn’t encounter a corpse. What he actually found was a woman, floating on her back, eyes wide open and staring sightlessly at the clear blue sky.

  And it was impossible to tell if she was breathing or not.

  Chapter Two

  Vadim grasped her beneath her armpits. The arrival of the boat had churned up the ocean and he made sure her head stayed clear of it. He then trod water until Zayd brought their craft alongside and cut the engines.

  “Quick, let’s get her on board,” Zayd said.

  Vadim pushed her from below and Zayd’s strong arms easily lifted her clear of the water. Vadim placed his hands on the transom and swung himself over it, landing in the cockpit where Zayd had placed the woman on the sun bed.

  “Get us back to shore, fast as you can,” Vadim said curtly. “I don’t like the look of her. It’s probably too late, but—”

  “Does she have a pulse?”

  Vadim placed two fingers on her carotid artery, just below her jawbone.

  “Nothing,” he said urgently. “I’ll try CPR. Get moving, Zayd!”

  “Right.”

  He turned the boat in a sweeping arc and pushed the throttles fully forward. The powerful engines roared into life and the boat skimmed across the calm sea at a steady twenty knots. Vadim placed two fingers beneath the woman’s chin and tilted her head back, opening her windpipe. He swept his index finger insider her mouth to make sure there were no obstructions and then used a finger and thumb to pinch her nose shut. Vadim breathed two slow breaths into the woman’s mouth and then checked for a response.

  “Shit, nothing.”

  “Keep trying,” Zayd said from behind the wheel.

  Vadim tore open her shirt and found the spot where ribs met breastbone. Sitting on his knees, he tried steady hand compressions, pausing to give another two breaths directly into her mouth after the first fifteen.

  “Come on, lady, come on! I refuse to let you die on my watch.”

  But the woman remained cold and unresponsive. He had no idea how long she’d been in the water, but, in spite of Zayd’s protestations, he felt responsible for the fact that she’d ended up there.

  “Damn it!”

  He repeated another fifteen compressions and breathed into her mouth again, more in hope than expectation.

  “Hell, I got her back!” he cried triumphantly when she coughed and then spewed a mouthful of seawater all over his face.

  She opened her eyes, amazing deep blue eyes, and looked directly at him. With either a groan or a curse, she closed them again and appeared to pass out. But at least she was breathing on her own now. The temperature was in the nineties, but she was shivering. Vadim found a blanket and wrapped it tightly around her.

  “Well done, buddy!”

  Zayd headed the boat toward the dock attached to their town house on Impulse, stepping back into his shorts as he did so.

  “Send a pheromone to Mikael,” Vadim said, pulling his shorts back on as well. “She needs medical help.”

  “Already done.”

  Vadim sat beside the woman, unwilling to leave her alone even though she was incapable of going anywhere under her own steam right now. He still felt responsible for her accident—if that was what it had been. Now that she was breathing again, he also felt highly suspicious of her sudden appearance, albeit rather unorthodoxly contrived. Their enemies were getting more desperate by the day, but every ruse they’d tried to get a pawhold on Impulse so far had failed. The woman’s near drowning right in the area of their patrol boat was either a coincidence, or their foes were frantic enough to risk her life to achieve their ends. Even if she’d gotten ashore, precisely what one woman was supposed to do against an entire colony of feline shifters, Vadim hadn’t yet figured out. All he knew was that he didn’t like the unexpected and things didn’t get a whole lot more unexpected than this.

  Vadim looked at her face, compelled in spite of everything by what he saw. There was something about her that transcended his suspicions and drew him in. She was dripping wet, but even so he could see that she was a real looker. She was tall—probably five ten—and slender like a reed. That didn’t mean she lacked curves in all the right places, though. Vadim had just administered CPR so was in a position to know that everything was right where it was supposed to be. Evenly tanned skin blended with an abundance of long black hair and an engaging face with a smooth forehead, high cheekbones, and a small, turned-up nose dusted with freckles.

  And then, of course, there were those eyes. A man could get sucked right into the depths of those magnetic eyes if he wasn’t careful.

  “Wonder who she is,” Zayd said as he edged the boat against the dock.

  “Hell, if I know.” Vadim shrugged. “But she has to have been on that boat. Nothing else has been anywhere near us all morning. I knew there was something—”

  “You think she’s been sent here to undermine us?” Zayd shook his head. “Come on, buddy. I know our enemies are getting desperate, but that’s going too far. How could they have known that we’d pick her up in time?”

  “They knew we’d have them in our sights. They hung about for a while to make sure of that. They must have seen me watching through the binoculars, so they went round the corner for a while.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense, either. If we didn’t see her fall in, she still could have drowned before we’d gotten to her. And even though it looks like she’ll pull through, what can one cute little gal do against an entire colony?”

  “That,” Vadim said, rubbing his chin, “is what I’d like to know. But I’ll tell you one thing, unless our lady friend here has a damned good reason for being in the ocean, then it has to be a ruse of some kind. I just don’t believe in coincidences like that.”

  “Yeah, I hear you.”

  Vadim rolled his eyes. “At last he agrees with me.”

  “Don’t get used to it.” Zayd threw the lines round the bollards on the dock and cut the engines. “It’s a one-off.”

  “I’d better get her inside.” Vadim scooped the woman into his arms, leaving the blanket draped around her. “She won’t be able to breathe the Impulse air now that we’re on land.”

  “Can you manage?”

  “Sure. She can’t weigh more than one-twenty.”

  Vadim leapt several feet up from the boat to the floating dock with the woman in his arms, carrying her along it with ease. Zayd ran ahead and opened the door for him. Just like all the doors in Impulse, it was unlocked. Burglary was one of the few problems they didn’t have to wrestle with in their community. Vadim took the stairs two at a time and kicked open the door to a spare bedroom. He stripped the woman of her damp clothing, causing Zayd to whistle his appreciation when she was down to her skin.

  “Very nice.”

  “Yeah, that’s what worries me.”

  “Our enemies know you and I urgently need the services of a human mate and have obligingly sent one along?” Zayd shook his head. “C’mon, man!”

  “Yeah,
I know it sounds farfetched, but—”

  “Yeah, I know, you’ve got a bad feeling.”

  “I don’t want to be attracted toward her, Zayd. I can sense that she’s dangerous and, whatever her reason for ending up in the sea, it can’t be good news for Impulse. Even so, there’s something about her that’s already gotten to me. When I thought she was dead, that we were too late to save her, I felt like part of me had died right along with her.” He frowned. “Does that sound crazy?”

  Zayd was uncharacteristically serious. “Nope, I’m right with you on this one. Don’t ask me why, but it feels right having her here somehow, and we don’t even know who she is.”

  The two guys shared a glance. “Exactly,” Vadim said.

  Zayd pulled back the covers and Vadim lifted the woman between them. She was either still unconscious, or pretending to be. Vadim didn’t know which. Her breathing was even, but if she really was still out it couldn’t be a good sign.

  “What the hell’s keeping Mikael?” Vadim demanded to know. “I don’t like the look of her color.”

  “How can you tell, under that tan?”

  “Look at her lips. They’re blue and she’s still trembling.”

  “Hypothermia, most like. The ocean’s warm, but if she was in there for a while, she has no fat on her to act as insulation.”

  “I’m here.” Mikael bounded into the room. “What happened?”

  He crouched beside the woman, checking her vital signs while Vadim brought him up to speed.

  “Odd,” he said.

  “Yeah, ain’t it just,” Vadim agreed. “And I don’t know what to make of it.”

  “Oh, I can think of a few things,” Zayd said, eyeing the woman and grinning.

  “Will she be all right?” Vadim asked.

  “Depends how long she was in the water for and how she got there in the first place. You obviously didn’t see anything.”

  “No.” Vadim shook his head. “There was a boat lurking for a while. She could have been on that and fallen off.”

  “There would likely be physical injuries—a knock to the head or something if that had happened, and there are none.” Mikael frowned. “Anyway, surely someone would have noticed her missing and radioed a Mayday?”

  “If it was an accident,” Zayd said, grimacing.

  “Right, well right now I’m more concerned about her still being unconscious,” Mikael said. “We need to keep her warm.”

  Zayd headed for the door. “I’ll get more blankets.”

  At that moment the woman’s eyes blinked open. She groaned and immediately shut them again.

  “Hey, welcome back,” Mikael said, checking her pulse. “How do you feel?”

  She mumbled something incomprehensible.

  “Can you tell us your name?”

  “Where am I?”

  “You’re safe,” Vadim said, crouching beside her. “We pulled you out of the ocean. Do you know how you got there?”

  She looked bewildered. “The ocean?”

  “Yeah, the Mexican Gulf.”

  “Why am I in Mexico?” Her voice was croaky, little more than a whisper.

  “Get her some water,” Mikael said.

  Zayd returned with the additional blankets, handed them to Vadim, and went off again to get water. He returned quickly and held a glass to the woman’s lips.

  “Take it easy,” he said when she tried to drink it too quickly and almost choked on it.

  “You’re not in Mexico, honey,” Vadim said. “You’re in Impulse, Florida.”

  “Impulse!” She sat bolt upright, a panicked expression on her face. The sheet fell to her waist, revealing her naked breasts. She either didn’t notice, or didn’t care. “I can’t be.”

  The guys shared a glance. “You’ve been here before?” Vadim asked.

  “I…I’m not sure.” She shook her head, as though she thought that might help her to remember. “But I know the name.”

  “And the name frightens the hell out of her,” Vadim pheromoned.

  “Yeah, we get that,” Zayd replied grimly.

  “Do you know your own name?” Vadim asked.

  “Talia,” she said without hesitation. “Talia Regan.”

  Zayd grinned at her. “Nice meeting you, Talia. I’m Zayd Kunda.”

  “Thanks for saving me.”

  “Our pleasure,” Vadim said. “I’m Vadim Fyre. Were you on a boat? Is that how you got to be in the ocean?”

  “I…I can’t remember.”

  “Can’t or chooses not to?” Vadim pheromoned.

  “Give her time,” Mikael answered.

  “You need to sleep,” he said to Talia. “I’m gonna give you something that will help you. When you wake up, I expect you’ll remember more.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  Talia drank the potion that Mikael gave her without protest and almost instantly fell asleep.

  “I don’t like it,” Vadim said as they closed the door on her.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Zayd replied. “Those tits looked pretty likeable to me.”

  “Rafe and the rest of the council need to know about this,” Mikael said, ignoring Zayd’s lascivious grin.

  Vadim nodded. “I agree. Best get them over here. I don’t wanna leave the girl alone for too long, just in case.”

  * * * *

  Talia woke up, dazed and disorientated. She was in a large room that she didn’t recognize and had no idea how long she’d been there, what day it was, or why she felt so groggy. She was in bed, stark naked. More confused than ever, she sat up, which didn’t help much. She felt hot and cold at the same time, her throat felt sore, and her skin smelt of the sea. Something about being in the ocean, she remembered that much.

  Talia wrinkled her brow, desperately trying to figure out how she came to be in this strange house. All she knew was that it had to do with the sea. She stepped out of bed and peered round the drapes. The ocean lapped onto a sandy beach right outside the window and there was a sleek motor cruiser tied up to a private dock. The sky was clear blue, not a cloud in sight. It looked like paradise, but looks could be deceiving. She was highly suspicious of the circumstances that had landed her in this strange place, especially since she couldn’t remember what they were.

  It was the weirdest thing. She could remember her name, but absolutely nothing else. They said she’d been in the ocean. Perhaps she’d hit her head, or ingested so much seawater that it somehow messed with her mind. Talia had no idea who she was, knew nothing about herself, but had already discovered that she disliked being out of control. Perhaps there was something in the room that would lend a clue as to her identity. She conducted a methodical search but came up empty. The walk-in closet had a couple of T-shirts in it, some pants, and a robe. Nothing she recognized as being her own, but then how could she know that?

  The en suite bathroom was equipped with every imaginable toiletry. Talia’s salty skin felt tight and dry and so she gave in to the lure of the shower. She stepped into it and stood under the hot jets for a long time, groaning with pleasure as they pounded her body with their cleansing heat. She shampooed her hair with something fragrant and scrubbed every inch of her body until her skin burned. Wrapped in a towel, she found a brush and used it to untangle her wet hair. She’d feel more in control if she put something on. Possibly. There was no underwear in any of the drawers, but that was the least of her problems. The T-shirts fit her—after a fashion—but the pants were too large. She found a belt in one of the drawers and then rolled up the cuffs, which fixed that problem.

  Clothed, Talia felt a little better. She could hear low masculine voices coming from downstairs but wasn’t yet ready to venture from this room and find out who they belonged to. Instead she pulled the drapes back and sat in the window seat with her knees drawn up to her chin. She stared out at the ocean she’d supposedly been rescued from, wrinkling her brow as she tried to remember. It was as though someone kept opening and closing a door inside her head, allowing her brief glimpses into t
he room beyond before shutting them off again.

  She did have vague recollections of being in the water. Of getting too tired to swim anymore and turning on her back to stare up at a clear blue sky and the unrelenting sun burning from it. It had felt peaceful, like she was transitioning from one plane to another and was anxious to get to the next level. Then someone with piercingly golden eyes had pulled her from the water, dragging her away from that serene destination she’d been willingly floating toward.

  She sat bolt upright, suddenly remembering something else the man had told her. She was in Impulse. She had no idea where that was, or why the prospect of being there frightened her so much. All she did know was that every instinct in her body screamed at her to get out of there fast while she still could.

  Chapter Three

  Rafe Landon, leader of the Impulse colony of feline shape-shifters, frowned as Vadim retold the story of Talia’s rescue.

  “It’s a ruse of some sort,” Vilas, Rafe’s fellow alpha panther, said decisively. “It’s gotta be.”

  “I agree,” said Kane, one of the alpha leopards, extending a claw and scratching his head with it. “But how?”

  “She can’t remember anything except her name,” Mikael said.

  “So you think our enemies have cleared her memory?” Rafe leaned back in his chair, crossed one ankle across his opposite knee, and leaned his elbow on it. “Then dumped her in the sea off our shore in the hope of…in the hope of what exactly?”

  “They didn’t just dump her,” Vadim said. “They lurked for a while, knowing we were patrolling and their presence would get our attention. Then they skipped into the Intracoastal and Giron had them in sight. By then we’d figured they were just passing through.”

  “But they came back and probably dumped the woman over the side just as they cleared the peninsula,” Zayd said.

  “Yeah.” Vadim ground his jaw in disgust. “They played us like a fucking Stradivarius. They obviously couldn’t get too close to our vessel, or we’d have gotten suspicious, so they used the peninsula as cover and then got the hell out of Dodge.”