Animal Instincts (Entangled Ignite) Read Free Page B

risking personally with his investigation of The Company. Luc sensed he wouldn’t stop, though.
    Not as long as he was alive.
    Shade backed off and made for the exit.
    Only when he was sure the other man was gone did Luc relax and face Nuala. “What were the two of you talking about before I interrupted?”
    She closed him off so he couldn’t read her.
    “Nothing you would want to hear.”
    Before she, too, stalked off, Luc noticed that the sea glass pendant she usually wore was missing.
    Luc was still thinking about that later, when he had time to wind down.
    As he approached the habitats, he looked for Jez again, but still she was nowhere to be seen, so he went inside and entered her favorite area, where a stream cut through woods. He couldn’t find her, so he signaled Clarke, a hawk who wheeled overhead and cut down through the trees.
    Jez?
    Haven’t seen her, not tonight.
    No way could Clarke have missed her.
    Odd. It wasn’t like Jez to skip a shift.
    Which made Luc wonder if he should be worried.
    She was as sweet as they came around here, and for their kind, a little naive. Though he’d told her things could get dangerous for her because of her association with him, Jez had simply shrugged off the warning.
    Now Luc was having a hard time shrugging off the suspicion that sent a ripple down his spine.
    Something was wrong.

Chapter Three
    “Take the punishment you deserve with some dignity.”
    Running the fights, he’d taken Jez last night, after the police had raided the last one. By the time anyone who cared found out where she was, it would be too late. As the fight controller, he’d been following her, looking for a reason to take her. In reality he wanted to make her pay for allying herself with Luc. He’d been waiting to get even with Cezar’s bastard son, and her death was the first step in his plan.
    “This isn’t fair. I don’t deserve this,” Jez said, tears spilling out of her dark eyes as one of the guards pulled her into the preparation area, an office tucked inside the abandoned warehouse. Her waist-length black hair spilled over a bared shoulder. “Please, let me pay some other way.” She moved into him, palming his chest, her hand trembling. “You know I haven’t been properly trained for this, so please, please don’t send me out there to die.”
    Quickening because her touch was apprehensive—he loved the taste of fear—he was tempted to let her seduce him, to allow her to think she could gain her freedom that way.
    Tick-tock. The bettors would get violently restless if he delayed the fight for some physical gratification. Besides, Jez wasn’t the one he wanted. He ripped her hand away and tried to ignore the insistent throbbing she’d set off in his groin.
    “You can go out there and you will . You shouldn’t have broken the rules, shouldn’t have shifted in the park in front of a human.”
    “Please! I was startled by that huge dog. I didn’t do it on purpose, I swear. It was animal instinct.”
    Knowing Jez feared dogs—wild dogs were the panther’s natural enemy, and Jez was a weak disgrace to her kind—he smirked. He’d heard it all before. The begging. The pleading. The promises. “Out there you have a chance. In here, no chance at all. Are we clear?”
    Sobbing, she nodded and the bones in her face began to quiver and stretch.
    Not wanting to watch her shift, he left the airless room for the big empty warehouse. This area of the city was virtually abandoned at night. The fight venue constantly changed, and they had picked the perfect location tonight.
    The spectators had already gathered, and the doors were closed. On one side of the arena, a young woman was giving money to a shady-looking guy. He handed her a plastic bag filled with white powder. In another corner, two teenagers made a quick exchange. One ran off while the other furtively checked over a handgun before slipping it into his waistband under his jacket. The heavens rumbled thunder in disapproval.