Talon/Xavier (Bayou Heat) Read Free

ultimately responsible for trying to destroy the Wildlands, he’d have happily killed them and left them to rot in Baton Rouge.
    To him, loyalty and honor meant everything.
    How could you call yourself a Pantera if you weren’t willing to put the welfare of your people ahead of your own, selfish needs?
    They’d reached a narrow canal choked with water lilies when Talon came to a sharp halt. His brows, the same shade of dark gold threaded with copper highlights as his hair, snapped together over his eyes that were a pale gold rimmed with jade.
    He could sense a large number of Pantera rushing in his direction.
    Never a good thing.
    Tightening his grip on the chains, Talon was preparing for an attempt to rescue the traitors when a familiar cat the color of rich caramel with glowing gold eyes leaped gracefully over the canal to land directly at his side.
    Instantly he relaxed.
    Raphael, the leader of the Suits, had been like a father to Talon after the death of his parents in an airplane crash thirty years ago. Despite the fact that they were only distantly related, and Talon’s faction was Hunters, not Diplomats, Raphael had been the one to visit the school where Talon was being trained in his duties. Whether it was to cheer him on during his athletic competitions or to kick his ass when he’d snuck into the nearby town, La Pierre, and left an alligator in the mayor’s bathtub.
    Raphael had also been the one to take him to The Cougar’s Den and get him cross-eyed drunk when the cute little female he’d been chasing decided to dump him for another male.
    Talon trusted this man above anyone else in the world.
    There was a shimmering swirl of color before Raphael shifted into his human form, dressed like Talon in faded jeans and T-shirt.
    A tall man with chiseled muscles, Raphael had a golden beauty that had driven females wild. At least until he’d stunned them all by arriving back at the Wildlands with a mate who was already carrying his young.
    It was a miracle.
    As long as they could keep Ashe and her baby alive.
    Which was why Talon had been sent to track down the traitors.
    “Welcome home, Talon,” Raphael murmured, his lean face too pale and his golden eyes shadowed with the brutal fear that was threatening to destroy him.
    “Why the welcome committee?” Talon demanded.
    “We need to speak.” Raphael’s tone was flat. A sure sign his emotions were on the edge of a meltdown. He snapped his fingers and Sebastian appeared at his side. The Suit was a bronze-skinned male with glowing hazel eyes and a chiseled body that proved he didn’t spend much time sitting behind a desk. His tawny hair was threaded with gold and brushed his broad shoulders. “Take the prisoners to the elders.”
    Talon tossed the chains toward Sebastian who curled his lips to growl at the cringing prisoners. Next, Talon shoved the backpack that held the computers and file folders into the Suit’s hand.
    “These need to go to Xavier,” he said, referring to the brilliant head of the Geeks. If anyone could coax information out of the computers it would be Xavier.
    Sebastian gave an unnecessary jerk on the chains, leading the prisoners away just as Raphael nodded his head toward a thick grove of cypress trees.
    “This way,” the Suit commanded.
    Following in Raphael’s wake, Talon studied the tense set of the older man’s shoulders and the manner in which he turned his head from side to side, as if searching for hidden enemies.
    “This speaking doesn’t involve dungeons and chains, does it?” Talon muttered, not entirely joking.
    Raphael sent a puzzled glance over his shoulder. “We don’t have dungeons.”
    Talon grimaced, shoving his way past the veil of Spanish moss to step into the small clearing in the center of the trees.
    “We didn’t when I left, but things are clearly changing,” he pointed out in dry tones.
    “Unfortunately,” Raphael agreed, restlessly pacing over the spongy ground.
    Talon rolled his weary shoulders,