Assassin’s Kiss

Reviews

Back To Top

Excerpt

Kira recoiled at the first pull of the moon. Her vision clouded and a blood-red haze covered the lush green leaves and trees of the Guatemalan jungle. Her body arched, scraping her naked back against a tree, willing her stretched skin to give.

This was how the change took her. The terrible heat came next, and then her bones shifted, muscles stretched, ligaments popped. Relief was only moments away. She fell to her knees and closed her eyes.

“Hurry,” she prayed to any god who would claim her.

Primitive, insatiable desire gripped her, twisting her as hard as the moon’s pull had twisted her body. No human lover would ever understand its ferocity or its terrible burning need. Not that she would chance a human lover. She screamed, frustrated, and angry.

And then she was off at a four-legged lope, her tawny, black-spotted fur brushing against the whipsaw branches of the dense, green underbrush as she picked up one steamy scent after another. She barely heard the churning river over the roar of her own blood. The water was wild, almost pulling her under when she dove in. Struggling against the current, she clawed her way up the rough, muddy bank, oblivious to everything but desire and the familiar riot of scents she’d followed for days. Her own kind. So close.

At the edge of a small moonlit clearing, Kira’s heart expanded, stretched to take in the eight sleek, muscular bodies so much like her own. The familiar red haze darkened and the heat inside her built. She took a tentative step forward, sniffing the air.

Living on the streets, she’d known better than to trespass on another’s turf without first learning the rules of confrontation. But the seven males and one female weren’t human and they weren’t simply jaguars. They were the shapeshifters it had taken her ten years to find. Street instincts aside, she was going in blind, guided only by the singular, red haze of desire that encompassed her narrow world.

The largest male leapt upon a boulder just wide enough for him to perch. Other than his black-tipped ears, he was all spotted, tawny velvet and sinewy grace, regally surveying an equally large female sitting directly below him. The female bristled, emitting a breathy, asthmatic bark that, except for the menacing hiss accompanying it, was as familiar as Kira’s own.

Ten years of homeless wandering told her this was no happy-to-see-another-of-our-kind greeting. Kira circled out of range of the larger female. In her heat-induced state she’d been reckless but there was no going back now. Her challenger’s eyes narrowed and her muscular shoulders bunched right before the alpha bared her teeth. Oh hell. The six males on the ground backed away into an ever-widening circle while the larger male watched from his boulder.

Jaguars were known as beasts that kill with one leap, piercing the skull or breaking their victim’s necks. Not really the way she’d planned on ending up. Kira stood her ground until the female was nearly on top of her. She lunged too late to escape the slash of a claw that ripped open her side. Dropping, she rolled away but the bitch followed, still slicing through the air with a determination that had the markings of a death match.

Kira feinted right, twisted low and attacked, sinking her teeth into her opponent’s unprotected throat. She clawed into the alpha’s chest as her adversary screamed and tried to shake loose. Kira strained to hold on, her limbs shaking, her jaws locked. The female’s last cry was one of startled disbelief as one last breath shuddered out of her and she collapsed.

Kira scrambled from beneath her dead opponent and crawled belly down and backward, searching for a place to defend. The pack slunk toward her, their wheezing barks turning into whines. Why had she believed they’d welcome her? No one else ever had.

Back To Top