Free Southern Shifters: Pryde and Precious (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Heather Long

which conversely also leads to repulsing ones. It could be for perfumes, you know, or essential oils.” There were plenty of applications where it would be useful. “Perfume companies, for instance. Think about it…you know the basic principal behind most perfumes and colognes is how they bond with an individual’s body chemistry, so what a scent might be attractive on my skin wouldn’t be in combination with yours…”
    “Shifters respond to scents. We track them, recognize friend from foe, and can tell whether someone is lying or being honest.” Annoyance discolored his tone. “If there were a potion or formula which could mask scents or draw us in—can you understand how that would be a threat?”
    “Troubling, yes…but perhaps the intentions are not weaponized.”
    “Whenever money and resources are poured into a project, it’s not usually for humanitarian reasons.” He rested his fingertips on her knees, and she stilled at the contact.
    Shivering at the light touch, she dared to place her hands atop his. “They gave it to me…a botanist . I understand hybridizing DNA strands in plants. Doing it in animals or people? That’s something altogether different and nowhere near my field of expertise. I still can’t figure out why Simon sent it to me in the first place.”
    “Simon?”
    “Simon Hampton. I probably shouldn’t give you his name, but he’s a powerful figure in my clan. He sits on the council.”
    “So your clan council assigned you the task?” Guarded and careful, he narrowed his eyes.
    “Simon sent it to me. Whether it was for the council or not, I don’t know. My dealings with Simon Hampton are limited to that email and his signing off on my application to move outside clan territory to live and work where you found me. I’ve never even met him.” Knew of him, knew his reputation, and understood the consequence of disappointing him? Yes. “I am not lying about not being really qualified for this or having no idea why they’d want me to do the work. I’m not Darcy Ashwood—she was a legend with scents. Based on the information I pieced together after reading her notes, this was her project. When she disappeared…”
    “Left.”
    “Fine, when she left, their chances of getting this completed left with her. I don’t know anyone else who did what she did.” Not for the first time since the project fell in her lap did she wish know one remembered her name or where she was. “So I suppose that leaves you with a decision. You can keep the notes and everything else, but I’m not really a help to you on this, and I don’t know that you need to protect me…”
    “Have you been trained to withstand interrogation?” The abrupt shift in his line of questioning sent a wave of apprehension to sour her stomach.
    “No.” Gods, she hoped that was the right answer. “I’m a botanist, how many ways can I tell you this? I’m a no one. I’m unimportant. This isn’t my area of expertise and you are spending all this time and energy on me when I can’t tell you anymore than I already have.” Why did she send those emails? Because Simon wanted results and she’d been terrified of disappointing them. Now she was distraught and trapped in this situation with John. Which is both good and bad.
    He squeezed her hands, then released her before rising and beginning to prowl the room. “You are not a specialist in scents…in animals, anyway. You are in flowers.”
    Twisting, she followed his motions with her gaze. “I told you that.”
    “Shh.” He waved her off, continuing to circle the perimeter of the living area. “You live outside clan territories. To complete the work you have to reach out to different companies. You have no security, and you’re helpless based on your level of Psi ability—so why choose you?”
    Well, when he put it like that. She was dishearteningly a bad choice for all of the above. Chewing the inside of her lip, she waited as he made another circuit, then