Free Primal Heat 4 by A. C. Arthur Page B

the vehicles and headed into the hotel’s lobby. None were the wiser, not even the woman that walked directly beside him. He almost laughed at the situation. She’d looked up and smiled when he opened the door for her.
    “Thank you,” she said, her long lashes blinking wildly against the smooth ivory tone of her skin.
    “You’re so very welcome,” he replied with a smile of his own, one that revealed his long, sharp teeth.
    She gasped and tried to hurry away but he was quicker. Reaching out he grabbed her, pulling her to him, chuckling. “What’s the matter, baby? You don’t like sharp teeth?” he asked before ducking his head and licking the cleavage she so boldly displayed through the low-cut blouse she was wearing. She let out a scream that should have broken the glass doors. And he bit her right there, teeth sinking straight into the pliant human skin, pulling his mouth away as she continued to yell, then pushing her body back until she fell onto the ground.
    That one action set everything in motion and only seconds later, there were rogues and those fucking hybrids coming from every direction. They’d been in cars, behind bushes, inside the hotel, inside the garage, every one on special orders from Boden. And now, with Boden’s appearance, they were free to do whatever the hell they wanted.
    Oh happy day, he thought, ripping through the lobby as his human body shifted into that of a cougar and he roared to make his presence known.
    “Shit! They’re fucking everywhere out here! Cats!” Zach yelled into the com link. “They’re goddamned cats!”
    Rome’s standing order was that they not shift under any circumstances. The Assembly Leader had said this time and time again, but as Zach came to a stop at the corner of Waterfront Street, after having run a block from where he’d been stationed, all he could see was pandemonium. There were cats climbing up the walls of the Gaylord, jumping through the resort windows. They stood on top of cars, crashing through hoods as they ran to the nearest human that appeared. Whoever they saw they terrorized, either by picking them up or tossing them a distance that all but assured they would be dead when they hit the ground. There was screaming and yelling and the otherwise cool air stilled with the stench that they’d all recognized … death.
    “We don’t have a choice,” Zach finally said into the com link, before shifting as he ran to confront a rogue that had just pounced on the hood of a moving car.
    *   *   *
    “Shit. Shit. Shit!” Priya cursed from the back of the news van she’d been sitting in with Bas and four other guards.
    Their assignment had been to wait and to monitor. Rome had been banking on exposing Crowe for his illegal arms dealing with Robert Slakeman and having Priya there to get the scoop on that story to possibly take the heat off the cat people sightings. She was sure he had no idea the scoop would be the cat people!
    “I’m getting out,” Bas yelled. “You three stay with her and drive to Havenway. Now!”
    He was heading to the back door when Priya grabbed him, tears already welling in her eyes as her heart pounded in her chest. She’d known who and what he was, knew what this entire situation had meant for him and his tribe, but damn if she’d let herself believe that something would happen to him, that maybe she’d never see him again. She opened her mouth but the words wouldn’t come.
    “I’m coming back to you,” he told her seriously. “I promise you I’m coming back.”
    She couldn’t talk, her lips trembling as his touched hers softly. “I promise,” he whispered again before disappearing through that door.
    “Promise.” Priya heard her own whisper as the truck pulled off. She tried to keep looking at him, to keep Bas in her sights, but there were too many of them.
    They were all over the place in what seemed like seconds, like they’d simply been waiting. Like they’d laid the trap for the Shadows and