Free Animal Instincts (Entangled Ignite) by Patricia Rosemoor

toward land. A burden of incredible magnitude. A secret casino hidden under a legal one. Remembering the way I’d felt when Luc had shoved me in that room, remembering him trying to influence me through his thoughts, I wondered how the Lazares hid its existence. I couldn’t help but wonder exactly how involved Luc was with all this—whether he’d been playing me from the time I’d seen him at the cemetery.
    What had I stumbled into and what could I do with the information? If I told Ethan all that I had experienced, would he believe me?
    Then again, I hadn’t actually learned much of help. Luc’s name. That his father ran the operation, and that his mother was Elizabeth Reyes, the woman whose life Shade had saved. That his sister had “a thing” with Shade. Not exactly damning facts. But I couldn’t help but worry. The rest was more elusive. Hearing the thoughts of both man and beast. Thoughts that raised my instincts but that didn’t give me any kind of clue as to why Shade had taken a bullet.
    I knew it all had to be connected. The animal fights. The casino. My brother’s murder. If only Shade could remember something. Anything. Even Nuala Lazare.
    People should stick to their own kind.
    I thought he was too good. I thought he was incorruptible.
    The idea that my brother might have been corrupted made my chest squeeze tight. I didn’t believe it. Didn’t want to believe. But why had Luc tried to make me think so? Why hadn’t Shade told Ethan what he’d learned? Doubt was a horrible thing, especially doubt about someone you loved. I fought uncertainty as I made my way back the way I’d come.
    Suddenly the tunnel went dark.
    I stopped to get my bearings, to wait for some illumination so I could see where I was going. A bit of filtered light came from the moon and my eyes eventually adjusted.
    That’s when I heard them. Footsteps behind me. Tick…tick…tick… No, not footsteps, but paws with sharp claws hitting the floor. Big paws, and they were approaching fast.
    My pulse rushed and bile filled my throat as fear made me flee through the dark, one hand skimming the glass wall. My legs raced faster than I knew they could go.
    What was coming after me? Another predator like the ones outside the arena that had threatened me? No sense in trying to communicate with it, and this time Luc wouldn’t be there to save me.
    The sound of thundering paws filling my head, I quickened my pace even more, until I felt I was nearly flying.
    I was almost out, almost safe. I could hear the frightening pounding closer behind me. I ran for my life and even as I thought I would never make it, I reached the stairs. I stumbled upward, knocking my shins a couple of times along the way.
    I was out of breath. Out of time.
    But somehow I made it to the top and threw open the door. I flew around the pillar and into the legal part of the casino boat, got myself into the middle of the crowd. But I kept looking back the way I’d come, waiting for whatever was after me to appear.

Chapter Ten
    On edge all the way home, I kept imagining I was being followed. Flickers of movement taunted me from the side windows of the car, but when, pulse rushing, I turned to see what was out there, it was always nothing.
    That didn’t mean I was safe.
    Thankfully, I arrived home without further incident. I looked up and down the empty street before leaving my car and jogging to my building. Upon entering, I curbed my instinct to go straight into the first-floor apartment to tell Shade everything. Boomer needed a walk first. But once we stepped foot in the foyer, the dog parked himself before the door to Shade’s apartment and whined pitifully.
    “Okay, okay,” I said, unlocking the door.
    Boomer rushed in before me, tail wagging.
    I called out, “Shade, where are you?”
    “I’m right here.”
    Shade materialized and stooped to the dog’s level. Boomer stuck his nose right through Shade’s face.
    Shade laughed. “Sorry, boy, but I’m glad to