Instinctive by Cathryn Fox Page B

“Jaclyn?”
    “Yeah?” she murmured sleepily.
    “What really brought you to Serene?” He wondered if she was here to turn around company sales, or if she had been drawn to the place, drawn to him.
    She got quiet for a moment and then said, “It’s a long story.”
    He brushed her bangs back, and when he caught her glance, he nearly sobbed with joy. We-Sa. His kitten. His mate. “I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart. Talk to me.”
    She blew out a breath, and then began to open up to him. “I did it to appease my parents.”
    “Your parents.” He touched her cheek, coaxing her to continue.

    Jaclyn then went on to explain everything, from always wanting to visit Serene, and not wanting to disappoint her adoptive parents after they had rescued her from a life of foster care, to the board of directors looking down on her wild behavior.
    As he listened, he took it all in, understanding so much more about her and her actions. “So that’s what the conservative clothes are all about?”
    “Yeah, I’m changing my image, so you can’t tell anyone about what we did,” she whispered, her lids slipping shut as sleep pulled at her.
    “I have no intentions of telling anyone,” he said adamantly, because if he did, there’d be hell to pay.
    “Tomorrow we’ll go our separate ways and pretend nothing ever happened,” she added.
    Like hell they would.
    As she drifted off to sleep in his arms his mind raced, trying to make sense of it all. Once her breathing deepened, he climbed from his bed, flicked on his computer, and went through years of files.
    How was it possible that she was panther?
    Something in his gut told him this wasn’t the work of a rogue living outside the protective walls. Panthers weren’t attracted to humans, and it wasn’t in their animal nature to change them at will.
    After a bit of research, Slyck began to piece together the time frame, recalling the shifter who’d escaped from the walls some twenty-four years ago. Back then, acting with the community’s best interest at heart, Slyck was personally forced to hunt him
down and dole out suitable punishment to the shifter. It was the only way to keep peace amongst all the species and keep the rogue panther’s escape a secret. Slyck glanced at Jaclyn and then back at the computer screen. What he didn’t know at the time, and could only conclude now, was that his rogue had impregnated a female during the ordeal—a female panther.
    And Jaclyn was the offspring.
    Slyck had handled the incident secretly—something he wouldn’t normally do—because if the lycan guide had found out that one of Slyck’s species had turned mutinous, he’d have demanded Slyck’s authority and leadership position be challenged by his first-in-command. And Slyck couldn’t let that happen. Drake might be more prepared now than he had been back then, but he still wasn’t quite up for the tremendous task. And now, as the offspring of the rogue shifter, Jaclyn would automatically be terminated, as per their governing rules, for fear that such offspring would retain rebellious traits of the mutinous parent and uncover their secret community. After all, despite their civilization, they were all still primal beings ruled by instincts, and survival of the fittest.
    Which meant that Jaclyn’s life was in danger.
    Torn between protecting Jaclyn and following council’s rules, he looked down at the woman in his bed. We-Sa. His heart pounded harder in his chest as deep-rooted need unfurled inside him.
    Even though it went against everything his community demanded of him, he knew he’d protect her with his life. He also knew he couldn’t let anyone know what she was.
    Christ, he was barely keeping peace with the lycan as it was.
The cat-dog relationship was already far too strained, not to mention that Vall was furious with Sunray, one of his strong females. Sunray was an alpha wolf who had a strange fetish for all things kitty, and who just happened to be growing more