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He sure as hell didn’t know what was going on, but one thing was clear: Skye Knightly was playing him, and like an idiot he’d walked right into her trap.
Jagger’s fingers bit into her soft flesh, his grip hard, and God help him but he enjoyed the small whimper of pain that escaped her lips. He ignored Skye and turned his attention to the men who stood staring at him expectantly.
There was no way he was turning her over to them.
He bent down and whispered into her ear, feeling a keen sense of satisfaction as she shivered at his words. “Seems as if my little bird has been leading me on a wild goose chase.” He ran his finger down her clammy cheek, holding her steady when she would have moved away. “No matter. It ends tonight.”
He was done playing games. It was time to find out exactly what the hell was going on.
Chapter 8
Skye pushed down the fear that pretty much clogged every single vein in her body. She was shivering, but in no way was she cold. In fact her body felt overheated, her limbs heavy and weak.
She could almost taste the anger that Jagger felt. It was potent enough to tie her belly up in knots for weeks. Months even. It was as if winter’s kiss had blown down from the north and stolen the heat that had been there less than an hour before.
Her bizarre world had just shrunk a little more, and she was trapped.
How many obstacles were there in her immediate future? What hoops was she gonna have to jump through next?
God, she just wanted to close her eyes and wish everything away.
Her body was physically tapped out and her mind was pretty much toast. Not a good way to be when you were surrounded by a bunch of pissed-off shifters and the magick dude from hell.
Skye kept her eyes averted, her thoughts swirling furiously because, honestly, she had no clue what her next move should be.
She should never have turned back.
After the other jaguar had jumped into the water, she’d fled, running as fast as she could, using the last fumes of adrenaline that she had left. She’d been well on her way, too, but the unholy sounds of two large animals fighting filled the still jungle air, and she’d stopped dead in her tracks and turned around.
What if Jagger was hurt? She couldn’t leave him out there alone. He was her only link to the satchel.
It was the only reason she turned back.
At least that’s what she’d told herself.
Slowly she’d crept back and was almost to the water, when the hairs on the back of her neck had stood on end and she’d known that she was no longer alone. The air was thick with a darkness that’d sucked the heat out of the humid jungle. It felt empty, sinister. The terror that rose up inside of her was nearly debilitating.
It felt like old magick, black magick.
Dark arts!
Blindly, like a child caught in the middle of a nightmare, she turned, not knowing where to go, only knowing that she was in danger. She’d taken off running, ignoring the pain that clutched at her midsection, ignoring the low-lying branches that scraped at her nakedness. All coherent thoughts fled.
Then he was there. Right in front of her.
Skye’s world spun out of control as she dug in her feet in order to avoid colliding with him. But it was too late. He had her.
She’d recognized him immediately. He’d been the one to pull her from the rubble of the DaCosta compound only three months earlier. The one they’d called Declan.
He’d changed in the last three months. There was a new layer to his skin, one that clung to his body like a second glove. It slithered in the air around him, mixing with his magick until the energy literally hummed.
He was incredibly strong.
It was familiar, his signature, but she couldn’t connect the dots and felt a moment of frustration, thinking she was missing something important. It was no matter. The man was dangerous and she was in his direct line of fire.
Skye had tried to struggle but it was no use. There were no words spoken, only a look of dismissal as he’d slowly pulled the shirt from his powerful frame and handed it to her as if her nakedness made him ill.
“Cover yourself.” And then he’d pretty much dragged her back the rest of the way, his eyes accusing and full of malice. When they’d come upon Jagger and two other men she recognized from before, her heart sank.
