Primal Heat 4 Read online

  “They’re dying,” she told him. “I saw Pete die. That white lion took him down.” Her breath hitched and more tears fell. “We couldn’t stop it.”

  “No,” Eli took her. “We couldn’t.”

  “What will happen now?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “I really don’t know the answer to that question, Nivea.”

  Then Eli moved and he lifted Nivea onto his lap, wrapping one strong arm around her waist, using his other to lift her face and cup her cheek. “All I know right here and right now is that I love you more than life itself. And I don’t ever want to lose you, not in battle, not because of some disagreement or lack of communication. I just want you, always.”

  She looked at him through eyes blurred by tears, human eyes that had seen and experienced far too much in her young life. And he wanted to give her the world. Of course he didn’t know which world that would be, but Eli didn’t care. All he knew was that he was looking at his future, his life, the reason why he’d survived all that he had.

  “I love you,” he told her again, touching his lips softly to hers. “I love you.”

  She sighed into his kiss, whispering over his lips in response, “I love you, too.”

  * * *

  “We have not been able to contact Cole,” Rome said solemnly as he stood in front of what was left of his leadership team. “It is too soon to send out a team to search for him, but we will as early as first thing in the morning. Ezra is in critical condition. Zach and a number of others are dead.”

  At the table, Eli reached for Nivea’s hand. He’d seen his brother with tubes running all over him, eyes closed as he lay in the medically induced coma that Ary assured Eli would help him heal even faster than shifters normally did. It had taken a part of him to see his other half lying so still as if he were already dead, but he’d flattened his hand on his twin’s chest and felt his heart still beating. Nivea had stood right by his side, as Dawn had covered Eli’s hand with her own. For as much as Eli had been against his brother mating a human, he was at that moment happy that Ezra had found someone to love him the way he deserved to be loved. So he did not move when her hand rested on top of his and when Nivea leaned in, adding her hand on top of Dawn’s, his heart had swelled.

  “We have been exposed,” Rome continued. “The humans now know without a doubt that there are Shadow Shifters living in this world with them. There will be repercussions for that revelation and there will most likely be more death.”

  It was a solemn declaration, but one that was true nonetheless.

  Nick and Ary stood stoically just behind Rome. Kalina sat in a chair to his right. Jax was ever present next to the First Female. X and Caprise, who had sustained a pretty violent-looking gash at her neck, stood to Rome’s other side, forming what to Eli would always be an impenetrable alliance. Baxter and Elder Alamar were all the way at the back, looking as grief stricken as the others felt.

  “I’ll organize the recovery teams to go out at first light to search for the others that are missing,” Eli volunteered, wanting to take some of the stress off the Assembly Leader’s shoulders.

  “I’ll help with that,” Bas said, speaking for the first time since returning to the tunnels and learning that Cole was missing.

  “I’m going out to look for him myself,” Jace told the room in a tone that dared anyone to speak against him.

  Nobody argued.

  They would all go out to look for the Faction Leader.

  “Right now it’s best if we try to get some rest,” Rome told them. “Teams will be assigned and briefed at five a.m. Then we’ll go out to search for survivors.”

  “That’s not a good idea,” a new voice sounded throughout the room.

  All eyes went to the man now standing in the doorway, the human that was familiar to some. He was surrounded by two shifters that had what looked like a death grip on his arms.

  Nivea immediately stood. “What are you doing here?”

  X and Nick both moved to the doorway to confront Agent Dorian Wilson.

  “That’s a damned good question,” Nick said, staring into the man’s face.

  “I was given directions,” Dorian told them. “By Rayna.”

  “That bitch!” Nivea whispered and Caprise nodded her agreement.

  “Hear what I have to say first,” Dorian insisted, his gaze seeking and resting on Rome. “You’ll want to hear this before you decide how to proceed.”

  * * *

  At eleven a.m. on a Saturday morning, Eli walked behind his Assembly Leader as Roman Reynolds, Nick Delgado, Xavier Santos Markland, Sebastian Perry, Priya Drake, and Agent Dorian Wilson were escorted into the Oval Office.

  They crossed the room with solemn footsteps, their feet moving softly over the United States of America’s presidential seal painted on the floor. Coming to a stop, Eli made sure to count each of the Secret Service men in the room. Their job was to guard President Wilson Reed, just as Eli’s was to guard Rome.

  The president looked grim as he stared at Rome.

  “You lied to me,” was the first thing the older man said, his glasses pushed up high on his face.

  “I never lied,” Rome countered. “I did not tell you what you did not need to know.”

  President Reed slammed his palms down on his desk. “I didn’t need to know that there were damned animals roaming around my country? Are you kidding me?”

  “First,” Rome began. “The animals you refer to are housed in a zoo. What have been walking and mingling amongst the humans for hundreds of years are called Shadow Shifters. And up until last night you had no idea we existed.”

  “That’s exactly what my problem with you is, Reynolds! I allied myself with you. I supported you and your firm and the charities you reached out to.”

  Rome interrupted. “Because those were the right things to do. I have always been an upstanding citizen, a successful lawyer, and a contributor to this community as well as others. There was no need for you not to offer your support just because you had no knowledge of my DNA.”

  “Don’t give me that smooth-ass lawyer crap! You should have told me!” Reed was clearly outraged and he was afraid.

  Sweat pricked his forehead and his hands shook after he’d slammed them on the desk, so he pulled them down to his lap instead. He was afraid of the shifters that now had seemingly invaded his office.

  When in truth, it was Priya and Dorian who had arranged for the private meeting as a form of damage control for the United States government—to whom many countries were now looking with thoughts of terrorism against their citizens, as last night’s attack involved several of their highest dignitaries. And for the shifters whose true nature had finally been unveiled … The president’s staff had jumped at this opportunity, but Rome had insisted it be a private meeting instead of a nationally televised press conference.

  “Now I want you to tell me where the rest of your kind are hiding and what you all plan to do now that you’re here,” Reed told Rome.

  The Assembly Leader shook his head. None of them had been overly optimistic about the human government being able to come to amicable terms with the shifters. That had been one of their greatest fears with exposure. But they’d agreed to the meeting, agreed with Dorian that it looked better for them, it put forth the peaceful approach the agent now believed the shifters needed to take.

  Dorian’s appearance had also been a huge question. But the agent had explained how he met Rayna and how the Lormenian shifter had wanted to help the Shadows by exposing and killing Boden. She’d wanted her sister’s safety, but she’d also wanted them to be able to live cohesively with the humans in this country. She’d left him a letter with the directions to the tunnels—which she knew because she’d been there to help them work on the construction—and she’d told him that if she did not return to the hotel by a certain time that night that he should assume that she was dead and get to Rome as quickly as possible. The agent had done just that.

 
; “We are a peaceful species,” Rome told the president. “What happened last night was not our fault.”

  “Big-ass cats jumping over cars, biting and killing people, that’s not your fault?” Reed inquired. “When I’ve been told that you are yourself one of the big cats.”

  Rome paused a moment, the room going completely silent as everyone waited for his response.

  “Yes. I am one of the big cats. I am the Stateside Assembly Leader of the Shadow Shifters,” Rome said with confidence and pride.

  President Reed stood then, squaring his shoulders so that his stance mimicked Rome’s.

  “Then I command you to release the names and locations of all these species. I demand to know where every one of you is hiding so that we can deal with you appropriately,” Reed said without hesitation, his angry gaze locked with Rome’s.

  “I will not do that,” Rome told him calmly. “There’s no reason for any of us not responsible for last night’s fiasco to be, as you put it, ‘dealt with.’ And furthermore, I will not stand for the persecution and execution of my kind.”

  Reed nodded as if in resignation, before saying, “Then you have made the United States your enemy.”

  Rome’s reply was immediate and came just seconds before the Assembly Leader turned and left the room, his team following dutifully behind him.

  “No, Mr. President. It is my goal to work with the humans, with your government, so that there will be no need for any of us to be enemies,” Rome said seriously. “You knew my parents. You know what type of man I am. You know what I stand for and what I believe. There is no reason for us to work against each other here. The Shadow Shifters simply want peace.”

  Wilson Reed looked from one of his advisors to the next, then back to Rome and the others who stood with him. He sighed heavily, smoothing down his tie as he lowered himself slowly into his seat.

  “I only want peace for my country,” the president said to Roman. “Can you promise that from your people?”

  “We only want peace as well,” Rome told him. “So yes, I can promise you that. And if we all work together peace and harmony shall be what we have.”

  Primal Heat

  By A.C. Arthur

  A four-part serial in The Shadow Shifters Series

  Primal Heat, Part 1

  Primal Heat, Part 2

  Primal Heat, Part 3

  Primal Heat, Part 4

  www.ACArthur.net

  A.C. Arthur was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, where she currently lives with her husband and three children. An active imagination and a love for reading encouraged her to begin writing in high school and she hasn’t stopped since. Her debut novel Object of His Desire was written when a picture of an Italian villa sparked the idea of an African-American/Italian hero. Determined to bring a new edge to romance, she continues to develop intriguing plots, sensual love scenes, racy characters, and fresh dialogue—thus keeping the readers on their toes! Visit her at: www.acarthur.net. Or sign up for email updates here.

  Want more Shadow Shifters? Check out the following by A.C. Arthur!

  TEMPTATION RISING

  SEDUCTION’S SHIFT

  PASSION’S PREY

  SHIFTER’S CLAIM

  HUNGER’S MATE

  Available from St. Martin’s Paperbacks

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Glossary of Terms

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  About the Author

  Also by A. C. Arthur

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  “Primal Heat: Part 4” copyright © 2015 by A.C. Arthur.

  All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.stmartins.com

  Author photo © Lisa Fleet Photography

  Cover art © Patricia Schmitt (Picky Me)

  eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].

  eISBN 9781466855427

  First eBook Edition: August 2015