By Laura Wright

Chapter 1

The Suit looked like shit.

Jean-Baptiste stood with his back to the window of the Medical facility, and watched the blond male pace back and forth in front of a large cypress. The leader of the Diplomatic Faction had always given off a controlled, unruffled vibe, but as the sun died around them in a glow of pale orange fire, Raphael's true state of mind was revealed. His clothes were wrinkled and hanging off his tall, lean body. The skin on his face was pulled tight over the bone, his eyes looked exhausted and sunken and desperate, and his hands were clenching and unclenching as he stalked from one end of the lawn to the other.

"You need to release your cat, Raphael," Jean-Baptiste said, the irony of his words clawing at his guts, while the Nurturer inside of him-the one who was an expert on mental issues for the Pantera-pressed on. "When our minds grow weary with stress, our cats are trained to take over, give our human side a break. It's how we survive, how we're built."

"Can't," Raphael muttered.

"I get that you want to guard your mate, but your cat can be just as effective."

Raphael just shook his head.

Damned stubborn shifter. It seemed to be a personality flaw all Pantera males suffered from. "You won't be able to remain in your human form the entire pregnancy without losing it."

"You don't understand." The words were curt, and flung at Baptiste like they were coated in alligator dung.

Jean-Baptiste didn't have a female-

and it was looking more and more like he never would-but he knew how puma males were when something was wrong with their mate. The levels of crazy ranged from "manageable" to "batshit." But for Raphael, and what he was dealing with, it might very well be

"rocket ship to the moon" time. His mate, Ashe, carried the fate of the Pantera within her womb, and if she had truly been attacked inside the Wildlands as Bayon had claimed...

A low growl erupted from Jean-Baptiste's throat, but he shut it down instantly. The last thing he needed right now was to allow his cat even one claw out of its cage. Even if it was to sniff out the bastard who'd had the balls to touch a Pantera's pregnant mate on Wildlands soil. But the fantasy of catching and carving a long and deep "P" across the intruder's chest was the kind of revenge Baptiste and his cat were hungry for.

"Bayon tell you what I want?" Raphael asked, his voice stripped of emotion as a breeze kicked up off the bayou, rustling the Spanish moss coating the Cypress.

Baptiste nodded. "Wish I could help."

"You can."

"Sorry, mon ami." I've got problems of my own to deal with.

"This isn't a request, Baptiste."

"Maybe you're forgetting, Raphael, I'm not Diplomatic Faction."

"I don't forget. Anything."

"Then you know I don't report to you."

"True." Raphael stopped pacing and turned to glare at Jean-Baptiste. "But what I'm proposing isn't exactly official Pantera business."

Baptiste's brows shot together, and the skin on his neck, where he'd gotten inked a few days ago, started to burn.

"In fact," Raphael said, his voice dropping as his gaze checked right and left for Pantera in the area. "I don't think either one of us would want it to be." The urge to spring at the male, drop his frail-looking ass to the ground, ripped through Jean-Baptiste. But he'd grown used to the feral cat inside of him, and he forced patience into his already sour gut.

"I know you've been dealt a handful here," he said coolly. "I respect that.

Hell, I'm as concerned about what's happening with Ashe as any Pantera.

Maybe even more so. I'm a Nurturer after all." He heard the bitter note in his own voice. "But I don't have time to travel-"

"Why? Because you just got back?" A flash of alarm moved through Jean-Baptiste, and he eased away from the window and started toward the male. He never talked with anyone about his personal trips into New Orleans. The fact that the leader of the Suits knew something like this was alarming at best.

"Was it a new piercing?" Raphael said, standing his ground as the male drew near. "Or did you get inked again?"

Baptiste's jaw tensed. Play it off, Shifter. Don't let him see one shred of your unease. "Didn't know there was a problem with a puma who appreciates body art," he said with a casual shrug.

"Not the art. But...maybe the reason behind it?" Raphael's nostrils flared, and once again he checked to see if they had an audience. When he found the lawn behind Medical deserted, he turned back to Jean-Baptiste, his voice low. "I know about your little problem." Nostrils flared, Baptiste stopped a foot from the Suit. Inside his body, his cat screamed and clawed to get out. It wanted to attack. It wanted to rip the voice box from the male standing before it with all kinds of accusations swimming in his green eyes. But the only thing Jean-Baptiste allowed the feline to display was a cool, confused purr. "No clue what you're talking about, mon ami."

Undeterred, Raphael continued as though he hadn't heard anything at all.

"Just don't know how it started. Or when. Few weeks ago? A month?" His eyes locked with Jean-Baptiste.

"Considering how many tats and holes you have in that body of yours I'd say you've been trying to push down the fact that you have no control over your cat for some time now."

The words sank so deep Jean-

Baptiste didn't have time to suppress his animal's reaction. With a terrifying growl, he grabbed the male's shoulders and rushed him like a linebacker. "Who the fuck told you?" he snarled, saliva forming in his mouth as Raphael's back hit the trunk of the cypress.

"Perks of being a Suit," Raphael said through gritted teeth, his green eyes flashing gold fire. "I have connections outside the Wildlands. That piercing there," he jerked his chin forward,

"through your eyebrow-the one coated in malachite-well, it was done by the brother of one of my spies' girlfriends." Baptiste's eyebrow twitched. So did his lower lip-the one with the twin silver rings through it. He'd been betrayed. By a foolish, foolish soon-to-be dead human male. He forced a dark laugh. The sound was hollow. "Proves nothing."

"I don't think so," Raphael said.

"Malachite is inside every tattoo and piercing you have."

He was going to cut the tongue out of that human before he killed him. "I like the mineral, that's all," he said. "It helps me to heal faster."

Raphael sniffed, his expression glib.

"I'm sure it does. But it's also the very mineral that's purported to ground a cat inside the body. The elders use it as punishment to cage a wild puma." Raphael's gaze narrowed. "And I hear the Nurturer shrinks also use it on patients who can't control their mind or their feline."

Dead, fetid air sat inside Jean-Baptiste's lungs as he gripped the male's shoulders. Every inch of his skin had gone tight around the muscles and bones, and his canines and claws were starting to emerge. The desperate need to kill this male, end his questioning, his accusations, his impossible truth, was almost unbearable. So he did the only thing he could do.

He released Raphael and walked away.

"Any other time and I'd be all about helping your ass," Raphael called at his back. "But today my one and only concern is my mate."

Stopping at the window, Jean-

Baptiste stared through the glass at that mate. Ashe. She was completely still, lying in the bed, and she looked as pale as a frog's belly.

"Go to that voodoun you visit," Raphael called to him. "The one who recommended the malachite and every tattoo that's on your body, and bring her here."

Fucking loose-tongued human better enjoy his last few days of breathing.

Baptiste didn't turn around.

"Impossible."

"Make it possible."

"She won't come. She's terrified of the magic of the Wildlands."

"You'll make her come. Because if you don't, the Pantera-starting with the elders-will know your secret."

"Blackmail," Baptiste uttered coldly.

He glanced over his shoulder at the Suit.

"You've fallen pretty damn far down the well, Raphael."

The male's eyes blazed gold fire. "I'd fall on a fucking blade for my Ashe and our cub."

Jean-Baptiste stared at him, let the words and their weight sink in as the sun sank into the calm waters of the bayou beyond. The air around them crackled with tension and heat. They couldn't remain here, speaking like this for much longer. Soon the Pantera would be out, their cats playing after sharing meals with their families or Factions.

"Why do you need the voodoun?" Jean-Baptiste asked. "You have the human doctor. Or was the attack more serious than Bayon let on?"

If it was possible, Raphael's skin pulled even tighter over his bones, and his eyes grew dark with fear and rage.

"Ashe was injected with something.

She's not conscious, and she's been...

taken over by...I don't know..."

"What?" Jean-Baptiste asked.

Raphael shook his head. "Some kind of dark force."

Holy shit. "A possession?"

"We don't know." The Suit's voice broke. "We don't know."

"And the cub...?"

"The cub has a strong heartbeat.

That's all they know."

Jean-Baptiste exhaled on a curse, ran a hand through his hair. He was surprised at the sudden and deep concern he and his cat felt for the new and important life inside Raphael's mate. And yet, despite the hell he was experiencing as of late, he was first and foremost a Pantera. He wanted his kind to survive more than he wanted his next breath.

"What the hell is happening to us?" he whispered blackly. "The Wildlands, the pumas, the magic?" His question wasn't meant for Raphael, for anyone in particular, but the male answered it anyway.

"I don't know. But it's growing worse."

Jean-Baptiste turned to face the male.

"The borders aren't holding."

"We must act, Baptiste."

"I'll go tonight. But I will have your word, what we've said here tonight is never mentioned again."

Raphael nodded. "Done."

"I'll report back if there's a problem.

Otherwise, I'll see you in the a.m." Jean-Baptiste started to walk away, but Raphael called him back.

"One more thing."

Turning, Jean-Baptiste hissed at the Suit. "Trying to keep my cat caged here, and it's not your biggest fan right now."

"You're not going alone."

"Come again?"

"I'm sending a Suit with you." Baptiste shook his head. "No. I do this alone or not at all."

"I need to have backup there, a top negotiator, in case your voodoun becomes a problem."

"We agreed to keep this between us," Baptiste growled. "No one else can know."

"She doesn't know." Raphael moved toward him. "She thinks she's on assignment, bringing back someone to help Ashe."

"My voodoun could tell her-reveal our connection."

The Suit reached the window. He glanced inside, ran his hand down the glass, then fisted it and cursed. "That's your problem. Mine is in there fighting for her life and the life of our cub." He turned to glare at Jean-Baptiste. "The cub who might very well be the savior of us all."

Jean-Baptiste growled. "Who's the Suit?"

"The newest member of the

Diplomatic Faction, Genevieve Burel."

"No," Baptiste stated flatly.

"You don't even know her."

"I've heard about her, and with my cat so unstable and ready to pounce on anyone who even slightly irritates me, taking her to New Orleans would be a batshit move."

"She's brilliant!"

"She's a pain in the ass! A prickly, buttoned-up, nose-in-the-air pain in the ass," Baptiste returned hotly.

"Good. Then she'll make sure the journey is a success."

He growled. "Either that or my cat will take her down before we even leave the Wildlands."

* * *

Genevieve Burel placed the perfectly folded shirt inside her shabby overnight bag and gently slid the zipper closed.

Her critical gaze moved over her room, taking inventory: the neatly made bed with the quilt her mother had made for her when she was a cub; the ancient chair that couldn't hide its desperate need to be re-stuffed; the scuffed wood floors she'd spent hours trying to sand; and the dusty pictures and photographs that hung on the faded walls.

She exhaled heavily. She'd just cleaned an hour ago.

She slung her bag over her shoulder, then headed into the hall and down the stairs, careful not to grip the loose banister too firmly. On the small table that met her descent, the vase of Louisiana Iris she'd picked that morning were struggling to remain upright and full of color. The shockingly purple flower grew inside the magical borders of the Wildlands all year long, and was her grandparents' favorite. In fact, it was their mating day flower. Genevieve tried to pick some every day, but the bloom was becoming harder to find.

Scooping up the vase, she entered her Grands' bedroom with a bright smile.

The room had once been the parlor, but Genevieve had converted the large space into a bedroom after her mother and father left the Wildlands six months ago. It was easier for her grandparents to get around, and despite how the ancient and errant magic was slowly

depreciating the house and its furnishings, Genevieve had done her best to make the room clean and comfortable.

"Finished with your dinner?" she asked the pair, placing the vase down beside their bed. "I hope it was all right.

You know I'm not so great with the stews."

"It's was perfect, Be," her nearly bald Paw-Paw said, giving her hand a squeeze.

"Yes, indeed," her pink-cheeked Maw-Maw agreed, grinning. "Your culinary skills are far more advanced than you think they are."

Genevieve laughed, her cheeks warming. Her grandparents were the sweetest, dearest creatures in the world, and she didn't know what she'd do without them.

"You leaving now?" Paw-Paw asked.

Genevieve nodded at the pair who were cuddled up in bed together, as they were most days now, the covers pulled to their waists as they sipped their tea.

"Shouldn't be more than a night, if that."

"We'll be fine," Maw-Maw assured her with a broad grin. "Lena's coming.

You know we adore that girl. Even if she is a Hunter," she added with a wink.

"So take all the time you need." Paw-Paw nodded. "That's right. Our Be's an important Diplomat now."

"Not that important," Genevieve said.

"And never too important to take care of my favorite Grands."

"We're your only Grands, Be," Paw-Paw said with a chuckle.

Genevieve met his soft chuckle with one of her own, but inside, her heart did that squeezee thing that made her feel like tears could appear at any moment if she wasn't careful. Her Grands didn't understand what was happening around them, just that Genevieve's parents had decided to forge a life outside of the Wildlands. They saw the house crumbling of course, felt their bodies crumbling, too, but didn't think-or refused to think-it could be more than just age and wear.

Genevieve knew better.

Where the magic inside their home, infusing their ancient blood, had once been impossibly strong, now it waned.

The crackle of energy no longer permeated the air, and every item inside, every being, lacked luster. Genevieve's parents might have chosen to run instead of "dealing with the shame of one of the ancient families being rejected by their magic," as they'd put it. But Genevieve was determined to stay and fight, care for her Grands, and figure out why the weakening magic along their borders was moving inward. And why,

according to the elders, hers was the only dwelling affected.

She bent down and gave each one a kiss on the cheek. They smelled like chamomile tea and soap and gentle memories.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said.

"And no telling Lena to spike your sweet tea. I've already warned her about that trick."

While Paw-Paw snorted and

grumbled, Maw-Maw cupped

Genevieve's face before she could get away. "Will you laugh at this old Pantera female if she says to have a good time? Maybe a little fun on your journey?"

"No laughing here," Genevieve assured her before straightening up.

"I mean it, Be."

"Yes, ma'am."

As Genevieve walked out of the room, Maw-Maw called after her, "If anyone needs to cut loose and have a good time, it's you!"

Placing her bag on her shoulder again, Genevieve headed for the front door.

She loved her Grands more than anything in the world, and she knew they had her best interests at heart, but they didn't understand how vitally important it was that she remain focused, controlled, and completely and utterly unflinching in her goals and assignments. Especially now.

Unbeknownst to Raphael and the Suits, she was destined for the elders' inner circle. Working alongside the three ancient females. It was a coveted position, a great honor, and it was in her blood. Many of the females in her line had worked under the elders. Even her mother had been selected as a candidate before her fear of shame had run her off.

Genevieve wouldn't be that weak.

She headed out the door and into the warm bayou evening. Breaking loose and having a good time? Her Maw-Maw's words echoed in her ears.

Unfortunately, those two suggestions weren't even on her radar.

"Miss Burel?"

In one second flat, Genevieve's thoughts died and her entire body went up in flames.

Standing on her rickety porch, with the chipped white paint and the sweet double swing, was the owner of that deep, demanding baritone. Genevieve stared at him like a mole who had just seen the sun for the first time. Hot, blinding and impossible to turn away from. She was sure she had never met him before. She would have

remembered if she had. Her gaze moved over him. Yes. This male in dark blue jeans and a worn, black leather jacket wasn't someone you walked past without either staring, double-taking or running into a tree. He was so tall his head grazed the roof of the porch, and so broad across the chest, the white T-shirt he wore strained against all that muscle.

But it wasn't just his size and fierce manner that had her skin vibrating with awareness, or the thick, dark hair, or the light dusting of stubble around his mouth

-or, god, even those incredible liquid amber eyes that equally mocked and studied her. No. It was the brightly colored tattooed skull interwoven with tribal markings that covered his collarbone and ran up the length of his neck.

And the piercings.

Air seemed to gather in her lungs and stay there. Her mouth was uncomfortably dry. She couldn't stop staring. At the metal barbell poking through his left eyebrow, and the two thin, silver rings fastened to his lower lip.

Besides the individual black birth markings each Pantera had, she'd never seen anything like this on their males.

She wanted to rush at him, place her hands on the skin of his neck and trace the colored lines, inspect them, study them. But instead, she backed up toward the closed front door, protective not for herself but for the two vulnerable Pantera inside. Was this indeed the Nurturer, Jean-Baptiste, who Raphael had assigned her to? Or someone else?

Someone who wished her harm? After all, the Wildlands had been infiltrated, and everyone was being cautious.

That eyebrow with the metal lifted.

"Raphael told you I was coming." It wasn't a question. She suspected he wasn't the type who asked a lot of questions. At least she knew he wasn't the enemy. Not the kind she needed to be worried about anyway.

She stuck out her hand. "I'm

Genevieve Burel."

He didn't touch her, just glanced at her hand, then dragged his gaze back up to her face. "I know."

Heat warmed her cheeks at his slow and obvious perusal. Males didn't look her over this way. Inspect her. At least if they did, she'd never noticed it before.

"Right." She dropped her hand. "And you're-"

"Jean-Baptiste," he finished for her.

"Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr.

Baptiste."

A brief flicker of what she believed to be amusement crossed his features.

"You sure about that?"

"Pardon me?" His tongue had darted out and swiped at the twin rings of silver on his bottom lip. Her mouth filled with saliva and she gripped the strap of her overnight bag until her knuckles turned white. What the hell was going on with her? She'd never felt so flustered in her life.

This is not acceptable. For a Suit, a Pantera or a female. But especially not for a disciple of the elders.

"I'm asking," he pushed away from the porch railing and moved toward her with sensual, cat-like grace, "if you're sure it's nice to meet me. Because frankly, Miss Burel, your face and body language scream the opposite." Body language? She touched the pearl buttons at her throat, and tried to control the sudden outbreak of sweat under her arms. Lord, this was three shades of irritating. "I assure you, Mr.

Baptiste," she said, clearing her throat.

"My body does not scream." Wait. Did that come out right?

His eyes narrowed. "That's too bad." No. It hadn't.

"What I mean to say is that I'm focused on our mission." She cleared her throat again and tried to look him directly in the eye without her legs feeling funny. "Getting in and getting out." Oh Christ, that wasn't much better.

His eyebrow-the one with the metal barbell through it-raised a good quarter inch.

They needed to go, leave her porch, the Wildlands, get to New Orleans, complete their task, bring it back to Raphael, and never have contact again.

Or at least never speak to each other again. Never look at each other again.

Specifically her looking at him. And at that mouth. Those tattoos. Wondering where they disappeared to. How far down they traveled-

"Ready?" he said, interrupting her thoughts. Her incredibly inappropriate thoughts.

"Absolutely," she said, wishing she could slap her own face without it looking odd, and possibly a little insane.

"Shall we shift?" she asked, moving past him and down the steps. God, he smelled good. Leather and something completely indescribable, yet almost debilitatingly mouthwatering. "At least until we hit the border. I know the magic will refuse us once we're on human soil."

"We're not heading to New Orleans on foot, Miss Burel," he said, suddenly appearing beside her. "That would take too long. And I want this trip over as quickly as possible."

She made the mistake of turning to face him again. The sun had set completely now, and twilight ruled lavender and gray around them. The evening bayou breeze moved through his shoulder-length dark hair, batting at his dark, fearsome face. As petite as she was, Genevieve had never felt intimidated by anyone in her life. She was a strong, hard-nosed female who dealt in reality, who knew what she wanted and went after it. The fears and insecurities of her heart never made it past their respective barriers. But under this male's imperious, scrutinizing, sexually-fierce gaze, she felt like a small, tasty woodland creature who knew she was on borrowed time if she remained out in the open.

"If we're not running," she said finally. "How do you propose we get there? Did your voodoun acquaintance arm you with a generous supply of fairy dust or something?"

His eyes flashed with heat under the cool light of the bayou moon. "No fairy dust, Miss Burel. Just a ride." Genevieve's legs threatened to buckle at his words- no, just that one word-

and her mouth opened but nothing came out. Struck dumb by a great, inked-up beast of a Pantera male. She'd never been so ashamed of herself.

With a slash of a grin, Jean-Baptiste turned and started down the path. "Come along, Miss Burel. I promise I won't go any faster than you can handle."