Lora Leigh: Navarro's Promise

Except Brim Stone. And Del-Rey.

Well, she didn’t hate Ashley, Emma or Sharone.

She hated Council Coyotes. Every damned fucking one of them, and now she was hiding in a dirty alley as she tried to escape them.

She didn’t dare venture out to the street to hopefully flag down one of the few cabs trolling for the few passengers that could be found. Cabs weren’t the only ones out there.

There was more than one black SUV. There were men with communication ear sets, and there was a Breed. Sharp-toothed, eyes black and spitting evil as he’d leaned over, a twisted smile contorting his scarred face just before she’d slammed her heavy hiking boots into the ugly, sneering expression of Marx Whitman, the Coyote that had already betrayed the Breeds once.

The vision was one that nightmares were made of.

Shuddering, shivering, she forced herself from the wall and eased to the shadowed entrance of the alley she’d ducked into. Keeping low, staying close to the dark, sodden walls of the buildings, she rushed down the sidewalk, quickly making her way through the streets and fighting to keep an eye on the vehicles moving slowly behind her.

There was no way to hide from a Breed. There was no way to still suspicion if the men in the SUVs caught sight of a lone figure moving down the sidewalk.

Ducking into the next alley, she moved quickly through the sinister shadows, her stomach heaving with fear as lightning flared overhead and thunder rattled the very air around her.

A scream erupted from her throat as she stumbled against a garbage can, causing it to crash to the ground as a shadow erupted from her side.

Like an emerging, vengeful beast, it came at her. A sound like a demented growl, a whip of cold air, arms outstretched . . . Mica screamed again, falling backward as the shadow followed, whipping against her, knocking her to the ground despite her attempts to stay upright.

“Dammit, Mica!” Harsh, animalistic. She should know that voice, but hysteria was tearing through her, pain a blazing sensation of agony in her ribs as she fought to get free.

The stench of urine, the feel of filth on the alley beneath her palms, and a nightmare of sensations she couldn’t process. Instinct had her rolling, finding her feet, slipping, then finally gaining traction to force herself into a run.

The sound behind her too closely resembled a curse. Demonic, sending a flash of terror racing through her as a sob left her throat and she rounded the corner of the alley into a side street.

“Mica.” Rough, a fierce rumble, and it didn’t sound in the least friendly.

As she caught herself against the corner of the wall, lightning split the skies, illuminating a tall, broad form, eyes like hammered gold, a face savage, too fierce and unknown.

In the next breath Mica turned, running in the opposite direction, only to face another shadow, taller, darker. Throwing herself to the side, low, nearly skidding along the street, she went beneath an outstretched hand, skidding, only to have her back pushed against a brick wall as hard male arms surrounded her.

“Dammit, Mica, stop fighting me before I have to knock your ass out!”

Her gaze flew up, breath suspending in her lungs, relief and weakness shuddering through her all at once.

He was the animal whose voice had sent her running once again. Black eyes glittered with rage as lightning lit up the world around them.

The scene seemed surreal. The lightning, the rain sheeting around them. His exotic, fierce expression framed by heavy, ribbon-straight black silken hair that fell around his face and wet from the rivulets of rain running over it.

Eyes wide, shuddering, she could only stare up at him as his hand lifted, palm cupping her cheek, the intense warmth of his touch rushing through her as his thumb stroked softly over her lips.

“Amaya.” He spoke so softly she barely heard, the dark, Asian flavor of his tone shocking her as he whispered the nickname he had given her years ago. “Are you ready to get out of the rain now?”

“Navarro.” His name was a harsh gasp, relief pouring through her, weakening her as the warmth of his hard body began to seep through the saturated clothing between them.

“Navarro, we have to move.” Harsh, a male Feline growl rumbled in the night.

Mica tried to swing around, her heart dropping to her stomach as fear suddenly tore through her again.

“Can you run?” The harsh question was a grating, furious sound that seemed suddenly to rumble in Navarro’s powerful chest.

For a Breed it was said didn’t growl as others did, that came awful close to a growl.

A quick nod as he caught her hand, turned and began pulling her through the rain-lashed night.

Shadows reached out from the buildings around them, twisting fingers of darkness colliding with the rain-dimmed glow of sparse streetlights interspersed with the shadows through the alleys.

Mica was aware of the figure moving behind them, though she’d only managed to catch a quick glimpse of a dark figure. Features were impossible to see or to recognize through the sheets of moisture.

She could feel the presence at her back, a prickling awareness that kept her nerves on edge.

“We’re almost there,” Navarro assured her, as though he could sense, could somehow feel, the fear that continued to rise inside her.

Damp weather was supposed to affect a Breed’s sense of smell. If he could still smell her fear, then there was the chance the Coyote that had attacked her, or any working with him, could catch her scent as well.

Forcing herself to tamp down the emotion, to bury it in that same dark, hidden corner of her mind where she tried to hide things from Cassie, wasn’t easy. Terror was like an oily, vicious specter shadowing her, one that seemed to refuse to allow her to escape.

She was with Navarro now though. She wasn’t alone. That was the lifeline she held on to, the fragile thread of awareness that kept her centered as she began to push the fear to that enclosed place where it couldn’t be detected.

He was the one Breed she should be wary of personally, but she’d always known, from the first day their eyes had met, that he would never allow anyone to hurt her.

I’ll protect you, Mica. I swear, as long as I breathe, I’ll keep you from harm.

That promise made, as explosions ripped through Haven’s central courtyard on a night meant to be celebrated, echoed through her mind.

He had sworn to protect her. Covering her body with his own as Breed traitors attempted to kidnap Storme Montague, one of the newly mated women within Haven, and Cassie, he had sheltered her from the danger.

How many times had she replayed that night in her nightmares? Each time though, the terror turned to something else, to something softer, hotter. To something that only frightened her more, on a deep, intensely personal level.

He made her want him. Nightmares turned to erotic fantasy whenever she dreamed of that night. To the sensation of his lips caressing her ear, then her cheek. To the feel of his lips at first only brushing against hers, then taking the curves with a hungry, primal passion she couldn’t seem to deny.

“Fuck!” The furious curse had Mica jerking her head around, desperate to see what had caused the exclamation.

She had only a second to catch a glimpse of lights turning into the alley before Navarro pulled her quickly into a deep, sheltered recess between two buildings, before pressing her into the brick wall.

“Sons of bitches couldn’t have picked a warm night for this bullshit, could they?” he growled at her ear as Mica felt his arms sheltering her, the long leather coat he wore wrapping around her as he tucked her head against his chest.

Beneath the coat, he was heavily armed, an arsenal strapped into the lining of the leather covering and holstered beneath his arm, at his waist and thigh.