Read One Down: Bayou Heat (Pantera Security League Book 1) for Free Online Page B

whatever necessary to keep me alive.”
    Cerviel’s eyes, dark and foreboding, were pinned to hers as his fingers were softly caressing her jaw, making her breathing uneven. He was clearly absorbing her words, silently running them through his clever mind. Hallie was beginning to realize that this man was the sort who didn’t impulsively leap to conclusions, or rashly strike out. Even with a beast inside him, he was a thinker. He was a man who considered a problem, or enemy, very carefully, and then chose the most effective means of destruction.
    Not that she didn’t assume he couldn’t be provoked into savage violence. A puma dwelled inside him, after all.
    But she knew his cold logic was far more dangerous than fangs and claws.
    “Answer my question now,” she said, trying to keep herself focused as he touched her.
    He paused for only a moment before nodding. “Benson is an enemy of the Pantera. One of our most vicious adversaries.” As his fingers traced the pulse at her neck, his gaze roamed over her face, landing gently on her mouth. “We intercepted a message on his private cellphone. It was about you and your location.”
    “What about it?” she asked, her skin humming with awareness and heat. “To get me? Rescue me?”
    He said nothing. And his intense but secret expression warned her she would get no more from him. Not that she would stop trying. She was owed the truth.
    “Why does that conversation make you fear your past?” he asked, his eyes finding hers once again. “Between Benson and Donaldson?”
    “Because it’s obvious that I have some connection to these assholes. I was selected for some particular reason. Maybe it has to do with something I did when I was young.” Her stomach rolled, killing the safe, almost sensual feeling she’d been having since they’d shared their stolen meal. “Or something to do with my family. A part of me senses that my life is easier not remembering.”
    He slowly nodded. “I get that.”
    She released a shaky sigh. “Yeah, right.”
    “I’m serious, kitten.” He allowed his hand to slide from her throat. Hallie immediately missed the warmth of his touch. Where physical contact had always been a nightmare, something to fear and fight against and recoil from, with Cerviel, it was almost medicinal, helping to ease the anxious ball of dread in the pit of her stomach. While awakening something she no longer thought existed inside her. Attraction.
    “I’ve spent a lot of years wishing that I could erase the memories of my past,” he continued thoughtfully.
    Her lips parted in surprise. “Why?”
    “My sister died.”
    She sucked in a breath at his blunt confession. “I’m so sorry,” she breathed, reaching out for his hand. It was big and warm and strong. Like him. “Was it an accident?”
    “No.” His eyes grew distant, his features hardening.
    With pain? Anger? Guilt? Probably a toxic combination of all three.
    “It was close to the time of our festival,” he said. “It’s always marked by the bloom of the Dyesse lily.”
    Hallie furrowed her brow. “I’ve never heard of that flower.”
    “It grows only in the Wildlands,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “One day I hope you’ll see it. My sister wanted me to go with her to try and find the first bloom, but I told her no. I was too busy training with my friends to be bothered with an annoying little sister. I was such an ass.”
    She squeezed his fingers, feeling his pain, and he squeezed back. “You don’t have to say any more, Cerviel.”
    He slowly shook his head, his unfocused eyes revealing that he was still lost in the past. “I don’t mind telling you,” he insisted. “It’s so much easier trying to keep my memories of her locked away, good and bad, you know? But that’s not fair to her. She deserves to be remembered.”
    Hallie had this intense need to not only comfort him, but to get as close to him as possible. Crawl into his lap and wrap her arms around him and