Read Primal Heat 2 for Free Online

wounds were deep scratches in a clawlike pattern. He’s mumbling about hearing growling, seeing weird animal eyes and long sharp teeth. As of about ten minutes ago the police had finally been allowed back into the room to question him more. Reporters are all over the hospital and your barbershop. They’re looking for a connection to the reports of loud, animal-like growling the night of the charity ball. The rumor of the cat people grows stronger every day.”
    Only a leader such as Rome could make a statement that long seem like one single death sentence. There were equal measures of compassion mixed with the bitter sting of guilt being thrust at him for what he’d done. He’d run out into the open to confront the hybrid the night of the charity ball. He and the Sanchez brothers engaged it without thought to who might have been on the streets to see them. And today, he’d seen that knife sink into Nivea’s skin, smelled the strong scent of her blood, could almost taste it in the back of his throat as he watched it drip down her arm, and he’d reacted. It was that simple. And Eli could truthfully say that if put in the same circumstances, he would do it again.
    “I didn’t shift and I didn’t kill him,” was what he finally said to the shifter he’d grown to care for and respect a great deal.
    “No. You didn’t, not this time,” Rome agreed.
    Eli’s jaw clenched.
    “I’m not here to blame you, Eli. Things are happening around us that none of us are able to control right now. But you are trained for this,” Rome continued. “You are a leader and you know the consequences.”
    He stood up straight, squaring his shoulders and holding the Assembly Leader’s gaze. “You are correct.”
    “There’s a press conference scheduled for tomorrow morning. You’re going to make a statement about the violence in your barbershop.”
    “Why? Rimas is going to tell the cops tonight that I beat the crap out of him. They’re going to arrest me. Giving a press conference is admitting my guilt before the entire city.”
    Nick stepped forward then, his face grim, cat’s eyes bared. “You were defending your shop against an intruder. Rimas had a knife, he held it to your neck for at least five minutes before Nivea came in. Then he stabbed her. You have witnesses so the self-defense is clear,” he told Eli.
    “Just like it was clear when I killed Lonzo,” he replied.
    “Don’t do that, man,” X said, moving around Rome to stand near Eli. “Don’t make this more personal than it is. That man came after you with the intent to kill you. The reason doesn’t matter. You did what you had to do to stay alive. Nobody is going to penalize you for that.”
    “Unless I’m one of the cat people,” Eli added, then shook his head. “Look, I hear what you’re saying. I’ll do the press conference and whatever else I can to make this go away so we can focus on the important matters. You don’t have to worry about me.”
    All three men looked at him skeptically and Eli felt like growling with rage. He hated their concerned and wary glances, the looks that said they thought he was completely losing it. And the feeling inside that they might actually be right. Clenching his fists at his sides, he turned away, moving to the nightstand, and looking down at the empty table. No clock, no pictures, nothing but the lamp that had been here when he moved in. His clothes hung in the closet and rested in the drawers but that was the extent of his belongings in this space. There was nothing else and had never been. Eli felt like this on the inside as well. He was a jaguar and a human, and at one point in his life he’d required something extra—the shaman’s healing potion. That was all that he was, nothing else.
    “I’ll do the press conference and whatever is necessary to minimize the attention to the shifters,” he stated again. “I should have reacted differently.”
    “No, he shouldn’t have,” Nivea said, coming out of