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been confused. Curious, but still confused. A rarity for his kind. Now his brother was telling him Ria had been masking her scent, hiding who she was on purpose?
    “Son of a bitch.” All the anger rushed out of him in a single moment of clarity, leaving him feel like he’d been sucker punched. The itchy restlessness, the erotic dreams of Ria that had filled his nights for months, the way his dick had sprung to life the second he’d scented her arousal this morning. He’d needed to touch her, taste her, in the most carnal of ways and with such sudden voracity that he’d nearly broken the handles off the quad when she’d settled so sweetly behind him. Those herbal cigarettes might be strong enough to mess with his cat’s senses, but they weren’t strong enough to impede one of nature’s most primal invention. The mating heat.
    Santos had touched her bare arms all those months ago, triggering a powerful force. Only it wasn’t with a single-mindedness to take and mate that had infused them, but a slow ember of desire that had slowly grown in strength over time. It was the reason he’d been out the night Ria had arrived, unable to stop himself from watching her. Wanting her. Then, when they’d came together once again, that heat had flared to life, a living entity that would not be denied until it had what it wanted, what it craved.
    Until it was satiated.
    Ria’s wary rabbit act of this morning made Santos believe another was behind her scent masking trick, and that individual was about to find themselves confronted by one very pissed off jaguar. His mate, right under his very nose, and he may never have known.
    Claws, sharp and deadly shot out from his fingertips. “I’ll kill him.”
    Rome looked from those deadly points to the blazing fury in Santos’s eyes. “Who?”
    Leveling his gaze on his brother, voice thick with emotion, Santos growled. “I don’t know. But I’ll find him and rip his heart from his chest.”
    Unfazed, Rome clapped a hand on Santos’s shoulder. “If you need any help, let me know. But first you need to find out what’s what with Ria. Even if she knows about us,” Us being shifters, Santos knew, “she won’t feel easy if you approach her with claws.”
    At the show of support and soft correction, Santos took several deep breaths, fighting to gain back the control that would leash the need to tear and rip. It took awhile, but with his anger finally having a target, even an unknown one, he was able to bank it until his outward appearance showed nothing of the turmoil inside. “I’m good now. Thanks.”
    Rome’s lips curved. “Anytime.”
    “Lock up.” Santos ordered as he headed for the door. “I need to go home, shower, change. Hunt down Ria.”
    “Tell you what, bro. I’ll even take the guests out on the boat tomorrow.”
    Pausing at the door, Santos looked back to see Rome standing with a smile on his face. “And what am I expected to do in return?”
    “Just be happy.”
    Emotion was a warm ball in his chest, but being the eldest, and the least comfortable with overt displays of sibling affection, he covered his reaction at the sappy comment with a sardonic raised brow. “Now I know you’re a pussy.”
    Rome’s grin widened. “Never fear. I’ll kick your ass into dust after you’ve gotten the girl.”
    Lips tugging with a reluctant smile of his own, Santos flipped his brother off and strode out the door.
    He had prey to find.
    Chapter Seven
    As it turned out, Santos’s prey came to him. Drying off from his shower, he paused at an unfamiliar noise, the towel gripped in his hands. Padding naked from the bathroom to the darkened master bedroom, he paused again, eyes closed, ears tuned into locating the odd sound. There. A soft thud from the back of the house.
    Quiet as a phantom, he crossed over to the window, reaching for the blinds to spread two slats wide enough apart to peek through. Though it was just after eight, night had descended hours ago. Stars