Read Online Jaguars' Reward [Impulse 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Zara Chase - Free Book Online Page B

excitedly.
    “Close your eyes again,” Vadim said. Pain ripped through him as his dwindling powers were further reduced by the effort it took him to break through the block in Talia’s head. Shit, whoever had done this was good but still, he hadn’t realized he was as weak as all that. He sensed Zayd struggling against exhaustion, too, and shot him a reassuring look.
    “We can do this, buddy,” he pheromoned.
    “You think?”
    “The future of Impulse rests on it.”
    “Yeah.” Zayd gripped his gut and let out a soft groan. “Hold that thought.”
    “What else do you remember?” Vadim asked Talia.
    “My mother. I have a mother. She lives in Venice, too. She has a gentleman friend. She’s real excited about that.” Talia beamed. “She’s had a tough time of it, but she’s still young and real good-looking. Her friend, he’s a businessman and—” Her eyes flew open again. “He has a boat.”
    “Ah!” Vadim and Zayd said together.
    “The boat you were on? The Odyssey ?”
    “Yes. Mom and I had a fight about it. Ed Finch, that’s her guy, asked if I could be a hostess on the boat for a day. He had some important clients to entertain—”
    “What does he do?” Zayd asked.
    “Import, export, I think.”
    “Vague enough for people not to ask too many questions,” Vadim muttered. “Why didn’t you want to help out, babe?”
    “Don’t like boats. I get seasick. Besides, I’m useless in the kitchen. Can’t boil an egg to save my life. I’d be no good with catering, which is really what was needed.”
    “But you went anyway?”
    “Yes, Mom played the guilt card. Reminded me how much she’d given up for my sake. How she’d never asked anything of me before. It was only one day, blah, blah—”
    “What happened when you got on the boat?”
    “I was in the galley, trying to prepare fancy nibbles for the customers and pretending I knew what I was doing. I didn’t know until the boat left the marina that there were no guests. Just Ed and two crew members.”
    “What did you do?”
    “I was furious. Asked why they’d put to sea if the clients hadn’t arrived. Ed didn’t answer me, so I went up on deck because I felt nauseous below with the motion of the boat. Next thing I remember is feeling a shove in the small of my back and I was in the ocean.”
    “You’re a good swimmer?”
    “Yes, I was on my college swim team.”
    “That probably saved you,” Zayd said, gritting his teeth.
    “No, you guys saved me.”
    “Open your eyes, babe.”
    She did so and the two guys released her hands so they could sit on either side of her.
    “How do you feel?” Vadim asked.
    “Like the fog’s lifted,” she said slowly. “I can remember everything. That bastard Finch! They pushed me in and left me to drown. Did they really think I’d kill you both?”
    “They had control of your brain, so you’d do whatever they told you to. You’re exactly the sort of gal that Zayd and I go for, and you’re a black belt in karate. They counted on those factors working in your favor. You’d catch us with our guard down and we’d be dead before you knew it.”
    “Hell!”
    “Yeah.” Vadim smiled at her. “Tell us why the name Impulse freaked you out.”
    “You’re shifters,” she said slowly.
    Vadim and Zayd shared a glance.
    “Might as well tell her,” Zayd pheromoned. “She’s gonna find out sooner or later.”
    “Yeah, you’re right.”
    “Impulse is a feline colony of shifters and we’re alpha jaguars,” Vadim said.
    “That’s why you run security. Jaguars are good at defense strategies.” She shared a look between them. “Am I right?”
    “Pretty much. Impulse has special ions in the air that humans find hard to breathe but which enhance our shifters’ abilities.”
    “We try to use our situation to do some good here,” Zayd said. “Mikael is pretty adept at curing childhood diseases that are beyond the scope of traditional medicine.”
    “But our enemies, other shifters not