Read Online Tempted by the Jaguar #4: Infiltration (Riverford Shifters) by Cristina Rayne - Free Book Online

following Hunter into Maxim’s club. Without the
loud thrum and pulsing of the club’s music filling the air, the empty halls
felt a little disconcerting and forlorn.
    From the rumpled state of Maxim’s clothes, the same ones he had worn
last night she was quick to note, the tiger shifter had either slept in his
office or not at all. His eyes certainly looked tired enough to be the latter.
    Hunter handed Maxim one of his bags of food and one of the coffees as
Kylie sank down into one of the chairs in front of the desk. “You look like
shit. I hope you at least got a couple of hours of sleep.”
    Maxim sighed wearily. “I stretched out on one of the couches upstairs
for two or three once we closed the club, but then the phone calls started to
come in.”
    “You can eat and talk about the latest disaster at the same time,”
Hunter said, looking pointedly at the still-unopened bag in Maxim’s hand. He
sat down next to Kylie and began pulling burritos out of his bag and placing
them on the desk. He pushed a couple towards Kylie. “That goes for you, too.”
    Maxim chuckled and complied, moving to sit behind his desk. “Thanks.”
He unwrapped his burrito and took a couple of bites before fixing his eyes on
Kylie. “As you know, I have several of my friends that live in the Panhandle
region watching the ranch along with the wolves their Elders sent. One of them
called me about an hour ago to report that a couple of SUVs entered the
property.” He turned his monitor around to face them. “Here’s the pics he sent
me of the people getting out of one of them.”
    Kylie experienced a moment of dread before she put down her food and
focused on the screen. Unlike the slightly fuzzy security footage she had
viewed yesterday, this picture was sharp and clear in all its horrifying
detail. The image was of the back of a fairly ordinary two-story brick house
with an attached four-car garage. Two black SUVs were parked side-by-side in
front of the still-closed garage door. There were four people standing next to
the left-most vehicle, three of them men with the fourth a very familiar
redheaded woman clutched between them.
    “Oh my God, Molly ,” Kylie whispered in horror.
    She could just make out that her friend’s hands were bound behind her
back as well as the expression of absolute fear on her face. Conspicuously
absent was her boyfriend Ty. Rather than feel relieved, her dread doubled. If
they had not kidnapped him, too, then where was he? She couldn’t imagine that
Tara or the cops wouldn’t have been able to get ahold of him by now if he had
just forgotten to charge his phone.
    “My security guys questioned the lioness into unconsciousness as soon
as I saw the pictures and made the connection,” Maxim said, his eyes hard, “and
still not a word. Even so, with this, there is no longer any question. The
lions have infiltrated Riverford far deeper than we feared. I imagine Kylie
will be receiving an ultimatum, most likely through Karen Wilson, soon.”
    Kylie didn’t think it was possible, but his eyes hardened even more
until she could barely see the blue of his irises. The tiger shifter was pissed ,
dangerously so. She could taste his desire to rend, to kill , in the air,
and she suddenly had to grab the arms of her chair tightly as her muscles
rippled and the urge to shift almost overwhelmed her. She wasn’t sure, but she
thought she might have hissed as well.
    “We have to make our move before that happens.”
    Hunter’s calm proclamation washed over her, as out of place and potent
as a clap of thunder in a silent room. The small spasms in her muscles that she
had been struggling against ceased in response to the calm he was projecting. She
felt his hand glide over hers in a soothing motion, and the urge to shift also
began to fade.
    She took a shuddering breath and smiled at Hunter gratefully, but he
wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were fixed on Maxim, intense, watchful. It was
then that Kylie realized with