Seas Of Passion

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll send some men in to free you shortly, they’re guarding Manfree right now.”

“I thought you would have killed that man on first sight.”

“I may once I finish with him, but for now he is mildly useful, much like you, just on an even lower level. Stay back from the window when the men come in.”

Lara walked over to the guard that had been following her orders and kicked his prone body with her foot, seeing if he was still alive or not, then smiled when he stirred slightly and left the room.  When she reached the main lobby and saw Manfree, still standing between the four guards, she waved them away and stood in front of him.

“Glad to see you didn’t try to escape Manfree, though part of me wished you would have; it’s been a while since I got to have fun with a weakling. Tell me everything you know about the young shifter and his woman and I’ll let you live.”

“I’m sorry Lara, but I don’t really know much about them. His human name is Alan and I don’t know the girls, I only caught up with them once and it was a fruitless meeting. Are you after them as well? If so then we could work tog-”

“I should tear you to pieces for even asking such a disgusting question. In the years since we first met you’ve only grown into more of a hideous coward, you exude such a weak energy that it’s hard for me to even speak to you without killing you. You are going to free Jacob now, and then I will leave with him. That will be the last you ever see of me. Now, hurry up and do it; if you try anything the guards will know.”

Manfree nodded as he wiped his face, sweating profusely from a combination of terror and extreme anger that he did his best to keep hidden and soon was back in the room adjacent to Jacobs holding cell. He tried not to look at the shifter as he entered the key combination to open the cell, but heard Jacob’s voice in his mind as he worked.

“It appears you have lost Manfree, I find this most humorous. I don’t yet understand laughter, but this seems like a situation where it would be appropriate.”

Manfrees face was deep scarlet as he finished overriding the locks on the cell and soon Jacob walked out, free for the first time in over a year. He walked alongside Manfree back to the lobby and joined Lara, and then they left without a word or backwards glance at Manfree. Once they left, he hurried to his superiors’ office and met him as he was leaving.

“What the hell are you still doing here Manfree?  You have lost the only shifter we had and you would actually come here to say something? What could you possibly say that would fix this?”

“Sir, just hear me out. I bugged the vehicle they came here in, so we can track them now. The woman is going after the other young shifter and once she finds them, we can capture all four at once! Just let me have some armed guards and some of the tranquilizing ammunition and I’ll get them this time, I swear it!”

“You can take the guards that were following her, I saw her somehow control them from the cameras, just wait until we check them in the infirmary. As for the tranquilizing ammunition, you can have some, but not much, it costs one hundred thousand dollars per round, so use it sparingly. You have four days and if you don’t return in that time you may as well use the tranq-darts on yourself.”

In the taxi, Lara asked the driver if anything had occurred while she was inside the facility.

“Uh, some guys came out and then left real fast, I don’t know what they did though.”

“I figured Manfree would do something like that; he’s so reliable and predictable, maybe that’s just how human men are. Jacob, do you know how to drive these foolish contraptions?” Lara asked.

“I understand the basics, but there are many rules you have to follow and I never finished the book about how to properly follow them.”

“Hm, then it looks like this human will be our driver for a while longer at least. For now I need you to search for the young shifters signal along with me, if we both do it the search range will be amplified, but you are to hide your own energy when you do it, as I will.”

Jacob complied and clenched his eyes shut, straining from the use of his abilities after so long. Lara suppressed her energy signature and then searched for Alan again, feeling the range she could search in growing as Jacob’s ability kicked in. Soon they located both Alan and Shanice, who were still at the hotel.

“Found them, that was so much simpler with two of us. Driver, take us back the direction we came until I tell you to stop. Jacob, once we reach the young shifter you are not to attack him.”

“I have no desire or reason to do so, but he may attack me.”

“I’ll deal with that, just listen to me and soon you can disappear and live the wretched human life you so desire.”

“Very well Lara, though I have a question for you. Why are you so fixated on him? You claimed him as your mate in the past, but there are others, so what makes him special?”

“I get what I want, nothing more. I am not some bottom feeder in the clan hierarchy, so me losing a mate shouldn’t happen. Besides that, I need to have a child so this accursed nagging desire will go away; it’s become more of a desire than eating.”

“I see. I guess even you can’t get rid of your natural desires altogether.”

“At least I haven’t traded in my true form for that of a human Jacob. What will you do when more shifters are sent after you?  If nothing else you know our kind are relentless.”

“It doesn’t matter to me, if they find me and kill me then so be it, I’ll die as a human rather than live as a shark. What about you? Once you force the young shifter to mate with you, what will you do?”