Animal Instincts (Entangled Ignite) by Patricia Rosemoor

through the waves, I saw the Chicago skyline—nearly the same view the wild dog had shared with me earlier.
    Whoever ran the casino must be responsible for the fights. Dogfighting was another form of gambling. Replacing dogs with exotic animals was an additional heinous crime. No doubt Shade had found this place and had sealed his own fate.
    Which made me wonder about my own safety.
    Thinking Ethan had to see this, that I needed him here, I pulled out my cell phone to alert him. He had to come. When I tried to make the call, I couldn’t get a signal. The battery was good. Huh.
    I’m bored, a woman complained. I’m going to ask for another job.
    You know how likely that is, a man thought back at her. The Boss isn’t going to like you asking.
    The boss.
    Lured by the conversation, I stepped forward, tried to place the voices.
    I don’t know, maybe I can find a way to convince him.
    Forget it. I hear he’s not interested in anyone but Luc’s mother.
    I touched the sea glass pendant Shade had given me the last time I’d seen him alive. My heart was thundering now and I was having difficulty swallowing. The voices seemed to be coming from the right, from behind a glass window fronting a forested area.
    The wild dog had shown me this, too. There were no people inside the animal habitat. Only a couple of wolves. I couldn’t be hearing the animals talking. Amazed that I hadn’t realized animals lived here as soon as I had entered, I kept going, staring at the wildlife. As I went on, the habitat changed, from forest to desert to rocky plains.
    Lions.
    Hyenas.
    Panthers.
    All predators like the ones I’d run into the other night. Feeling as if I’d walked into something out of a science fiction movie, I left the path along the habitat and entered the casino proper.
    This one is ripe for the picking. She’s a candidate for the back room tonight.
    Cezar will give you extra credit if you can get her this time.
    I was picking up on more thoughts, all coming from the casino workers. The guests seemed oblivious.
    I was good and spooked.
    A hand on my shoulder whipped me around.
    “What are you doing here? How did you get in?”
    I gasped. The mystery man was glaring at me. Again.
    I met his pale gray eyes for a moment before I stepped back. I couldn’t help but stare at his mouth. Wide, with full lips, at the moment turned down in a frown. Still, there was something mesmerizing about him, something that sent my senses off-kilter. My nerve endings felt raw.
    Despite that, I focused on my purpose. “I—I came to see where the animals for the fights were being held.”
    “Who have you been talking to?”
    I tried to blink away the effect he had on me, but it was no use. The small hairs on my arms prickled and the back of my neck felt hot. I was responding to his sheer magnetism.
    “The wild dog wounded in the fight told me,” I said truthfully. Instinct told me he would believe me. “You know, the one that fought the coyote.”
    He continued to stare at me. Leave now and don’t come back. You’ll forget about this place the moment you step foot outside.
    His forceful thoughts made my spine straighten. I could feel the commands trying to twist my mind. He was trying to control me.
    “I don’t think so,” I told him sweetly, covering the fact that I was trying not to freak. Showing fear wouldn’t get me what I wanted. “I’m not leaving, and there’s no way I’m forgetting anything I see here. And stop trying to mess with my mind.”
    His turn to be startled. His eyes widened and confusion slid through them and down to his sculpted lips. “What are you?” he said.
    His question made my throat tighten.
    Why did he keep asking me that?

Chapter Eight
    Luc took a step forward but Skye didn’t move back, as if she didn’t fear him.
    She should be afraid, considering the things he could do—had done—he thought grimly, grasping her elbow. The moment he touched her, a shock ran through his hand and up his arm, and