Tempting the Fire by Sydney Croft Page B

coming face-to-face with a creature she hadn’t believed existed, and now she was alone with another creature, who was better-looking but no less dangerous.
    “So tell me about chupacabras.”
    “Have your boys bring Marlena first,” she countered.
    He cocked a dark eyebrow. “Why?”
    “Maybe you didn’t notice that she was cuffed inside a tent with a dangerous creature? She’s got to be terrified. Maybe hurt.”
    “I’d have been informed by now if she’d been injured.” Still, he went to the tent flap and shouted for Marlena to be brought to him.
    A minute later, Marlena arrived, somehow looking like she’d stepped out of the pages of Playboy. She’d taken her hair out of the ponytail, and now it fell in soft waves around her shoulders. Her tight tee outlined braless breasts, and she’d tied the hem in a knot that exposed her flat stomach. Her BDU bottoms, specially made by ACRO for her build, rode low at the hips, giving her a dangerously wanton appearance.
    “See?” Logan said, giving her a lingering once-over before gesturing to a chair. “She’s fine.”
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    Maybe Marlena wasn’t injured, but she was far from fine. She was too pale, her posture too stiff. What had happened in the medical tent had shaken her.
    Marlena sat, but before Logan could do the same, Sela stood.
    “Logan? Could I get a minute alone with Marlena? Please?”
    He narrowed his eyes at her, but nodded. “You have one minute.” He slipped out of the tent, and Sela knelt beside the other woman.
    “Are you okay?”
    Marlena smiled so brightly that Sela could almost believe that nothing had happened. “I was scared for a few moments, but really, I’m fine. We see weird things all the time.”
    At ACRO, yes, weirdness was the order of the day. But it wasn’t often you got chained next to a man who turned into a mythological creature. “Look, we’ll forget the plan. You just take it easy—”
    “Sela.” Marlena’s voice cracked like a whip. “I’m fine. I can handle this.”
    “But—”
    Marlena grabbed Sela’s wrist, her nails digging in as she put her lips to Sela’s ear. “Don’t treat me like I’m a fucking China doll,” she whispered harshly.
    “I will do my job, and don’t you dare tell Dev otherwise.”
    Okaaaay.
    “Now, this is the kind of thing I like to see,” Logan drawled, and Sela leaped to her feet. He was smiling, that cocky, sexy one she hated. “I knew you two were a thing.”
    “Oh, go screw yourself,” Sela snapped, and he laughed as he planted himself behind his makeshift desk.
    Marlena, as if she hadn’t just dressed Sela down, shifted her hips far forward in the chair, so that her back arched, allowing her breasts to subtly push up and out.
    Damn, she was good. When Sela had worked as a Seducer, her methods had been more aggressive, but then, she’d had less to work with than Marlena, who needed only to sit there in order to draw men.
    Logan handed Marlena a drink, which she downed in a single shot before holding out her cup for more. He poured, and then turned to Sela.
    “So. The chupacabra.”
    “They’re mythical creatures whose origins—at least, the legend of their origins—are rooted in Puerto Rico. There have been numerous sightings, mainly in the American Southwest, Mexico and parts of Central and South America.
    Recently, sightings here in the Amazon have been reported, which is why we’re here.”
    Logan ran his long fingers up and down his cup. “Is anything known about their behavior in the wild?”
    In the wild? As opposed to what? Zoos? Sela shook her head. “Everything is theory. Based on kills and sightings, some cryptozoologists think they might be territorial. They’re not pack animals, probably loners, but there have been 42

    sightings of pairs, so they may take mates rather than breeding nonselectively. But like I said, there’s little fact here, and a lot of speculation.” Unless Grady’s book was truly an account of chupacabra life.
    “Has anyone