tone. âWhy?â
CHAPTER 3
âYou donât have those privileges.â
Chuckling, he let the plait run through his hand. She stepped away the second it hit her back. Playtime was over. âI chose this land,â he said, answering her earlier question, âbecause of its closeness to nature. Though most changelings live a civilized life, weâre as animal as we are humanâthe need to roam the wild is in our blood.â
âWhat do you think of yourself as?â she asked. âHuman or animal?â
âWeâre both.â
âOne must dominate.â A frown of concentration marred the perfection of her face.
A frown? On a Psy? It was gone a second later but heâd seen. âNo. Weâre one. Iâm as panther as I am human.â
âI thought you were a leopard.â
âBlack panthers exist in several feline families. Itâs the color of our fur that makes us panthers, not our species.â He wasnât surprised she didnât know that. To the Psy the changelings were all animals, all the same. That was their mistake. A wolf was not the same as a leopard, an eagle nothing like a swan.
And a stalking panther was danger and fury combined.
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Sascha watched Lucas return to the car to pick up his phone in order to call the SnowDancers. Protected by his turned back, she allowed herself to appreciate his sheer male beauty. He was quite simply . . . luscious. Sheâd never used that word before, had never found anyone or anything worth using it for. But Lucas Hunter definitely fit the definition.
Unlike the cold formality of Psy men, he was playful and approachable. That only made him all the more dangerous. Sheâd glimpsed the predator lurking beneath the surfaceâLucas might play nice but when it was time to bite, heâd go for the throat. No one made alpha of a predatory pack at such a young age by being anything less than the top of the food chain.
That didnât scare her. Maybe because sheâd seen true terror in the labyrinth of the PsyNet, things so vicious and vile that Lucasâs openly predatorial nature was as welcome as a breath of fresh air. He mightâve tried to charm her, but heâd never pretended to be anything other than what he wasâa hunter to the core, a predator inside and out, a sensual male well aware of the effect of his sexuality.
He made her hunger, made her feel raw and wild things that threatened to crack the ever more fragile mask of Psy coldness she wore to survive. She should be running as far from him as possible. Instead, she found herself walking toward him as he headed back, a sleek silver device held to his ear that was light-years advanced from Bellâs original invention.
âTheyâll sell for twelve million.â He stood a couple of feet from her and indicated that the connection was live.
âThatâs double what this land is worth on the open market.â She wasnât going to be bullied. âIâm offering six and a half.â
Lucas held the phone to his ear and when he didnât repeat her offer, she realized the SnowDancer on the other end had to have heard her. It was a reminder that despite her raceâs egotistical view of themselves as the supreme leaders of the Earth, changelings had some remarkable powers.
âThey said theyâre not interested in enriching the Psy. Itâs no skin off their back if you donât buy it. Theyâll happily sell it to your competitor.â
Sascha had done her homework. âThey canât. The Rika-Smythe family group has already sunk all available funds into a venture in San Diego.â
âThen theyâll leave it empty. Twelve million or they walk.â Lucas watched her with an intent look in those incredible green eyes and she wondered if he was trying to see into her soul. She couldâve told him it was a futile effort. She was Psyâshe had no soul.
âWe
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