"Fucking insane!" Eli roared into her ear after he'd slammed her back against the wall. "You're driving me insane!"

Nivea finally caught her breath, about two seconds before Eli's hand was up her dress, thrusting past the barrier of her thong to slip between her folds.

"Eli," she breathed his name.

His head was down, his forehead resting on the bare skin of her shoulder as his fingersoh god, his magnificently talented fingersstroked her clit, then sank back into her center, and then went back to her clit again. She opened her legs wider, had no other choice really because it felt so damned good.

"Why won't you stop it? Why won't you just leave this alone?" he asked. His voice sounded as tortured and ragged as she suspected he felt inside.

She wrapped her arms around him, rubbing her palms over the back of his head.

"I can't, Eli," she admitted hoarsely. "I don't know why, but I can't."

"No," he told her, licking along the cleavage bared by the bodice of her dress. "I can't. This can't be," he whispered. "It can't be. I want it to stop. But if you leave"

His words halted abruptly as he sucked on the plump bulge of her breast. He sucked so hard Nivea was sure there would be a mark. Then she felt his teeth, the sharp pinprick breaking her skin. She moaned deep and long and came all over his hand.

When he jerked back she wanted to reach out and punch him because she saw the look on his face. It was similar to the blase look he'd had in his room. But then he opened his mouth and Nivea knew it was different.

"They're here," he said, his voice thick, eyes roaming the area. "They're here, right goddamned now!"

Tall, muscled, and seething mad, the Sanchez brothers were already at the entrance to the ballroom. Rather, they blocked the entrance, backs facing the guests. The one in the middle, Caleb, the youngest, was built like a battering ram. This last year of training constantly at Havenway had beefed the younger shifter up, adding to his sharp Brazilian features and giving him a definite lethal look. To his left was Aidan, the oldest, his strong jaw locked, nostrils flaring as he held on to the shift that was battling for control. To the left stood Brayden, the strategist of the trio, the narrowing of his eyes a telltale sign that he was thinking of an attack plan.

"They're in this room," Eli said, coming up behind them.

Aidan nodded. "X and Ezra are in the back of the room. Whatever is in here will stay in here. Contained."

"We're going out to deal with whatever's waiting," Brayden told Eli.

"I'm going with you," Eli announced sternly. His cat was scratching at the surface, the sure and certain scent arousing the hunter inside.

"There are too many humans here tonight. Too much collateral damage," Caleb added.

"That's why we're going out, to minimize the damage," Eli said, stepping around Aidan so that he was now in front, leading the guards as they went out to battle. "No shifting," he said. Then he added with a wary look over his shoulder, "Unless absolutely necessary."

The threesome nodded and they walked out of the ballroom, trusting their counterparts to deal with whatever was inside, while they handled whatever lurked out in the dark.

They were on the street in less than a minute, Eli's shoulders bunching at the tension resting heavily over them. He inhaled deeply, knew that behind him the others were doing the same.

"It's not quite a shifter," he mumbled.

"No," Aidan added. "It's not."

"Stinks just the same," Caleb told them. "And the fucker's coming right at us!"

The youngest guard was right, about twenty feet away and big as a bulldozer, what looked like a man stomped down Pennsylvania Avenue.

"Sonofabitch!" Brayden yelled. "They made another one."

Eli rolled his head on his shoulders until his neck cracked. He felt the sting of his claws ripping through the skin of his fingers, the domino cracking of bones beneath that tight-ass suit he'd worn and growled in rage because he'd already ordered no shifting.

Instead he took off at a run, not bothering to listen for the steps behind him, knowing that the Sanchez brothers had been expertly trained to divide and conquer. They would move quickly, like blurs through the night and effectively disengage this scary-looking bastard before it had a chance to do whatever it planned to do.

As for Eli, all he saw were its eyes, an eerie green, bright and glowing. Its focus was intent, its goal death and destruction. Eli knew this because there was a strand running deep inside his body that was similar. The recognition was quick and cut through him like a heated blade, just as he rammed into the seven-foot monstrosity. It barely budged as Eli's right shoulder yelled in agony from the contact.

The hybrid lifted an arm, swiping at Eli with his long and sharpened claws. They didn't look normal, like that of a cat, but instead piercing and glinting, like steel. He'd escaped the cut of them by about three inches as he leaned as far back on his feet as he could without touching the ground. His right arm came around like a slash of lightning, his fist connecting with the hybrid's chin, causing its head to jerk back at the assault. He followed with a left to the midsection and then another right to its face again. There was no sound of agony or even of contact. The thing simply reacted, throwing its own punches that slammed into Eli's body like concrete blocks.

Inside his cat roared, teeth pressing sharply against his lips. His ears rang from the contact of each blow delivered by the hybrid, until what filled Eli's mind was the sound of the rain forest, the scent infiltrating his nostrils now damp and tropical, his eyes seeing like the nocturnal cat through the human sunglasses he wore. There was a weakness in the hybrid, Eli sensed it and before the beast could strike him again he looked it up and down, assessing every spot he could for where it was until he found it. Right beneath its ear, where a thick green ooze had begun to drip. There was some sort of crack there, slicing down the hybrid's neck and Eli simply reacted, not knowing for sure it would work.

With a vicious roar he came off his feet, claws bared, right arm reaching out and sinking into the hybrid's cracked skin. More of the ooze spurted into the air, the hybrid releasing a sound that echoed through the night. At that very moment its legs were taken out, Brayden and Aidan used the strength they'd honed in their lower extremities to kick away the hybrid's balance by attacking it at the knees. Caleb came next with a blow to its head and the monster crumpled to the ground. The ooze seemed to suck all of the insides out of the hybrid as right before their eyes it became a shell of a distorted body. Its face was a twisted mask of sharp teeth, whiskered muzzle, flared nostrils, and eerie eyes. The carcass still moved up and down as if breathing its last breath.

Eli caught himself mimicking the motion, air moving in and out through his lungs so that his chest moved in sync with the hybrid. Then the sirens sounded, screams erupted, and Eli turned back to see humans bursting through the doors.

"Shit!" he yelled and ran toward the hotel.

"Clean that up!" he shouted back to the Sanchez brothers, not wanting anyone to see what was left on the street. He wondered if there'd been any witnesses of the fight with the hybrid in the first place. He hadn't thought for one second about spectators, only concentrating on dispatching the monstrosity before it could hurt any humans or shifters. Now, he raced toward the building praying that everyone was safe, and for the first time in he had no idea how many minutes, remembered he'd left Nivea inside.

Primal Heat.

CHAPTER 8.

Chaos had broken out so quickly and definitively that Nivea had only a second to catch her breath from being extremely aroused to ready for battle. Every guard in the ballroom was on alert the moment she stepped from the stairwell alone.

Obviously she was the only one getting the memo a day late. At any rate, she was ready for whatever was going down in the next moments. Inhaling deeply, she searched for whatever had warned Eli. Her body trembled as the scent filtered through her. It was strikingly familiar, so much so she'd placed a hand to her heart to still its rapid beating. Swallowing deeply, she looked around again to make sure she'd seen the other guards on alert as well.

X and Ezra were on their feet at the back of the room near the table where Rome, Kalina, Caprise, Nick, and Ary were still seated. Jax, Leo, Zach, and Tobias flanked that table. There was an identical EXIT door across the room and Nivea noticed the guard standing there was poised for battle as well. Then her neck snapped to the left, her nose twitching as that familiar scent grew stronger. For one heart-stopping second she thought she'd see him standing there, dressed in that perfect suit, fitting him as if it had been made just for his expertly cut body. She found herself searching for those damned sunglasses, the tight line of his lips as he glared at her impatiently, the warmth that emanated from any place his hands touched her. Eli. The name was a whisper in her head.

But he wasn't the one she saw. He wasn't the owner of the scent. It was the enemy.

"Three o'clock. Black pants, white dinner jacket, long curling auburn hair, and green eyes. Glowing, green eyes," she spoke into her com link, already moving toward the target.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the other guards moving in the same direction, following her lead.

"Do not engage," she heard loudly through her earpiece. "Do not engage, Cannon!"

The directive was from Ezra. She clenched her teeth, totally prepared to ignore the Lead Guard. This wasn't an invited guest, she knew that instinctively. She also knew without any doubt in her mind that whoever this was, he was somehow connected to Eli, or had been in contact with him in some way. Why else would they share the same scent?

She didn't stop moving, had no intention of not saying something to this person, trying to find out what his connection to Eli was. But as she grew closer, and as he turned to her, locking her gaze with his own, she started to reconsider her plan. Taking deep breaths and slowing her steps minutely she figured she'd approach him as if he were just a man and she was just a woman. She would talk to him, get information from him, then turn him over to the other guardsthe ones that were moving through the guests as quickly and discreetly as they possibly could.

But the moment she reached him, her plan changed, for the worse.

The man opened his mouth, baring sharp teeth and a long thick tongue that rolled out as if on command. The growl was loud and rattled the chandeliers above. At first the guests froze, then they screamed, and panic ensued.

He reached for her, grabbing her arm with claws that immediately locked into her skin. Nivea didn't think about how powerful this sonofabitch was, or how she planned to take him down. All she could do was react. With her left hand, her claws bared, she sliced at the man's neck, twisting her body so that he would release her arm. He didn't, so ultimately it felt like he was actually ripping her shoulder from its joint. With a slight bend she was able to propel herself into the air, turning quickly so that her free arm could wrap around his neck. Locking on she pulled and pulled, all while searing pain radiated from her other shoulder. When he still didn't let go she bent forward, teeth bared now, and bit the side of his face. The next roar was of rage, not pain, she was almost certain. The beast reared back and Nivea was once again air bound, falling back to what she was sure would momentarily be the floor.

If so, it was the best-smelling and warmest floor she'd ever encountered as strong arms wrapped immediately around her, holding until her feet were able to touch the floor.

"Stay back!" Eli yelled in her face before pushing her behind him and running straight at the beast.

Fuck that! she thought, rolling her head on her shoulders and mentally getting herself back in order. When she turned again Eli and Ezra were tag-teaming the beast, the two stronger guards attacking with timed precision. Eli knelt to the ground, sweeping the beast's legs from beneath it while seconds later, Ezra straddled its neck as it hit the floor, punches raining over its face.

"Below the ear!" she heard Eli yell. "Get it below the ear!"

Nivea was already moving, not sure if Ezra had heard Eli or not. She came around the left side of the beast, the other guards shuttling away the guests that were too shocked to run out of the ballroom. As the beast continued to roar, slamming its huge fists into the floor causing the entire room to shake, Ezra continued punching it in the face, his thighs covering the beast's neck. But she glimpsed something, a crack just beneath its ear.

"Get the hell back!" she heard Eli yelling. Knowing he was talking to her and clearly prepared to ignore it, Nivea's clawed hand was in the air swinging downward, just missing Ezra's cheek by an inch or so, before landing right along the line of the crack in the beast's neck.

Its mouth opened, tongue lolling to the side as it made a half-roar sound and green ooze shot up into the air. Ezra and Eli both yelled as the ooze splattered on them. Nivea backed up but still managed to get splashed.

"What the fuck is that?" Nick asked, pushing past the two guards that had helped to form a circle around where the beast, Nivea, Ezra, and Eli now stood.

"I'm guessing what serves as the blood of a hybrid," Ezra said, coming to his feet and removing the tuxedo jacket he'd been wearing.

Eli had already pulled his jacket off, the seams of both arms ripped after all his movements. He had it balled up and was currently using it to wipe his face, just before he looked over to her with what she'd already deemed his death-glare. He was angry with her because she hadn't listened to what he'd told her to do. She knew that just as she knew she'd hear an earful at some point tonight. Funny how he was never suffering from lack of words when it came to chewing her out about something. But after they'd made loveradio silence. Typical arrogant shifter behavior? No, typical Eli Preston behavior.

"Two more down in the bathroom," Brayden announced, entering the room with his brothers flanking him.

Rome cursed. The First Female was right beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder, her light complexion in stark contrast to the black of his tuxedo jacket. She wore a shimmering silver gown that earlier this evening had caught every twinkle in her hazel-colored eyes. Now, those eyes looked worried.

Ary Delgado also stood beside her mate, her gaze transfixed on the hybrid while Nick scowled.

Caprise Delgadoa woman and shifter that Nivea admired for her strength, beauty, and tenacityhad already walked up to the hybrid, kicking the now disintegrating carcass, frowning when that part of its leg melted into ashes.

"They aren't worth the tainted DNA they're using to make them," she stated.

"How many were outside?" Rome asked sternly.

"One," Eli replied. "One big-ass motherfucker with only one objectiveto kill."

"What makes you say that?" X asked him.

"Its eyes," Eli told him, tossing the jacket onto the closest table. "There's no comprehension there, no movement or focus. They're blank, like a robot. A programmed robot that was coming for us but able to take out anything in its path."

"They've been tagged," Aidan said to Rome. "Each one of them had this little pin just beneath the right ear."

"So, the crack beneath the left earthe one that makes them look a little like Frankensteinis their Achilles' heel and the pin at the right ear is their GPS?" Nick asked, his eyebrows drawn so close it looked as if he had one wicked unibrow.

Aidan nodded. "Right. We're going to take these and work our magic. Meet you back at Havenway," he said concisely, but still waited for Rome to respond.

Rome looked to the younger shifter that he'd brought into the fold. "Good. I want a full report within the hour."

Aidan's reply was a tight nod to Rome, and another one to his brothers as he turned and headed for the doors. Caleb and Brayden followed him out.

"Get Priya on the phone. I want a conference with her and all of the other FLs the moment we arrive at Havenway. Jax, take someone to get the vehicles and bring them around to the service entrance. We'll be there in ten minutes."

Jax mimicked Aidan's previous nod, turn, and walk-out motion as Eli immediately moved to Rome's side. With Kalina's guard gone, he would assume protection detail for both the Assembly Leader and First Female. Without being asked, Nivea went to stand at Kalina's side, noting the First Female's nod of acceptance as she moved past her.

"X, I want you to stay behind to make sure all of this is cleaned up. Nobody gets in this ballroom until it's done. And check those bathrooms before you leave," Rome directed. "Caprise will ride with Nick."

Nivea almost thought Caprise would say something in response, but in the months since she'd come to Havenway and mated with X, the female shifter had begun to take the hierarchy seriously. Nivea had worked hard to train herself for the same allegiance, but taking Eli's orders was becoming harder and harder the more personal their relationship became.

"Their DNA is still unstable. They'll turn to ash to be swept up," Ezra told Rome.

The Assembly Leader looked down at the floor where the beast that was terrorizing them just minutes before was now nothing more than a steaming pile of gray ash. "Make sure we take care of it. I don't want any human sweeping it up and trying to figure out what it was. It's apparent that Crowe somehow got his hands on a shifter through our carelessness. I'm not used to making the same mistake twice."

With that, X moved to whisper something to one of the other guards. They in turn left the room, no doubt to find a broom and trash bag to sweep up the ash, Nivea thought.

"The trucks are here," Eli said to Rome.

"Fifteen minutes after we're at Havenway I want all of you in the debriefing room," Rome told Nick and X.

Eli and Ezra would attend as the Lead Guards. Nivea would not be in attendance, which meant she'd have to wait to find out what their next step would be. As she walked behind Rome and KalinaEli moving quickly in front of themshe thought there would be definitive next steps in finding out where Crowe was so they could stop him. Apparently what happened in Arizona had not slowed the man down one bit.

"What the hell did you think you were doing? I told you to stay back!" Eli yelled the moment he'd found Nivea and pulled her out into the hallway at Havenway.

The conference call was over, and to say the shifters that had been in the room were running high on tension was a vast understatement. He was angry and irritated beyond belief that because of her he'd been distracted in the meeting. When he should have been listening intently to every word that was being said, every facet of the new game plan being laid out, he was instead thinking of what that beast could have done to her.

As it stood now, the image of her being twisted around the beast's back, her arm about to totally dislocate from her body, had him simmering with rage. He'd wanted to rip that bastard apart with his bare hands and only because he might have injured her in the process did he hold tight to the heated rage that bubbled inside of him. He couldn't take it if something happened to Nivea. That, for Eli, would be the last straw, the third strike where females in his life were concerned and he had no idea what he'd do after that.

"I was doing my job," was her calm reply.

She'd been sitting in the cafeteria, her hands holding a cup of coffee, her gaze forward. He'd wondered what she was thinking so intently about but had been more attuned to the scent he'd picked up the moment he entered the room. It was the first time he'd scented her in he didn't know how long, the first time his body reacted before he'd actually seen her. Did that mean his senses were back on point? Was whatever had been going on with him over now? He couldn't tell, but was certainly hoping for that.

"I told you to stay back. I am your superior!" he yelled at her.

"You're an asshole," she snapped back. "I did what I was trained to do and I helped take that bastard down. So why don't you just say what's really on your mind, Eli? Tell me why you're really so angry with me, so intent on pushing me away."

He loved to watch her lips move, to see the sparks of emotion in her eyes when she was angry or aroused. He did not like what she was insinuating.

"It was dangerous out there tonight. You don't know anything about those hybrids. Nobody does," he countered.

"You knew where to strike to take it down. How is that?" she asked, her back still pressed against the wall. "This was your first time seeing one, right? How did you know what to do?"

Eli took a step back. He wanted to look away, to regroup, but he couldn't. Her hair was curly at the ends, hanging loose down her back. She'd changed from that sexy-as-hell dress to sweats and a loose-fitting T-shirt and yet he still wanted to wrap her legs around his waist and pound into her warm, wet pussy until his mind cleared, until his body and his cat felt finally free.

At his sides his fists clenched, jaw ticking with the pressure of gritting his teeth. "Instinct," he told her. "I've been training longer than you. It was just instinct." Only Eli wasn't so certain that was it entirely. He'd seen the spot beneath the beast's left ear and then he'd seen the beast falling, crumpling to the ground and he knew. In the next moment he acted. It was as simple and perplexing as that.

Nivea shook her head, the left corner of her mouth lifting slightly. "Another thing you suck at is lying, Eli. You knew something about that hybrid. And now, I do too."

"What?" He stepped closer to her again because staying away was just futile. "What do you know?"