PrimalDemand

Rebecca Airies

Part of the Primal Attraction series.

When Leah finds a warrior being abducted, she leaps into
action. She’s drawn to Arron, and she can’t resist exploring his hard, muscled
body thoroughly before they have to part ways.

Arron’s found his mate and intends to cement the bond
between them with searing caresses and sweet kisses. The pleasure he finds with
her consumes him, but Leah has enemies hunting her down. He’ll have to use
every ability at his disposal to keep Leah safe, and he won’t let anyone stand
between him and his mate.

A
Romantica®
fantasy erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave

City of Osput, Planet Acowim, 870 Neshan Calendar

“So how are we going to do this, Arron?”

Arron Tarian had to look up to see which one of the Barian
brothers had asked that. Broc and Mac sounded almost exactly alike. He found
Mac, the black-haired brother looking at him from across the room. They’d taken
rooms at an inn, because one day wasn’t going to be enough time to find the
monks and discover if they had a stronghold here.

Arron finished buckling on his sword belt before answering.
“We’ll each take a section of the city and meet back at the market.”

He’d gathered the men in his room to go over the plan for
the search. There were only four men with him. They’d come as part of a larger
group to search the cities where monks responsible for shifter disappearances
had been sighted. Finding where the monks had some sort of holding was a
priority, and not only to the Oroyai pack but to several other packs of Zarain.

The warriors had split into smaller groups to blend in with
the normal people coming and going from the worlds. They didn’t want to draw
attention to themselves. Other small groups were on two different worlds
checking the cities they’d linked to those monks. Osput was the only city on
Acowim where they’d heard of the monks visiting.

For months, he and the other Zarain had listened and talked
on any world they visited, trying to find some information on the monks. Each
little bit of knowledge led them closer to finding the monks’ stronghold. Or at
least one of them. There had to be more than one. There weren’t enough of the
monks here for this to be the place where they took the people they kidnapped.

“We’ll need to be careful if we see any of the monks here. I
don’t want them to know we’re looking for them. They’ve taken shifters before.
I don’t want to add any of us to those numbers.” Arron looked around at the
men.

“We’re stronger than they are, Terchal Tarian,” Tison Derani
said dismissively.

The use of his title surprised him. It had been a while
since he’d heard it. Terchal in the Zarain language literally meant assistant,
but he served as a commander. They’d kept things very informal to hide the fact
that there was an organized search for the monks in this area.

“Watch the titles while we’re here.” Arron put a little
growl in his voice to let the young man know he was serious.

Arron expected the disbelief of any threat from Tison. Tison
was the youngest of the group and one of the brothers of a warrior who was with
another of the small scout groups. They’d been sent because the two had been
fighting recently and needed to learn to get along. A lot of it was Tison’s
attitude, but that would take time to change.

Unfortunately they’d learned early on that keeping the two
men in the same group often made the mission harder to complete. So Arron had
taken Tison. He might have wanted to bang the young man’s head off a wall, but
he hadn’t yet been pushed to it.

“Size and strength can be overcome with cunning and
trickery. These monks have taken warriors. Fully trained, seasoned Zarain. They
know what they’re doing. Watch yourself and be aware of what you’re doing and
who’s around you.” Arron stared at Tison. Seasoned was one thing Tison was not,
but he’d learn and this would be good experience for him.

Tison nodded.

“Tison, I want you to start at the east end of the city and
work your way back to the middle. Mac, take the north. Broc, you’ve got the
west and I’ll take the south. Our searches will overlap, but hopefully, we’ll
catch sight of our quarry.” He glanced over at Tison to make sure he was
listening. “Today, I want to know if they’re here. Tomorrow, we’ll see if we
can follow them home.”

“Shouldn’t we follow them today?” Tison frowned and glanced
around the room.

“No, we want to know if they’re here first and how many of
them if possible.” Arron frowned. They’d gone over this before. “We want to
know if the people here are relaxed around them or afraid. We don’t want the
monks to know we’re looking for them at all if possible.”

As much as the young man’s attitude irritated him, Arron
wasn’t worried. Tison was young, but to this point, he’d performed his duty.
Arron sent all of the men in his group off and followed them out of the inn.
They separated without a word.

Arron headed for the south end of the city. His muscles
tightened in ready tension and his senses sharpened. He had to be prepared. If
there were monks here, they might have guards here as well. Those guards might
very well be some type of shifters. He’d be able to feel their presence and that
might help him keep the monks unaware that they were being watched.

When he reached the edge of the city, he began to walk the
streets and simply look around the area. He didn’t see any sign of the monks at
first. He kept searching and studying the buildings and people.

It wasn’t too bad as cities went. Although the city streets
were relatively clean, they were mere dirt lanes between rows of gray stone
buildings. Those paths would become a quagmire during heavy rain, but luckily
that wasn’t happening today.

As he came to the end of a block and turned down a
connecting lane, he saw a flash of white and black. He narrowed his eyes,
uncertain if he was seeing an actual monk. With a longer look, he saw those
unmistakable robes. He’d searched for the kidnapping bastards for so long that
he thought perhaps it was what he wanted to see.

The robed man kept going down the street. Arron hoped the
man wasn’t here to get some person they’d been hired to take. Even knowing his
mission and how important it was, it would be difficult to stand back and
simply let that happen. He knew what would happen to them.

The monk stopped to talk to a tradesman and Arron strode
past him. He couldn’t think of a reason to linger that would keep the monk
unaware he was being watched. He went down the street and thought about perhaps
waiting or finding a spot to watch from a hidden area. As he looked for a
connecting alley or street, he saw another monk walking down the lane.

He blinked. He hadn’t expected that. Because of the number of
stories they’d heard about the monks, he had expected to find that the men at
least passed through this city regularly. He hadn’t thought that he’d find two
of the monks as he started his search.

It was a good start to the mission. The monks didn’t seem to
be trying to take anyone. They strolled around the city. It all seemed normal.
They had to have some kind of holding on this planet or nearby. They seemed too
comfortable here and the people, too accustomed to them.

He watched one of the monks enter a large gray stone
building. It might be one of the monks he’d seen earlier or another. Steps
flanked by two columns led up to the doorway. Arron followed slowly, hoping to
learn something about the monks.

The moment he entered the building he looked around in awe.
Shelves of books and scrolls lined the area in front of him. The dark, wooden
bookcases reached almost completely to the ceiling. This could be why the monks
were here.

He didn’t see the man he’d followed into the library right
off, but moved forward. Maybe there was some information here that would help
with their search for the people taken by these monks. One female mate and two
male Zarain had been taken by these men. That was all that they knew about at
this point, but there were more. There had to be. The monks seemed to travel
everywhere.

Found anything today, Arron?
The voice of Achan Raven
Talinian, his pack leader, filled his mind.

The mind-to-mind contact was a talent of the Shadatai
Zarain. It enabled them to get reports or send for help without the delay of
messenger. It also made for an effective tool during battle or times when
silence was needed. The ability let them send focused or intense thoughts and
strong emotions, but not truly read each other’s minds.

There are monks here. Not enough to have a holding here,
but maybe on the planet. I followed one into a library. I’ll try to keep track
of him and follow if he leaves the city.
Arron wandered down one of the
narrow corridors created by the tall bookshelves.

Be careful and keep in contact with your men. We need to
find out where they live and where they keep people, but don’t take unnecessary
risks. They have enough of our people,
Raven advised.

Arron could feel the anger in that statement. The emotion
wasn’t from personal loss. The monks hadn’t captured anyone from their pack. It
was the loss of Zarain and other shifters in general that stirred the rage. It
was only luck that their pack hadn’t encountered the monks.

I will. I’ll contact you if I need help or have news.
Arron slowly eased into another aisle.

He felt the moment Raven’s mind disconnected from his. Arron
kept watch for the monk, but he didn’t want to be obvious in his attempt. He
stopped every once in a while and glanced at the books, opening a few as he
made his way through the maze of shelves.

As he approached the end and a wall of books, a young woman
came around the corner. Reddish-brown hair hung around her shoulders, falling
to just over her breasts. Large brown eyes rounded in an oval face as she
caught sight of him, but she passed him and hurriedly stuffed a book into the
shelf behind him.

He drew in a breath and stiffened. Desire slammed through
him along with the urge to grab and claim the woman. His mate. He spun and saw
the curvy woman hurry down the next row of shelves.

Damn. He stared in the direction the woman went, back the
way he’d been going and then wandered back to where the woman had disappeared.
He had to keep an eye on the monk, but that was his mate. He couldn’t let her
simply disappear. She might not live in the area. Torn, he stood there. His
instincts urged him to go after his mate, to claim and keep her safe. Duty told
him to stay where he was and continue the mission.

He felt a sting on his arm and looked down to see what
happened. A small dart hung crookedly from his skin. A surge of panic slammed
through him.

Drugged. He’d been drugged.
Who had done this?
His
heart pounded in his chest. His fingers wrapped around the hilt of his sword.
He spun, but no one was there. He frowned and stepped out from between the two
shelves and looked around. He couldn’t see anyone close.

Confusion and dread washed through him, but before he could
follow the urge to run or fight his way out of the library, a disorienting
cloud fell over his mind, blunting his fear and instinct to flee. Dizziness and
a sudden disconnected feeling swept over him. He couldn’t think. He knew he should
be doing something. His mind felt almost frozen. He swayed and fell sideways
bouncing against one of the shelves, before he crashed to the cold, gray floor.
Darkness crept around the edges of his vision, spreading until it enclosed him.

* * * * *

Leah glanced nervously to the left and right as she walked
up the dark-gray steps to the library. Large gray columns loomed to each side
of the stairway. The dark-stone building seemed so imposing. She didn’t want to
go inside that large building, but she had to do it to get the information she
needed. The Tareshi monks had Fae, but not in this city or the nearby city they
controlled.

She’d hoped that Fae would be here. Now, instead of
disappearing with her sister and staying far away from the world where her brothers
lived, she’d have to continue the search. She would find her sister. Nothing
would stop her. Not those monks and not her family.

Her brothers probably wouldn’t accept defeat. They certainly
wouldn’t help to find Fae. They’d given their sister, her sister, over into the
monks’ hands. And all for power they would never have. She’d make sure of it.
After what they’d done, she’d sooner take the Tares potion and forget the
secret herself than hand it over to them.

She knew there was at least one monk in the library. There
always was. They guarded those books. Most of them were normal texts, but
others had valuable information about the Tareshi monks. Not the most valuable
information to the Tareshi, but what she needed was there. Well, hopefully.

She’d have to find the books with the locations of the main
Tareshi holdings and copy those locations without being seen by the monks. It
was dangerous to be looking at the books she needed. She would be taken if they
caught her near them.

As she walked into the building, her throat felt tight and
her stomach knotted. She had to do this. She had to rescue her sister before
the monks could hurt her. Taking a deep breath, she slowly walked to the rows
of shelves.

Her eyes scanned over the spines of the books. They didn’t
have the names on them, but symbols. She knew what symbols to look for, but she
had to be cautious. As she walked through the shelves, she looked for somewhere
out of sight to open the books and write down the names of the cities and
planets. At the back of the building, she found a table in a dark corner. No
one was near and it was so quiet that she should be able to hear someone coming
before they saw her.

She went back to the shelves. As she pulled the first book
off the shelf, she glanced down the aisle. Her mouth felt dry. Her nerves
pulled tight. She wondered if she should gather all the books or take them one
at a time. She bit her lower lip. She’d be here longer if she took them one at
a time.

She couldn’t risk it. The monks were here and she had to get
out of here as soon as possible. If she were caught, there was no one to go
after Fae.

Leah moved down the aisle and found two of the other books
she’d need. She eased down to the end of the shelf and peeked out before moving
into the next to get a couple more texts. She took them back to the table. She
glanced around cautiously before sitting down and pulling a piece of
recha
parchment from her bag along with a stylus and ink.