His Darkest Hunger (Jaguar Warriors 1)

The DaCosta jaguar clan had been under PATU’s radar for years, but he knew personally how corrupt and evil the clan had become. Always on the fringes of jaguar society, they’d built an impressive empire that worked black market weapons and intel, all of it run by the patriarch, Jakobi.

The youngest DaCosta, a man by the name of Tomas, had been involved in the sale of illegal weapons, some of which had been altered with the use of dark arts. PATU had raided one of their strongholds in Texas. The operation was successful, but there had been several casualties on both sides, including the younger DaCosta.

Jaxon took a deep breath as these thoughts converged and began to make up small pieces of a larger puzzle, with Libby at the center of it.

Flashes of her marred skin flew past his mind, and he shuddered as a feeling of helplessness once more began to burn deep in his gut. Was it just a coincidence that the other jaguar clan had attacked him? Gone to all the trouble of hunting him to a cabin out in the middle of nowhere? Were they responsible for the attempt on his life two nights ago as well?

If so, then they definitely had a hand in Libby’s resurfacing. He snarled as his thoughts turned toward the frail blond. This meant they had a hand in her disappearance and torture.

He sighed harshly as his thoughts continued to center on Libby, then swore loudly as the crush of emotions continued to batter him relentlessly.

When the hell had it all gone so wrong?

Two weeks ago he’d been the cold, calculating bastard everyone either disliked or avoided. He had spent every waking minute, when not on a mission, tracking down leads, some that had led him to various parts of the globe, all in an effort to find and kill Libby Jamieson.

He’d been focused and deadly.

And now? Now he didn’t know what to think.

Was Libby just an innocent victim in this whole mess? Or was she partly responsible?

Did he even care at this point?

He closed his eyes, but that only made things worse. Images of Libby on top of him, moving with him, her body impaled on his hardness, hit him deep in the gut. The ache was intense, and he cursed himself and the weakness that lived in both parts of him.

Often the jaguar was at war with his humanity, the part of his soul that showed restraint and reined in the beast when it scratched too close to the surface. But when it came to Libby, the two halves that made him whole were in perfect harmony.

And that’s where things became complicated. It made it hard to fight, to do what he felt was right. Like keep his fucking hands off her until he knew what the hell had happened three years ago and what was in play at the moment.

It’s what stopped you from putting a bullet in her brain.

Jaxon winced as that thought slid through his mind, and guilt jumped in, to dance a rhythm inside of him with all the other shit he had going on.

Emotional soup, that’s what his insides had become.

It had been so much easier when he had thought of her as the enemy.

But now…now everything was upside down, and he’d spent the entire day out in the forest avoiding Libby, hating the fact that he still cared. That his body still craved her touch and smell. That the need to protect had awakened a deeper passion and fury he’d not known existed.

As his thoughts turned back to when he first realized he had enemies in the vicinity, he began to tremble again.

He’d felt ice cold terror at the thought of any harm coming to her. The thought of someone, anyone, touching Libby blinded him with rage.

It was then that he truly came to the realization that she still belonged to him.

She was the one. She completed him. He could either turn her away and live his life as a miserable son of a bitch, or he could fight for her…for the both of them.

The jaguar had erupted from him, with such a force and fury his transformation had been painful. Something he’d not experienced in years. Within seconds he’d become a lethal hunter, and killer the likes of which was rarely seen. It hadn’t taken him long to track all three jaguars, as none had his warrior strength and cunning. He’d made quick work of them, his powerful canines crushing through their skulls, piercing their brains and killing them instantly. He had left their mangled bodies on display, a macabre testament to his victory.

Once he dispatched them, the cold fear that had clawed at the back of his mind intensified, and he knew in that instant that Libby’s life was in danger.

In two days he’d gone from wanting to kill her on sight to a blinding need to protect what was his.

It was the way of his kind. He would claim her as his mate, and deal with the fallout as it came.

Jaxon turned quickly and headed toward the faint light that beckoned through the trees. Hopefully Ana and Declan had been successful in Washington, and had information for him. He needed all the intelligence he could gather before he started to plot his revenge.

It would be far reaching, and deadly. No one attacked a Castille jaguar and his mate without facing repercussions. They would be fast and they would be deadly.