Animal Instincts (Entangled Ignite) by Patricia Rosemoor Read Free Book Online Page A

often these days. “You are my brother, even though not everyone here appreciates that.”
    Half-brother—half-breed, actually—though she’d never held that against him. And he could damn well take care of himself, even in a den of predators.
    “You appreciate it and that’s all that matters to me.”
    Nuala shifted her gaze over his shoulder. She stood on tiptoe and brushed a kiss across his cheek. “Gotta get to work. There’s Jonathan Weller. Daddy wants me to give him the very special treatment. Later.”
    Luc turned to watch her approach the publisher of the Chicago Daily Record . Weller was a whale of significance to their father, Cezar Lazare, CEO of The Company and The Ark casino boat. As the executive host, Nuala kept the most important gamblers happy—politicians, heads of companies, trust fund babies. She provided them with anything they wanted, from a free dinner to sex with a beautiful companion in the brothel that her mother Beatrix ran in the lower deck.
    Anything to keep them coming back, to keep them lightening their bank accounts.
    To keep them betting their souls.

Chapter Seven
    Since Ethan didn’t want me involved in his investigation, I decided to do what I could on my own. He’d insisted on checking over Shade’s apartment, but rather than going with him, I told him where to find a spare key.
    I headed for Lake Michigan.
    It was dusk by the time I parked and walked several blocks to the lake. As I reached the concrete walkway along the water’s edge, I tried to find the location the wounded wild dog had shown me after the fight. I was haunted by the memory of the weird encounter with the predators.
    How did they fit into the mix? If the fight hadn’t been raided, would those exotic animals have entered the arena next?
    And who was the man who’d seemed to have control over them?
    For a moment I imagined the mysterious stranger again, long dark hair framing a striking face. There was something about him that drew me. Those eyes that glowed silver against the dark. I shook away a sudden chill that crawled up my spine. I had to force away the memory and concentrate on my task.
    I looked across the water to the promontory of Museum Campus. The incoming tide lapped at the pilings of the pier. I took a deep breath, inhaled the faint scent of fish. The wild dog had shown me the Adler Planetarium building, but not from this angle—it had to be from a spot farther out on the lake. Sort of. He hadn’t been on some boat as I’d tried to convince myself, at least not from a top deck. He’d been looking up at the building as if from underwater.
    I heard a scrabbling sound I recognized.
    Rats.
    Looking around to make certain I wasn’t being watched, I crouched and silently called to the little beasts. Within seconds, a pair of good-sized rodents appeared, their pointy noses sniffing the air. I pulled a little plastic bag from my pocket and set two pieces of kibble on the pier. One of the rats immediately ate its piece. The other sniffed his and rolled it as if the food wasn’t up to snuff. But when the first rat tried to move in on the food, the second gulped it down.
    “More where that came from.” I shook the bag before their pointy noses.
    I got more kibble from the bag. Holding out my hand palm up, I froze and waited. The rodents darted forward. The moment their noses touched my hand, I shared the image I’d gotten from the dog, then swung my thoughts back to the lake, and with my free hand, shook the bag of food. Rats weren’t the most cooperative of animals, but that didn’t mean they weren’t smart. They got the picture: if they gave me what I needed, I’d reward them with more food.
    Continuing to project the images the wild dog had shared with me, I stood. The rats scrabbled along the edge of the pier. My pulse rushing—apparently they knew how to get where I wanted to go—I followed the rodents south along the lake, past Museum Campus onto Northerly Island, where the city’s