Leopard 03 - Burning Wild

won’t run. Tell me.”
    He pulled his chair close so their knees were touching. “The people who are my birth parents were involved in a bizarre experiment. What they were trying to do doesn’t really matter. The point is, they wanted a child with certain talents, and when I was born, I wasn’t what they had ordered. They have an alliance with the Trents, and I believe the Trents have been conducting the same sort of breeding experiments, rather like friendly rivals. Both families are very powerful, politically as well as socially.
    I’m sure you’ve read the papers and the suspicions surrounding both families. Nothing is ever proved, but Bannaconni and Trent both have been under suspicion in the disappearance of young women.”
    She noted that he referred to his father as Bannaconni, never as Dad or Father. Jake was always consistent in that. She tangled her fingers with his as he continued.
    “Let’s just say that not only do I believe Bannaconni and Trent are guilty in the women’s disappearances, but that other disappearances have never been discovered. They’ve had women bring rape and torture charges against them in two separate incidences, but they were acquitted when, in fact, they were guilty. How do I know they were guilty? I know them and I saw them kill someone, a nanny of mine they blamed for their abuse of me. Their wives are every bit as depraved and cruel and bloodthirsty as they are. They are serial killers, yet they’ll never be caught.” He pulled his hands away from her, as if he couldn’t have physical contact even when mentioning his childhood.
    She went white, she knew she did. She could feel the color draining from her face. She believed him.
    She took a deep breath. “Did they try to kill you, Jake?”
    “There were times I wished they had.”
    “All the scars?”
    He nodded slowly. “Not necessarily all of them, but, yes, they liked to inflict pain. For the power and the rush. It’s all about power.” He waited a heartbeat. Two. Wanting her to know the truth. Wanting her to know what she was getting into, or maybe he wanted her to prove that she really belonged to him. “I have the same genetic makeup. Their blood flows in my veins.”
    She tried not to see the understanding of his parents’ deviant need for power in his eyes. That remote, cold look he often had on his face, the determination to destroy his enemies. The ruthless traits in him that made him a bitter, relentless enemy were stamped on his face. He took apart companies like others took out garbage. He reveled in his ability to scent weakness and he circled like a shark with the smell of blood before going in for the kill. His attacks were always swift, unexpected and ferocious. Emma moistened her suddenly dry lips and tried to breathe normally.
    “Do you like to inflict pain, Jake? For the feeling of power? For the rush?”
    His gaze jumped to hers, locked and held. “Yes.” He wanted her to know the truth about him, about the monster living in him. Not buried deep, but close to the surface. She had to know. He hadn’t started out thinking he would ever reveal the ugliness inside him to anyone, but she deserved the truth. He owed her that.

    Emma’s breath left her lungs in a rush, as if she’d been punched and couldn’t catch air. He caught her hands again, locking them together, and she had to fight to keep from pulling away. She couldn’t look away from his eyes, from the rejection there. He had bared his soul and expected rejection—maybe even was half hoping for it.
    “Have you ever killed anyone? Done anything like your parents?”
    “The enemies,” he corrected.
    She took a shallow breath. It was the best she could do. “The enemies, then. Have you ever physically harmed another human being?”
    “Not like the enemies have, but I killed a man who meant to murder Drake. I felt I had no choice.
    Everything happened fast and there wasn’t time to think.”
    Emma was silent, trying to wrap her mind around how the conversation had taken such an unexpected, shocking turn, yet she wasn’t nearly as shocked as she should have been.
    “Emma.” Jake waited until she was wholly focused on him. “I had no choice.”
    He was telling the truth. She knew he was by his scent alone. “Have you ever been cruel to animals?”
    “No, of course not. I would never do such a thing, nor have I ever wanted to.”
    “What about the children? Have you ever wanted to hurt them?” She held her breath,