Leopard 03 - Burning Wild

the information on the computer. Sex was simply another weapon to be used, like money, to gain power. He resolved to learn everything he could about sex so he could be really good at it. There was no point in having a weapon at his disposal unless he could wield it effectively.
    Jake began to work out, to use the powerful muscles running beneath the skin in his thin arms and legs.
    He used every machine, studying the exercise manuals and VHS tapes carefully and following the instructions, careful never to get caught. Each day, every day, Jake prowled his family’s home, observing, listening, reading . . . learning more and more. Everything he filed away, all for one purpose.
    One day, when the time was right, he was going to beat his parents at their own game. He would take over every single one of their companies, ruin them financially, expose them to the world for what they were. He would make absolutely certain they knew that the child they had beaten so often, thinking him a victim, was really the strong one, really the predator.

    THIRTEEN YEARS
    JAKE stood very still as Josiah Trent, his parents’ best friend and sometime partner, walked around him, sniffing the air. Deep inside, the other reacted, roaring with rage, raking at Jake, closer to the surface than he’d ever been, demanding to be set free. His skin itched. His muscles ached. His jaw and the inside of his mouth felt small, as if there was no room for his teeth, but he held on grimly, pushing at the other to stay still.
    Jake’s mind was strong and disciplined now, and instinctively he knew he was in more danger than he’d ever been before. Trent was looking for the other. Those sharp eyes and that bulbous nose wanted to find the beast living inside of Jake. Cathy’s breathing was ragged and eager, and her body seemed aroused as Trent walked in circles around Jake.
    Jake had made one too many mistakes, moving too fast, jumping too high, showing his emerging skills rather than hiding behind the facade of the weak, useless bookworm his mother always considered him to be. He had known he couldn’t ever let them become suspicious, but now he had slipped up and they’d brought in Trent, hoping that Jake was, after all, what they had bred him to be. He would rather die than let them know the truth. That would be allowing them to win.
    He clenched his aching teeth and endured the poking and prodding from Trent. The man was a giant, with powerful muscles and glaring eyes. He looked at everyone as if they were beneath him, especially Jake. He made a sound of disgust.
    “Useless,” he pronounced. “He’s useless, Cathy. I told you not to bother having a child with that gutless wonder you married.”
    “He has money, connections and the right bloodline,” she hissed. “And you didn’t do any better. I don’t see that your daughter has any special talents.”
    “Better than this disgusting little runt,” Trent snapped and shoved at Jake. “At least she can produce a whelp eventually. I’ll find her the right man.”
    Jake allowed himself to stumble, savage triumph nearly shaking him. Josiah Trent had dismissed him, never once suspecting the other who raged so close to the surface. Trent wasn’t nearly as powerful as Cathy and Ryan believed him to be. His was the other family with the “superior” bloodline, yet he could no more sniff out the truth than Cathy and Ryan could with him living right under their roof. It was a huge lesson. Trent was all bluff, his demeanor and act of superiority fooling even the two people Jake viewed as powerful.
    “We need a shifter,” Trent said. “A true shifter with the nose and the cunning for business, not some scrawny little wimp who everyone will walk on.”
    A shifter. At last Jake knew what they were after. He had to find the meaning, and if a shifter was that important to them, he had to make certain they never suspected that he was one—if he was. He would spend every hour in the library hunting down the meaning until he knew exactly what he was looking for. He would learn about his other and what he could do, why he was so important to them.
    Cathy ran her hand suggestively down Trent’s arm. “Maybe we should have tried together.” Her voice purred and invited.
    Trent looked her up and down, scorn in his eyes, contempt curling his lips. “Not if this is the kind of whelp you produce.” Abruptly he spun away and stalked from the room.
    Cathy turned on Jake, furious that he’d witnessed