Chapter 2

SANCTUARY

Adam, Jesse, and Emma waited, surprised when Brennan came into the meeting without Shalimar right behind him.

"Lost your girlfriend already?" Jesse asked.

"Hey, you know, I learned something pretty important today," Brennan said, taking a seat. "Women are completely, absolutely impossible to understand."

Jesse just laughed. "I hear ya on that one."

"Well, you're about to learn another lesson," Adam said, butting in. "With the experience of all my years, I learned something just as important." He walked towards them, handing them each a pamphlet. "Never, ever talk about 'women' when a lady is in the room."

For the first time since the conversation started, Brennan and Jesse realized that Emma was glaring at all of them, even Adam. All three suddenly remembered that in Emma's case, looks really could kill you.

"Well boys, you had to learn that lesson one way or another," Shalimar said, finally stepping into the room. "Just feel lucky that you're not missing any badly needed organs right about now."

Taking her in with his eyes, Brennan disagreed. He needed a new heart fast. His was suddenly going about 100 miles an hour, and he was certain that wasn't good for his system.

Walking over to her chair, which was closest to his, Brennan couldn't help but keep his eyes on her. She'd changed into low-cut, skin-tight jeans that hugged her hips and looked like they were going to fall off any minute. As for her top…he could just imagine how much cloth had to be cut off before that creation was put on the rack. It was a hot crimson that fired the imagination and made his blood run hot and cold at the same time. It was just as tight as the pants, revealing and flaunting without going too far. It almost showed…but not quite.

In her hands she held the last thing he could have ever imagined. A whip. His eyes narrowed. What was she doing with that?

Seeing his eyes on her, she looked at Emma, and the two exchanged what could only be described as evil, knowing smiles. Jesse was also looking at Shalimar in shock, and Brennan wanted to deck him right there and then, for trespassing on his territory.

"You going hunting tonight, Shalimar? Or is the outfit simply for our benefit?" Jesse asked. He knew something was going on between Shal and Brennan. He was satisfied to just sit down and watch all the action. It was actually very considerate of Shal, torturing Brennan over a low blaze. It kept things interesting.

"What, you don't like?" she answered, stretching like a cat. Jesse almost chuckled to himself. It looks like Shalimar was going to catch her prey.

"Actually," he said, looking her up and down slowly, "I think it's-"

"Not really on tonight's agenda," Brennan interrupted rudely. Anger was simmering in his eyes. "Can we just finish this so we can get out of here?" Jesse got the message. Shalimar was off limits. Of course, a little thing like that never stopped him.

"We have information on a new mutant that Genomex is very interested in. Her name's Katrina. No one really knows anything about her, and she's only briefly mentioned in the database. All we now is that she's a feline feral, like Shalimar. Unfortunately, she was last seen about 10 years ago in the African safari. She was 13 at the time, making her 23 now. She could be anywhere."

"So how do we find her?" Emma asked, flipping through her pamphlet.

"Well, right now we have nothing. Hopefully, that'll change in the next 24 hours. I've called some people I know in Africa and asked them to be on the lookout for this girl. I couldn't really give them that much information, but they said they'd get back to me if they find anything."

"So basically, we got ourselves a name, a power, a continent," Jesse said. "At least we know that Genomex is having as hard a time finding her as we are. This should be a snap."

"Not exactly," Adam said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Brennan said, tearing his eyes off Shalimar.

"It means, they already know where she is. Unfortunately, that particular piece of information is only passing around by word of mouth to the people who need to know."

"So, how, exactly, do you mean for us to save her?" Shalimar asked. "We can't just go off to Africa without any clue about where to start."

"That's exactly what we're going to do," Adam said, ignoring the groans that swept across the room. "Unless we get any more information, we leave tomorrow afternoon. I suggest you get some rest." He began to leave the room. "Oh, and pack light clothes. It's supposed to be very hot in Africa." The door shut behind him.

 "So Shal," Jesse said, leaning back on his chair and ignoring Brennan's angry look. "What's with the whip?"

"Just a little something I'm experimenting with. One of my old acquaintances offered to teach me how to use this thing. Personally, I don't see how it could do much damage, but he assures me he'll make it worth my time."

Brennan only picked out one word. "He?"

"Yeah. Meeting him tonight. Good thing we're not leaving until tomorrow. Anyway," She said, getting up. "I'm going to go get ready. See you all tomorrow morning. Oh," she said, turning back around. "Don't wait up."

"Don't worry," Jesse said, smiling. He wished he could wait, but he had a feeling Brennan would try to tear him to pieces. "I won't."

"Shalimar," Emma yelled, following Shalimar out into the hallway. "What exactly's going on between you and Brennan? You could've cooked a pig with all the sparks flying between you two."

"Nothing's going on, that's what."

Emma gave her a puzzled look. "But what about what happened in the training room?"

"Look," Shalimar said, turning around to face Emma. "We were just fighting. As for the kiss-"

"Kiss?" Emma asked. "Go on."

Shalimar growled. "It just happened, alright? One moment I had him pinned, the next thing I knew, I was on his lap, and my tongue was in his mouth." She growled again, her eyes turning feral in frustration. "And its never going to happen again, so Brennan had better enjoyed it."

"You're driving him crazy, you know that?"

"What? How am I driving him crazy?" Shalimar asked Emma, bewildered.

"Well, for starters, your clothes aren't exactly what you usually wear."

Shalimar laughed. "You think what I'm wearing would bother Brennan? He goes through women like a car goes through an abandoned desert. He's hot, fast, and he never looks back. He's seen worse clothes than this a hundred times before. Besides, the two of us are just friends."

"Then why the outfit?" Emma asked.

"It's for Jeremy's sake," Shalimar rolled her eyes. "He's just gonna show me how to use this thing, that's all," she frowned at the whip. "He said it would be easier to teach me if my clothes were skin-tight."

"Well, I for one can tell you that the outfit is definitely making him see red. And don't you think the two of you have already crossed the friendship line?"

"I've gone out with Brennan's type before," Shalimar said. "And that experience is not something I want to go through again."

"Don't you think Brennan might be a little different?" Emma asked. It was just her luck that the people around here were bullheaded. You'd think someone would listen to the local empath.

For once, Shalimar could think of no comeback. Emma continued, "Give him a chance. You have nothing to lose." They stopped, seeing as they were in front of Shalimar's room. Giving her a sympathetic smile, Emma left for her own room.

"You're wrong," Shalimar whispered, leaning back against her closed door. "I have everything to lose."

She thought back to this afternoon, the kiss still fresh in her mind. She'd lost control of herself, both human and feline. She hadn't done that in such a long time, and loss of that control daunted her.

Brennan would just have to find himself another girl.

AFRICA, Grashna Town

Halfway across the world, another feral had her own problems to deal with. She hadn't been into town for over 2 years now, but not much had really changed. She'd outgrown all her clothes, and needed cloth to make more.

Ignoring the whispers she left in her wake, the mysterious beauty headed for the one vender she knew very well.

Hearing the quickly stifled sounds around her, Hanna, the cloth merchant, looked up sharply. She found herself facing two deadly yellow eyes, which quickly reverted to their normal dark color. "Give me however much I can get from this," the girl said, throwing a ruby fragment onto the table. The vendor barely looked at it, keeping her eyes on the girl. She gathered random pieces of cloth into a basket slowly, silently. As she was handing the basket to the young girl, the vendor grabbed her hand, leaning forward slightly so the girl could hear, but no one else.

"They're looking for you," the vendor said. "All across Africa, they are asking for a dark-haired beauty. The one with the yellow eyes, and the ability to tame the wild cats of the safari. Don't worry," the vendor gave a small smile. "They will not learn anything here. Not from me, anyway."

She put the ruby fragment in the middle of the basket.

"No charge. Take my advice, and keep out of sight. Tell your cats to watch for anything not meant to be on the safari." She let the girl go.

Looking the vendor straight in the eyes, the girl took the vendor's weathered palm, and dropped the ruby onto it, curling the fingers around the precious stone.

"For the cloth, and for the warning. I do not take something for nothing." The girl hesitated. "Thank you. I appreciate your silence."

Turning her back on the vender, the girl disappeared into the crowd.

"A strange child, but she is no devil's servant. May the gods keep your soul, young one." The vendor turned back to her goods.