Instinctive by Cathryn Fox

jumped to her feet and stepped behind the coffee table, putting some much-needed distance between them. So she’d slept with a weirdo, an escaped mental patient perhaps. And here she’d always prided herself on her
exceptional intuition, and her ability to judge character. Her sixth sense had never let her down before. Why had it suddenly failed her now?
    She lowered her voice and spoke in a calming manner. “It’s been a long night, Slyck. And we’re both in need of sleep.” She blinked at him and smiled. “I’ll see you later, then,” she added for good measure, with every intention of avoiding him for the rest of her stint in Crazyville.
    He shook his head slowly and studied her eyes. “You really had no idea, had you?”
    “No, but thank you for enlightening me. Maybe we can discuss this later after I’ve had some rest.”
    Or not.
    His voice softened. “Jaclyn, I know it sounds bizarre, and that it’s hard for you to take in and assimilate, but trust me when I say I’m not insane.” He angled his head and took in her stance. “So you can stop looking at me like I am.”
    She planted her hands on her hips and questioned, “Well, how am I supposed to look at you after listening to you spout something so crazy? Shifters are folklore, Slyck. So are vampires, demons, and monsters under the bed.”
    “You forgot witches and werewolves. They’re real too.”
    Oh boy! He was crazier than she thought.
    She pointed to the door and demanded, “I think it’s time for you to go.”
    “Were-cats are very sexual beings, Jaclyn.” Undeterred by her rising hysteria, he stood and began to walk toward her. The closer he came, the weaker her knees felt. “They’re unable to sate the
incessant ache inside them unless they mate with the one and only panther meant for them. It’s the way of our pride, Jaclyn. The way of our bloodline.”
    As he inched closer, her thoughts raced, and she recalled how for the first time in her life she had actually felt satiated, the hole inside her closing, the ache abating after mating—err—having sex with Slyck.
    “Your parents were shifters.”
    “Slyck, you’re crazy. I grew up in Chicago, with two very normal parents.”
    “And your biological mother?”
    “I never knew her. She abandoned me.”
    “No, she didn’t.”
    “She didn’t?” After harboring fears of abandonment her entire life, she brushed her tongue over her bottom lip and entertained the idea for a brief moment. She truly wanted to believe her mother had never ditched her in a Chicago subway on purpose.
    “No. She was panther too. Which was why my rogue shifter broke through the town’s barriers and went in search of her. The panther in her called out to him. Just like your panther calls out to me, and the reason you were drawn to Serene.”
    Okay, so she couldn’t deny that she felt a very strange pull toward this town, toward him. But still, she was hardly a panther.
    What a weirdo.
    “Then after I hunted down my rogue shifter, he was forced to accept his just punishment for putting the colony at risk.”
    Her eyes widened with a mixture of disbelief and fear. “You killed him?”

    He lowered his head, as though taking a moment to remember and respect a lost loved one. “Mandate rules, Jaclyn.”
    Oh God, she couldn’t believe he was telling her that he had killed her biological father, that he’d stolen her opportunity to know and love him. Her legs weakened as her emotions went on a roller-coaster ride. Tears threatened and she choked them back, reminding herself that none of this could be true, that Slyck was a wacko.
    He looked sad. “I’m sorry, Jaclyn. I never knew it would come to this, but we have strict rules.”
    “And you never break the rules,” she challenged, overwhelmed by everything he was telling her.
    His eyes clouded for a quick moment; then he said in a low voice, “Never.”
    Frightened, Jaclyn took a quick glance around her living room, searching for something big and