Cravings (Fierce Hearts) Read Online Free

colony, but they kept to themselves to avoid problems with humans. In general, keeping to themselves was a way for were-cats to survive, but some, such as Casey’s colony cats, lived among humans but kept their true identity secret.
    He felt the memory of what he’d done crawl up his insides with claws. He’d never get past the guilt. He’d been eighteen, just beginning to express his were-bobcat traits and special abilities. He hadn’t yet gotten control of them when he’d played a prank on his younger brother Kendall that had involved nudging him. He dared Kendall to race him on their dirt bikes. Kendall was an easy nudge, and at first it had been fun riding around the hills behind their house, racing each other to the designated finish line. But Kendall didn’t have the strength and agility that had been natural for Asher. The image of his brother careening down a steep incline and landing at the bottom with his leg bent awkwardly sent shivers trailing through him.
    The accident had left his brother disabled. The break had affected growth plates in his leg, and it wouldn’t continue to gain length, the doctor had told them. He’d said it was possible surgery could improve his chances for near-complete healing, but in Kendall’s situation, even surgery and follow-up treatment had been unsuccessful.
    Even though Asher’s parents were were-cats, they’d never understood him. He was always getting in trouble and causing attention. The kind of thing his parents feared would bring them trouble from humans. That nudge had been the last straw. They’d continued to support him financially until he finished college and turned twenty-one, but then they’d told him to leave home and never return. They’d paid the bills for him and kept him fed, but eventually they’d moved away and left no contact information. That’s when his sister got in a terrible fight with them over cutting him out. She took him under her wing, and they went it alone for a while. Neither of them had any further contact with their family. Then Casey’s colony had found them near Laurelwood and invited them to join.
    No one, except maybe Lara, knew how much that one incident had affected him. He’d never forgive himself. And he’d forever be grateful to Casey for taking him in. But the rejection from his family shaped his self-image and his attitude toward others. He kept himself aloof, knowing he could lose control and hurt someone else.
    He shook his head to settle his thoughts on the present. The noises and scents of the newspaper’s offices enveloped him in familiar and comfortable.
    A cup of coffee in hand from the break room, and Asher settled in at his desk in front of his computer. He scanned the wire for any stories about Carter Enterprises. Having just recently lost its CEO, the powerful but sinister William Carter, the company probably was going through reorganization.
    The father of one of the colony’s friends, Jackson Carter, William had a reputation for harming people. His death had felt like a form of justice. Everyone in the colony had sympathized with Jackson’s loss, but Asher knew as well as Casey, Jackson’s longtime friend, that with his father’s death, Jackson had been relieved. Though the company ownership now passed to Jackson and his brother, Graham, Jackson continued his work with his investigations firm, for which Casey worked, too.
    The Carter effect had exerted an impact not only on Jackson, but also on Lacey, Jackson’s wife, when she had uncovered one of William’s initial illegal drug projects. Throughout Carter’s lifetime, he’d done more than his share of creating chaos for good people, including Michelle Slade, Casey’s fiancée, office manager for Aegar Investigations and cat rescue owner. It was the colony’s attempts to deter Carter’s land grab of Michelle’s house that led them to discover the project that Kennedy had been a part of. It was during that rescue that Asher had made friends