Full Moon Rising (40 page)

"It's an amazing experience."

His fingers were warm against my cheek, drowning me in sunshine and desire. My heart was hammering so loud I was sure they'd be able to hear it in the living room. I cleared my throat and somehow managed to stutter, "I'll have to take your word for it."

"Maybe one day--"

He didn't finish the sentence simply because his lips met mine. On the kissing scale, it blew the top off anything I'd experienced so far--even with him. It was a wild and erotic possession that was both passionate and intimate. And it totally and irreparably smashed the lie that he didn't want anything more than sex.
No one
could kiss like that and say it was just about sex.

Yet he wouldn't admit it, not in words, and I had no doubt that at the end of this mission he would still walk away.

Which was damned annoying.

I pulled back. We were both breathing heavily, and his desire was as evident as mine. "Too much more of that and you might just find yourself being ridden right here on the balcony."

"And you think I would have minded?"

"Well, no. I just didn't think you were an exhibitionist."

"With you, I could be."

I grinned. "Remind me to take you up on the offer sometime."

Amusement lingered on his lips, but there was a sadness in his eyes that stirred my heart.

"It won't happen, Riley."

Like hell it wouldn't. My wolf soul had his scent in her nose, and she wasn't about to let him go easily. He picked up the coffee cup and offered it to me. "Have I stirred things up too much?"

"The fever is controllable enough." Which was surprising. Even though I'd been with Misha for five hours, the moon heat should still be raging through my system. The full moon was less than a day away, and given the intensity of need earlier in the week, I should have been at fever pitch by now.

Maybe it was the situation. Maybe fear of playing bait a second time was overwhelming the power of the moon. Whatever the cause, I had no doubt that later on in the day my need would burn. I was a werewolf, and there was no escaping such a basic part of what I was.

"We should get moving." He glanced at the sky. "Dawn will be soon."

My stomach curled. I threw the rest of my coffee over the balcony, then walked back inside. "What's the plan then?"

Rhoan groaned. "Riley--"

"There's no other way, and we both know it."

"I'm going with her," Quinn said, his gaze challenging Jack.

Jack didn't look all that surprised. "I don't think you should. As I said before, I can protect Riley but not you."

"If things go down the tube, your protection won't matter to her or to me."

"True." Jack glanced at me. "I won't bother telling you it'll be rough in there, simply because you know what Talon is capable of better than any of us. I will tell you that no matter what, you do what you have to do to survive. Even if that means killing."

I stared at him for a moment, throat dry, then nodded.

"We'll insert microchips under both your armpits so we can track either of you," he continued, "and set you up with weapons. Then I think it's time for you to return home, Riley."

And wait for the net to fall, obviously. "They'll do weapons search, surely."

Jack's sudden grin was devious. "But they'll be looking for weapons that look like weapons."

I raised an eyebrow but didn't bother asking him to explain. I'd see them soon enough anyway.

Jack thrust up from the seat and repeated what had to be one of his favorite expressions: "Let's get this show on the road, people."

W
alking through the front door of my apartment had never proven so nerve-racking. While I'd sensed no intruders, that didn't mean there couldn't be. After all, I couldn't sense humans, and the things that had attacked Quinn in his apartment had smelled like humans to him.

Quinn had stopped at the door, and it wasn't until I'd checked all the rooms that I realized why. He couldn't enter without an invitation.

I grinned at him. "You wanna come in?"

"It would be easier to play bait from inside rather than the hall," he said, voice dry. "But remember, there are consequences."

I nodded. "Once invited, never refused."

"Meaning I can come and go as I please, whenever I please."

"Meaning you could come in for a little midnight fun when you're down in Melbourne?"

He gave me a smoky sort of look that could have meant anything. "Maybe."

Couldn't be sad about that, either. "Quinn O'Conor, you are welcome to step over the threshold of my home anytime you please."

He stepped through the door, then took my hand and brushed a kiss across my fingertips. Warmth spread like quicksilver through my body, and deep inside, my soul trembled.

"Thank you."

"You're most welcome."

I took my hand from his, then walked into the kitchen and grabbed a soda and a synth blood pack from the fridge. Quinn was standing near the window when I came back out, the early-morning sunlight streaming in through the glass surrounding him in a halo of gold.

He accepted the blood pack with a smile, and said, "I can't see any of them."

"You're not supposed to." I dropped my bag and popped the soda. "Rhoan and Jack are guardians, and good at what they do."

I gulped down the soda, then walked back into the kitchen to dump the can into the rubbish bin. Quinn was watching me as I walked back out. "You're favoring your right leg a little. You'd better shift the position of the knife."

"Easier said than done."

I bent and tried to adjust the weapon. Just getting my hand down the side of the boots was hard enough, and I fleetingly wished I'd gone for something more flexible in footwear. But Talon had liked them and might be inclined to leave them on. They were practically a second skin, and under normal situations would have shown any weapons shoved down them.

But the Directorate's knives were far from normal--three of them were thin, clear sheets of plastic that were as rigid as steel and could slice through just about anything--or so I'd been assured. The other was almost identical, only it was made of a special compound that reacted with blood and disintegrated--revealing the silver strip that ran down the heart of it. Ideal, Rhoan assured me, for pinning werewolves and other shapeshifters to human form. Personally, I preferred the microscopic hand laser secured in the topknot of my hair.

Quinn had those and more, but I had a suspicion that he wouldn't use them unless he absolutely had to.

When I finally got the knife in a comfortable position, he wrapped his fingers around my arm and pulled me close. I rested my cheek against his chest, listening to the slow beat of his heart, feeling safer than I ever had in my life.

An illusion, but one I could have easily surrendered to.

"It's close to nine," I said, after a long while. "Hope they get here soon." Before whatever courage I'd started with got up and walked away.

"There's a van moving up the street," he said, his voice a rumble that vibrated through my ear. "There are eight people inside."

"I think I should be offended that Talon's only sent an extra two to deal with me."

He laughed softly and brushed his lips across the top of my hair. "They're expecting the element of surprise."

"They should also be expecting a fight."

"Talon's never seen you in action, has he? And six were quite enough to overpower me."

I looked up at him. "You never satisfactorily explained that."

He grimaced. "It was simply the fact that they were all the spitting image of Henri. I wasn't expecting it and it shocked me. In a life-or-death situation, a second's hesitation is all it takes to change the odds."

And it was almost his death. "So why the garden center?"

"As I said, I suspect they wanted it to look like a random vampire killing."

It made sense. Given the amount of vamp murders that had happened over the past few weeks, no one would have raised an eyebrow. And while the Directorate would have investigated, if it had looked like a singular event rather than gang-related, it probably would have been given lower priority.

"They're getting out of the van," he said softly.

Tension wound through my limbs, and my stomach began doing tight circles. "Clones?"

"Mix of clones and werewolves."

I took a deep breath, then raised on my toes and gave him a kiss. "Good luck."

His lips lingered on mine, his breath warm against my skin. "You too."

The doorbell rang. I took another breath, then broke away from his grasp and shook nerveless fingers. "Yes?"

"Special delivery," a gruff voice answered. "Needs to be signed for."

I glanced at Quinn a final time, saw his tension in the set of his shoulders, then walked to the door. My fingers shook as I clasped the handle and undid the deadlock, but I never got the chance to open the door. Instead, it was thrust open by those on the other side, striking me in the nose and flinging me backward.

I hit the ground with a grunt, but rolled immediately to my feet. There was blood gushing from my nose and people flowing through the doorway. They smelled of rubbish left too long in the sun. Whatever method Talon was using to create the things was also killing them.

Then there was no more time to think as two of them rushed at me. I ducked the blow of the first creature, but missed the second. His fist smashed into my chin and the force of it had me sprawling backward. I hit the floor a second time, my breath leaving in a whoosh of air. For a moment, stars danced, the world went dark, and the bitter taste of blood filled my throat.

Someone who smelled of sex and death fell on top of me. Though gasping for breath and fighting the blackness threatening to invade my mind, I still heard the creature snarl. He smelled and looked like a wolf, but his teeth were extending, saliva dripping from the ends in expectation of a feed.

The bastard wasn't going to feed off me, not if I could help it.

With as much force as I could muster, I slammed the heel of my hand into his face. Bone and cartilage shattered under the blow, and he screamed. I thrust him off, scrambled to my feet, and swiped a hand at the blood running from my nose.

Air rushed from the left. I pivoted on one foot, kicking hard. The blow landed in the gut of the clone rushing at me, but didn't seem to have the slightest effect. He grabbed my foot, twisting it hard, making me yelp. His smile was greasy and overconfident and I saw why a second later when he raised the gun. I jerked my foot from his grasp, heard the slight "pop," felt a brief sting of pain in my arm. Looked down, and saw the dart.

Being drugged was better than being battered unconscious.

Even so, I went down fighting.

Talon would expect nothing less.

Chapter 15

A
wareness snuck in slowly, and with it came a sense of deja vu. Voices surrounded me, some that were tinny and some guttural. Lights as bright as the sun burned into my closed eyes. The air was a cool caress and yet my skin burned.

As awareness sharpened, it formed a picture of rising pleasure and lingering pain. My arms were raised above my head, the pins and needles in my fingers suggesting they'd been that way for some time.

Sweat stung the air, mingling with the heady aroma of sex and lust. The moon fever seared through my system, the sheer strength of it a warning that the time of changing was near.

My back was pressed against something cold and hard, my stomach against flesh as hot as the sun. My skin was on fire and every muscle quivered.

Hands were on me, bruising and familiar. Heat filled me, thrusting deep, pushing me toward the crescendo I both wanted and hated.

As before, it wasn't a dream. Talon was in me, and I was responding as strongly as I ever had.

Pleasure spiraled, until it became a force that would not be denied. I came at the same time he did, but bit my lip against the strangled gasp rising up my throat. My body might be conditioned to respond to his touch and his smell, but I wasn't a willing participant in this mating, and I'd be damned if I'd give him the satisfaction of knowing he could still make me come.