Lycan Packs 1: Lycan Instinct (33 page)

“In my own time.” Rafe slipped an arm around her. “Meanwhile, you two will brief Mackenzie on our investigation.”

Gabe choked on his drink. Luc almost caused World War III by pounding enthusiastically, if not helpfully, on his brother’s back.

Mackenzie ignored their sibling squabble to ask, “Investigation? What investigation?”

Rafe peered at her before answering. “I told you we were looking into certain possibilities related to your case.”

“Certain possibilities?”

He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose, but shadows of worry lingered in his golden gaze. “More like every possibility. I also told you...no more secrets.”

Curious, she faced Gabe and Luc. “This, I’d like to hear.”

“I hope your trust in her is not misplaced,” Gabe said sourly.

“Funny,” she responded. “My partner said something similar today about your brother, Dr. Stone, after I handed in my badge.”

While Gabe appeared stunned by the news, Rafe gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Lucian took the lead on giving her information, surprising her with his thoroughness. His teasing nature vanished as he shared clues he’d gathered. Eventually, Gabriel gave in and filled in bits and pieces as well. Although they’d come from different directions, they’d reached many of the same conclusions as she had. Still, none of it was enough, at least not to make a case in court.

“How can you be so sure?” she asked. “All we have is a hunch about Anton’s involvement. Robertson’s car was wiped clean. We have no prints at any of the scenes. No physical proof he’s even involved.”

“Yes, we do,” Gabe answered. “We have his DNA.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your medical examiner collected DNA from the bites on two of the victims. They match Anton’s wolf DNA.”

With a frown, she sat up and looked Gabriel dead in the eye. “How do you know that?”

Gabe’s expression changed to one of concern. His lips thinned as he looked from her to Rafe, as if seeking permission. After Rafe nodded, Gabe answered, “We compared your findings with our records. They matched.”

“I gathered that. My question is why that match didn’t turn up when my team compared those DNA results to your database? And how did you get the ME’s information in the first place?” She had strong doubts about whether Pete Tancock would knowingly leak that kind of data.

“The database you obtained through your warrant did not include Lycan DNA,” Rafe said. “That’s stored here within L.I.’s secret operations. It’s a completely separate and more secure system.”

She could feel her blood heat, but let the tense pressure go. “And Tancock’s findings?”

“I can answer that,” Lucian said. “Stone Corp. Securities division has numerous government contracts. We specialize in offering top-of-the-line encryption to agencies and private companies for their top-secret data...virtually impenetrable systems.”

“Except when you need that information, you mean?”

He shrugged, his diamond earring sparkling. “Every system has a backdoor...if one knows where to look.”

Backdoor? Where had she heard that before?

With a curse, Mackenzie shot to her feet.

“Backdoor...” she muttered as she remembered something Cooper told her.

Rafe stood beside her, his lips thinned. “Mackenzie, please understand. We do what we must not only to protect ourselves, but humans, too. Rogues pose a threat to us all. Sometimes having access to certain classified material can mean the difference between life and death.”

“I know.” She put her fingers over his mouth, his warm breath bathing the tips. Momentarily distracted, she blinked and dropped her hand to his lapel. “Uhm. Cooper reported some street talk. A person close to the bookie said she’d overheard him talking about a dumb computer geek and a backdoor. It made no sense at the time, but.... What software did Carl Shumaker work on for you?”

He looked puzzled before realization dawned in his caramel eyes. “Cyber-Guard,” he said before turning to Gabe. “Did our people find anything suspicious on Shumaker’s PC after we let him go?”

“Nothing beyond further confirmation of his attempts to hack into our financial system.”

Rafe’s voice turned cold. “Have them look at it again.”

“I’m on it.” Gabe reached for a phone and started dialing. He glanced at her. “Whatever you may think and despite what Luc said, we don’t put in backdoors for systems that secure online monetary transactions.”

Rafe pulled out his PDA. “Luc, contact Worley in R-and-D. He’s probably already gone home for the day. Here’s his number.” He showed Luc. “Tell him what may have happened...for his ears only. I want his entire Cyber-Guard development team called in. Now. Go back through the code. If one exists, find that backdoor and get rid of it.”

“Got it.” While Luc called the head of Research and Development, Mackenzie watched Rafe make his own phone calls.

She returned to her seat on the sofa, marveling at how quickly the brothers set aside their differences to unite behind a common goal.

Wasn’t the Cyber-Guard release scheduled for tomorrow? Surely a delay this late in the game would be costly, but then the damage to the company’s reputation, and Rafe’s, would be more devastating if such a flaw were unearthed later.

Still, something stirred in her mind. Something she couldn’t quite place. What else had she overlooked? What clue had she missed?

Was Shumaker killed to silence him after he’d accomplished his mission? Had he become a liability? Or had his firing made him no longer useful? And how was the senator involved?

She rubbed her temples. The long hours were catching up to her. Her mind was crammed full of information about a case she was no longer a part of, and yet couldn’t set aside. Clues, suspects, motives. They swirled in her mind until she couldn’t remember what day it was, much less what was happening around her.

Yawning, she tried to focus on the men’s conversations, but they seemed further away. When her eyelids drooped, she felt a warm hand on hers.

“Enough for tonight,” Rafe said.

Her protest would’ve succeeded if he hadn’t lifted her from the couch as if she were a sleeping child. Instead, she snuggled closer, wound her arms around his neck and let the world and all its troubles await another day.

Mackenzie awoke with a start, her eyes focused and alert, her mind confused.

She sat up, surrounded by silky sheets on a bed in a darkened room she knew was not her own. Much larger than her own bedroom, more spacious than any hotel room, and completely unfamiliar.

“It’s not quite dawn, though it will be soon.” Rafe’s rich, seductive tones rumbled through her senses and had her gaze sweeping to the right. He lay beside her in the shadows, with only the upper portion of his tautly muscled body exposed. From the faint moonlight through the expansive windows, she could just make out his captivating features.

A quick glance down told her he’d left her partially clothed, having removed her outer garments and shoes. Still, her lace underwear left little to the imagination, and judging by his hot, determined gaze, it offered even less protection.

She took another second to get her bearings. “Let me guess. Your place?”

“Mmm-hmm. Downtown penthouse suite.” He drew her down into his arms, spooning her body next to his. “Have you any idea how much I’ve longed to see you here in this room, to have you lying beside me as you are now?”

His words, spoken in a voice gone raw with hunger, made her insides quiver.

As his long fingers skimmed her bare arm, her pulse tripped. When she felt the release of the clasp on the bra she still wore, her hand moved to hold the material in place. “Have you never been told ‘the better part of valor is discretion’?”

His nose nuzzled the nape of her neck. His lips nibbled just...there...below the ear. “I love a woman who quotes Shakespeare in the morning.”

“That was not my point,” she said with a chuckle when his tongue found a ticklish spot. “You’ve no concept of discretion, bringing me here with reporters salivating at your heels and...” She squirmed onto her back, trying unsuccessfully to capture his roaming hands. “I mean, after what happened yesterday, don’t you think we should at least keep a low profile?”

“‘The lady doth protest too much, me thinks’,” he murmured another quote before ducking beneath the sheets. “How’s this for low profile?” He nipped her side, causing her to yelp and laugh, then settled his body between her legs. His fingers and mouth traced her curves, evoking first giggles and then moans as he slid the last layers of lace away. He devoured her until every inch of her body throbbed, arched, and yearned for more.

Oh...he had a talent for ‘low profile’, not that she could form a coherent sentence to tell him so.

Several blissful minutes later, his head resurfaced, framed by tousled midnight hair—his handsome face, graced by an adorable, sexy grin.

Golden rays of morning sunshine spilled into the room, illuminating a face so precious, so achingly gorgeous, that it made her want to keep him forever, to freeze this moment in time, and never let it go. No one had ever looked at her the way he did now, made her feel so much. All at once.

She stroked her fingers through his hair and stared into eyes that shone with amusement, desire, and something terrifyingly tender.

Gazes locked, she pulled him near. Flesh met flesh, unsteady breaths intermingled, lips on the verge of touching. And the words burst from her heart and mouth like a geyser. “God, I love you.”

Her declaration punched him, an instant and powerful impact. Countless emotions overwhelmed him, and his mind shattered under the onslaught.

He was weak.

He was empowered.

Rafe held her still, hugged her closer, and buried his face in her hair. His lips pressed against the rapid pulse in her throat. He drew in a deep breath, filling his lungs with her unique scent even as her words filled his heart.

Fighting desperately for a thread of control, he sank into her inch by inch and felt whole. Her body fit him perfectly, damp heat that sizzled and inflamed.

His need for her turned feral. Levering himself above her, his hips pumped deep, deeper—over and over—until she trembled beneath him with that first razor-sharp release. His mouth drank in her cries of pleasure while his soul demanded more.

“Again,” he said, his voice husky.

His teeth scraped gently over her soft skin. Her throat, shoulders, breasts. He loved the taste of her.

When she reached for him, he captured and pinned her hands above her head. He adored her soft, lean curves, but he couldn’t take her touch just now. If she touched him, what little control that remained would snap.

Mine
was all he could think.
Forever mine
.

His breath quickened when he saw her beautiful blue eyes glaze, her lids flutter. “No, don’t.”

Their eyes met, held, in a poignant bond. Still gripping her wrists with one hand, he lifted her right leg over his shoulder and pressed further than before. Making them one.

“Take me. All of me.”

He shifted to long, steady strokes, reveling each time her hips lifted to meet him. He watched her crest again, a violent contraction that nearly sent him over the precipice. Her head tossed from side to side, even as he rocked them both, body and spirit.

Her whimpers turned to pants and then to groans, followed by puffs of coherent speech. Each sound echoed through his blood and drove the hunger to near insatiable heights. But it wasn’t until she screamed his name that he dragged her shuddering body against him and let himself go.

When his mind cleared, he rolled off her, legs tangling in the sheets, and gulped in huge breaths of air. Mackenzie lay panting beside him, her arms stretched motionless above her head.

“I gotta remember,” she said breathlessly, “to say that to you more often.”

He would have sworn he hadn’t the energy to laugh, but it erupted from him. “Say what?” he asked amid chuckles, as he playfully swatted her thigh.

She rolled to her side, rested her hand on his chest, a glint of humor sparkling in her crystal blue gaze. “Lord, we won’t survive.”

He grinned. “I love you, Mackenzie.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “See? It gets easier the more you say it.”

Pushing herself off the bed and onto her feet, she shook her head, but her eyes were brilliant and her smile broad. “And best said from a distance, I think.” She moved to the nearest door, pulled it open, and sucked in a breath when the light came on automatically.

“The closet.” He propped himself up on one elbow, enjoying the view of her cute butt.

“A closet? That’s a house for a family of four,” she quipped, shutting the door. Her disheveled hair flared about her shoulders. Most of the bruises from their night at the warehouse were gone, but the more recent mark on her left breast remained. And the scars on her thigh were still evident, though faded over the passing years.

“Where’s the bathroom?”

He pointed to a set of double doors. “Wait.”

She tossed him a grin as she headed across the room. “You can’t possibly have the energy to go another round,” she said with a touch of amusement and a convincing amount of skepticism.

Since the very sight of her energized him, he had his doubts about the accuracy of her statement, but he let it go. He had other revelations in mind.

“Besides, it’s morning.” She cast a meaningful look at the large windows. “You may own a zillion companies, have more worker drones than a queen bee, but even the boss has to go to work sometime.”

He cut her off at the door and gently grasped her arms. A smile playing at his mouth, he teased, “Trying to get rid of me already?”

She smirked. “An impossibility. No, but I am in serious need of a revitalizing shower.”

He grinned, and struggled against a desire to toy with her left nipple and the permanent mark above it. “So am I, but I have something more pressing that must be said.”

“Can it wait until we at least have clothes on?”

Deciding she was right, he let it go. For now. He gestured toward the bath and smiled. “Ladies first.”