Authors: Keri Arthur
"In some ways, he has." A marathon of milking, I suspected. "Let's get off the street, then I'll try to explain what has happened."
He nodded. Once he'd checked himself through the eye scan and fingerprint scanner, the huge red metal door that dominated the front of the cheerless brown brick building opened, revealing the soft golden glow that was Liander's workshop. I stepped through, my gaze scanning the many half-finished bits of latex humanity and monsters. "You've got another movie contract?" I asked, scanning the line of ogres, trolls, and wart-nosed witches.
He nodded as he closed and relocked the doors. "A fantasy project. I've actually had to take on two apprentices."
"Excellent."
"Indeed it is." He walked toward the stairs, taking them two at a time, as if Rhoan's weight was nothing more than that of a babe. "What happened to him?"
I hesitated, but only briefly. Liander was ex-military, and knew how to keep a secret. And while Jack might have a problem with me telling Directorate secrets to non-Directorate personnel, I doubted Rhoan would. Not in this case, anyway. And he was the only one whose opinion I really worried about.
"He was in St. Kilda trying to find out why hookers were being snatched off the street, and got snatched himself."
Liander carefully placed Rhoan on the bed, then touched his neck, checking for a pulse before he began taking off my brother's clothes. "So where did he end up?"
"The Moneisha Research Center. We think they're a collection point for nonhuman sperm and eggs."
He shot me a surprised look. "Really?"
"Really." I walked across to the small washbasin area and grabbed a soft cloth and a small bowl, then flicked on the tap and waited for the warm water to arrive.
"Well, that certainly explains the bruised and swollen state of his genitals." He shook his head. "No moon dancing for this young wolf this month, that's for sure."
"And won't that piss him off."
Liander gave me a grin. "Truly," he said, as his gaze skated down my body. "Can I just say you're looking wonderfully tarty for a change?"
"Thanks." I added some soap to the warm water, then carried the bowl and cloth over to Liander. "He doesn't seem to be hurt."
I was looking for reassurance more than anything, and Liander wrapped an arm around my shoulder, giving me a light squeeze. "I'd say he's just dehydrated and tired. There don't seem to be any injuries other than bruising, but I'll get a friend over to check, anyway. She's a doctor."
"Good idea."
Liander took the bowl and cloth from me and carefully began to wash Rhoan down. I fidgeted for a moment, then walked across to the small window, staring out at the moonlit sky. The force of the heat that shivered through my body was a warning that I better get to one of the clubs sooner rather than later.
"Go," Liander said, reading the surge of desire, not my thoughts. "He'll be fine with me."
I swung around. "You'll ring the minute he wakes?"
"You know I will."
I walked across the room and kissed his cheek. "Thanks."
He smiled. "I'll buzzer you out when you near the door."
I headed out. Once down on street level again, I grabbed the cell phone and called Jack.
He answered on the first ring. "You safe?"
"As houses. Rhoan's unconscious, though, so I haven't been able to question him."
"Then perhaps you'd care to tell me why you decided to knock Quinn unconscious."
"Well, he was insisting on taking Rhoan to Sydney. And I'm sorry, but I'm not going to fully trust the man, no matter what you say, until I talk to my brother."
Jack laughed. "Darlin', you are going to make such a wonderful guardian."
"Not in this lifetime, I'm not." I hesitated. "How is Quinn?"
"He's got a sore head--and he deserves no less for being so foolish as to turn his back on someone he barely knows."
"So he's there with you?" I paused. "Actually, where are you?"
"I'm back at the Directorate for the time being. Quinn's booked himself into one of the vamp hotels to sleep off his headache."
At least he'd be safe there, as most of the vamp hotels guaranteed the safety of their patrons. "Which one? I need to return his car." I didn't want to leave it at Liander's, simply because whoever was behind Moneisha might have recognized the car and be looking for it. For the same reason, I didn't particularly want to drive around in it. Besides, given my less-than-spotless driving record, it wasn't a particularly good idea to be driving a car I could never afford to fix.
"He's at the Gatehouse," Jack said.
Which was in Little Collins Street, and not all that far from the Kingfisher. I wondered if Talon would be there yet. "I'll get Rhoan to ring you once he's awake."
"Do that. And Riley? Be careful out there. Rhoan may be safe, but I doubt the danger is over for any of us yet."
"Will do."
I hung up, then stared at the car for a few seconds, debating the option of ringing Talon as opposed to simply going to the club. Talon might be up to something, but I doubt he'd actually hurt me. Whereas, if I went to the clubs and mated with strangers, I had no such assurance.
In the end, that was what swayed me. Talon was the only man I could class as safe just then. I dug my phone out, and called him.
"Little wolf," he said, voice a throaty growl. "This is a pleasant surprise."
"Can you meet me at the Kingfisher in twenty minutes?"
He chuckled. "By the sound of your voice, the moon rides you hard."
"You have no idea," I muttered. "Let's forget breakfast."
"Good. Niceties were never my style anyway."
Which is why I would have called him rather than Misha, even had Misha been available. At that moment, I didn't need niceties. I just needed the ache eased as quickly as possible--and if Talon could be depended on for anything, it was quickness.
"I've already booked the penthouse suite. I'll be waiting in front of the hotel."
I hung up, jumped into the car, and zoomed into the city. After giving the car and keys to the Gatehouse's parking attendant and leaving instructions for Quinn to be informed of its return, I loped across to the Kingfisher. Talon was already there, waiting at the top of the steps.
I undid my coat as I climbed the steps toward him, and his desire swirled around me, hot and strong and demanding. I welcomed that heat, breathed it deep, letting it mingle with the urgency already pounding through my veins. Sweat broke out across my brow, and it was all I could do to restrain the desire to rip off his clothes and taste his readiness right there on the steps of the hotel.
"Like the boots," he growled. "Those I think you can keep on for a while."
He caught my hand and we hurried into the hotel, all but running past the lobby elevators into a second, more secluded area.
"Private elevators," he said, swiping a keycard through the slot. "It'll take us direct to the penthouse."
I couldn't wait for the penthouse. My blood burned, my heart hammered like a steam train, and the ache was all-consuming. I wanted sex, and I wanted it
now
.
The doors slid open. Not waiting for him to take control, I pushed him inside, pressed him against the wall, then, with one hand, pulled him down to claim his mouth. With my free hand, I undid his pants.
He growled deep in his throat, and lifted me. I wrapped my legs around him and pushed him deep inside, a groan escaping at the sheer glory of it.
"You feel wonderfully tight, little wolf. It tells me you didn't have any lovers last night. Tells me I'm your first this morning."
"Shut up," I said, my voice breathy, "and just fuck me."
He chuckled softly, then got down to business. The elevator began its ascent, and the whine of machinery mingled with the rasp of our breathing, the slap of flesh against flesh, and the grunt of need. The moon's heat was fierce, and so was I. I rode him hard, desperate to claim every inch of his rigid heat, to feel him fill me. A pressure began to build low in my stomach, fanning through the rest of me in slow waves. The air was so thick and hot and needy I could barely breathe. Then he found that spot deep within, his flesh hitting it again and again and again. The slow waves became a molten force that flowed across my skin, making me tremble, twitch, drawing unintelligible words from my mouth.
And still I drove his flesh into me, deeper and deeper as his breathing became harsh, his tempo more urgent. His urgency pushed me into a place where only sensation existed, then he pushed me beyond it.
He came with me, his warmth spilling into me as his body went rigid against mine.
The elevator came to a stop. For a second, neither of us moved. His breath fanned my cheek, ragged gasps I echoed. Yet he was still hard inside me, and I knew the fiery, urgent need burning through his blood wasn't satisfied. Knew, because I felt the same.
The door opened. He put me down, zipped up his pants, then pulled me into the corridor. We were barely inside the room when he took me again.
It set the scene for the rest of the day. Sex that was hard and fast. Anywhere and everywhere.
It was early afternoon before the fever faded and either of us was able to rest. By then, we were in one of those swim spas that seemed bigger than my whole bedroom. Walls of glass surrounded us on two sides and would have allowed us the view of the city and the bay had the rain not come in and turned the world gray.
I floated in the bubbly heat, the faint scents of lemon and lime teasing my nostrils as I flicked water up with my toes, watching the droplets glitter in the cold afternoon light.
"You seem pensive, little wolf."
I looked at him. He sat on the molded bench seat down the far end, golden arms stretched out along the edge of the spa, muscular body touched with the warmth of the water.
"Just worried about Rhoan." Liander hadn't yet phoned, and that couldn't be a good sign. If he didn't ring in the next half hour, I was calling him.
"You found him."
It wasn't a question, more a statement, which was odd. I nodded. "He wasn't well, so I've a friend at home watching him." I might trust Talon with my body, but I wasn't about to trust him with my twin's safety.
"He's a wolf. We're strong by nature. He'll be okay."
I nodded again. I knew that, but the worry was, what had Moneisha been doing to him? Just because there'd been no visible cuts or bruising didn't mean there weren't any. Didn't mean deeper damage hadn't been done.
"Champagne?" Talon asked, reaching for the half-empty bottle near the steps.
I shook my head. "No. It doesn't seem to agree with me."
He poured himself a glass and drank it down in one gulp. It seemed he liked the bubbly stuff the way he preferred his sex. And as much as it was physically satisfying, part of me was beginning to hunger for more. Though what that more was, I couldn't really say.
My gaze drifted back to the gray-clad sky. What would it be like to make love with Quinn? It would surely be good--after all, with a thousand years behind him, he'd have had the time to sharpen and refine his technique. Something I doubted Talon would ever do.
"Have you ever thought about the future, little wolf?" Talon poured himself another glass of champagne, then leaned against the wall again.
I slanted him a curious glance and wondered where he was headed with a question like that. "No, not really. Why?"
"So you have no idea where you want to be in ten, or twenty years' time?"
"No." Mainly because no one seemed to know how much time I
actually
had. Werewolves generally lived somewhere between one hundred fifty and two hundred years. But vampires were eternal, unless killed. No one knew which side of the fence I would fall on. So far, my development was slower than a wolf's normally would be; but, by the same token, I wasn't years behind the norm.
I tended to treat the longevity problem the same way I treated the whole fertility problem--by not really thinking about it. When it became a problem,
then
I'd worry.
"So you've had no yearning for children or marriage or anything like that?" he asked.
"Of course I have--but the time isn't right yet for such things."
He reached out as I drifted near to him, snagging my hand and tugging me closer. As I settled on his lap, he said, "And if it was?"
"Then yeah, kids and marriage would definitely be on the agenda." I could feel the rising force of his erection, but for the moment, he made no attempt to enter. "What about you? Do all these questions mean the lone wolf is actually thinking about settling down sometime in the near future?"
He laughed. "No. But I do want a son. I want my name carried on in the next generation."
I grinned. "All males want a son, but sometimes they get daughters."
"There are ways to ensure gender."
"I prefer to rely on nature." Although if I relied on nature, I'd never get pregnant.
"So you do want to have kids sometime in the future?"
I frowned. Hadn't I just answered that question? "As I said, yes. If I meet the right man."