Full Moon Rising (27 page)

"How long have you been together?"

"Two years."

"Is that not a long time for a wolf? Maybe that's why he thinks you have an agreement?"

My smile felt tight. "We've never been exclusive. At this particular moment he has seven other lovers, while I have one." I glanced at him. "And one prospective. In years past, he's had up to ten, and I've had three or four others. And he has no intention of giving up his harem for anyone."

"A wolf with lots of stamina, obviously."

"Yeah." Talon was all stamina, no finesse.

"Then what's the problem?"

I crossed my arms. "The problem, as I said before, is the fact he's decided I'd make the perfect mother for his children."

Quinn seemed to contemplate this for a few seconds, then said softly, "There's nothing wrong with wanting children with the woman you love."

"No, there's not," I agreed sourly. "Only we're not soul mates and he doesn't love me. He just wants to implant me with his kid."

Quinn glanced at me. "You don't want this?"

"No. I told you, we're not soul mates. I enjoy the sex, but that's it. And I'm certainly not about to risk my life having a kid with someone I don't love."

"Why would you be risking your life?"

I sighed. "Because of what I am. I can't conceive naturally, and my specialist doesn't know if I'll ever be able to carry to term. He's even suggested that pregnancy could actually kill me."

His surprise rippled around me. "Why?"

"Because recent results suggest my system might consider the fetus a foreign body and attack it. And, in the process, perhaps kill me." I shrugged. "He is of the opinion that if I want children, it could only happen with the help of drugs and under strict medical supervision. Even then, there is no guarantee."

"Not something you'd risk for someone you didn't love."

"Exactly."

He paused for a beat, sweeping onto the Tullamarine Freeway, then asked, "Do you want children?"

"Yes. If I ever meet the right wolf."

"You're young yet. Plenty of time."

I'd heard the same thing from Rhoan many times, and I didn't believe it now any more than I did then. What wolf wanted a women who might never be able to give him children? The ideal of family, of passing one's genes on to the next generation, was as ingrained into the werewolf culture as the moon dances and sexual freedom. We could no more help the desire to breed when we found our soul mates than we could the urge to celebrate the rising moon. It was part of what we were.

Which is the other reason why Rhoan and I had been allowed to survive. Half-breeds or not, we were at least another generation in a pack that had fewer and fewer pups every year. Our genes were pack genes, even if watered down.

Quinn swept the Porsche into the middle lane and pressed the accelerator. The car shot forward to something resembling light speed.

"There is a speed limit on this freeway," I said dryly.

"It's after midnight. Can't think of a better time or place to test this baby out." He glanced at me, the blue lenses in his eyes gleaming brightly under the freeway lights. "So basically, the problem is the fact he won't accept no for an answer. Why don't you just use telepathy to force him to accept it?"

I frowned at him. "I can't."

"Because he's blocked?"

"Because I've known him for two years. I can't force my will on him like that."

"As I said, why not? Sounds to me he's trying to force
his
will on
you
."

Well, yeah, but that was Talon. His wants had always come above everyone else's. But using words and strength was far different than using psychic talents. Besides, if I did do that, I'd be no better than he was. "Telepathy is a defense. I refuse to use it for anything more."

"Yet you used it at Moneisha just fine."

"That's different."

"It's not, you know."

"Rescuing my brother is defense of pack, nothing more."

"If you say so." He glanced in the rearview mirror, then said, "That wolf doesn't seem the type to accept his wishes being denied."

"He'll get over it." Yet I remembered the look in his eyes, remembered his vow that he always got what he wanted, and wondered.

I shifted in the seat and studied Quinn for a moment. "So what about you?"

He didn't return my look. "What about me?"

"How long did it take for you to get over Eryn?"

His smile was both wry and bitter. "I think current evidence suggests I'm not."

It certainly did. "So how long were you with her?"

"Nine months."

"When did you discover what she was doing?"

His expression was grim. "Not nearly fast enough." He hesitated, then added, "Four months ago."

Only four months. No wonder he was still hurting. No wonder he was still so angry. "And how long has Eryn been assigned to the whorehouse?"

"Two months." He shrugged. "It took time to buy her company."

"And are you intending to leave her there?"

"Yes."

"The punishment doesn't fit the crime, you know."

His sudden grin was savage. "She created her bed. Let her lie in it for eternity. I don't care."

The harshness of his words was a sharp reminder that this was a vampire I sat beside. A rare vampire, granted, in that he apparently still had the capability to feel, but a vampire all the same. And he could obviously be as cold and as cruel as any of his race.

"If you didn't care, you wouldn't have reacted so harshly," I noted.

He didn't say anything, but we both knew I was right. He looked in the rearview mirror again, and a prickle of unease ran down my spine.

"What's wrong?" I twisted around, saw the distant flash of red-and-blue lights. "Cops or emergency services?"

"Cops, I think."

I grinned. "So much for the theory that this was a perfect night to test this beastie's speed."

"True. But unlike you, I'm not above using my psychic skills to get me out of trouble."

I raised an eyebrow. "You obviously haven't read the papers lately." Not that I actually had, either. Jack had told me the news over lunch one day.

He glanced at me as he slowed. "What do you mean?"

"All police and emergency services have been issued with psychic deadeners as part of their everyday kits."

He swore softly. I just kept on grinning. Behind us, the blue-and-red lights drew closer, revealing the candy colors of the police car. Quinn pulled over to the side of the freeway and two cops climbed out. One moved toward Quinn's side, the other to mine.

We both lowered our windows, and Quinn said, voice ultrapolite, "Is there a problem, Off--"

His words were cut off by an odd popping sound. He jerked wildly, then became still, and though my concern surged, I had no chance to see what was going on.

Not with the barrel of a gun appearing two centimeters from the end of my nose.

Chapter 10

D
on't move," the cop behind the gun warned. "Or you'll taste lead."

What happened to the right to remain silent and all that crap? That they didn't even bother to say the words meant they were after us specifically.

Obviously, it
had
been Gautier in the shadows. But why would he send state coppers after us rather than Directorate personnel?

Though we
had
stopped, maybe the reason was that simple. We would have been more suspicious of an unmarked car swooping down on us so quickly.

My fingers tightened around the door handle, but otherwise, I obeyed the cop's orders. The fact that Quinn hadn't reacted in any way had me worried. Until I knew what was going on, I intended to play along with the current scenario.

"We were only speeding," I said, forcing fear into my voice. "Surely pointing guns at us is a bit of an overreaction?"

The cop ignored me, looking over the top of the car again. It suggested they considered me no threat. They'd learn soon enough just how wrong they were.

"The vamp out of action?" the cop with the gun asked.

"Yeah. The new tasers certainly do the work."

Tasers. Great. That was all we'd needed. Though the weapons had been around for a while, it had only been recently they'd developed one with the right electrical current to affect vampires every bit as efficiently as humans. Quinn would be out of action for hours.

A hand reached into the car and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the wig being tugged off. "It's definitely not Brown."

So Gautier
had
been suspicious of Quinn rather than me. I wondered what Quinn had done or said to tip him off.

"You want to call the retrieval in to headquarters," the gunman continued, "and ask what they want us to do with them?"

The other cop made a grunt of agreement and walked away. I waited a few more seconds then grabbed the gun, wresting it from the cop's hand as I thrust open the door.

He staggered backward with a yelp of surprise. I threw the gun into the back and flowed out of the car, knocking the cop out before he knew what had hit him.

A booming retort bit through the silence. I dove for the shadows along the side of the road, heard the scream of air, and the sharp sting of pain as the bullet scraped my rump, then I hit the ground and rolled to my feet. Wrapping the shadows around myself, I ran toward the other car. The second cop was still standing near the car door, his gun aimed at the spot where I'd disappeared from sight.

I shook my head. When were the authorities going to learn and stop pairing two humans together? It made no sense, not with the introduction of recent incentives that included a fresh, free blood supply to vamps who joined the force. Of course, the Directorate skimmed the cream, while the psych and physical tests prevented a good percentage of the remainder from joining the cop ranks. But there was such an influx of applicants it could take years for the cops to work down the remaining list.

I picked up a small stone and padded quietly to the back of the car. The cop was starting to look around. I tossed the stone, waited until it clicked against the road up ahead, then let the shadows unravel and ran at him. He never stood a chance. I had the speed and power of both wolf and vampire, and he was only human. I tucked his unconscious body into the car, turned off the camcorder, then collected the second cop and shoved him into the car as well. Then I ran back to Quinn.

I didn't bother feeling for a pulse, mainly because the slow metabolic rate of vamps would make it extremely difficult to find one at the best of times. I unclipped his seat belt and dragged him around to the passenger side. Once he was safely belted back in, I ran around to the driver's side and started the car. Cop central would have called in reinforcements once they'd seen what was happening. We had to get off the freeway, and get rid of the Porsche, as quickly as possible.

But I didn't take the first off-ramp, continuing on instead to the Mickleham Road exit. The mob Quinn had hired the Porsche from had a depot at the airport, but I couldn't risk taking the car there with Quinn unconscious. Mickleham Road had an old hotel not far from the freeway, one with the parking tucked nicely around the back and stairs rather than elevators to the rooms. I'd get a room and dump Quinn there, then get rid of the car and return.

I pulled off the wig and took out the lenses as I waited for the lights to turn green. Looking a whole lot less ghostly, I pulled into the hotel and stopped at the side of reception rather than out the front under the bright lights. After grabbing my purse from the security box behind the passenger seat, I did up my coat and climbed out. No sense in giving the woman the wrong idea.

As it turned out, I shouldn't have bothered. The woman at the counter wouldn't have cared who rented the room as long as they paid up front. When I not only paid up front but asked for their best room--which turned out to be their one and only honeymoon suite--she practically danced on the spot. Obviously, times were a little tough with all the new hotels opening at the airport.

I drove around to the back and parked. After opening the room's door, I half carried, half dragged Quinn up the stairs, mighty glad the place was almost empty or that no one came out to investigate the source of all the noise. Explanations weren't something I could be bothered with just then. I made him comfortable on the bed and wrote him a note, leaving it on the table with the folders, the gun, and my wig so he'd see them all if he woke, then headed out.