He studied me for a minute, then a wide, cold smile split his features. “I believe you mean that.”
I didn’t say anything, just stared at him as the anger pulsed through me.
He shook his head in an almost pitying way, and added, “You wouldn’t get five steps within our boundaries, let alone anywhere near enough to challenge me.”
“If you believe that, then your research is not as complete as you think.” I paused, then added, “And if you think I’d be coming alone, you’re delusional.”
“Do you honestly think your brother’s presence would make any difference?”
I smiled. A cold, nasty smile. “Learn what we are—and what we can do—before you make rash statements like that, Blake.”
He shook his head again, his expression almost amused, and said, “Adrienne had no reason to hide anything from us.”
I flexed my hands, but it didn’t do much to ease the tension still riding me. “Yeah. You and your sons are so damn tolerant and kind when it comes to homosexuals that she had absolutely no cause to fear your reaction at all.”
His gaze darkened again. Spectral figure or not, a wise wolf would have shut her mouth.
“I do not wish to hear that accusation again.” His voice was soft. Deadly. The sort of voice heard just before he threw someone off a mountain.
Despite myself, I shivered.
“If you want answers, you may have to face a whole lot worse than homosexuality.”
“Like what?”
I shrugged. “Cases never play out as you expect them to.”
“What I expect is Adrienne home safe and sound. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“You and the families of the thousands of others who go missing every year. In a case like this, what you want or expect doesn’t really matter.” I glanced at the time. “I’m off home for some R and R. See you around, Blake.”
“Why aren’t you going to the hospital to interview this Jodie person?”
“Because she won’t be in any real state to talk until at least tomorrow.”
I turned my back on him and walked out. Though his gaze felt like it was burning holes in my back, he didn’t actually follow, and for that I was grateful.
When I finally got back to Kellen’s apartment, he was sitting on the sofa reading Blake’s file. He looked up when I entered, his green eyes concerned.
“Your current case involves your pack?”
I wrinkled my nose. “It isn’t really an official case. My alpha has asked me to investigate several disappearances.”
“Alpha? Don’t you mean your grandfather?”
“No. He was challenged and lost.”
“Ah.”
He put the file down then held out a hand. I weaved my fingers through his and allowed myself to be pulled onto his lap. His arms circled my waist and his scent wrapped around me, until all I could feel was his warm and steady presence. And it was a somewhat delicious sensation, knowing that this big, strong wolf was mine. That he wanted me, and only me.
If I was a cat, I’d pretty much be purring in contentment right now.
“Your pack has no claim on you once another alpha has claimed you as his own,” he said. “I can stop him contacting you, if you like.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You can?”
He brushed my hair to one side and kissed the nape of my neck. A tremor of desire rolled through me. “Just say the word, and he is yesterday’s news.”
“He’s a rather nasty piece of work.”
“So can I be if someone is hassling my woman.”
His woman. I liked the sound of that. Liked it very much.
“That’s so very tempting,” I murmured, wriggling closer, enjoying the heat and scent of him as it flowed across my senses. “But I’d better deal with it myself.”“The offer remains if you happen to change your mind.” His lips were so close every word felt like a caress against my skin. Desire spread like a wildfire. “Are you finished for the day?”
I draped my arms loosely around his neck and dropped butterfly kisses on his lips, his nose, and his cheeks. “I’m yours to do with whatever you wish.”
“Anything?” he said, voice so deep and husky it sent a shiver of delight down my spine.
“Anything at all.”
“Even ravish you senseless, until all you want to do is beg for mercy?”
Anticipation sizzled, and I grinned. “It will take a long, long time to get me there, wolf.”
“I can be a patient man when I want to be.”
“Prove it.”
His lips met mine, and from that moment on, there was no more talking, just a whole lot of loving.
And oh, it was good. I might have had many lovers in my short lifetime, but the way Kellen made me feel was somehow totally different from anyone else. There might not be the same sort of connection between us that I’d found—however briefly—with Quinn, but there was a connection all the same. It was deep, it was real, and it was so, so wonderful. He made me feel cherished, safe, like I was the only woman in the universe, the only woman for him. And that was a mighty powerful feeling.
Was it soul deep? I guess more than a part of me believed so, but something within still held back the words he wanted to hear. Maybe it was stupid, given the emotions tumbling through my mind, but I still wanted time to be sure.
Forever was a long time to live with a mistake.
Despite Jack’s promises that the Directorate’s daytime division would have proper offices by the time I got back from the holidays, it appeared we were still holed up in the old conference room. Which was fine for the moment, but when Kade, Iktar, and whoever else Jack had hauled into the squad finally got through training, it was going to be a mite snug. Not that I minded getting snug with Kade, but Iktar? I shuddered. The featureless spirit lizard was not my idea of a good time.
So why the delay? The night division had more space than they needed—and decent coffee dispensers to boot—while we made do with one room, and a coffeemaker that had to be constantly refilled.
Of course, the fact that the night division was basically filled with leashed psychos might have had something to do with it. Wouldn’t want the inmates getting restless, and all.
Jack wasn’t in sight when I strode in, but down the hall, in the liaison’s room, the cow was doing her sultry-voice routine, so it was a fair bet Jack was down there.
Rhoan sat at one of the desks that had been squeezed into our so-called operations room. He glanced up as I entered, and said, “How are you feeling after your brush with the mad trucker yesterday?”
“Other than a healing cut or two, I’m fine. Any word about the driver?”
“Broken arm and a few lacerations is about the extent of his war wounds. The truck was stolen, by the way. Jack said it was found abandoned an hour later.”
“Don’t suppose anyone saw the driver?”
“Not a soul.”
“Typical.” I poured us both a coffee, slopped in some milk, then plonked my butt down on the edge of Rhoan’s desk and handed him a cup. “I don’t suppose you managed to look into Adrienne’s movements, did you?”
He wrapped his fingers around the mug and leaned back in his chair. “Did you know she was a reporter?”
“I guessed it was a possibility. She was apparently asking all sorts of questions up on the island.”
“Well, if she was working on a story, then she was doing it on her own. According to her boss, she was supposed to be on holiday.”
“So she didn’t contact him about anything?”
“Nope. Last story she did for him was an entertainment piece on a new nightclub.”
“There’s a new wolf club? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
He grinned. “If you read the newspapers more, you might have known about it. But it’s not strictly a wolf club.” He picked up a matchbook off his desk and flicked it toward me. “It’s the first mixed-race club allowed in Victoria.”
I caught the matchbook one-handed. It was black, with “Mirror Image” written on the front flap in a white, basic font. Underneath this was a phone number and address, and nothing else. I flipped open the lid, and inside sat two neat little rows of matches, their tips black instead of the usual red. There was nothing on the back of the matchbook.
I looked back at my brother. “Mixed-race? As in, open to humans and nonhumans?”
“Yep. It operates in the exact same fashion as regular clubs.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What happens when the moon is rising?”
“Nothing. They’re open all year round.”
“Really? Have the laws changed or are the owners just crazy?”
The old rules gave clubs the right to exclude human entry entirely—and this was a good thing, because were loving could sometimes get extremely rough, especially during the full-moon phase. The fact of the matter was, humans just were physically unable to handle it. And I didn’t mean sexually. We could shift shape to heal any wounds received during intercourse. They could not. What might be a deep but easily healed wound for a were could be fatal for a human. And the outcry after such a death would be huge, even if the act was consensual.
Of course, the idiots in parliament had been trying to legislate a change for ages, but the Australia-wide protests from both the supernatural community and the saner section of humanity had so far managed to stall them. Or so I’d thought.
“They haven’t changed,” Rhoan said. “They’ve just been…ignored. This club is operating under a trial license for a year. If everything goes well, the current law forbidding human entry into wolf clubs will be overturned.”