Lion's Dangerous(Kings of the Jungle #1)(30)

Awareness returned gradually, with her pussy still throbbing and her muscles quivering. The solid, warm presence at her back was gone, along with the hands that had brought her such mind-blowing pleasure, but she wasn't alone. She blinked at the club logo embroidered on the collar of the black polo shirt in front of her eyes. Ares reached above her to free her wrists from the overhead bonds and caught her when her muscles failed to hold her upright.

"It's over?" She sagged against his chest while he wrapped her in a thick, soft blanket. But she knew the answer. He was gone and she missed him, wanted his soothing hands instead of Ares's impersonal touch. Her skin continued to pulse along with her clit nerve endings still reacting to the slap of leather and the squeeze of a strong hand. Her head and her body were operating on different levels. 

Ares said something in reply, his bass voice low and comforting. Experienced and good at his job. He led her from the scene and into a small, dimly lit room with a couch. Lily tried to catch a glimpse of her scene partner, but Ares's efficiency aborted her dazed visual investigation. He bundled her onto the couch with the blanket and a bottle of water and started rubbing her down in silence.

"It's Friday," he said. "You're at the Jungle."

"Yeah." At the Jungle, where she was supposed to find a way to erase a particular lion shifter. Eyes closed, she nodded to signal awareness of her surroundings. Soon she relaxed into his soothing, impersonal touch. Against her better judgment, she asked, "Do you know who he is?"

Maybe knowing another man, someone real, was the solution …

Ares's hands paused on her calves. "You've never asked before, Jo."

She shrugged and drew the blanket more securely about her shoulders. "Never been worth asking before."





10





No names, no penetration. Complete anonymity. No aftercare. Those were the rules Ares had forced down Jude's throat. If he wanted to play, he had to agree to the rules.

He'd wanted to play, a desire that was only somewhat sparked by a need to erase Hawk's mark from her skin.

From the moment he'd noticed the climbing ivy vine inked up her left leg from ankle to knee, he'd known her identity. His cock had hardened instantly. Yeah, he'd wanted to play. Bad enough to agree to the rules.

Bad enough to smother the inner voice that had warned him he was about to make a colossal mistake.

He'd kept his word and walked away, all the while fighting his lion and silently blasting himself for the fucking idiot he'd become the moment Lily Bristol had strutted into his life.

What he should have done was left the scene in order to personally haul Hawk into Cavin's office. Now he had to join that meeting with a steel pipe bursting the seam of his jeans and an enraged lion looking for any excuse to kill.

He would pay later, he knew. There was only so much control he could exert over his lion, only so much willpower could accomplish.

Jude never made it up to the office because one of the staff flagged him down to pass on the message that Cavin waited for him in the lounge, a section of the club that was given to the more conventional purpose of drinking and mingling.

Cavin sat at a tall cocktail table, the heels of his boots hooked behind his stool's rungs. Women openly watched him, but he didn't make eye contact. Instead, he was focused on the mirror that wrapped around the lounge.

Jude glanced up at the mirror when he reached the table but didn't see anything that needed his attention, so he grabbed the stool across from Cavin. As he sat, he lifted a hand to signal the bar. A moment later, one of the servers slid a bottle of beer in front of him along with a fresh scotch for Cavin, even though it looked like he hadn't touched the first drink.

Once the server left, Cavin looked away from the mirror and lifted a sardonic eyebrow. "You missed the interrogation."

"Did you get anything good out of him?" Jude didn't bother defending or explaining himself. He felt no need for the former and the latter was redundant. Cavin could simply pick a security monitor and find out what was going on in any given corner of the club.

"He's developed a fondness for your woman," Cavin said. Speaking over Jude's snarl, he continued. "But, no, nothing directly useful. The birds know how things are starting to look and they're on alert. According to Hawk, Ravenna has warned all the flocks to lay low and be watchful."



       
         
       
        

"Does she think they have a killer? Or that they're being framed?"

Cavin shrugged. "I don't know. Hawk didn't have reliable intel. If Ravenna's smart, she's expecting both possibilities."