He was reading my thoughts again, and though it should have pissed me off, it didn’t. Right now, curiosity was stronger. I raised my eyebrows again. “So you’re not standing there with a wet spot in your pants?”
Amusement touched his lush mouth, and made my hormones do their usual little dance. Sated they might be, but I was a wolf and it wouldn’t have taken much to get them interested in another round.
“No, I am not,” he said.
“Then how come all that affected me physically and not you?”
“Because you are not ready to step entirely beyond the physical.” He paused. “You once said that it must be amazing to share sex with another telepath. What you just experienced was merely an appetizer.”
“And I take it the appetizer is supposed to make me hunger for more?”
“Yes.”
“Why? I mean, the appetizer was good, but I can get that sort of good from Kellen any day of the week.”
Which actually wasn’t true, but hey, it certainly never hurt to remind him that Kellen was on the scene and was a true rival. Because he was a wolf. Because he could give me what Quinn never could.
His gaze tightened imperceptibly and I resisted the temptation to smile.
“You will never achieve the sort of intimacy I’m talking about with Kellen.”
“How the hell do you know that? You have no idea what goes on between Kellen and me.”
“I know, because the sort of intimacy I’m talking about can only be achieved between telepaths.”
“And why would that be?”
“Because dropping your shields so that spirits dance means you are placing yourself completely open to the other person. There are no secrets, no hiding, no lies. Just you, your lover, and the emotion and truths that lay between you.” He hesitated, and I had a feeling he was about to add something else, then thought better of it. “It comes down to trust, complete trust.”
“Which means we can never go any further than we already have, because I don’t fully trust you.” And probably never would after his stupid mind-raid for information.
He didn’t say anything, just sort of glowered at me. I pulled away from Kade. He didn’t move, didn’t react. “Release him, Quinn.”
The words were barely out of my mouth when Kade blinked, and a pleased smile stretched his lips. He stepped up beside me and put a proprietary arm around my shoulders. Which annoyed me almost as much as Quinn’s continuing insistence I would play things his way. Eventually.
But before I could say anything, the main stable door cracked open and the cold night air filtered in again. Quinn disappeared in an instant, the night and darkness swallowing him whole. Kade stepped back, shifted shape once again, then pressed in beside me to peer over the stall door. I wrapped the shadows around myself and listened to the light puff of breathing that belonged to the person down the far end.
After a moment, footsteps echoed. Soft steps, neither hurried nor cautious, just a steady click of sound. I blinked. Those steps were from heels, high heels, not the work boots I’d seen the guards wearing. Whoever approached was female, not male. Not a guard. Someone else.
The night air stirred around me, bringing with it the teasing hints of jasmine and orange. And with those scents came the sense of something else—something not human, not even nonhuman, but something altogether different, altogether dangerous. A Fravardin. Tension slithered from my limbs. I flicked on the com-link so Jack could hear whatever was about to happen, then stepped up to the door and peered past Kade.
Dia walked toward us, her flowing white dress hugging her curvaceous figure and shining almost as brightly as her white hair in the shadowy darkness. Kade snorted softly, and it was an appreciative sound if ever I’d heard one.
Resisting the urge to smile, I let the shadows fall away from me and said, “You looking for me?”
She jumped, ever so slightly, then her powerful gaze centered on mine and again I was struck by the notion that this was not a woman you ever wanted to get on the wrong side of. And not just because of the unseen creature who gave her sight and kept her safe.
“Yes.” She paused. “Why are you hiding in the stalls?”
“I’m in the stables because there’s no one here at night, and in the stall in case a guard happens to walk by. And there’s no microphones around here, so it’s reasonably safe to report back to my boss. Why were you looking for me?”
“Because there have been changes since we last talked.” She stopped several feet away, took a breath, then let it out slowly. “The timetable has been stepped up. He no longer plans to wait until Gautier has taken over the guardian division to attempt his cartel takeover.”
We needed that like we needed a hole in the head. “What’s happened?”
“He has been hosting not only his generals, but generals from some of the rival cartels. He has convinced them of his desire to work in unison with them to form an Australian-wide alliance that will profit all. The leaders of those cartels are coming here in two days’ time for merger discussions.”
Her information confirmed two things—that I’d read Merle’s mind correctly, and that she was being as helpful as she could. “How many cartels are we talking about?”
“Three of the six.”
“Half of them,” Jack murmured. “It would be a damn good start to wiping out organized crime in Melbourne if we caught them all.”
But it still left another three—and those three would undoubtedly step into the breach left by the other cartels’ removal.
Still, taking half out was better than none.
“Two days doesn’t give us a lot of time, especially since they are watching the new arrivals closely.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, but there is nothing much I can do.”
“Except give us information.”
“Us?” She raised a pale eyebrow. “There is more than one of you here?”I mentally cursed the slip of the tongue. I might believe Dia, might trust her desperation to get her child free, but that didn’t mean she was playing on our side. If things went foul and if we were discovered, she’d do what she could to save herself and her child. Just like the spirit lizard. So I shrugged. “That’s a metaphorical ‘we,’ not an actual one.”
Her expression suggested she wasn’t believing me. I really was going to have to get some lying lessons. “What information do you wish?”
“For starters, where does the second elevator on Moss’s and Merle’s floor lead to?”
She frowned. “What elevator?”
“You know, the one opposite the elevator the guards take the lieutenants’ nightly toys down in.”
Understanding flickered in her unseeing eyes. “That’s no elevator, but doors that lead into Starr’s rooms.”
It was my turn to frown. “I saw Merle key it open. It looked like an elevator.”
“It might at a quick glance, but it is similar to an air lock. One door must close before the other opens, and only after the right codes and scans are entered.”
Confusion ran through me. I knew what I’d seen, and I’d seen an elevator, not a form of air lock. “So can you get in there?”
She shook her head, sending slivers of silver cascading across the night. Kade snorted softly again, his hooves barely missing my toes as he shifted. I elbowed him lightly to remind him that I was there, that he had to be careful no matter how attracted he suddenly was. He glanced at me, velvet eyes sparkling with amusement and interest.
“I have been there under escort, nothing more. Starr is not fool enough to trust me with such access,” Dia said, bringing my attention back to her. “As far as I know, only Merle, Moss, and the head of security have access to that lock.”
“Is the head of security a tall, balding man with severe acne scars?”
She nodded. “Henry Cartle is his name.”
“Any chance of you getting me a security roster?”
She hesitated. “I’ll try.”
“Try hard, because I can’t do this without help.”
She stared at me for a moment, as if understanding what I wasn’t saying more than what I was, then nodded. “Anything else?”
“What floor is the lab on?”
“The second floor.”
“Riley, you are not going in to rescue that child.”
I couldn’t answer Jack, so I just ignored him. There wasn’t anything he could do to stop me anyway, short of pulling me out, and we both knew he wasn’t about to do that.
“And it has the same security precautions as the third floor?”
“Under no circumstances are you to go near that lab in an attempt to rescue the child. That is a direct order.”
And I liked direct orders almost as much as I liked going to the dentist.
Dia nodded. “Entry is restricted to the scientists, Starr’s lieutenants, and the head of security.”
Meaning it might be easier to cozy up to one of the scientists to get in there than risk security, Moss, or Merle. “Where are the scientists quartered?”
Jack swore loudly. “Jesus, Riley, are you listening to me?”
For an intelligent man, he was mighty slow in realizing I wasn’t. I touched my ear, flicking off the com-link. Yelling would be next, and I didn’t need that on top of the headache I already had.
“The scientists are the next building down from security.”