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He pulled me back against him. The stallion was up and ready to go again, and I couldn't help grinning in anticipation.
"Why?" he asked.
"I need to get in there, which means I'll probably have to fuck one of them to get the information I need."
"Riley, I forbid you to do this."
"Bite me."
"Me or Jack?" Kade murmured, his teeth grazing my neck and sending shivers of delight skittering across my skin.
"Jack. And I'm not a fool, boss. I won't jeopardize the mission. I want Starr every bit as badly as you do."
He grunted. Whether that was agreement, or merely the realization he couldn't actually stop me was anyone's guess.
"So, the scientists," I prompted.
"They're a pretty motley looking lot," Kade answered.
"As long as they're male and therefore have a dick that takes over from the brain when confronted by a naked woman, I don't give a damn."
He chuckled, and slid his hands up to cup my breasts. "God, I do so love a werewolf's lack of inhibitions."
And I loved his touch. They way his large hands could cover and contain my breasts. The finesse of his clever fingers as they teased and pinched my engorged nipples. I leaned my head against his shoulder, closed my eyes and simply enjoyed.
And it was in that moment I heard it. The snap of a twig, the gentle rustle of undergrowth. Someone was coming toward us.
I tensed and sat upright.
"What?" Kade asked immediately.
"Shift shape," I murmured as I scrambled to my feet. "Someone's approaching. Jack, I'm switching you off."
"Be caref - " His warning was cut off as I flicked the com-link. Kade shifted into horse form and moved away to graze while I stepped into the icy water and began scooping it up to wash away the evidence of lovemaking. Goose bumps fled across my skin, but the cause wasn't only the chilly water. The presence of the person approaching burned across my skin, as powerful as the electricity that ran before a summer storm. Unpleasant and yet, at the same time, exhilarating.
A man stepped through the trees to my right. He was thick set, broad shouldered, with golden skin and rippling muscles. His hair was a mane of darker gold, thick and lush, and his face was almost feline. His eyes, when he looked up, were tawny. Like a cat's.
He stopped, his eyes suddenly narrowing. The electricity in the air sharpened abruptly, rolling around me in waves that left me breathless, hot. But there was an undercurrent of brutality in what he was projecting, suggesting this man was into more than just vanilla sex.
"Who are you?" he said, voice harsh, rough. He moved his hand, and I noted the gun at his waist of his jeans.
"Poppy Burns. You?"
"And who is Poppy Burns when she's home?" he asked.
"I've been employed to fight in the arena. I came in today."
"Indeed?"
His gaze slid down my body, and moisture skated across my skin, tiny beads of perspiration that had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with arousal. My nipples hardened almost painfully and the throbbing, low-down ache got stronger, especially when his gaze seemed to linger on my hips and groin. As if, even from that distance, he could see the pooling desire. His gaze completed its erotic journey, and rose to meet mine again. The lust so evident in those tawny depths just about melted my insides.
I might be wolf, and I might be so very easily attracted to a good-looking man, but what this particular man was projecting wasn't natural. It was too overwhelming. Not even a male werewolf using the full strength of his aura could create this sort of reaction in me. Not if I didn't want it to.
But I had reacted like this several times before - with Talon, who'd been lab-made by Starr's father. Obviously, given the heated desire boiling around me and his feline features, this man had werelion in him rather than lion-shifter. Shifters - even wolf-shifters - didn't possess this sort of aura. It only came with those who were forced to shift shape on the rise of the full moon. It was her gift to us, if you will.
Or curse, as many shifters and humans seemed to think.
Only I didn't actually think he was a part-breed, or a even clone like Talon, nor did I think he was he a lab-born crossbreed. I think he was something else entirely - and someone I had been warned about. A human who, while still a fetus, had undergone several procedures that involved cross-planting DNA from shifters and weres to enhance reflexes and senses. According to Misha, the experiments started by Starr's predecessor had finally been successful, but one of the side effects was an overdeveloped sex drive and an aura to match. And given Starr's lieutenants were apparently the end result of such experiments, I was betting this man was one of them. There was too much authority in his expression, and in the way he stood, for him to be just another guard.
