Deadly Desire

I said it in a hopeful kind of way, and his smile widened. Despite the continuing chill in his gaze, the night suddenly didn't seem as cold anymore.

My wolf soul, it seemed, wasn't going to give up this attraction very easily.

No, Kye said, it means you're stuck with me until we discover just what this woman is up to.

Darn.

Its so nice to feel wanted.

Oh, he was wanted all right. It was just lucky the moon heat was over and I had some measure of control over myself. Not that control did much good given he could probably smell my interest. It was hard for a wolf to hide that sort of thing.

Though he seemed to be doing a damned good job of it.

I should be arresting your ass, I muttered. You've been warned off this case several times already.

You could try if you want to, but it'll cause a bit of a ruckus, and our target just might realize she's being followed.

Which is why I'm not arresting your ass. That and the fact I was just too bone tired to muster the strength I'd probably need to haul his cute rear end into the Directorate.

He smiled again and didn't say anything. We walked another block and crossed over Bourke Street. Laughter and voices joined the bass-heavy beat, and the scent of alcohol and humanity rode the wet night air.

"I liked your performance in the club tonight," he said after a while. I guess he figured us actually having some conversation did look a little better than utter silence should our target happen to look over her shoulder. "Even for a werewolf, you moved extraordinarily well."

I raised an eyebrow. "You were there?"

I was.

"Disguised, obviously."

"Obviously. You didn't spot me."

"Hard to spot someone if they've erased their scent and do

"True." He glanced at me. "It took me a moment to recognize you. Your look and smell was different enough that I glanced past you several times before I realized who you were. I like your regular look better, by the way."

"Then I'd better keep this one," I said dryly. "You pla

"Of course." Telepathically, he added, Now that I know she has an accomplice, it is my duty to track her down and hill them both.

And if he did, I would arrest him. No matter how horrified my crazy hormones might be. "If I spot you tomorrow night, I'll treat you a lap dance."

"I wouldn't."

I raised an eyebrow again. "Why not? We both know you'd enjoy it."

"That is the problem." I am not here to enjoy myself.

Of course he wasn't. He was here to track down and kill. Just like me. A shiver rolled across my skin and I rubbed my arms. If he noted the movement, he didn't do the gentlemanly thing, like offer me his coat. Qui

As we neared Flinders Lane, Ha

"Must have an appointment," Kye murmured, his arms brushing mine as the pavement suddenly narrowed.

Up ahead, a figure waited. A slender woman who was all of sixteen or seventeen.

Fuck.

I stopped, and just as I did, Ha

And oh, what a kiss.

It was urgent and hungry and filled with everything he hadn't been showing, and I reacted as fiercely as I would have had the full moon been nearing completion.

For several seconds, there was nothing else in my world but this kiss and the fierce heat of his body against mine. Then sanity returned, and along with it sound, and I became aware of voices talking.

I broke away, then said, Listen.

I am. He kissed my neck, my ear, then wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me into a hug that was as close as two people could get without being naked.

"But what does the job entail?" the younger woman asked.

"Nothing more than sleeping with a vampire for one night." Ha

I shifted my head slightly on Kye's shoulder so I could get a better look at Ha

The younger woman raised an eyebrow. "Ten grand for sleeping with one bloodsucker for one night? That seems like an awfully good deal. What's the fucking catch?"

"The catch is you have to come to Meinhardt's to meet him."

"Isn't that a strip joint?"

"A men's club is the term we prefer," Ha

"So I have to do him there?"

"No. You accept an invitation to go home with him."

"And then what?" There was still doubt evident in her tones, but even I could see the glint of anticipation in her eyes. Though not, I suspected, for the sex, but rather for the cash. "I just leave in the morning?"

"With ten grand in your hand, yes. And that's more than enough money to take that course you were talking to the employment office about."

I had no idea what course Ha

The slender woman made a clicking sound with her tongue, then said, "Make it twelve, and I'm yours."

"Twelve it is then." Even from where we stood, Ha

The woman took the card and shoved it in her pocket, then turned and walked back up Flinders Lane. Ha

Kye kissed me again.

It was even more electrifying than before, and it took me several seconds to register the fact that Ha

"Looks like we have a tough decision," he said, his breath fast and heated on my lips. "Follow the witch, or follow her target?"

"She's a sorcerer," I corrected, and ducked under his arms, forcing some air and distance between us. "And you know as well as I do that my next quarry is her target."

He reached out and touched a finger lightly to my cheek. "I enjoyed our little encounter tonight, but it's going to make the lap dance tomorrow night all that much harder to ignore."

He wouldn't be ignoring anything on my shift. Which was not entirely a sane thought given my resolve to have as little as possible to do with this man. But then, maybe I wasn't entirely sane. After all, I was a guardian. "Don't kill the blonde."

"I gave you my word not to kill her tonight, Riley. I am a man of my word, if nothing else."

"Good. See you tomorrow night."

"If you can find me," he said, a trace of amusement in his voice again.

It was a challenge, and we both knew it. I didn't answer, simply turned and ran after the young woman before she disappeared.