Full Moon Rising

“I was on my way home.”

“I thought the Directorate was your home?”

“Only most of the time.”

“So whoever sanctioned the shooting knew your movements pretty well.”

“Exactly. And combined with Rhoan’s disappearance and the attempt on your life, I think we’d better start playing extra safe. Once you snatch Rhoan, don’t go home or come here. They’ll expect those, so go somewhere else and ring me once everyone is safe.”

“Will do.”

He hung up. Qui

“I’ll worry about that once I get him out.”

He considered me for a moment, the heat that had been so evident in his eyes moments before totally gone. “I could fly him up to Sydney and have him checked there. They certainly wouldn’t expect that.”

No, they wouldn’t. But I wasn’t about to let Qui

Though what would the point of that be, when, as he’d already said, if he intended me harm, he could well and truly have done it already?

I worried my bottom lip for a moment, then said, “I don’t know if that’s wise. After all, whoever is behind this made an attempt on your life, as well.”

“We don’t know if that’s co

I snorted. “So it’s just a coincidence that my shooter and your attackers happened to be genetically engineered clones? Give me some credit for intelligence.”

He grimaced. “I’m sorry. But Rhoan needs to be checked. We can’t take him to a hospital here because we can’t be certain how far this thing extends. You can’t take him to the Directorate for the same reason. So our next best option would be to take one of my private planes to my labs in Sydney and have him checked there. Besides, Melbourne is not a safe place for you to be if they’re trying to get rid of everyone involved in this investigation.”

“I’m not involved. I’m just rescuing Rhoan.”

“That shooter makes you involved, whether you want to be or not.”

A gate to the right of us creaked open. I looked sideways. A brown-ski

“He’s wearing a guard’s uniform,” I noted softly, looking back at Qui

“Could be.” He reached into the glove box and withdrew some thick tape. He tore off two pieces and handed them to me. “You think you can get him through those gates and keep him distracted long enough for me to get in there?”

I stuck the tape to my palm. “I’ll try. Make sure you drive off like a rejected customer.”

He nodded. “Once we get Rhoan, we’ll take him straight to Essendon airport. I have a plane there that could be ready in the hour.”

He seemed pretty damn determined to get Rhoan to Sydney, and that only made me more convinced it was better to do the exact opposite. I didn’t answer and pushed away from the car. Qui

I strolled leisurely toward the guard. He was tall, broadly built, and muscular—very desirable, until you looked into his eyes. They were brown, and held no humanity at all. Just hunger and death

The heat of his aura hit me a heartbeat later. The moon heat surged in response, leaving me breathless, hot, yet very uneasy. There was an undercurrent of brutality in what he was projecting, and I very much suspected that sex with this man would not be pleasant… maybe not even survivable

“Are you werecreature?” The guard’s voice was gruff with the urgency I could feel vibrating through him

“My mother was wolf.”

His gaze slithered downward, coming to an abrupt halt where my nipples poked through the shirt. “That explains the heat I feel from you.”

I shrugged. “If you hunger, there’s a cost.”

He smirked. “How about we do a deal?”

I raised an eyebrow. “What sort of deal?”

“I won’t report your activities here to the cops and, in return, you mate with me and my buddy.”

Christ, there were two of them. Just what I needed with the moon burning in the night sky

I pursed my lips, pretending to consider the proposal. After a moment, I said, “Not here. Is there somewhere more… intimate we could go?”

He gri

He pressed me close. His body felt on fire, and, like the Gautier clones, he smelled faintly of mint and musk and freshly turned earth. Did that mean he, too, was a clone? Or was he something else completely different? Perhaps another of those lab-bred crosses?

The waves of his aura were blasting me with hot desire, hardening my nipples to the point of pain and making my pulse race—all physical signs of a response I didn’t feel inside. But I couldn’t let that reluctance show. I had to make him believe I was as eager as he or there’d be trouble

He pressed a hand into my back, his fingers sliding down my spine, his touch hot yet sending chills skating across my skin. His breathing was rapid, fa

“You feel good, wolf.”

I forced a smile and pressed my groin against the thickness of his erection. “As do you,” I purred. It wasn’t a lie. I was a wolf, the moon was in bloom, and the need to mate was rising. The heat of him pressed against me did feel good—even if the rest of his packaging made me want to throw up

His mouth came down to mine and it felt like I was kissing death itself. His hand slid under the skirt and began fondling my rear. I shuddered, partly in pleasure, partly in pain. His touch made me eager, yet it also bruised

When his fat fingers tried to slide farther, I pulled away and placed a hand on his chest. “Not here. Inside, out of the cold.”

His grin was full of hungry anticipation. He caught my arm, pulling me roughly forward. I managed to slide the tape across the second gate and hoped like hell it worked. I could handle one man with no problems, but I very much suspected I might not be able to handle the blast of two hungry auras—not for long, anyway

We approached the guardhouse, and the aura of the second werecreature hit. It felt like I was drowning in a sea of lust, one that had my blood surging even though the sane part of me quailed at the thought of mating with those two sickos

Not that I intended letting the charade go that far. Unlike my brother, I was telepathic, and I could use that power to protect myself just as well as I could use my fists. And in cases like this, telepathy was the far better weapon

The first guard opened the door and ushered me inside. The room was small, containing little more than monitors, chairs, and a phone. The second guard was the exact duplicate of the first—brown on evil brown. And like the first guard, there was something base, something corrupt, in the energy he was projecting

He rose, expectation shining in his eyes as he hitched the waist of his pants and gave me the once-over. I obviously met with his approval, because his eagerness burned the air

The first guard reached for me, something I felt rather than saw. I spun out of the way, covering the movement by catching his hand and pressing it against one breast. His fingers caught my nipple, squeezing hard