Full Moon Rising

His gaze was a caress of heat that slid down my body, lingering on the way the black cotton shirt fit across my breasts and the way the skirt clung to my hips and thighs. Not naked, but not leaving much to the imagination, either

When his gaze rose to meet mine again, the fever that burned through my blood seemed to echo in his dark eyes. “Do you need relief?”

“Relief?” I arched an eyebrow. “That makes it sound like I’ve got some disease.” And that rankled

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes, I do, and no, I don’t.” I hesitated, giving him my best sweet-as-pie expression—a sure sign the i

His gaze narrowed dangerously. “The idea is to get in and get out, unobserved.”

“Which you can do if I play distraction.”

“We stick to the plan,” he growled, and grabbed my arm, propelling me down the footpath

He was only an inch or two taller than I, but I was practically ru

We climbed the small fence and strode through the cemetery. The wind stirred the dark pines surrounding the small graveyard so that it sounded like the whisperings of the dead. But if the dead had once lived there, they’d long ago moved out. The tombstones were worn with age and barely readable, the graves overrun by weeds and neglect. Even the dead had pride, and the place would not look so desolate if any of them still remained

The fence surrounding the old army camp was just as neglected. It wasn’t electrified. It wasn’t even taut. “I doubt if anything more serious than cleaning products is in development behind that wire.”

“No, but we still have to check.”

I sca

“Rats,” I muttered, my stomach turning as I remembered a drunken teenage eating dare and the resulting days of sickness

“If rats are all we find, I’ll be happy.”

He held up the wire and I ducked through. “I thought you wanted to find your friend?”

“I do, but I doubt he’d be here. Whoever is behind this cloning is very clever and very cautious. Lax security would not be part of it. It’s too much of a risk.”

“But maybe that’s why he’s been so hard to find. We’re looking for one thing, while he’s hiding under our very noses.”

“I have no doubt he’s hiding under our noses, but I don’t think this place is it.”

“Why?”

“You said it yourself. Smell the air.”

I already had. “Ammonia.” But it was overwhelmed by the richness of sandalwood and man

He nodded. “This place does make cleaning products.”

“That doesn’t mean it can’t also be making clones. The base is huge, and from a look at the plans, they’re only using a small section of it.”

He studied me for a minute. “You’re looking for an argument, aren’t you?”

Right then, arguing was the last thing on my mind. I raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think that?”

“Because two seconds ago you were saying you didn’t think anything more than cleaning products was being made here, and now you’re arguing it could be a front.”

“I’m just playing devil’s advocate.”

“You’re definitely playing. I’m just not sure what the game is yet.”

I gave him my most i

“This way,” he said, after a pause

He turned and led the way to the right. The wind stirred the gums and pines scattered around us, and rattled the loose tin on the roof of the buildings just ahead. From behind us came the steady growl of traffic along Camp Road, and from up ahead, the solo roar of an engine

“There’s a car headed our way.”

“More than likely a guard doing his rounds.”

I glanced at my watch. “It’s right on nine, so maybe they do either half hourly or hourly checks.”

“How close is it?”

“A distance off yet.”

“So we’ve got time to get to the main building if we run?”

“I think so.”

He grabbed my hand, fingers hot as they encased mine. “Blur,” he ordered, and tugged me forward

We made it to the main building a heartbeat before the car came into view. The sweep of lights as it turned the corner turned night into day, almost pi

I crouched in the corner shadows beside Qui

“He’s bored,” Qui

My thigh rested against his, and electricity seemed to spark the air between us. The fever began to burn so bad, sweat trickled down my back, despite the ice in the wind. I was still in control, but it wouldn’t take much to push me over the edge. I had a feeling Qui

“He’s obviously neither psychic nor shielded if you can read him so easily.”

He didn’t answer immediately, his expression distant. After a minute, he blinked and glanced at me. “I’ve searched his mind. There’s nothing here to find.”

“We should still check.”

He nodded and rose. We checked, and found exactly what we expected. Nothing

“Hope Jack and Rhoan have more luck than we had,” I said, as we made our way back to the car

“I suspect they won’t. This is all too well pla

“I would hardly call going through a mountain of files easy.”

“But what did we really find? Plans that may very well be nothing more than a dead end.”

He lifted the wire for me. I ducked through, then stopped

The dead had returned to the graveyard

There were eight of them, and they formed a rough semicircle around us. They were all males, all naked, and all rather lacking in the manhood department. Their bodies were muscular, almost too perfect, and their skin shone with a luminosity that reminded me of the moon. But any vague resemblance to humanity ended right there. The flesh of their arms gave way at the elbow to the soft golden fur of a cat, and they had claws rather than hands. Instead of faces, they had the heads and beaks of an eagle. On their backs, fa

“Gryphons,” I said. “Sort of.”

“Humans bred with gryphons, I would suggest.” Qui

I clenched my fists, fighting the need in me. “Why then do I sense them as the dead rather than gryphons?”

“I don’t know.” He flexed his hands, then glanced at me. “I hope you have more of those punches in you.”

“I most certainly do.” I watched them watching us and wondered why they hadn’t yet moved. “I gather you can’t touch their minds?”

“No, they’re shielded, though I can’t see any wires on them.” His fingers captured mine, raising my hand to his lips. His kiss was feather-soft, erotic. “Good luck.”

He released my hand and faded into the night, moving swiftly to the right. That was obviously what the creatures had been waiting for. With a blur of wings, they rose, five swooping toward Qui

The insane part of me was quite offended by the fact that Qui

The sweep of their powerful wings filled the night with a maelstrom of air. Dirt and leaves swirled around me, making it difficult even to see