Full Moon Rising

Directly opposite was an open doorway through which a bath and several towels were visible. To the left, another door, that one closed. There was nothing else in the main room but a satin-covered bed, and it was there that Talon sat. He was fully dressed, which in itself was surprising

“You stupid bastard.” My voice was little more than a cracked whisper, but he was a wolf and would have no trouble hearing it. “You have no idea of the trouble you’ve landed yourself in.”

“I think not.” His smile was all arrogance, his eyes chips of golden ice. “Government departments tend to turn a blind eye to the sexual practices of werewolves.”

“This is kidnapping, and that’s a crime.”

“But that’s not what anyone believes, because I rang up stating you are ill. You’re on sick leave, as of an hour ago.”

I shook my head, unable to believe he’d go to such lengths. “I was on special assignment. With my boss. I have no idea who you spoke to, but it won’t matter. They’ll know the lie.”

He shrugged. “I wasn’t fool enough to ring from my phone, rather a pay phone. And I used a voice modulator. They won’t find you.”

“Rhoan knows who my mates are. He’ll find me.”

Talon crossed his arms and laughed. It was a cold, dismissive sound that made the anger boil that much faster

“That pansy couldn’t find his way out of a flower shop,” he said. “Besides, we’re not at any of my known addresses, but a holiday house recently purchased by a subsidiary of one of my companies. It’ll take them weeks to nail down the paper trail. By then, we’ll have shifted.”

“Never underestimate Rhoan. He’s very, very good at what he does—and in case you’ve forgotten, what he does is track down and kill people.” And Talon was dead meat if Rhoan found us like this

He rose and walked toward me, all grace and powerful elegance. The smell of his lust fa

I swallowed, but it did little to ease the aching dryness in my throat. “How did you find me?”

His smile was all arrogance. “The chip in your arm is not for birth control—we took that out over a year ago. It’s a tracking device.”

So that’s how he’d found Qui

The sweat ru

Why would Talon want that? What good would it do him?

He stopped. I lashed out with a fist, but the blow was brought up short as the manacles bit into my wrist. I hissed in pain and frustration, and he smiled

“Do you wonder why you’re here, and chained?” He reached out, idly fondling a breast

Part of me hated it. Part of me wanted anything he was willing to give. I knew which part would win. Had to win, or there would be trouble

“You want a kid, and I won’t give it to you willingly.”

“Very good.” His tone was distant, his gaze intent, as his caress moved from one breast to the other

I couldn’t help pressing into his touch. I needed it as badly as an addict needed her next fix

“The scans I took the other day indicated you were close to ovulation. I ca

An insane thought when all wolves were chipped to prevent pregnancy happening. But then, I guess Talon wasn’t exactly chummy with sanity at that particular point in time. “There’s no guarantee I’ll even carry to term.”

“Which is why I have arranged for you to be moved to one of my laboratories. Our perfect child will be given every medical chance there is.”

“There is no such thing as a perfect child.” We all had faults, though right then I doubted whether Talon would agree—at least when it came to him

He didn’t seem to hear me, and his voice, when he spoke, was distant. “Perfection is something I have chased for a very long time.”

His caress moved down my stomach. I was burning, eager, hungry. My heart raced, and the smell of sweat and lust filled every breath. But the need to become a wolf, to rend and tear and taste blood, was almost as strong as the call of the moon. My teeth and nails were elongating in anticipation of the change, becoming more wolf than human. The only thing stopping me from fully completing the shift was the silver on my wrists and ankles

“Why do this?” The words were slurred through my teeth. I rattled the chains to indicate what I meant

“Do you not remember your folklore?”

I shook my head. Right then, I was having trouble remembering my own name

“Wolves who mate when the moon fever turns to bloodlust will always conceive.”

My smile was bitter. “That’s no folklore—that’s a truth I owe my existence to.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Just what I said. I was conceived when my mother was in bloodlust.” She’d been trying to make it home to our pack, but her car had broken down on the outskirts of a small country town. In some ways, it was lucky the graveyard and that newly risen vampire had stood between her and the people in that town, because it had allowed her to slake both desires without killing any humans

“Then let us hope it is a case of like mother, like daughter.” His fingers slipped though my slickness, and I shuddered, arching into his caress, relishing it, as hard and as rough as it was. He chuckled. “You are close, aren’t you?”

Closer than he knew. The need to mate warred with the need to sink teeth into his flesh and howl my victory to the moon. I took a deep, shuddery breath, suddenly thankful for the silver chaining me. It was the only reason I was still in human form, still lucid

“ARC1-23 was the wrong drug to use.”

He raised an eyebrow. “When did you find out?”

“A couple of days ago.” My words were little more than a pant of air, my body twisting, thrusting, desperate for the relief his fingers were offering

His lust swam around me, as thick and as heavy as the erection pressing against the restraint of his pants. God help me, I wanted to feel him inside, wanted it so bad I was whimpering

“That drug has an extremely high success rate. You will conceive when I finally fuck you, little wolf, and you will remain in my care until you give birth.”

“Like hell.” But my words held little force. The pressure was building, ripping through my nerve endings with the force of lightning. A few more sweeps of his hand, that was all it would take…

With a soft chuckle, he stepped away. I lurched forward, trying to grab him, trying to make him finish what he’d started. But the chains brought me up short again. I cursed him, long and hard

“And that,” he said, his voice rich with amusement, “is why I shall be raising our child, not you.”

Though his features were half-lost to the growing haze of red, the icy determination in his expression was still very evident. Odd. I’d half expected to see a madness equal to what burned through my veins. He had to be mad if he thought he could get away with something like this. Even if he did make me pregnant, there was no way I was ever going to sit back and let him have our child

“Ten of the fifty on that first trial failed to conceive. I might be one of those.”

“Our tests over the past few months show that your body has been reacting favorably to the drug.”