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by Lora Leigh
They’d known the window would fail, which meant someone had already sabotaged the window’s high-grade electronics.
By time they returned to the Bureau, the Breed investigators had already gone over the shattered debris, found the corrupted electronics and had the evidence in one of the labs. Now the apartment he and Cassie were being given instead was being checked for similar defects in the windows and balcony doors.
And the question remained. Was it a strike against him or against his mate?
Stepping into Cassie’s former room, he came to a hard stop just inside the door, eyes narrowing on the two unfamiliar visitors. The two Wolf Breeds standing next to the window weren’t the investigators Jonas had assigned to go over the room and the window’s electronics.
“Can I help you boys?” he drawled as he stopped just inside the door and allowed Mutt and Mongrel to move around him, flanking him carefully.
The two Breeds, both tall, one with hints of auburn in his brown hair, the other black-haired with hints of dark gray and pale blond strands, tensed at his entrance. They faced him silently, their eyes moving from Mutt and Mongrel back to him.
“We were just looking,” the darker Breed assured him, quiet confidence echoing in his voice as his pale green eyes met Dog’s.
Dog’s brow lifted, his gaze dropping to the shards of the window beneath their feet.
“You’re not the investigators,” he pointed out.
“True.” The Breed inclined his head, the scent of confidence, of inner strength and control, never shifting. “Merely curious.”
Hmm. Curiosity was a Breed fault, he admitted, he had plenty of it himself. Still, this didn’t feel like mere curiosity; this felt more like an agenda to him.
“Satisfied that curiosity yet?” he inquired, moving farther into the room, drawing in the scents he found there as he kept his gaze on the two Breeds.
“Not really.” The Breed sighed and looked around slowly before meeting Dog’s gaze once again. “But we’ll go now. Pardon the intrusion.”
Now, who said Breeds couldn’t be polite? Not that they were, but this proved this one knew how to be.
Dog didn’t move. He remained in front of the doorway, watching as the Breed stopped several feet from him.
There might have been a gleam of amusement in the hard features as their gazes met again.
“Names,” he stated softly, one hand settling on the weapon strapped to his thigh.
The Breed’s lips tilted in a wry curve. “John Kodiak.” His head tilted toward the more watchful Breed. “Troy Rain.”
Then they waited.
The air of steady watchfulness never shifted. Not once was there a hint of aggression, hatred or conflict. They just stood there, all patient and easygoing, waiting on Dog to shift.
“Not going to happen.” He grinned, his hand gripping the holstered weapon as Mutt and Mongrel did the same. “So, tell me, John Kodiak and Troy Rain. What’s the sudden interest in my window that failed electronics don’t explain?”
The two Wolf Breeds stared back for long moments.
“Warned ya,” Rain muttered, amused and irritated at the same time, as Kodiak shifted a look his way.
Dog arched his brow and kept his attention on the more silent Breed. If danger came, if would be from this one, he knew. That air of calm that surrounded the Breed had to be a shield of sort. There wasn’t a Breed alive that calm and centered.
“We’re no danger to you or to your mate,” Kodiak assured him. “As I said, we were just checking it out.”
“Hmm.” Dog pursed his lips. He was highly doubtful of that. “You know I don’t believe you, right?” he pointed out.
Kodiak nodded slowly. “Yeah. I was getting that feeling.”
“Want to tell me something I’ll believe?” he asked. “Or do you want to fight your way out?”
Kodiak gave him an ironic grin. “That our only choice? Hell of a day when a Breed can’t even be a little curious. It’s not like you and your mate haven’t been moved out of here.”
He had a point, Dog admitted silently.
“Fight or talk,” Dog suggested.
The Breed stared back at him thoughtfully, his body shifting but not in preparation to fight. Or if he was, Dog was damned if he could sense it.
That damned air of complete nonconflict was fucking freaking him the hell out just to begin with. Any Breed that right with himself and who and what he was needed to die, just for the safety of all Breeds everywhere.
“Tell me,” Kodiak finally asked softly, his voice lower, his gaze thoughtful. “What do you know about your father?”
• CHAPTER 15 •
Nothing.
Cassie glared at the reports coming in on the tablet she carried as she and Ashley stepped from the elevator and headed up the hall to the apartment she and Dog had been assigned.
Her irritation level was rising along with the Heat sizzling in her body, and she wasn’t dealing with it well . The message she’d received from Dog more than an hour before informing her that he was delayed wasn’t setting well with her either.
She knew he’d returned to the building long before that. The diagnostics on the remains of the window had come through even before he’d returned, so he couldn’t be waiting on that. Jonas and Rule along with the deputy director, Rhyzan Brannigan were currently in a meeting with Seth Lawrence and his mate, Dawn, in regard to the window. Lawrence Industries manufactured the glass and electronics that reinforced the windows the Bureau used.
The disquiet she could feel gathering in the pit of her stomach was making her off-balance, the irritation was growing, and the Heat was so damned uncomfortable she swore she was going to break out in a sweat.
“All reports are in, Cassie,” Ashley stated as she followed her. “Even those from the dark web, and there’s not so much as a whisper of a Breed strike from anyone.”
Not even a whisper. There was a whisper, there always was; she just had to find it. And normally, she was damned good at finding those all-but-silent murmurings. But then, normally, her body wasn’t rioting for a mate’s touch either.
“Tell them to keep looking,” she ordered the other Breed, frowning as she tried to make sense of what she was feeling. “I want to know who that shooter was and who hired them. And I want that information now.”
“Well, now is a little illogical,” Ashley drawled, the Russian accent filled with mirth. “How ’bout quickly?”
Smart-ass Coyote.
Stopping at the door to the apartment, Cassie slapped her hand to the biometric plate, waited for the door to disengage then strode into the room.
“Fine, quickly,” she snapped, the heels of her shoes clicking across the tile entryway. “Real quick if you don’t mind.”
“Cassie, really, we’ll work our Coyote asses off to find it, if it’s out there,” the Breed assured her with a vein of flippant amusement. “But so far, there’s nothing.”
There was always something. There had to be more than they’d found so far.
Laying her tablet on the counter separating the roomy kitchen and living area, she turned to the Coyote as her hands propped on her hips and fought for patience.
“Do you know how many times one of the windows created by Lawrence Industries has failed due to a strike such as the one today?” The back of her neck was tingling, her stomach tight with worry.
“That I could find. The only failures were those caused by outside interference. Three, I believe.” Cocking a hip, the petite blond Coyote Breed consulted her own tablet. “Each was due to interference to the electronic shielding.” She looked up, gray eyes regarding Cassie in understanding. “Diagnostics found the jamming chip and Jonas and Rule will find the shooter.”
The confidence Ashley displayed was starting to piss her off.
“Not without a direction to look,” she forced out between gritted teeth. “That’s our job.”
“And we will do our job.” Ashley flipped her hair behind her shoulder w
ith a little shrug. “While we do our job, you need to jump your mate’s bones and relax a little. You know this will take a minute.”
A minute? They’d been at it for hours.
Unfortunately, Ashley was right. Cassie couldn’t think clearly, not like this. Not when everything inside her was rioting with the need for Dog.
“I’ll go and harass Coyote ass to work faster.” Ashley turned for the door as Dog’s scent reached Cassie, drawing her, sending the need spiraling as she pivoted toward the doorway to the far side of the room.
He stood, leaning against the door frame, regarding her quietly, his gaze somber rather than amused. He was bare chested, his feet bare. He’d showered if the dampness of his hair was an indication. The dun-colored pants he wore were zipped but not buttoned, and beneath them she could see the heavy bulge that indicated his erection.
The door closed behind Ashley with a quiet snick, leaving them alone, staring across the distance that separated them.
That disquiet she could feel had her stomach in knots now.
“Did you find anything at the site?” She knew the reports so far said they hadn’t, but sometimes there were holes in the reports, she knew.
“Just what we sent you.” He shook his head, grimacing. “Rule sent trackers out searching for the dirt bike, but he’s not optimistic. Once it hits the highway, it’ll be impossible to track.”
She wanted to go to him. She needed to touch him. There was something that held her back, though, something that didn’t make sense. Swallowing, she glanced to the curtains closed over the balcony doors and rubbed at her arms nervously.
“Southern view.” She turned back to him. “There’s no satellite gap there. They won’t be able to make the same attempt.”
He followed her gaze but didn’t respond. When his gaze met hers once again, she could feel her heart beginning to race with a sense of fear.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered, unable to bear the tension rising inside her any longer.
Where were the spirits, the vague images that once guided her, that helped her when she so desperately needed answers? For the first time since they’d mated, she felt a distance in Dog, despite the mating bond that had been strengthening between them.
And it had been strengthening, building, binding them together and giving her a sense of hope that it would be more than just a physical mating for him.
“Nothing’s wrong.” He finally shook his head, holding his hand out to her. “I need my mate, though.”
She stared at his hand, moving slowly to him, hating the fear rising inside her and the uncertainty building like a premonition of danger humming in her head.
Reaching out, she took his hand and let him lead her into the bedroom. A low light glowed from the table next to the king-sized bed. The comforter and sheet were pulled back invitingly. Despite the arousal burning inside her, a chill raced up her spine as he drew her to the bed.
“Something’s wrong,” she whispered as he sat on the side of the bed and drew her between his knees. “I can feel it, Dog.”
Her hands rested on his shoulders, the warmth of his flesh sinking into her palms.
“Nothing’s wrong, baby,” he whispered.
Releasing the braid and pulling apart the sections of her hair, he arranged them gently before turning to her clothes.
The zipper at the back of her skirt slid free, the silk caressing as it slid over the tops of her stockings to the floor. When it pooled at her feet, he began unbuttoning her blouse unhurriedly.
“I was so damned hard watching you in that Cabinet meeting I couldn’t decide if I should rip Rhyzan’s throat out or drag you out of there and fuck you.” His lips quirked ruefully as he pushed the blouse over her shoulders, forcing her to move her arms to allow the material to follow the skirt.
“Look how pretty,” he crooned, his gaze moving from the white lace of her bra to the matching high-cut panties.
His hands framed her breasts, his touch sending a wave of weakening pleasure and need to rush over her, almost obliterating the fear that had been building inside her.
His thumbs rubbed over her nipples, rasping the lace against the tight points and drawing an involuntary groan from her as she fought to breathe.
“You make me weak,” she whispered, trembling at the pleasure rushing through her and pushing the need higher.
“You make me strong.”
Before the surprise, the shock of his statement, could race through her, his hand cupped the back of her neck as he gripped her hip and pulled her to him.
His lips covered hers, parting them in a kiss she realized she’d been dying for. As her senses were whirling from the sudden rush of the mating hormone burning through her, he lifted her from her feet, bearing her to her back and coming over her.
Deep, drugging kisses, nips of her lips, his tongue stroking hers, hers stroking his. Fear, disquiet, dissipated beneath the extraordinary pleasure and the sense of his complete attention centered on her.
They’d battled, argued. When they’d come together, conflict and uncertainty had filled it before. There was no conflict, no uncertainty. There was his complete attention centered on nothing but her, and hers followed suit.
He released the cups of her bra, drawing it from her, but when her hands returned to stroke his shoulders, his back, her nails flexing against the tough skin, a groan rumbled in his chest. He cupped her breast, his lips moving along her neck, burning kisses, the scrape of his teeth.
Their legs twined together, reminding her that he still wore pants. She wanted him naked against her, wanted his flesh stroking hers, the feel of his erection against her.
She pushed at the band of his pants, crying out when his lips covered the tight peak of her nipple. Arching, swamped with the sharp arcs of exquisite sensation, she was only barely aware of him releasing the pants and working them over his hips, down his thighs until he kicked them free.
His lips drew on first one sensitive nipple, then the other, drawing it in his mouth, sucking it firmly, his tongue rubbing at it, the hormone spilling from him sensitizing it further.
“I love your taste.” The guttural pleasure in his voice had her breath catching.
His kisses moved lower. Soft licks as his lips smoothed beneath the mounds of her breasts, then moving along her stomach as he slid her panties down her thighs, revealing the slick, swollen folds of her sex.
Pushing her thighs apart, he moved between them, those diabolical kisses moving to her mound.
“So fucking pretty,” he groaned, his fingers caressing her inner thighs, his breath caressing the swollen bud of her clit. “All I can think about is touching you, tasting you. From the minute I saw you on that damned balcony six years ago, Cassie. I dreamed of this.”
Her breath caught, a cry escaping as he delivered a heated kiss to her clit. Each brief, firm caress caused the bundle of nerves to swell further, to throb with overwhelming pleasure. Flares of brilliant, white-hot sensation rushed through her, clenching her muscles in desperate need.
Those kisses turned from her clit to her thigh, teeth raking, rasping her flesh. She jerked at the additional sensation, moaning, her hands locked in his hair as her hips arched.
“Don’t tease me,” she gasped, her head tossing against the mattress as those kisses moved to her other thigh.
“Not teasing, halfling,” he promised, his voice rougher, deeper with lust. “Enjoying you. Pleasuring you.”
He was killing her with pleasure.
His kisses moved to her hip, where he nipped, licked, leaving a burning brand against her flesh that had her crying in pleasure. Heat built and expanded, drawing a fine film of perspiration over her flesh. He moved her hands from his hair, pressed them to the bed, growling with erotic command when she tried to lift them to him again.
She couldn’t bear this slow, blissful pleasure. As his lips and tongue caressed her, his hands stroked her thighs, pushing them farther apart as she tried to close them to trap his touch between
them.
He chuckled when his lips brushed over her clit and she arched, trying to capture a firmer touch.
“Dog, please.” She wasn’t above begging. “I can’t stand it.”
She was dying for more. The heated slide of moisture spilling from her was a tormenting caress. The involuntary clenching of her vagina only made the need deepen.
Dog was determined to love her, to touch her, to draw every nuance of her inside him.
Just in case.
Just in case he lost her. Just in case he never had the chance to touch her like this again.
He touched, stroked. He tasted.
The taste of her was exquisite. He knew no matter what tomorrow brought, the taste of her would infuse his senses as long as he lived. It would live inside him, torment him if he never tasted her again.
He could feel her losing herself in him, and he’d dreamed of it happening. Dreamed of the day when his little halfling was so lost in the pleasure he gave her she could only lie beneath him, her cries filling the air around them.
The sweet heated scent of her pussy filled his head as his kisses moved back to her thighs. Her clit peeked out from the slick folds, a moist little pearl swollen and shimmering with the need for his touch.
He was so damned hungry for her, desperate to taste the need spilling from her. Knowing once his lips returned to those wet folds he’d be lost. There would be no controlling his lust for her then, no controlling the hunger surging through his senses.
But as his lips brushed against the sweet taste of her again, he knew he was lost. He had to taste.
His tongue swiped through the narrow slit, circled the swollen bud, and he groaned in defeat. Spicy feminine need exploded through his senses, the underlying sweetness tempting his taste buds. A temptation he couldn’t fight.
The first stroke of his tongue through the sensitive folds between her thighs stole her breath. Cassie gasped, her body drawing at the agonizing pleasure that rushed through her on a sharp wave of building sensation.
He circled her clit, sucked it into his mouth and stroked it with his tongue. Pushing his hands beneath her rear he lifted her closer, that wicked tongue sliding lower once again, rimming the entrance and pushing his tongue inside her in a stroke of such pleasure she would have screamed if she’d had the breath.