PLAY OF PASSION

“Damn.” Drew lifted his head, his chest heaving. “I can scent Hawke and the others.”


The words poured cold water on the flames of passion. She realized she still had her hands on his body, the fingers of one curved slightly into his flesh, as if she wanted to prick at him with her claws—as if she was in heat. Shoving away, she stumbled a little. “You lied,” she said, taking out her own stunned confusion on him. “All that bullshit about everything being back to normal.”

“So did you.” His eyes gleamed, hard and bright. “You want me, and if you’d stop fucking lying to yourself for one second, you’d realize we could have something good.”

Her wolf, no longer caught in the sexual inferno, snarled at the challenge, at the arrogance of this male who thought he could bring her to heel. “Don’t kid yourself. Yeah, you can kiss—but I need a little more in my man.” Harsh, angry words, torn from the part of her that hated how he’d made her feel earlier when he’d gone off with Maria—so vulnerable, so weak. She was never weak. She refused to allow it. “I might play with boys, but I don’t keep them.”

Drew flinched, and she knew she’d drawn blood. Somehow, it didn’t feel as good as it should have. But she couldn’t bring herself to take it back, too proud, too confused, too fucking scared of what Drew was asking from her. She knew how it would end. She’d seen how it would end. The hurt, the pain, the constant effort to make herself less so that he would feel better as a man.

It wasn’t worth it. Not even if it hurt like a bitch to walk away.





CHAPTER 17


Henry looked at his man. “It can be done?”

“Yes.” An unequivocal answer. “However, we’ll have to be quick to get the rest of the operation in place now that they’ve detected us.”

“I assume you have that under way.” Henry had chosen this man because of his intelligence and dedication to Silence—and, unlike Shoshanna, he wasn’t about to squander that resource by killing him simply because he happened to be strong enough to be a threat.

A nod. “Even if they somehow discover the first element, the second should give us what we need.”

And the war to uphold Silence, Henry thought, would claim another victim.





CHAPTER 18


Andrew dumped his pack in his room and began to tug off his clothes for the shower. The hike down from the campsite had been undemanding in spite of the rain that had fallen overnight, and, for the juveniles, fun. Most had abandoned their packs for later retrieval halfway down and shifted, gamboling in the pools of water like four-year-olds, their howls of pleasure singing to his soul.

But no matter his wolf’s joy at being with his pack, the trip down had cut at him, made him bleed—because in spite of everything he’d told himself about charm, about courtship, he’d lost his temper the night before and it was still simmering. He’d been in no mood to play—and neither had Indigo.

They’d spoken to each other only when necessary and kept their distance the rest of the time. For Andrew, it had been partly self-preservation and partly because he didn’t trust himself around her. The hunger to touch, to caress, to possess, was a constant craving in his gut by now. He was fully capable of going after her with the intent to claim rights he didn’t have, rights she refused to give him, notwithstanding the addictive musk of her own desire.

Throwing the last of his clothing on the floor, he walked into the shower cubicle and tried to rub away the need, the fury that had him losing his mind. Of course it didn’t disappear, but the time he spent under the deliberately cool spray did calm him down a fraction. He’d made a mistake in challenging Indigo that way—but he wasn’t sorry. Because when it came down to it, he was a dominant same as her. He wasn’t going to lie to her about that. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t also going to use his other skills to burn through the ice of her temper.

I might play with boys, but I don’t keep them.

He clenched his jaw at the memory of her razor-sharp words, refusing to let them push him away. That was what she wanted—it would be the easy way out. And no matter how mad he was at her for what she’d said, he wasn’t going to give her that out. No fucking way.

Switching off the shower, he got dressed, then scrawled something on a small piece of paper that he slipped under Indigo’s door on his way down to the garage. He wasn’t exactly fit company right now. Better he redirect his anger into something useful, like fixing one of the malfunctioning vehicles. Fact was, he was good with cars, but no expert—which meant he’d have to concentrate.