PLAY OF PASSION

Sucking in a breath, she squeezed her inner muscles, saw his eyes roll back in his head, and still his hands stayed her hips, keeping her from moving. “I’m okay,” she said, knowing his protective streak had risen to the fore with her cry. “You’re just a little more … significant in this position.”


A tug of his lips, a playful arrogance that made her want to tease and delight him in equal measures. Stroking away his hands, she clasped them with her own, and then she rode her wolf. The slick glide of flesh against flesh, the rich musk of their combined scents, the blazing fire of the heat in her belly, it all added to the exotic, erotic dance. But the most powerful sensation of all was seeing Drew’s eyes flicker from blue to copper and back again as both wolf and man surrendered to the inferno between them.

As he took her with him.





CHAPTER 31


Henry picked up a transmitter similar to the ones he’d had his men place in SnowDancer territory. A pity they had been discovered; they would’ve offered him a small tactical advantage in the future—but it was nothing close to game over. Blinded by the weakness of their animal natures, the wolves hadn’t yet found the other pieces of technology.

By the time they did, it would be too late.





CHAPTER 32


Midmorning the next day, Andrew walked into Hawke’s office just as his alpha finished a conversation with Judd via comm screen. Nodding to his brother-in-law before the screen blanked, he glanced at Hawke. “Where’s Judd?”

“Somewhere in South America.”

The answer wouldn’t have made sense to most people, given that Judd had been in the den until only a couple of hours ago. Only a limited few knew the man was a very powerful telekinetic. Not a true teleporter, but well able to teleport long distances.

“Still nothing to confirm why the transmitters were there?” he asked, grabbing a seat.

“Four possibilities.” Hawke raised a finger, his anger banked but no less lethal for it. “To act as locator beacons for teleportation or airborne vehicles”—a second finger—“a test to see how quickly we’d detect that type of intrusion”—a third finger—“or as markers on where to place explosives.”

Andrew blew out a breath. “Trying to cause a massive rock slide?”

Hawke gave a nod, tapping the scrawled diagram in front of him. “You blow this section, you not only cut off a chunk of our land, any invading army has far less distance to cover to get to the heart of den territory.”

“You said four possibilities. What’s the fourth?”

“We found these so fast, you’d think we were meant to find them.”

“Decoys.” Andrew frowned. “But to what purpose?”

“That’s part of what Judd’s hoping to run down. He’s hearing whispers that say this might be linked to Pure Psy. I’ve also sent the techs back up to scan for anything else that shouldn’t be there.” Shoving his hands through his hair, Hawke clenched his jaw. “Whatever the truth, instinct tells me things are going to come to a violent head sooner rather than later.”

“If Judd does connect the transmitters categorically to Pure Psy,” Andrew said, slotting in the other pieces in his mind, “and we add the e-mails to the mix, then I’m certain the packs haven’t been targeted in isolation, but as part of a campaign against the city as a whole.”

The wolf looked out of Hawke’s eyes when he turned to Andrew. “You found something else.”

“Teijan called me this morning. His people have noticed a steady stream of Psy slipping into the city and setting up house. Some of them don’t appear to have jobs.”

Hawke’s jaw tightened. “Trouble?”

“Not according to what I got from Max after I spoke to Teijan. Seems like word’s gotten out that Nikita has accepted a flawed Psy in her administration.” Max’s wife, Sophia, was still in the Net. And she was no longer Silent.

Hawke thought about the cold-eyed woman who’d disowned her own daughter and knew there had to be something in the stance for Nikita. Either that, or the Councilor was simply waiting for a chance to turn on the poor souls who looked to her for hope. “Are they making waves?”

“Max has an eye on them and says most are only trying to find sanctuary.”

“But it’s going to shift the balance of the city.” And Hawke’s first priority was the safety of his pack. “I’ll talk to Lucas, make sure our own people have the situation under surveillance.”

Drew played a pen over his fingers. “The fact that San Francisco is becoming ground zero for Psy who are breaking Silence … well, it explains the dead Psy in the city and on the edges of the state, doesn’t it?”

“Poor buggers got caught up in the crossfire between two Council factions.” Picking up a small ball from the corner of his desk, Hawke threw it against the wall, catching it as it rebounded. “You think we’ve been hit by the crossfire, too.”