"So why have you given up?"

"Because I'm far from desperate, and he's not a wolf."

"And you want children eventually?"

I nodded. "As I tried to tell him, I wasn't after anything deep or everlasting. I just wanted to explore."

"You know, I've found that jealously works a whole lot better than trying to talk sense to people like that. Flaunt your conquests under his nose, and watch his pulse rate go up."

His teeth grazed my shoulder, nipping lightly. My pulse skipped into race mode.

"Hard to make him jealous when he doesn't even live in the same state."

"Then forget him. He's obviously a man who doesn't know a true prize when he finds it."

Amusement ran through me. "And you are?"

"Sweetheart, when I find a prize worth having, I grip on tight and ride it until it's mine." As if to demonstrate, he slid a hand down to my leg, his grip bruising. I barely had time to register it when his grip shifted and his thumb began to caress my inner thigh, sending little shivers of desire scooting across my body.

"This from a man who warned me, ever so gently, not to expect anything more serious than a good time?"

"If you were a horse-shifter, I'd pursue you until I won you, and you wouldn't have a hope of ever leaving my herd." His touch and his voice left me in no doubt as to his sincerity, and suddenly I felt a whole lot better about myself. After Talon's betrayal, Misha's probable involvement with the people behind my kidnappings, and Quinn basically dumping me, I'd been beginning to wonder if I'd had a sign on my back saying, "Stomp all over me, I love it."

"Of course, you're not a mare, so I'm just going to have to settle for a little fun."

Amusement bubbled through me. "So the planned riding lessons will still be going ahead?"

"As soon as possible."

Which would be real soon if I didn't get my act together and move. Not that I did. His touch had finally moved up my leg and it just felt too good to end it all so soon. "So, how many offspring have you got in your herd?"

"None. The government shoves the same hormonal chip in us stallions as they do you wolves." He hesitated. "Of course, the chip was taken out in that place, which means I'm more than likely fertile right now."

"Then it's just as well it's extremely rare for inter-species breeding to happen."

Of course, it did happen—I was living proof of that—so it was probably just as well I couldn't get pregnant without medical help. In fact, I might not be able to get pregnant at a!!, if my latest tests came back like Rhoan's.

He raised an eyebrow. "Then you're not chipped either?"

"No." It had been taken out over a year ago by Talon, and I'd never bothered getting it replaced. Couldn't really see the point of it, when most of the docs considered me the werewolf version of a mule and felt it was unlikely I'd ever fall pregnant. "But it won't matter. I have medical problems that prevent conception."

"So we can play without worrying about consequences?"

It was becoming extremely hard to concentrate on what he was saying when his clever fingers were doing all sorts of wonderful things. "We most certainly… hhh!"

He laughed and placed his large, warm hands on either side of my butt and lightly kicked apart my legs. "Sweetheart, you ain't felt nothing yet."

He thrust into me, sliding deep and hard, and I groaned in pleasure. He stilled, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the connection of flesh, the pulse of warmth deep inside. I knew, like he knew, that this wasn't entirely wise. That it was dangerous to give in to pleasure when we were far from home, and far from safe. But danger is something of an aphrodisiac to a wolf, and I was a wolf who couldn't remember feeling any sort of pleasure in over a week. I needed this as badly as a vampire might have needed blood.

He began to move, stroking long and deep, and any lingering reluctance dissolved into intense pleasure. The rich, low-down ache grew, becoming a kaleidoscope of sensations that washed through every corner of my mind, the intensity of which increased sharply as Kade's tempo increased. All too soon the shuddering took hold as pleasure ripped through my body, my mind. I gasped, grabbing the bench for support, my cries of pleasure joining Kade's as his own orgasm hit.

When the tremors finally eased, he laughed softly and rested his forehead against my back "I think we both needed that."

I smiled. "I think we did."

He dropped a kiss on my shoulder, then wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled my back against his warm body. "Next time I promise to take more time."

I opened my mouth to reply, but in that moment, I heard it.

The faint scrape of nail against concrete.

We were no longer alone.

Chapter Three

I froze.

"What?" Kade asked immediately, his voice barely a whisper.

"Something's outside." I scrambled to the window, carefully peering out. Nothing moved in the yard. Nothing but sunlight danced in the shadows of the trees.

Yet something was out there. I was growing more and more certain of it.

I ducked past the window. "Check the back. I'll check the living room and side."

He left the room. I crept into the living room and peered out the windows. No creature crept across the lawn or hid in the nearby trees. I retreated to the bathroom.

And heard a familiar rumble.

It was one of the orsini. Against all the odds, it had tracked us here. I wondered how far behind human pursuit was.

I went to the bedroom and grabbed some clothes, but left the shoes. Not only because they didn't look as if they'd fit, but because I didn't really need them. My feet had thick soles thanks to the fact I only wore shoes when I had to, and I suspected Kade, as a horse-shifter, would be the same.

He was standing to the side of the window when I got to the kitchen, but looked around as I entered. "Nothing here."

I tossed some clothes at him, noting with amusement that his cock was still ready to play. Obviously, not a man easily deterred. "Did you ever see any of the creatures they had patrolling that place?"

He frowned. "I saw a hairy thing once. Looked like a warped bear."

"That's what's outside."

He put on the black pants and shirt I'd given him. They were tight—not indecently tight, but not that far from it. Rhoan was going to blow a fuse—especially if Kade remained in his current state.

"How many?" he asked.

"It seems to be by itself, but more will surely be on their way."

I put on the revolting floral shirt and black skirt I'd chosen for myself, but skipped the undies. Granny clothes I could handle, but granny knickers? No way.

I wrapped an old tie around my waist to keep the skirt up, then grabbed the phone and quickly dialed Jack's mobile number.

"Riley ?" he said immediately. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah. They've discovered us and we have to run. How far away are you?"

"Half an hour, at least."

Not close enough to help us, then. "Give us directions and a place to meet. We'll get there when we can."

Rhoan was swearing in the background.

"There's a town called Leura about nine kilometers away from Bullaburra." Jack hesitated, and I could hear my brother muttering instructions. "According to the com-unit, there's a cabin resort there called Blue Haven. Rhoan's booking us a cabin. We'll be there in twenty."

"We'll be there when we can."

I hung up and met Kade's intense gaze. "We have to leave."

"That thing will track us."

"Not if we stop it."

He raised an eyebrow. "You mean kill it?"

He didn't seem to fazed about it, but then, maybe horse-shifters had an entirely different set of sensibilities to wolves and other shifters. After all, the male of the breed collected and kept a herd. Maybe they saw killing as a necessary part of protecting that herd.