"I think we can do a little better than that."
He cupped the back of her head, bringing her mouth to his for a long, erotic kiss as he stroked her spine, then eased her away enough so that he could play with her breasts.
"What should I do?" she gasped out.
"Move a little. Back and forth. Up and down. See what feels good to you," he managed.
She began to move and he pressed his mouth to her neck. He was so hot he had to fight to keep from thrusting upward. But he stayed where he was, letting her explore the sensations she was creating.
Slipping one hand between them, he pressed it over her clit and felt her instant response. She began to move faster, her motions jerky. In seconds, he felt her inner muscles contract around him. She gripped his shoulders as she called his name, clinging to him as orgasm took her. As his own climax rocketed through him, he clasped her to him, then felt her body sag against his.
He held her for a long moment, kissing her face and her mouth as he stroked her back and shoulders.
When she raised her head, he saw that her eyes were damp.
"Are you all right?" he whispered.
She looked at him, wonder shining in her eyes. "I did it!"
"Oh, yeah."
She looked into his eyes. "And it was so good."
"Yes."
"Thank you. Not just for the pleasure. For the healing."
"I'm glad."
She laid her head on his shoulder, and he stroked the sweat-slick skin of her back as he nibbled at her neck. "We should lie down."
She raised her head and gave a shaky laugh, "Probably I'm crushing you."
"No. But I think we'd both be more comfortable horizontal, if you're willing to climb into bed with me now."
"I think the hard part's over."
He laughed. "Not for long."
When she flushed, he helped her up, breaking the intimate contact between them.
He reached for her hand. Together they crossed to the bed and climbed under the covers.
He'd thought he understood what the bond between a werewolf and his mate meant. But now a little zing of fear sizzled through him. He knew how it worked with his brothers and his cousins. Too bad none of them had found a woman who was also a shape-shifter.
Would that make a difference for him and Rinna? And what about their children? What would happen when they got shape-shifter genes from both their mother and father.
He didn't know. But he pushed the worry to the back of his mind and turned Rinna to him, clasping her close.
FALCONE managed to stay calm by thinking about his plans for the future. When he found Rinna, he would force her to bear him a son. A child with the combination of their powerful genes.
He would raise the child with great care and great wisdom, so that the boy would be completely loyal to his father. And together they would have the power to rule Sun Acres, with Falcone always as the guiding force. Some people already called him the Iron Man of Sun Acres. He would make it true. He would push rivals like Griffin aside.
But before he could put that plan into action, Haig must find the damn woman. And it wasn't just a matter of tramping through the badlands. She had escaped into that other universe.
Falcone clenched his hands into fists. He'd finally tortured the old man into compliance. Then Avery and Bellows had thrown him a curve.
They'd given him the bad news that it wasn't going to be so easy to get into that other world. After closing the portal farther west, they couldn't just open it again because the reversal would take a great deal of energy. The only portal left was at the commercial establishment.
Much too public a place to bring through fifteen or twenty men.
Now he was waiting for Avery to come up with an alternate plan.
When the old man returned, Falcone tried to read his face.
"You have something for me?" he demanded.
Avery shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I think so."
"You don't sound too positive."
"I have a way to get your troops through without being seen."
"What?"
"An invisibility charm."
"That would work," Falcone mused, then focused on the other man's eyes.
"But something's wrong. What are you hiding?"
"Nobody has ever tried to make so many men invisible."
"Well, you'd better hope it works," Falcone growled. "Because if it doesn't, your head is on the chopping block."
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE LAB WAS backed up. So while Jake Cooper waited to find out if the prints from the door handle matched the ones on the can of pork and beans, he ordered patrol cars to drive past the convenience store every few hours. None of the officers had reported any unusual activity.
But Jake couldn't rid himself of the conviction that there was something weird about the place. Starting with the clerk's strange story about men bursting from the back of the store and ending with the pile of clothing the patrol officers had found in the woods.
Too bad Tony Blanchard, the guy who'd tried to rob the place, was in no shape to talk about the experience. The small-time crook was in a coma in the hospital and hadn't spoken word one since the incident.
Because Jake couldn't deal with his curiosity any other way, he had gotten into the habit of having a look-see when he was in the area.
If he'd still been living with Annie, he would have gone straight home and climbed into bed with her. But she'd cleared out months ago, and he hadn't known how to make things right between them—not when she couldn't deal with the reality that his job always had the potential to put him in danger. So he'd been drifting along on his own, looking for excuses to stay out of the house.
Tonight he made a detour from the citizen's association meeting where he'd given a safety lecture and swung by the Easy Shopper, which sat between a fast food restaurant and a stretch of woods that hadn't been developed yet.
When he reached the location, he slowed, staring at the large glass windows at the front of the low building, where posters advertised everything from lottery tickets to the featured monthly sandwich and drink combo.
A couple of lights burned inside, but it was obvious from the lack of activity that the place was empty. He started to drive on by. Instead he pulled into the far end of the empty parking lot and cut his engine.
He patted the pocket of his sports jacket, then remembered that he'd given up smoking over a year ago. Too bad. He could use some nicotine.
He was dead tired from putting in a full day of investigations, and as he sat in his unmarked, he leaned back against the headrest. Then he closed his eyes. Just for a moment, he told himself.
Instead, he drifted into sleep—until something snapped him abruptly awake.
His eyes came open and he stared at the darkened silhouette of the store, feeling a sudden tingling sensation at the back of his neck. The place looked as empty as when he'd arrived, yet he couldn't shake the conviction that somebody or something was inside—and up to no good.
Something?
Like a paranormal being?
That thought had been teasing the back of his mind for days. Even though he couldn't explain it to anyone else.
Which was maybe why he didn't call for backup. And what the hell was he going to say—that he'd seen a ghost at the Easy Shopper store, and he wanted guys at the ready with their guns?
Yeah, sure.
He could drive away. But he knew he wouldn't be doing his duty if he left. So he climbed out of the car and drew his service weapon but stayed twenty yards from the building, keeping to the shadows.
For a long moment he saw nothing. Then a sound inside made him rivet on the door.
It slid open, and he prepared to watch someone step out, someone up to no good. All he saw was empty air, but he heard more than one set of footsteps.
He ran back to his cruiser and turned on the headlights, aiming them directly at the entrance of the building, but still he saw nothing.
Again he approached, then stopped short as something came flying out of the air toward him.
Instinctively, he ducked, feeling a missile whizz past him. It landed with a clank against his right front fender.
He ducked behind the car, staring at the thing that lay on the ground. It could have been a spear from a costume drama.
Only the eight-inch point looked like the genuine article—forged steel that would go right, through a man's body.
As he hefted the spear in his hands, the glass door of the store slammed shut. From Jake's vantage point, it looked like it had glided closed on its own.
To his right, in the patch of woods beside the store, he heard someone shout what sounded like a military order. Again, there was no sign of who had spoken and who he was talking to.
Now Jake wished to hell he'd called for backup. Someone was out there, all right. Several someone’s. But he still couldn't see who they were.
It was like in those
Harry Potter
movies when the kid put on an invisibility cloak. Only this cloak was big enough to cover what sounded like at least a dozen men. Which didn't make sense.
After half a minute of silence, Jake ran from his position behind the car to the side of the building, keeping low, trying to figure out how he was going to fight an enemy he couldn't even see. Or maybe he wasn't going to have to fight at all, because it sounded like the men who had come out of the store were moving rapidly away from the building.
Leaning around the corner, he peered into the woods, trying to see something. In the trees, he thought he detected shapes flickering but there was nothing he could point to and identify.
The whole thing was too weird to describe. But he was going to figure out what the hell was going on.
Cautiously he stepped around the corner, then moved in a crouch toward the woods. Using a soft drink machine as a shield, he peered toward the trees, then went rigid when he heard someone sneaking up behind him. At the same time, he caught a whiff of strong body odor—from a guy who hadn't bathed in a week. Whirling to face the attacker, he saw nothing.
The gun was still in his hand, but he couldn't shoot because he didn't know where to aim.
Then a hand chopping down on his wrist made him drop the gun.
Cursing, he struck out with his left arm, hitting a solid wall of muscle and hearing his attacker grunt. For all the good that did.
Fighting an opponent you couldn't see meant you couldn't anticipate his moves.
Another blow came from the left, as the invisible man ducked under his defenses. This time Jake went down on his knees. Another blow connected with the back of his head. Then everything went black.
RINNA lay sleepless in the bed beside Logan, unable to stop her mind from circling back over the mistakes she'd made during the past few days.
Every time she turned around, she did something wrong. Or Logan had to explain something she didn't understand.
She felt the way she had when she'd first arrived at the school, and she'd had no idea how to do any of the psychic tasks presented to her.
Back then she'd wanted to run away and hide. Now she couldn't stop herself from feeling the same way.
She tried to tell herself that everything was all right. She had just made love with Logan, and it had been wonderful. More than she could have expected. But still, she couldn't stop the air from thickening in her lungs. Finally, when she couldn't stand the sensation any longer, she got up and tiptoed across the floor. From the doorway, she turned and looked back at Logan.
Until he had started kissing her and touching her, she had thought she could never freely give herself to a man. But he had proved her wrong.
If she woke him, she could tell him how she was feeling, and perhaps he could help her deal with the fear that she would never be comfortable in this place.
But it wasn't all that long since she had pulled him from the trap. He didn't have his full strength back, and he needed to sleep.
And she needed to be by herself for a while. So she walked from the bedroom into the front part of the house. She was wearing only the T-shirt she'd put on earlier. After pulling it off and leaving it on the floor, she stepped outside and headed for the woods at the side of the house. The form of the wolf called her. Yet she hesitated. It hadn't taken long to figure out that hazards she didn't understand lurked in this world. The wolf would be vulnerable. But the bird would be high above the ground—free from danger. Unless someone shot at her with one of those guns.
A shiver rippled over her naked skin. She should have asked Logan if men in this country shot at birds. Then she looked into the starry sky. It was still night. Even if men killed winged creatures for sport, they probably wouldn't do it in the dark.
Hoping she was right in her assessment, she let her mind slip into the pattern she had learned long ago. She imagined herself as a great white hawk soaring through the sky. The image took hold in her mind, and as her thoughts tuned themselves to the bird, her body flowed into that familiar shape. With a feeling of freedom, she beat the air with her wings, then leaped from the ground into the sky, gaining altitude quickly. Cautious at first, she circled the house, noting the way it looked from the air so that she would know where to land. Then she looked for other landmarks that would guide her back here—if she was coming back.
She still hadn't decided that for certain. Maybe Logan was better off without her. And she would be doing him a favor by simply disappearing.
There was no comfort in that thought. But it helped her breathe more freely.
She took off toward the east, toward the direction from which they'd come when they'd first stepped through the portal. They had left the convenience store in a terrible rush, and she hadn't gotten a chance to study it.
Why was it a portal? Had one of Falcone's adepts opened it? Or had the doorway just occurred by chance?
LOGAN woke. Still half asleep, he reached for his mate. But she wasn't in bed. His heart leaped into his throat as he sat up and looked around.
"Rinna?" he called softly.
When she didn't answer, he levered himself out of bed. He checked the bathroom first. With a tight feeling in his chest, he hurried toward the front of the house. When he saw her T-shirt lying on the floor, he stopped short.
She had taken off her clothes so she could change. He knew that much. Had she gone out into the woods as a wolf? Or had she taken her bird form?
He stepped outside, calling her name again, alarm expanding inside his chest.
He didn't know why she had gone out, except that she needed to get away from him. The question was—would she come back?
He had thought the two of them had worked out their problems. Now he knew that was just male arrogance.
He had satisfied her as a lover. But had that settled anything else?
Damn
. What should he do now? He wanted to rush out and look for her. Maybe she was even in trouble out there.
It flashed through his mind that maybe he needed more wolves to help find her. Then he told himself he was overreacting.
And more importantly, if she had taken her bird form, a bunch of wolves would never catch up with her.
RINNA had learned to listen to her inner feelings when they guided her in one direction or the other.
Too bad that wasn't true about her relationship to Logan.
She flew due east, trying to pick out familiar landmarks. When she spotted the convenience store, the place Logan called the Easy Shopper, she slowed, her wings beating the air just enough so that she could hover over one spot. A man was sprawled on the hard surface in front of the building. He was lying on his back, and as she circled lower, she felt a shock wave roll through her. She knew him!
It was the police detective who had been waiting for them at Logan's house yesterday. And it looked like he was hurt.
In the sky above him, she hesitated. He had wanted information from her and Logan—information Logan hadn't been willing to give. And she should stay away from him.
But she couldn't just leave him like that. And as she hovered over him, she saw something lying on the ground that made her heart start to pound. A spear! From one of Falcone's warriors.
She came down beside the detective, landing lightly on the hard surface, then moving closer to peer into his pale face. He didn't move.
Her heart still pounding, she pressed her beak against his cheek.
To her relief, his eyes blinked open, and he stared at her as though he were contemplating a vision from a nightmare.
She wanted to tell him that she meant him no harm. But speech was beyond her. All she could do was make a kind of deep-throated chirping sound.
"What the hell?" He fumbled on the ground and grabbed the gun that was lying beside him.
Gasping, she dodged to the side. If she rose into the air, he could shoot her from behind, so she stayed where she was, her gaze moving from his hand to his face and back again.
"What are you, a trained bird?" he asked.
She didn't answer, but she summoned her old skill, using it as best she could to send him an urgent message, pushing past the pain that gathered in her head as she spoke to him.
You don't want to hurt me
. When he lowered the gun, she added something else, something she didn't entirely understand herself.
You should keep people away from the Easy Shopper. It's a dangerous place
.
"What?" he croaked.
Again she sent him the thought.
"Jesus. Am I going nuts?" His eyes wary, he put his hand to the back of his head and winced. "Better call for help," he muttered.
She rose into the air, then saw something that made her throat close.
A troop of men was moving through the woods. They were dressed like people from this world. But she recognized some of them as Falcone's soldiers. And some of his adepts.
Her pulse pounding, she scanned the group and saw Falcone himself. From above, she fought a sick, dizzy feeling. But she felt even sicker when she saw who was in front of him—leading the line of men.
It was Haig.
The man who had been like a father to her since she had been taken away from her mother eighteen years ago.
Great Mother! Haig had argued with her for months that there were no portals to a world like their own. But here he was, on the other side.
As she watched, he stopped with a quick, jerky motion and pointed into the air—right at her, then he dropped his hand and stood with his head bowed. He looked like a man captured by utter defeat. Yet he had just told Falcone, her worst enemy, that she was right above them.