Chapter 40
"It's later."
Riley looked around Mercy's office, curious. It was neat, but with an indefinable flair that was indisputably her. "Where'd you get this?" He gestured at the striking wall hanging behind her desk.
To his surprise, she didn't push him. "Peru. I went roaming down south after I decided medicine wasn't for me." Coming to stand beside him, she smiled. "That was a hell of a lot of fun. I hung out with my grandmother's pack for a while - even went to Carnaval in my leopard form."
He could see her in the wild color of Rio de Janeiro. "With Eduardo and Joaquin?"
She laughed at his tone. "No, they were doing some roaming of their own."
"Why did you choose to study medicine?"
"You know how we double up - I talked to Tammy and we decided it'd be nice to have someone else medically trained. But it didn't fit." She shrugged. "So I took some time off, went back and majored in communications instead. Much better fit."
Riley nodded. "I didn't study beyond high school."
Mercy was surprised to hear the hint of hesitation. "Riley, you've been working in the pack since forever. You did an apprenticeship - I bet you're the go-to guy for everything and then some."
He gave her a slow smile that rocked her heart. Ah, damn. Pretty soon this wolf was going to become indispensable to her happiness. And the leopard both craved and feared that.
"I think," he said, "I'd like you to take me to Carnaval one year."
It was the last thing she'd expected him to say, but it succeeded in making her heart melt. For her, with her, Riley was willing to play. "You didn't roam, did you?"
A shrug. "I chose that - the pack wouldn't have minded if I'd taken off for a while. But I couldn't."
Because that wasn't who he was, Mercy thought. The predator's need to protect had overcome its need to roam free. "I'll take you to Carnaval," she said, stepping up to stand in front of him, hands braced against her desk, "if you stop avoiding the reason we're in here."
He thrust a hand through his hair, and when he looked at her again, any hint of vulnerability was gone, replaced by steely determination. "I'm keeping you."
Mercy blinked, so startled the leopard wasn't sure whether to snarl or stare. "Isn't that up to me to decide?" Females always had the last say in the mating bond.
He stepped closer, every inch the SnowDancer lieutenant. "You're my mate. End of story."
She raised an eyebrow. "You can't dictate that."
"Mercy, we're in the mating dance - just being around you turns my wolf crazy." Making a sound of sheer frustration, he did something she'd never have expected from staid Riley Kincaid before he showed her his wild creative streak. He reached forward, curled one hand around her neck, put the thumb of his free hand on her chin, and had her mouth open before she realized what he was about.
The kiss was long, deep, breathtakingly sensual.
And his hold, it was proprietary in the extreme.
It was, she had to admit, some kind of wonderful to be kissed so deliciously by the only man who'd dared play with her cat with the intention of winning.
He bit her lower lip.
Her eyes snapped open. "Kiss it better."
"No." He nipped her again. Sharp. Sexy. "You make me so fucking insane, I want to mark you all over. So everyone knows you're mine."
The leopard growled in her throat. "Not yours." She was her own person, a predator same as him.
"We'll see about that." This time, he dipped his head . . . and bit her neck in a suckling kiss that made her moan and thrust her hand into his hair, tugging him back.
"Stop that."
Instead of obeying, he reached up to squeeze her breast through her T-shirt, as if he had every right to be fondling her in her own office. And maybe glancing down to see that big, tanned hand on her body was mind-blowingly erotic, but . . . "Oh." He'd stopped nibbling at her neck and now nipped at her ear.