at every inch of her skin. God, but she wanted to crawl into his lap and just taste. "Let me guess," she said, thrusting aside the disturbing depth of her response, "you dream of a submissive little wolfie at home, barefoot and pregnant?"
"What's wrong with that? You saying your submissive members have no value?"
Oh, he was annoying her on purpose. "I didn't say that. This is about you not being able to handle a woman who's your equal."
A very deliberate pause. "I don't see one nearby."
She was close to breaking the steering wheel. "I'm going to ignore you now."
To her surprise, he didn't say anything in return. When she glanced over, he had his head turned toward the open window. Strong jaw - stubborn jaw - a touch of dark stubble, lips that she knew full well could turn soft when they wanted, hair that lifted easily in the breeze, but was shorter than that of most changelings.
Since when did she find that sexy?
Blinking, she stared through the windshield. It was just a weird chemical attraction, she told herself. She'd been too long without sex and, judging from the ferocity with which he'd taken her, so had Riley. They'd scratched each other's itch and that was that. Done. Finito. Over.
Protesting way too much, baby girl.
It was her mother's voice. For some reason, whenever she got stupid, her mental voice turned into her mother's. Good thing her mom didn't know about Riley - she'd probably have a coronary.
Wolf and leopard?
Yeah, right.
Having somehow survived Mercy's driving, Riley nodded hellos at the DarkRiver soldiers Nate had pulled to watch the Baker home and asked one of them to check under the house. "See if you can spot anything that could've been used to pipe gas into the house. Don't touch it. Just check."
The man's eyes flicked to Mercy. She gave him a nod and he headed off. It irritated Riley that the male hadn't immediately followed his order, but the lieutenant in him was impressed. These men didn't yet know that Riley and Mercy were heading this together - if the soldier had obeyed him, it would've betrayed a lack of discipline.
"Owen," Mercy said to the remaining soldier now, "Riley's on this with me."
Owen gave a military-perfect nod, but as Mercy turned away, Riley glimpsed disappointment. Why? Then Owen's nostrils flared and he knew. Boy had been hoping to be the one Mercy would choose to break her sexual fast. Inside him, the wolf's lips curled up to display razor-sharp canines, and his next words came from a part of him Mercy alone seemed to awaken. "Ready, kitty?" He kept his tone low . . . private.
Her eyes dipped to his crotch. She licked her lips. And he came to raging, painful hardness in a second. "Why, yes, Riley. Let's go inside." She walked off ahead of him, her hips swaying in a way that was all sorts of provocation.
The wolf couldn't decide whether to snarl or open its mouth in a savage smile, the smile of a predator that knew it had been bested. Deciding to think on it, he followed her into the house, the noxious smell of the perfume the abductors had sprayed heavy in his nose.
It should've drowned out the sweet musk of Mercy's arousal.
Of course it didn't. Because Mercy was a she-devil who delighted in irritating him. Alright, he allowed reluctantly, perhaps the scent wasn't on purpose, but Christ Almighty, did she have to smell so damn good? He wanted to do what he'd done last night - bury his face in her neck from behind and take a long, deep taste.
His mind taunted him with the image of her panting and angry below him, wildfire barely contained. To deal with her, to be with her, he'd had to unleash the wolf. He didn't like being out of control. But neither did he plan on letting Mercy ignore the inferno between them.
The object of his thoughts met him in the middle of the house, having apparently gone straight through to the back and worked her way forward. "You pick up anything?" She was all business now.
He shook his head, telling himself to get a grip. Teasing was fine - she'd play with him, cat that she was. But if she got even a hint of just how badly he wanted her, she wouldn't let him within touching distance - just on principle. So he'd have to play this cat-and-wolf game until she gave in to the hunger between