Behind her, Mercury narrowed his eyes at Jonas. Normally, the director was smooth as silk, but if he was looking where Mercury thought he was . . . Hell yes, he was.
Mercury moved behind her and turned to face his commander, lifting his lip in a snarl he couldn't quite control.
Jonas pursed his lips and blew out in surprise, shaking his head before turning away. Mercury caught the smile on the other man's face, though.
"These files need to be left alone," Ria informed them, a snap to her voice that had Mercury's c**k jerking in his pants.
Defiance and challenge filled her tone.
"Talk to Dane about it." Jonas shrugged. "I just finished up-loading some information that came through after the party. We had a transmission go out across the secured server that didn't come from any of the computers. We haven't been able to track its destination as of yet. And there was code in it. Dane, Callan and Kane are in Callan's office working on that."
"Good place for them," Ria said impatiently. "You should help them."
Jonas grimaced as he shot Mercury an amused glance. The smell of Ria's heat, the sweet scent of hunger and need, filled the small office space, and Jonas's presence, his ability to smell it, rankled Mercury's possessiveness.
When she turned back to them, Jonas's gaze shot to her br**sts. Mercury gave a small, almost silent growl of warning before Jonas turned away again, grinning.
Mercury turned back to look at her and nearly groaned. That damned crimson top he just had to see her wearing. It cupped her br**sts like a lover's hand, and beneath the material, beneath the bra she wore under it, the imprint of hard little ni**les could be clearly seen.
He turned back to Jonas. "I'll be here with her."
"You're out of uniform." Jonas cleared his throat before turning back.
Ria gave a delicate, mocking sniff to that comment.
"Mercury decided he didn't like my clothes last night," she drawled sarcastically. "He shredded everything I owned. So I shredded his."
Both uniforms actually. Mercury would have been enraged at the sight of his uniform in pieces like that only weeks before. His uniform, his position, had defined him. Now he'd found something much more interesting to involve himself in than the uniform that proclaimed his rank.
"I'm sure I could find an article in Breed Law to make that grounds for some kind of punitive measure," Jonas grunted. "Could you two refrain from destroying each other's clothes? At least until we have things figured out here."
Ria gave them both a dark glare.
"Why don't both of you find something else to do and let me work here?" She gave Mercury a pointed stare.
"I'm sure I can keep from bothering you," he promised her.
Jonas sighed. "Damned mating heat. Lawe is threatening to join a monastery and Rule's threatening to quit. Why don't you two try to show the younger guys it can be fun instead of taking a note out of everyone else's books and letting it drive you insane?"
"I'm as sane as I ever was." Mercury shrugged.
"That's such a frightening thought," Ria muttered, and he almost chuckled. He would have, but he could tell her temper was rising with her heat.
"I'll leave you two to it then." Jonas cleared his throat again and opened the door to step out. "Have fun, kids."
The door closed behind him, leaving them confined, trapped within the scent of Ria's growing arousal, and her growing confusion.
She jerked several files from the table, stalked to her desk and slapped them on top of it before sitting down.
Mercury locked the door. Just in case she decided to get frisky. Or he did.
"Let her touch you in front of me again and I'll rip both your hands off." Her eyes shot chocolate fire across the desk.
Mercury arched his brow. "Who?"
"You know who," she told him, her voice clipped, precise. "Whatever you do, Mercury, however this turns out. Don't let me see her touch you, because I won't be responsible for my actions."
He kept his grin to himself. There she was. His woman. All attitude and fire and heated arousal. He nodded slowly, picked up his magazine and pretended to read it. He'd been reading the damned thing a month now. He still didn't know a single article in it.