Bullshit. He stared back at her mockingly. "Tell that to your executive we rescued from Iran last month, Ms. Rodriquez. The Breed community did for free what no other team could have done for any price. How much was his life worth to you?"
Her lips twitched at the point.
"You're right." She shrugged. "Mr. Vasquez is very important to Vanderale. He's doing fine, by the way. Considered it a hell of an adventure."
She shifted again, crossing one ankle over the other as she leaned against the desk, and he swore he heard the sound of silken flesh rubbing together. And that couldn't be happening, because unlike other Breeds', his hearing just wasn't that advanced.
God, he wanted to lift her to that damned table and bury his head between her thighs. He wondered if she would taste as sweet as he imagined she did. If she would be as wet and hot as he was hard.
Would she scream for him? He wanted her screaming, begging, her head tilted back and that bun at the nape of her neck released.
"Sanctuary needs those cycles," he said instead. "With one of those per team going out, we'll have an advantage over the Supremacists attempting to slip in and assassinate or kidnap the members of the Feline Ruling Cabinet and their families."
In the past months, two more attempts had been made upon the main house.
She turned back to the files spread over the table before choosing one and turning back to her desk.
Mercury watched as she took her seat and opened the file. Her head bent, displaying the soft skin of her neck, the pulse beating heavily just below the flesh. He ground the back of his teeth together at the need to scrape his teeth over it. To feel the delicate skin, to taste it, maybe bite it a little bit.
Fuck. At the thought, his c**k jerked, his balls tightened with a shard of pleasure so sharp it was nearly painful. Mercury hastily ran his tongue over his teeth, checking for a swelling of the small glands beneath it, for any unusual taste in his mouth. Anything that would indicate mating heat. Not that he expected it, but he had to be sure.
There was no swelling, no spilling of the mating hormone that would signal she was his.
What would he have done, he wondered, if it had been there? If he had learned that he hadn't lost the one person in the world meant to be his after all? That the dreams that flitted through his mind as he slept could become reality?
He clenched his jaw at the overpowering thought of mating her. Of having the choice taken away from him, of marking her, this one woman, as his own. The sexuality the mating heat produced was intense, fiery. The sexual need overwhelming.
Unfortunately it was something Mercury knew he would never know. He had lost his mate, years ago, in a life he fought daily to forget.
He hadn't marked the small Lioness his heart and body had claimed. He had never taken her, never kissed her, but he remembered the overriding hunger to do just that. The sensitivity in his tongue, the primal awareness of her and her scent, her lust every chance he had to see her. His rage and grief when she had been killed on a mission had nearly resulted in his own death.
She had been his mate. And Lion Breeds only mate once, just like their cousin the lion. But he could still f**k. And he was damned determined to f**k his little plain Jane into screaming orgasm.
"Vanderale contributed more than twenty million dollars to Sanctuary last year alone," she murmured as she went over another file. "Mr. Wyatt has quite an impressive list of wants in the file he sent us for financial aid next year."
Mercury said nothing. He wasn't part of the Ruling Cabinet, and at the moment, Jonas's wants were the last thing on his mind. He was too busy staring at the rise and fall of her br**sts beneath her bulky blouse, wondering at the color of her ni**les, and if the soft curves beneath the blouse were as generous as he was guessing they were.
The sound of her throat clearing pulled his gaze up. Mercury stared back at her, maintaining an even expression despite the fact he had been caught leering at her br**sts.
Besides, he liked that little hint of a blush on her cheeks, the way her eyes chastised him behind the small lenses of her glasses.
"I realize you're likely bored." She sighed, her expression resigned. "But that makes me uncomfortable."
"Why?"
Surprise glittered in her dark chocolate eyes. Mercury wasn't as fond of chocolate as some of the Breeds were, but he had to admit, this woman could make him like it.
"Why?" she asked with a slight, uncomfortable laugh. "Perhaps because you and I both know it's not out of interest but merely an attempt to amuse yourself. I know the past weeks haven't been easy for you, trailing me around. Besides, women don't like to have their br**sts leered at. You should know that by now."
"Doesn't mean I understand it," he said and shrugged. "The fact that I find your br**sts interesting shouldn't be such an issue. You appear to have nice br**sts. You should wear blouses that emphasize that rather than attempting to hide it."
Women were strange creatures. And he wasn't bored at all. Being with her was anything but boring.
"How would you like it if all I did was ogle your crotch?" she snapped. "It's insulting."
"Ogle to your heart's content." The very thought of it had his c**k twitching in pitiful hunger to be noticed.
When her gaze dropped, her eyes widened and jerked back to his.