'Good.' He kissed my nose then released me. 'You might have to shift shape. Some of these cuts are fairly deep.'
I did. 'How come you're not fazed by me being a wolf?'
'Because it wasn't the wolf I first saw but a naked, luscious woman. Instinctive prejudices haven't a hope over raging lust.'
My smile became a grin. 'So how come you were trying to bite me when I first walked in?'
'I thought you might be another of the women they use to tease us into bloom before they milked us.'
'What made you realize I wasn't?'
'The blood on your leg and side. And that punch you landed on my nose.'
'That was a swat, not a punch.'
'Then you must pack quite a punch.' He raised a hand and brushed his fingers across my cheek.
'Perhaps.' I stepped away, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. 'Let's get out of here.'
'What about the mess?'
'The Directorate will send a cleanup crew. Our hosts will be none the wiser.'
He followed me as far as the bedroom, then ducked inside, reappearing two minutes later with a wire coat hanger.
I raised an eyebrow. 'Are there still cars out there without either central-locking or thumb-print locking?'
'Plenty of them, believe me.'
I unlocked the door and walked out onto the small patio. Highlighted sharply against the stormy clouds, a solitary brown shape soared.
I motioned Kade to be still, watching the eagle until it wheeled out of sight. 'Now.'
We ran across the yard, leapt the small fence, and raced into the trees. The shadows soon enveloped us, and we slowed to a walk. Hurried movement would be more noticeable from above—and though Kade's red-brown skin and black clothing would make him difficult to spot, my red hair would stand out like a beacon if we got careless and hit sunlight.
There was no sound of pursuit, though it couldn't be that far behind. Who knew how long those creatures had been out there, listening and waiting?
It took just over an hour to make our way around the outskirts of the small town. Eventually, we stopped between several gums trees. I wiped the sweat from my eyes with a slightly trembling hand. Two hours' sleep just wasn't enough.
There was small parking lot on the other side of the road, with five cars sitting in the bays. There weren't any people to be seen. Hopefully, they'd all followed the path to the lookout point and wouldn't be back for a while.
I looked up at Kade. 'You sure you want to take a car?'
'I can't see any other way of getting out of here quickly.' He flicked sweat away from his forehead with a finger, then added, 'Your hair is going to glow out in that sun. I'd offer to give you my shirt, but my skin is likely to draw as much attention as your hair.'
I gave him a wry look. 'That is such a poor excuse.'
He grinned, not bothering to deny it. I pulled off my T-shirt. 'You tie it back. I might not catch it all.'
His gaze skated down my body and his grin grew. 'Gotta love werewolves and their lack of inhibitions.'
'That lack of inhibitions has landed me in court often enough already. Let's get this over with before a cop turns up and arrests me.'
'Sweetheart, not even the holiest of men would be hurrying at this particular moment.'
I rolled my eyes, and he chuckled softly. After covering my hair, he slid his hands around my waist, and pulled me back against his warm, hard body. As his big hands slid up to cover my breasts, he brushed a kiss across my shoulder. 'When we are safe, I intend to love you senseless.'
I tilted my head back against his shoulder, and his lips met mine. Our kiss was slow and tender and so very, very thorough. Neither of us were breathing very steadily by the time we'd finished.
'A vow I shall hold you to,' I found the breath to say. I pulled away and twined his fingers through mine 'Now, shall we go car shopping?'
He tugged me out of the shadows. The breeze that played amongst the trees was warmer out in the open, and the road surface hot against my toes. We made our way casually across, walking along the strip of grass between the road and the car park until we came to an old blue ford.
'And natural!), he picks the oldest, most battered of all five.'
'This is what they call a classic—over fifty years old and worth a sheer fortune.'
I frowned dubiously. 'If it's that old, and this ratty, will it run?'
'It got here, didn't it?'
'Yeah, but maybe it's still here because it won't go any farther.'
'Trust me, it'll go ' He raised my fingers to his lips and kissed them before letting go. 'Keep watch.'
I crossed my arms, checked the skies for spies, then watched him untwine the coat hanger. After making the hook at the end tighter, he moved to the driver's door and wriggled the hook between the door and the frame. Within a minute or two there came a soft click.
Followed very closely by the rumble of an approaching car.
'Kade,' I warned, and glanced over my shoulder. 'A cop car. Wouldn't you know it.'
'The way our luck has been running, I'm not surprised.' He slipped the hanger under the car, then held out a hand, a roguish glint in his eyes. 'Come here, wench.'
'Planning to hide in plain sight, are we?'
'We retreat now and they'll think it suspicious.'
Especially if they happened to notice I wasn't wearing a shirt. I leaned back against the door and he pressed against me, his hands on either side of me, neatly corralling even as he hid my near nakedness.
I wrapped my arms loosely around his neck, felt the tension in his muscular shoulders. The hardness of his erection pressing against my groin. The wolf within stirred swiftly to life, and I just didn't have the strength or desire to restrain her.
I kissed his chin, and slid my hand between us. 'Is the car slowing?'
'Yes.' Amusement twitched his mouth. 'You wouldn't dare.'
Obviously, no one had ever told him it was a bad idea to dare a werewolf.
'How many cops?' I asked, sliding a hand down his back to grasp the back of his pants even as I undid his button and pulled down the zip.
'Two.' He bent, groaning into my shoulder as I freed him. 'Dammit, woman, they'll arrest us.'
'Not if they don't see anything.' I guided him past the skirt, and into where it was warm and wet and ready. 'Press closer.'
He did, his body almost crushing mine, making it hard to breathe, and even harder not to respond to his closeness, to the hard and ready feel of him. Especially when he slid deep inside. Horse-shifters really did take after their animal counterparts when it came to the shape and size of their cock, and having him fill me so completely was a truly amazing sensation. Pleasure rippled through me, sharpened by the awareness of danger, the prospect of being caught.
He groaned, his lips brushing my shoulder. 'They're almost on us.'
'Then you had better not start making any suspicious moves,' I said, even as I shifted onto my tippy-toes, sliding up and down his shaft a couple of times.
He was quivering, pulsing, with heat and desire. I raised my head, capturing his lips, kissing him as fiercely as I wanted to fuck him. This was no slow burn of desire. It was all about the heady high of risk-taking combined with combustible, unquenchable lust.
The cop car crawled past and kept on moving. I broke off the kiss.
'Now?' he asked, sweat glistening on his gloriously rich skin.
I didn't answer, delaying the moment, heightening the sense of danger, as the cop car slowly disappeared around the corner.
'Now, Kade.
I'd barely spoken and he was there, ramming himself hard and deep. I groaned, and wrapped my legs around his hips, urging him deeper still, using the car to support my back as he thrust and thrust, until it felt as if the rigid heat of him was trying to spear right through my spine.
