Dangerous Games

'Or that there was psychic influence. That can't be traced after death, remember.'

'Jin's not psychic, so maybe I'm following the wrong person.'

'If Jin's blocking you telepathically, he's a psychic of some sort. Plus, he shares a house with the woman Quinn is following, he works at the same place as Dunleavy's girlfriend—who was killed by Gautier because she'd seen or heard something—and he has a ring the same as one found at a murder scene. It's too much of a coincidence. Everything is connected. We're just not seeing the complete picture yet.'

And we needed to, before the next woman was murdered. My gaze went back to the body. 'So are these ritual killings or sacrifices?'

'My guess would be sacrifices. For what, I'm not sure.'

'Blood and organ sacrifices,' Cole corrected, then looked at me, 'which is a darker and more powerful magic all together.'

'It's still ending up with dead women, buddy-boy.'

Annoyance flared in his pale eyes. 'The nature of the magic is often a direct indication of the nature of the magician.'

'Doesn't take much of a genius to guess we're dealing with someone who's wry black in nature.'

'No, but the fact that there's blood and organ used means we are dealing with an extremely strong type of black magic. And if the mage is adding his own blood, then we are dealing with someone who's raising a power capable of doing far more than calling a couple of demons.'

'Meaning, you don't think Quinn's hunt and ours are merging?'

'Meaning, they may well be merging, but our boy is doing more with his power than releasing a couple of demons to harass a vampire.' Jack eyed me for a minute. 'You don't seem overly perturbed about Quinn locking you up.'

'You haven't seen his house.' I glanced at my watch. If I didn't get going soon, fin was going to start wondering what the hell was going on. 'Look, if you don't need me, I've got a suspect to meet.'

'Go. But be sure you hit the com-link if things get rough and you need out.'

I raised my eyebrows. 'Why tell me that when I know for a fact you don't say it to other guardians?'

'Because the other guardians are dealing with regular old psychos. I've got a feeling your particular psycho is off the scale even by our standards.'

'Well, gee, that's a comforting thought.' I eyed him for a minute, then added, 'And besides, you don't want me dead yet because you want to see where the drugs take my talents.'

'Precisely.' He smiled and threw me a set of keys. 'Seeing Cole drove you here, take my car. But I want it back in one piece.'

'You give me your keys, you take your chances.' I grinned, tossed them lightly in the air, then headed out.

Night's curtain had well and truly fallen, and though the air was cold, the night was clear. The moon hung fat and yellow in the sky, not quite full but not far off it. The heat of it sung through my veins, a surging desire that was only going to get worse over the coming nights. It was, I thought grimly, probably the best time to get landed with the job of fucking a bad man.

And when I finished doing him tonight, I was going to ring Kellen. I had a bad feeling I'd need some tender care and gentle loving to wipe the foulness of Jin's touch from my mind.

I found Jack's car and headed into the city. It was a Monday night, so the streets were quiet and parking easy to find. I grabbed my bag and headed back up the street toward the club, discovering the number he'd given me was actually that of a multistory building and the club was on the nineteenth floor.

Which was pushing my phobia to the limit.

I took a deep breath and forced a smile on my face as I approached the guard. 'Hi,' I said, acting all cheery even though my stomach was doing a rebel dance. 'I'm here for the Hunter's Club.'

'You got a membership pass?'

'No.'

'Can't get in without a membership pass.'

Obviously, this security guard wasn't paid to be helpful. Either that, or he was just bored and having himself a little fun. 'My name is Riley Jenson. I'm here as a guest of Jin Lu.'

He glanced down at a sheet sitting on his desk, then picked up a book and placed it on the desk. 'Need you to sign in there,' he said, pointing to a space. 'And write you name after it.'

I did. He took the book, got a pass out of his drawer, writing a number beside my name before handing it to me. 'This will work the lift and get you past the foyer doors. You'll need to return this pass and sign out when you finish.'

I nodded, grabbed the pass, and headed toward the lift. The swift journey upward had a tremor running through my limbs, but thankfully, my stomach decided to stay where it was. The entrance to the club was all gold and white luxury, the carpet plush enough that I had to resist the temptation to rip off my shoes and run barefoot through it. But I couldn't help a wry smile when I spotted the sign emblazoned over the front doors. Not only did it say 'Hunter's Club' in great big fancy letters, but it had 'humans only' underneath it.

Charming.

Humans were still trying to legislate a rule that would outlaw the 'no-human' rule in the werewolf clubs, but it was just fine and dandy for them to outlaw us willy-nilly. The sooner we got some nonhuman representation in the government ranks, the better.

The doors swished open as I approached, and in that instant, I saw the sensors lining the doorframe. They really were serious about the club being humans only.

And it meant if I went through, I would be outed as something other than human.

I swore under my breath and glanced at the blonde manning the reception desk. She was one of those sexy, athletic types guaranteed to set on edge the teeth of any normally built woman, but more importantly, she hadn't appeared to notice that I'd stopped short of the doorway and was just standing there. She wasn't wearing a nanowire—unless they were now making them in designer earrings—and there didn't look to be any other psychic deadeners in the room. Not that they could actually stop me anymore.

I blew out a breath, then opened several shields and let my mind sweep into hers, taking control in an instant.

I might not be able to 'sense' humans, but I sure as hell could control them. I made her turn off the alarm, figuring the club would be safe for the few hours I was here. And just in case someone higher up noticed, I had her pull the plug out of the wall. That was the trouble with sensor units installed after the building had been completed—a careless movement could every easily break their connection. Which is why many of them were now being directly wired into power mains.

I released my hold on her, then went through the door and approached the desk. I still had a telepathic finger on the pulse, so to speak, just to hear her thoughts and ensure there were no lingering doubts about what had just happened.

She blinked, like a dreamer waking from a dream, then gave me a bright smile.

'Well, hello there,' she said, her welcoming tone as fake as her tan. 'New to the club, are we?'

'We are,' I showed her the pass. 'I'm a guest of Jin Lu's.'

Something flickered in her eyes—an emotion too fast to pin down—though the smile never dimmed. But her thoughts gave away what her eyes only hinted at—that her opinion of Jin was low. Indeed, she thought he was an arrogant pig who got altogether too rough during sex. She'd even had to lie to her boyfriend because the bruises had taken forever to fade.

Obviously, she wasn't a big believer in monogamy while in a relationship. I restrained my smile and accepted the pen she gave me, signing in a second time.

'I'll just call him,' she said, handing over a locker key. 'If you'd like to wait on the sofa.'

I glanced at the sofa, then at the wall of glass beyond it, nothing with some pleasure it looked out over the main gym area. There were lots of men inside, working away on various machines, skin gleaming with sweat and muscles rippling. As views went, it was pretty damn fine, and I walked over to make the most of it.

Jin's name was announced over the speaker system. Five minutes later, awareness raced across my skin. Though I couldn't hear any footsteps—probably because of the thick carpet—I knew it was Jin. The heat and scent of him called to the wildness within, even from a distance.