Kissing Sin

I closed my eyes, never in my life more relieved to hear my boss's gruff tones. 'Jack, it's Riley.'

'Jesus, girl, where are you? We found your car—'

I cut him off. 'I have no idea where I am, but I need you to come and get us.'

'Us?' His voice was sharp.

'Yeah. Long story, but I'm here with a shifter by the name of Kade Williams. He helped me escape what I think was another gene research lab.'

Jack's next few sentences were long, loud, and inventive.

Kade chuckled softly. 'The man has a fine line in swearing.'

'Where are you?' Jack eventually asked.

'That's the problem—I don't know. But we're not in Victoria or South Australia.'

'I'll do a tr—'

'Riley? Are you all right?' Rhoan's warm tones replaced Jack's, and I closed my eyes at the hoarse tiredness in my brother's voice.

'Yeah, I'm fine.'

'So what happened? We found your car crashed into a tree. Blood was everywhere, and we'd thought the worse.'

I couldn't remember the crash. Couldn't remember getting hurt. And I was mighty pissed that I'd crashed my car—I'd only had the damn thing a week.

'I'm fine,' I repeated. 'But I can't remember anything about the last eight days.'

'Got it.' lack said in the background. 'They're in New South Wales.'

'New South is a mighty big state,' Rhoan grumbled. 'Care to define it a bit more?'

'I'm working on it.'

'So,' Rhoan said to me, 'did I hear you say you were there with a shifter?'

My gaze went to Kade's and I grinned. 'You certainly did.'

'And he's being good to you?'

'Oh, I intend to be very good to you,' Kade murmured wickedly.

Oh lordy… Were all stallions this damn hot?

'He made me coffee,' I said, 'and that's a fine start.'

'Uh-huh,' Rhoan said. 'Just remind him you've got a ferocious pack-mate who will stomp all over him if he so much as bends a fingernail.'

Kade snorted softly, and I grinned. 'He's quaking in his boots as we speak.'

'Good.' Rhoan hesitated. 'So, did this place do anything to you?'

'I don't know. They were milking Kade and the other stallions, though.'

Silence met this remark, and my smile grew.

'He's a horse-shifter?'

'Yes.'

'Damn. You get all the luck.'

I laughed softly—and knew that's exactly what Rhoan had intended. 'This from the man who currently has how many mates?'

'Only three.'

Which was two too many in Liander's view, but both he and I knew my brother wasn't ready to settle down yet.

'Trace is in,' Jack said. 'They're in Bullaburra.'

'Which is where?' Rhoan asked, before I could.

'In the Blue Mountains. Tell them to stay put. It may take a few hours to get things moving, but we'll be there as soon as we can.'

'Leave your mobiles on,' I said, 'so we can contact you if we have to move.'

'Will do. You be careful.'

'Natch. See you soon.' I hung up and met Kade's gaze.

'You're close to your pack-mate,' he said.

'Very. We're wolves, and pack is all to a wolf.' Especially when there was only him and me in the pack, thanks to the fact our mother's pack had thrown us out when we'd reached maturity. 'But we're not physically close, if that's what you're getting at.'

'Why not?'

'Because he prefers men.' And because he was my brother. I mean, that was illegal, not to mention icky.

Kade drained his coffee, and put it in the sink. 'So, how long have we got before we're rescued?'

'Four hours, at least.'

He raised an eyebrow. 'So what do we do in the meantime?'

The look in his eyes set my pulse racing yet again. But I meant what I'd said earlier, and no matter how much my hormones might be pleading to be set loose, I just didn't dare do it. No matter how good having sex with Kade promised to be—and I had no doubt that it would be good—it wasn't worth the risk of recapture. 'I think we should sleep. Or rather, take turns sleeping and keeping watch.'

'That's boring.' He reached across the bench and untucked the end of the towel, his fingertips brushing heat across my skin. 'Especially when there's other things we could be doing.'

'Down boy.' I slapped his hand away and re-tucked the towel. 'The last thing we need is to be attacked by big bad hairy things because we were too busy having sex to notice they were near.'

'It's a risk I'm willing to take. Especially for such a delightful piece of tail.'

I smiled. 'Well, the piece of tail would prefer to wait until the danger is over.'

'Such a shame.'

'You could at least say that with a little more sincerity.'

His soft laugh sent goose bumps rippling. He leaned across the bench, and slowly, languorously, kissed me. 'How much more sincere do you want me to be?' he said, after a while.

'I think'—the words came out all husky, and I quickly cleared my throat—'that that's more than enough sincerity for the moment.'

'You sure I can't change your mind?'

I was sure that he could, actually. Thankfully, he didn't try. 'Yes. So, who rests first?'

'Well, given I'm not going to be able to sleep until certain parts of my body relax, it's probably better if you take the first shift.'

I raised an eyebrow. 'And just how badly do these parts need relaxing?'

'This badly.' He stepped back, and that's when I saw the stallion in all his proud glory. My mouth went dry. Obviously, the tent pole I'd viewed earlier had only been half-mast. Lord, he was big.

'You're right,' I said. 'There's not going to be much sleep happening with that hanging about.'

'If it was hanging about, it wouldn't be such a problem.' His chocolate eyes twinkled lightly with the mirth tugging at his lips. 'Go, before the temptation gets too much.'

I went. A few hours' sleep was never going to be enough, but it was better than nothing. I did a changeover with Kade, and spent the next hour and a half alternating between drinking coffee and prowling the premises. There was nothing and no one around.

Maybe I was wrong about the orsini. Maybe they couldn't track us as well as I thought they'd be able to.

I made myself yet another cup of coffee and leaned on the bench, warming my hands on either side of the cup as I stared out the main kitchen window.

Dappled light played across the yellowing grass, and in the shade along the fence line, daffodils bobbed. The forest beyond was filled with shadows, though sunlight danced amongst the leaves and cast occasional sprays of green and gold waltzing across the tree trunks.

There was nothing or no one moving out there. Nothing or no one moving in the house. And yet…

Unease stirred. And I had no idea why.

'Why the pensive face?'

I jumped slightly, and looked around as Kade came into the room. 'I just realized I've used up all the instant