Full Moon Rising (Riley Jenson Guardian 1)

I swiped a hand at the peach juice running down my chin. "First my brother, now my brother's lover." Exasperation edged my voice. "Will you both give me credit for having a little common sense?"

He smiled, but the concern in his silver eyes remained. "You're generally one of the most sensible people I know, but emotions rarely have anything to do with common sense."

"I haven't known Quinn long enough to get emotional. Right now, he's just another lover." A lover I could get attached to, if he ever gave me the time. But he wouldn't, so why was everyone worrying? "Were the men who came to rescue Talon human?"

He shook his head, his smile telling me he wasn't fooled by the change of topics. "Wolves."

"And their smell?"

He shrugged. "Like wolves. Men."

Not clones or lab-created creatures then. Which I supposed was a good thing - at least it suggested Talon's madness was just the common, everyday type, not the "I-will-dominate-the-world" variety

"And Jack's been informed of events?"

"Yes." He glanced at his watch. "They should almost be here."

I raised an eyebrow. "That wise? I mean, these people keep on finding us, so it might be better if we remained in a couple of different groups." Though, if I had a tracker in my arm, maybe I was the reason they kept finding us. Talon might have inserted it, but there was no telling if anyone else had discovered the signal

"Probably, but I'm not calling the shots. Jack is."

And Jack would do what Jack wanted. Maybe he wanted to bring them to us. It would certainly be one shortcut to finding out who was behind all this

I finished the peach and tossed the pit in the nearby rubbish bin. From outside the house came the sound of an approaching car. Liander rose, then moved with deceptive casualness to the window and looked out

"Jack and Rhoan," he said after a moment

He went to the front door, and I looked around as Quinn came in off the patio. "Your sources able to tell you anything about Misha?"

"Not yet," he said. "They'll get back to me in an hour or so."

I crossed my arms. "Are you going to share what they find with Jack?"

"Yes," he said

No, he meant

I smiled grimly. "And do you intend to kill whoever has held Henri captive all these years?"

"Killing is not my style."

"Tell that to the clone in the toilet."

"He was a clone. That's different."

I wanted to ask how, but my brother chose that moment to walk in. His glance took in the two of us, and his gaze narrowed slightly

"You okay?" he asked, pulling me into a fierce and protective hug

"I'm fine," I replied. "Just make sure you leave enough for me to kick if you find Talon before I do."

"I'll try to remember," he said, then pulled back a little. "Did he tell you anything?"

"Not anything new. Just the same old obsession."

"The bastard definitely needs to be taught a lesson or two." He shifted to one side and wrapped an arm around my shoulder

Jack tapped the table, bringing our attention back to him. "Our search at the second former army base revealed nothing more than cosmetic manufacturing. And our computer search for Genoveve Confectionary has yielded little for the moment. It would seem the owners are hidden behind yet another paper trail."