Full Moon Rising (Riley Jenson Guardian 1)

My gaze searched his. "You're the one who told me not to expect anything from him."

He grimaced. "That was before I read his note."

My heart leapt. "He left a note?"

"Yeah, in the cryogenic chamber they must have been keeping Henri in. Here."

He dug a white piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me. My fingers shook as I unfolded it

Thank you for helping me find my friend. Sorry I cannot offer what you are searching for. If we had but met centuries ago... Take care. Quinn.

My heart sunk, and I met my brother's gaze. "It's hardly a declaration of intent."

He grinned. "To have written that much means the man at least feels something more than a sexual attraction, especially since he added 'if we had met sooner'."

I glanced down at the note again. "If I do what Jack wants me to do, I can take this" - I raised the note, scrunched it into a ball, and tossed it away - "and do that."

"Give him time, Riley. You haven't known each other very long, and he's had a rough time with wolves."

"I know." I forced a smile. "But I am a wolf, and he's a vampire with some very human hangups. I don't think there's a whole lot of common ground between us."

"But a wolf never gives up once the scent of a chase is on."

I gave him a wry smile. "Especially when the scent leads to great sex."

"Precisely. Great sex is something one can never give up on."

"Is that why you're still with Davern?"

"Hell, yeah." He gave me a cheeky grin, then twined his fingers through mine and squeezed them lightly. "Why don't we go home, get cleaned up, then go out and get blindly, stinkingly, drunk?"

I smiled. "That's seems like the perfect ending to a perfectly wretched week."

And it was. pped down on the dewy grass and drew together the edges of my borrowed coat. The sun had risen just over an hour ago, but the flags of dawn still colored the sky with clouds of orange and gold

At the foot of the hill on which I sat there was a hive of activity. Trucks lined the rough dirt track that led to the entrance of the underground lab, and people were bustling back and forth, some carrying equipment, others leading prisoners

To my right, thick black smoke trailed skyward, and the smell of burning flesh rent the air. The clones had been killed and the cleanup had begun

I rubbed my forehead wearily. I just wanted to go home, take a long bath, and forget this whole episode. Everything except Quinn, that was

But Jack had ordered me to remain until he had a chance to talk to me, so I remained, watching and waiting and wondering how I was going to sidestep the rest of the mess

Because it wasn't over yet

I closed my eyes and lay back, enjoying the caress of the breeze and partially drifting off to sleep. After a while, footsteps approached, and I cracked open an eye

Jack, not Rhoan

He sat down on the grass a few feet away, staring up at the sun, his face drawn and tired-looking

"So why were you late?" I said, when he didn't immediately say anything

He snorted softly. "Would you believe traffic?"

"No."

"Ah. Well. I guess I'll have to admit we lost the signal."