"Has to be a human." Disgust edged Kade's voice. "Because only they would say something dumb like that to a werewolf."
I smiled. "He's a vampire."
He shrugged, something I felt rather than saw. "Same thing, as most vamps were once human and have all the old prejudices." He paused. "You loved him?"
"I barely knew him."
His touch trailed up my stomach until he'd reached my breasts. Lightly, teasingly, he began to pinch the engorged points. My breath caught somewhere in my throat, and my heart began to race. I knew I should move, should put an end to it now, before it went too much further, but somehow, I just couldn't force the thoughts into action. Part of me - most of me - hungered.
"That's not what I asked," he said.
"No." I hesitated. "And no, I didn't. It's just that there was something between us, something I wanted to explore. He refused, simply because I am wolf."
"You don't look the type to give up."
"I'm not." I had tried. I'd rung. I'd even met him for dinner a couple of times. But Quinn had made it patently clear he didn't want anything more than what he'd already had. In the end, I'd walked away. As Rhoan had noted, it was Quinn who was the loser, not me.
"So why have you given up?"
"Because I'm far from desperate, and he's not a wolf."
"And you want children eventually?"
I nodded. "As I tried to tell him, I wasn't after anything deep or everlasting. I just wanted to explore."
"You know, I've found that jealously works a whole lot better than trying to talk sense to people like that. Flaunt your conquests under his nose, and watch his pulse rate go up."
His teeth grazed my shoulder, nipping lightly. My pulse skipped into race mode.
"Hard to make him jealous when he doesn't even live in the same state."
"Then forget him. He's obviously a man who doesn't know a true prize when he finds it."
Amusement ran through me. "And you are?"
"Sweetheart, when I find a prize worth having, I grip on tight and ride it until it's mine." As if to demonstrate, he slid a hand down to my leg, his grip bruising. I barely had time to register it when his grip shifted and his thumb began to caress my inner thigh, sending little shivers of desire scooting across my body.
"This from a man who warned me, ever so gently, not to expect anything more serious than a good time?"
"If you were a horse-shifter, I'd pursue you until I won you, and you wouldn't have a hope of ever leaving my herd." His touch and his voice left me in no doubt as to his sincerity, and suddenly I felt a whole lot better about myself. After Talon's betrayal, Misha's probable involvement with the people behind my kidnappings, and Quinn basically dumping me, I'd been beginning to wonder if I'd had a sign on my back saying, "Stomp all over me, I love it."
"Of course, you're not a mare, so I'm just going to have to settle for a little fun."
Amusement bubbled through me. "So the planned riding lessons will still be going ahead?"
"As soon as possible."
Which would be real soon if I didn't get my act together and move. Not that I did. His touch had finally moved up my leg and it just felt too good to end it all so soon. "So, how many offspring have you got in your herd?"
"None. The government shoves the same hormonal chip in us stallions as they do you wolves." He hesitated. "Of course, the chip was taken out in that place, which means I'm more than likely fertile right now."
"Then it's just as well it's extremely rare for inter-species breeding to happen."
Of course, it did happen - I was living proof of that - so it was probably just as well I couldn't get pregnant without medical help. In fact, I might not be able to get pregnant at a!!, if my latest tests came back like Rhoan's.
He raised an eyebrow. "Then you're not chipped either?"
"No." It had been taken out over a year ago by Talon, and I'd never bothered getting it replaced. Couldn't really see the point of it, when most of the docs considered me the werewolf version of a mule and felt it was unlikely I'd ever fall pregnant. "But it won't matter. I have medical problems that prevent conception."