Bound to Shadows (Riley Jenson Guardian 8)

But as long as I had this, as long as I had Quinn, I could find a way to survive.

He took his time, stroking deeply as he licked and nipped and kissed. But the little waves of water began to flow away from our bodies with ever-increasing speed as our movements became more and more urgent. The sweet pressure began to build low in my stomach, fanning through the rest of me in waves as rapid as those that surrounded us, becoming a molten force that made me tremble, twitch, groan.

His breathing became harsh, his tempo more urgent. His fierceness pushed me into a place where only sensation existed, and then he pushed me beyond it.

He came with me, his teeth entering my neck at the same time, sharpening and prolonging the orgasm, until my body was trembling with exhaustion and utter satisfaction.

For several minutes afterward we didn't move, just allowed the warm bubbly water to caress our skins. Then he stirred and gave me a sweet, gentle kiss.

"I suppose I should now let you tend to the second of your needs. "

I draped my arms loosely around his neck. "I don't think I have the energy to move right now. "

"Well, we can't have you starving to death. I like my women with meat on their bones, thank you very much. "

With that, he slipped his hands under my body and lifted me up. I laughed in delight and kissed his cheek. "So, if I was as naturally skinny as most werewolves, you wouldn't love me?"

"Oh, I'd still love you," he said, dark eyes twinkling as he climbed out of the tub. "I'd just always be trying to fatten you up. But as luck would have it, my girl normally has luscious curves. I just want them back. "

With a smile teasing my lips, I began to kiss and nip his neck and earlobe. "That could cost you, you know," I murmured. "Because I have quite an appetite. "

"Oh, I think I'm more than capable of catering to your appetites. "

And over the next hour or so, he did indeed prove more than capable.

I t was almost one forty-five by the time I got back to the brothel. I flew up to a rooftop on the opposite side of the road, then shifted shape and found a position behind a billboard that provided shadowy cover yet allowed me to see what was going on down the street.

For the next fifteen minutes, nothing happened. Several clients came out, but none went in. Maybe midafternoon was a slow time.

At two - right on time - the lights in all the nearby buildings went out. And there wasn't a bad guy in sight. I cursed softly and briefly wondered if Cass had played me. But I'd felt no lie in her words or in her thoughts, so either she was better than a vampire at concealing lies, or the two men hadn't turned up for other reasons.

Which would be just my luck.

I continued to wait, silently hoping Jack could keep the power grid down for long enough.

At two-ten, a battered-looking brown station wagon cruised by slowly. It turned around at the end of the street then came back, pulling into a parking spot several doorways down from the brothel. Two men got out - one brown-haired, the other blond.

Cass hadn't lied.

I took out my phone and began taking pictures. The blond moved toward the brothel, but the brown-haired guy remained near the car, his gaze sweeping the surrounding buildings. Though I knew he wasn't likely to spot me in the shadows of the billboard, I still drew them closer around me. Better safe than sorry - especially when you had red hair.

When I looked back over the building's edge, the blond was just disappearing into the brothel and the wolf was leaning against the back of the car, his arms and feet crossed, the picture of casualness. Only his ever-alert expression and the tension evident in his body suggested otherwise. I took a final picture to make sure I got the plate number, then carefully moved backward. Once I'd pocketed my phone, I shifted shape again and circled around the block, coming at the brothel from the rear.

On closer inspection, the broken window I'd noticed earlier would barely provide enough room for a sparrow to get through, let alone a seagull.

I swore - which came out as a harsh squawk - then shifted shape. My T-shirt - or what was left of it - fell from my shoulders, and my jeans were looking decidedly worse for wear. I swore again as the wind swirled around me, freezing my skin and buffeting my body. The windowsills in this old building might have been deeper than usual, but that didn't mean they were any less precarious. I teetered for several seconds, trying to gain balance. Trying to ignore the old fears that rose in a rush every time I looked at the drop below me. Such fears were totally ridiculous, because my seagull shape now meant drops of any length no longer had the power to hurt me, but I guess some fears were just too ingrained to be easily erased.

I checked the window for wires and sensors, but couldn't see any, so I dug my fingernails under the sill and lifted it upward. Cass had been right about the locks - this one basically fell apart as the window slid open. I slipped inside, dropping to the floor softly, my senses alert for anything and anyone.

The first thing I spotted was the camera in the far corner, but it was pointed at the other wall and wasn't moving. Temporarily cutting the power had worked - at least in this case. I just had to hope they didn't have backups on the other systems.

The air was stale and smelled faintly of urine - but whether it was human or animal in origin, I couldn't say. Although the little pellets littering the floor suggested at least one possum had taken up residence. I wondered how they'd gotten in without triggering the security system. Obviously, the little buggers were smarter than me. The room itself held little else but empty shelving units that were thick with dust and webs. I shut the window -

just in case the power came back on at the wrong time - then padded forward, avoiding loose-looking floorboards and possum poop as much as possible.

Once at the door, I wrapped my fingers around the handle but didn't immediately open it. Instead, I switched my vision to infrared. A quick sweep of the rooms beyond the door revealed life in a room near the front of the building. That had to be the blond shifter - and given he was supposed to be a bird of some kind, it was worth the risk of stepping out. The wolf might have smelled me, but birds generally didn't have great olfactory senses. And these rooms, like the ones below, weren't very bright, which meant the shadows lay thick in the corners. With any luck, I could hide in those shadows.

I twisted the handle and opened the door, but just as I did, the shifter moved, his body heat showing him stepping through the doorway. I froze, half in and half out of the room, hoping the shadows were enough to conceal me.