Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3) (20 page)

Admiration sizzled through him. She was gorgeous with her silvery fur and black markings. A dangerous predator that was more than a match for his cat.

They ran together for nearly an hour, at last coming to a mutual halt at a large outcropping that overlooked a deep valley. Together, they shifted back to their human forms and perched on a large boulder.

They were shifters, nakedness was as natural to them as being in their animal forms, but it was going to be very difficult for him to be this close to Bree with her armor of professional clothing. She was incredibly sexy. Distractingly beautiful. Utterly stunning.

Tilting his head to the side, he forced himself to keep his gaze on her face and studied her tense profile, able to sense that she wasn’t just out to enjoy the night.

“Trouble sleeping?” he asked.

Her gaze remained on the distant lights below them. “I have a lot on my mind.”

“Are you worried about exposing the SAU?” he asked.

She gave a small shake of her head. “I’m worried about the backlash.”

“You’ll be protected,” he assured her, reaching out to cover the hand she’d placed on the rock between them. “I swear.”

“I’m not worried for myself,” she hurriedly corrected. “I’m worried for our people.”

Rios grimaced. The SAU was already preparing to punish the shifters for their determination to leave the compounds. They would go ballistic when the word got out that they were going to expose the truth of the Verona Virus.

“Yeah, so am I,” he admitted, keeping his hand over hers. He craved the touch of another on this night. No. It wasn’t just a touch. It was
Bree’s
touch that he craved. So, so dangerous, but since he’d seen her walk into his lair, he knew that he’d been as blind as Sinclair had been. “But this is the right thing to do.”

She turned to meet his steady gaze. “I agree. I just hope I don’t screw up the…” She paused, trying to remember what Rios had insisted the monumental event be called. “Grand Reveal.”

Rios grimaced. Damn. They’d placed a huge burden on this woman’s slender shoulders. It was no wonder she was feeling the strain.

“I have faith in you,” he said, giving her fingers a slight squeeze. “Have you set a time for the announcement?”

“Not officially.”

He gave a curious lift of his brow. He’d spent most of his life dealing with computers, not people. He had no idea how the whole PR thing worked.

“Why not?”

She reached to hook her hair behind her ear. The moonlight shimmered over the tawny strands.

“Most people ignore press conferences unless it’s a celebrity or a politician caught with his pants down,” she explained.

“Or with her skirt lifted,” he pointed out in dry tones. She had a real chip on her shoulder when it came to men and sex.

She shrugged. “Fair enough.”

“So what are your plans?”

“I’ve reached out to my various contacts over the past couple of weeks and hinted that I’m following an explosive story that’s going to shake the world,” she revealed.

“And?”

She allowed a faint smile to touch her lips. “And then I stopped talking,” she told him. “Anything I could have said can’t compare to the whispers that have started circulating. As each hour passes, and I remain out of sight, people become more and more curious. Once it reaches fever pitch, I’ll schedule the press conference.”

He nodded, trusting she would recognize the perfect moment to create maximum impact.

“For better or worse, it’s never going to be the same,” he said.

“No, it will never be the same,” she agreed in soft tones.

A peaceful silence shrouded them. Like the calm before the storm. For long minutes, Rios simply enjoyed the brisk breeze and distant chirp of crickets. Then, he turned on the rock, plagued by a sudden need to know what the future might hold.

“If our people are given freedom, will you leave the Pack?” he abruptly demanded.

“Perhaps,” she said. “I’d like to search for my parents.”

He felt a flicker of surprise. “You don’t know where they are?”

“No.” Her features hardened with a remembered pain. “I was visiting my cousins when they were caught in a roundup by the SAU.”

“There was no record of their detainment?” The SAU was smart enough to know that there would be a few fellow humans that would be squeamish about the universal roundups, so they made it all seem very legal and ‘by the book.’

There were official records that included the name, date of birth, and physical characteristic of each detainee.

“I know they were originally sent to DC,” she said, her voice carefully stripped of emotion. “But the containment center was closed down. I can’t find a listing of which permanent compound they were sent to.”

Without warning, Rios’s cat was snarling, even as his human side was leashing the urge to grab her by her shoulders and give her a shake.

“Bree,” he said in low tones.

She stilled, easily sensing his burst of annoyance. “What?”

“Why didn’t you come to me?”

She frowned in confusion. “For what?”

“You know full well that there’s nothing and no one I can’t find,” he rasped, dismissing from his mind Sinclair’s need to use the pretty Mira for his search. There was no way to get access to the CDC files without direct access to their computers. “If your parents were missing, all you had to do was tell me, and I would have found them.”

She ducked her head. “I think a part of me was afraid.”

“Of me?”

“No, of course not,” she said. “I was afraid of discovering that they had been killed.”

His outrage eased. Ah. He understood that sort of fear. Slowly, he inched closer to her slender body. An unspoken offer of comfort.

“Why would you think that?” he asked.

She bit her lip, unconsciously swaying toward him. “I was very young, but I remember enough to know my parents wouldn’t have submitted easily to being collared and branded.”

Half afraid he might frighten her away, he lifted his hand, brushing it over her cheek.

“Surely it’s better to know one way or another?”

Her expression became wary, but thankfully, she didn’t pull away from his light touch.

“It was better not to know when I didn’t dare risk trying to go in search of them,” she clarified. “I needed to hang on to the belief they were out there waiting for me.”

“But if we’re truly freed…” He allowed his words to trail away, unwilling to imagine a future where this woman was no longer a part of it.

“It’s time to search for them.”

His fingers moved to cup her chin, his brows furrowed. “What if I said I didn’t want you to go?”

With a hiss, she was knocking away his hand, a dark color staining her prominent cheekbones.

“I would say you’ve repeated the same words to a hundred other females.”

Rios snarled in frustration. Even knowing he deserved her lack of faith, it annoyed the hell out of him.

“Why are you certain that I’m not being sincere?”

“Umm, let me think.” She pretended to consider before offering a humorless smile. “Because I’ve watched you leap from bed to bed since you joined the Pack.”

His claws sliced through the tips of his fingers, digging into the granite.

He didn’t bother arguing. He’d devoted a lot of energy to pursuing various females over the years. Why not? He was a cat that thoroughly enjoyed the hunt. 

“Not yours,” he said with a wry smile. Bree had not only refused his attempts at seduction, but she’d also acted as if he’d just crawled from the gutter.

She shrugged. “I’m not interested in becoming some male’s afterthought.”

Rios scowled. He might not be a saint, but he would never, ever treat his lovers with anything less than complete respect.

“I’ve enjoyed the females who wanted to share their time with me-”

“They shared more than their time,” she interrupted with a humorless smile.

“It was a mutual desire to play,” he insisted.

The sharp tang of her anger assaulted his nose. “Good for you,” she snapped. “I’m not interested.”

“Hmm,” he said. If she wasn’t interested, then why did the mention of his other lovers ruffle her fur? Quite literally.

She glared at him, her expression deliberately wiped of emotion.

“What?”

He allowed a teasing smile to touch his lips. “Are you sure?” he asked, his voice low as he leaned toward her, sucking in a deep breath of her spicy scent. “I can smell a lie.”

With a fluid leap, she was off the rock and headed back down the mountain.

“I’m going to bed,” she said.

With a low growl, he watched the sexy way her hips swayed and the perfect curve of her delectable backside before he hopped off the rock in pursuit. “If you insist,” he said.

“Alone,” she snapped. Then with a swirl of magic, she was abruptly shifting back to her wolf form.

It was the perfect way to bring an end to the conversation.

Coming to a halt, Rios planted his hands on his hips as he watched the hauntingly beautiful wolf slide through the trees.

“Bree,” he called out, loud enough that she couldn’t miss his words. “This time, I’m not playing.”

****

Sinclair had expected the night to pass in extreme discomfort. After all, no male wanted to be aroused to the point of pain, with no relief in sight.

But he soon forgot his frustrated desire.

Sure, he wanted to be naked with Mira in the bed. But there was something oddly satisfying in standing guard as she fell into a deep, restful sleep.

Standing near the window, his gaze lingered on the pure line of her profile and the riotous curls that spread across the pillow.

She looked younger asleep. And peaceful.

When she was awake, there was a humming, vibrant energy; that was absent at the moment.

Relishing the rare opportunity to watch Mira without fear of revealing more than he wanted, Sinclair was barely aware of the hours passing. In fact, it wasn’t until he caught the smell of approaching humans that he turned his attention to the window.

Peeking through the edge of the curtain, he watched as six soldiers entered the parking lot on foot, two of them with dogs on leashes.

They were clearly following Mira’s scent. With a frown, Sinclair reached out with his mind to give the dogs a sharp ‘push’ in the opposite direction. Instantly, they were howling and tugging at the leashes, leading the soldiers away from the motel.

His mental power over them wouldn’t last more than a few minutes, but it would be long enough to ensure the men believed that the trail led in the opposite direction.

There was a rustle from the bed before the soft sound of Mira’s voice floated on the air.

“Sinclair?”

“I’m here.”

Smoothing the curtain back in place, Sinclair moved the short distance to the bed. Then, kicking off his shoes, he removed his shirt and jeans before pulling back the covers and stretching on the mattress. Mira rolled toward him, her eyes wide in the shadowed room.

“Is it the SAU?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

She shivered, her heart pounding loud enough for Sinclair to pick up the rapid beat. “They’re going to find us?”

“No.” With care not to startle her, he gently tugged her into his arms, pressing his lips to the top of her head. “Trust me,” he said.

Her tension eased, her head tilting back to study him with a faith that made his heart swell with fierce relief. Thank, God. There was a part deep inside him that had worried he was too late.

“What did you do?” she asked.

He gave in to the impulse that’d tormented him from the first time he’d caught sight of her and plunged his fingers into the spiral mass of curls.

“I convinced the dogs to move along,” he said.

“How?”

He hesitated before admitting the truth. “I can touch their minds.”

Her brows lifted, but there was no hint of disgust on her face. Instead, her expression was one of curiosity.

“You can speak telepathically with dogs?”

“It’s not really speaking,” he explained. “It’s more a mental warning to leave or be eaten.”

“Impressive,” she said.

A wicked smile tugged at his lips. “It’s the least of my skills.”

She rolled her eyes at his arrogance. “Seriously?”

Lust scorched through his body, making his wolf press beneath his skin with a hunger that refused to be denied. Both man and animal were anxious to claim this woman.

Holding her gaze, he slid his hands down her back and then around her waist to tug at the belt that held her robe together.

“Sinclair,” her voice was a low rasp as he parted the thick material and allowed his hands to cup the fullness of her breasts.

“Yes, Mira?”

A tiny groan of pleasure was wrenched from her throat as his thumbs brushed over the nipples already beaded in anticipation. 

Still, she struggled to resist the desire that was a tangible force, drawing them together.

“Do you think they’ll come back?”

“No.” He angled his head down and tugged a nipple between his lips so he could suck her with enough force to make her release an explosive sigh of bliss.

“Then…” Another groan escaped her parted lips as she tried to speak. “Then we should go.”

With an impatient motion, he yanked off the robe, his hands skimming down her naked body with a gentle reverence.

“Not yet.”

“Why not?” she said, her voice increasingly distracted as he suckled her rosy nipples. “You said the dogs wouldn’t come back.”

Sinclair lifted himself to shuck off his boxers before he pressed her flat on her back. Then, tugging her legs apart, he moved to kneel between her knees.

“They won’t, but we don’t know where the soldiers have searched or where they’re going next. There’s no point in taking the risk of stumbling into them by accident.”

Mira struggled to breathe. Nestled in the soft mattress, she gloried in the man who was poised above her like some sort of pagan conqueror.

God, he was glorious.

The hard, sculpted body. The thick, black hair that brushed his broad shoulders. The chiseled features. And the pale blue eyes that held the power of his wolf.