Full Moon Rising

by Arthur, Keri

  Talon took a step closer and my breath caught. The burning of the silver bullet in my flesh was nothing compared to the fire eating me at that moment.

  His fingers brushed my cheek, then slipped down my neck and chest. It was a feather-light caress that felt as powerful as a sledgehammer. He flicked open the shirt’s first button, then moved on to the next one. “The fever burns in you, little wolf. I can smell it.”

  So could I, and it was beginning to hurt. “It’s a need that will have to wait until I talk to Davern.”

  “Really?” Another button gone. “And what is so urgent that you must speak to him during this time of celebration?”

  “I got a call from Rhoan’s mother.” His mother was my mother, but Talon didn’t know that. “As I said, I need to find him.”

  The last button came undone and he pushed my shirt open. His fingers skimmed up my stomach, sending quivers of anticipation scooting across my flesh. With deliberate slowness, his touch circled a breast, his gaze holding mine, drowning me in the flames of his desire as his caress gradually worked inward, reaching but not quite touching the aching, sensitive center.

  Perspiration beaded my skin. His whisper-soft stroking moved to my other breast and by the time he’d finished circling to the center, I was close to screaming with frustration.

  “Can I dance with you, little wolf?”

  “After I talk to Davern, you can do whatever you want to me.”

  “A dangerous statement given the heat that sears us.”

  A smile teased my lips. I ran a finger down the hard planes of his chest and toyed with the top button of his pants. “And just what is it that you intend to do to me?”

  He leaned closer. All I could smell, all I could breathe, was the musky, ardent odor of this wolf.

  He brushed a kiss across my lips, then, with his voice little more than a gravelly growl, said, “I intend to fuck you senseless.”

  My heart slipped into overdrive. The intensity of both his words and his aura suggested he was feeling the moon as strongly as I, and, missing brother or no missing brother, I was damn glad I’d come here today. Misha, the second of my usual lovers, was gentle and sweet, but Talon was fierceness and danger and excitement and power. When the moon rode me strongly, it was Talon I wanted.

  I raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that what you always do?”

  His grin was wolfish. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pressed me close, until it felt as if he was trying to slip inside.

  “This time I shall fuck you until you cry my name to the moon.” His breath caressed my mouth and his gaze burned deep, until it felt like his desire singed the very fibers of my soul. “Then I shall keep on going until you beg for me to stop.”

  “That could take a while,” I teased, my breath little more than a husky purr. “You sure you’re up to it?”

  “You will ache for no other lover tonight, little wolf, be sure of that.”

  I wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down so I could kiss him.

  “Davern’s finished,” Talon said after a while. “I shall hire us a room.”

  I smiled. The Blue Moon was the only club that actually had privacy rooms available to rent. There weren’t many—four in all—but they were filled with all the latest gadgets to cater to the more adventurous types.

  If Talon was getting a room, he was truly serious about his hunger and his intentions, and expectation coursed through me. Normally, we made out at the tables or on the dance floor, and that was pretty damn fine. And while I couldn’t give him the remainder of the day, an hour or two of hard and heavy loving would certainly cure more than a couple of aches.

  I flicked the top button of his pants undone and slid down the zipper. His erection leapt out at me, as if eager to be caressed. “Leave your pants hanging on the door so I know what room you have.”

  He claimed my mouth as fiercely as he undoubtedly intended to claim my body later, kissing me hard and long. Then he spun and walked away, leaving every inch of my body thrumming in expectation. I took a deep breath, but it did little to ease the ache.

  After tying the ends of my shirt together, I made my way toward Davern. He was alone, nursing a drink, and looked up as I approached. He’d been drinking for some time because his eyes were more red than blue.

  “Hey, Riley? How are you?”

  I slid into the seat opposite him. He smelled of sex and sweat and alcohol, and I frowned. “I thought you were off the booze?”

  “Got dumped this afternoon,” he said gloomily.

  It obviously wasn’t too deep a relationship, because it hadn’t stopped him taking other partners. “So?”

  “So, he was a good fuck and I’ll miss him.”

  I grinned and patted his hand in sympathy. “You drink too much more and you won’t be up to finding more replacements tonight.”

  “It’ll only take an hour or so to sober up, and besides, I feel like wallowing in self-pity right now.” The hologram lights caught his black hair as he leaned back, lending it rich claret highlights. “What can I help you with?”

  “I need to know where Rhoan is.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

  “Because I have a gut feeling he’s in trouble.”

  The very lack of reaction in his bloodshot eyes told me just how little he cared for my brother—and for that alone, I wanted to smack his drunken ass.

  “Serious trouble?”

  I took a deep breath and blew it out. More to control that urge to hit him than anything else. “No, not serious trouble. I feel he needs help, that’s all. He’s gotten into a situation he can’t extract himself from.”

  Davern snorted. “He’s always doing that, and he always gets out eventually.”

  “Yeah, but this isn’t a sexual situation.” Yet even as I said it, I felt the slight lie. It was a sexual situation—sort of.

  Which made about as much sense as Rhoan’s staying in a relationship so long with an uncaring nitwit like Davern. He had to be a damn good fuck because he certainly didn’t appear to have much else going for him.

  “When did you last see Rhoan?”

  “Last week. I believe he was with Liander until Sunday, though.”

  Then I’d definitely have to find Liander. “I don’t suppose he said where he was going after Liander’s?”

  His bloodshot gaze went past me and I felt the hunger stir in him. Maybe he wasn’t as drunk as I’d thought.

  “He mentioned something about having to investigate Evensong Air.”

  Quinn’s airline. Great. I grabbed Davern’s hand, forcing his attention back to me. “It’s very important I know exactly what he said about Evensong Air.”

  He blinked. “For God’s sake, it was over a week ago.”

  “I know, but try to work your way past the sozzled brain cells and remember, all the same.”

  He frowned, and with his free hand reached for his drink. “He said there were some problems within Evensong and that he might have to go undercover. That’s all. I swear.”

  I released him and flopped back in my chair. Rhoan was investigating Evensong and I had the vampire who owned the company camped out in my hallway.

  Coincidence? Not likely.

  And while I couldn’t actually question Quinn himself without raising suspicions, I could certainly take the roundabout line of inquiry. Talon walked the same circles as Quinn, and if anyone could dig up dirt, it would be he.

  But before I could ask him to do me a favor, I had to get past the sex.

  Chapter 4

  Talon’s pants hung on the third door handle down the small hallway, and just the sight of them had anticipation gripping my lower body. The door opened as I approached, and there he was, golden, glorious, and hard with wanting.

  His aura hit a heartbeat later, and it felt as if I was walking into an inferno of lust. If he’d taken me right there in the hall, I wouldn’t have given a damn. But then, his aura had nothing to do with that. I was a wolf, after all, and
exhibitionism was part of our nature.

  He took my hand, kissing my fingers as he pulled me inside. Candles flickered in wall sconces near the bed, throwing yellow light across the red satin sheets and black walls. There was very little else in the room other than several benches of varying sizes and heights. Compared to the other rooms the club had available, this was pretty basic, and perhaps he’d chosen it for that reason. He wanted sex that was hard and fast and long, sex that was without distractions. Just him and me.

  He closed the door, then pressed the panel to the left of the frame. “The psychic security screen is on,” he said. “No one can hear us, no one can sense us. When I make you scream my name to the moon, no one but us will be the wiser.”

  He stepped closer. The light glittered off the twisted white gold chain around his neck, the only piece of jewelry I’d ever seen him wear and one that seemed to emphasize the corded power of his neck and shoulders. I pressed a hand against the hard planes of his chest, momentarily resisting the intensity of his aura. The heat of him flowed around me, through me, flaying my skin and stirring the hunger into a frenzied dance. That alone was warning enough to ask my questions right then, because who knew if I’d have the energy or clarity of mind after several hours of sex with him?

  “You need to answer a question first.”

  “Sorry, don’t like my sex with questions.”

  I grinned. “Well, that’s the only way you’re getting it today.”

  “Really?” He caught my hand, and though I could easily have resisted the force he applied to make me move backward, I didn’t. I wanted him every bit as badly as he wanted me.

  When my calves hit the smaller of the two benches, I stepped onto it and looked him dead in the eyes. It was a mistake, because the force of his aura crashed through me like a tidal wave, leaving me wet and so very ready for him. And just for an instant, I gave in to that wave and kissed him as fiercely as I wanted him.

  It took a whole lot of will to break away, to ask the questions that had to be asked. Especially when he tugged at the knot holding my shirt together, his touch teasing me, arousing me, all the more.

  I took a deep breath and tried to concentrate. “I need to know about Evensong Air.”

  “Why?” When the knot didn’t come undone, he simply ripped the shirt apart and tossed it on the floor.

  “That was a new shirt.”

  “Bill me,” he growled, but treated the skirt and G-string a little less ruthlessly. “And answer the question.”

  My brain took a moment to click into gear and remember what question he was talking about. “Davern said Rhoan was investigating them, and I need to know why if I’m to have any hope of finding him.”

  “This call from his mother must be truly urgent if you’re going to such extremes to find him.”

  My “yes” became lost in the sweet fever that flew through me as he began to trail kisses down my neck. When he caught a nipple in his mouth and sucked hard, I gasped and almost collapsed in pleasure. Somehow, through the haze of desire clouding my thoughts, I found the strength to add, “Death in the family.”

  “Ah.” His fingers slid down past my belly, past my pubic hair, and deep into slickness.

  For too many minutes, all I could do was groan in pleasure.

  When I finally managed to gather enough brain cells together, I said, “You walk in the same circles as Quinn O’Conor. I need you to gather all the dirt you can on him.”

  His teeth were grazing me, teasing me, and all the while his aura washed me with heat and desire. Any other time I would have given in and gone with the flow, but I needed whatever help he could give.

  He worked his way up to my mouth. “Promise to concentrate on the business at hand,” he said, and nipped my lip hard enough to hurt. But it was a sweet pain, especially when his tongue immediately caressed the sting away. “And I’ll promise to find out what I can about Evensong Air and its owner.”

  “This is urgent.” But my fingers were straying down his back, my actions belying my words as I spread my legs and pulled him closer.

  “So is this.”

  He pressed himself between my legs, sliding his cock back and forth, teasing, but not entering.

  “If it was urgent, you wouldn’t be teasing but doing.”

  He made a growling sound in the back of his throat, then, with one hard thrust, sheathed himself in me. I groaned in pleasure. Talon filled me, stretched me, in a way no other wolf did—and right then, I wanted to feel every single hard inch of him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my legs around his hips, and pushed him deeper still. He cupped my butt, supporting me as he thrust and thrust and thrust, until it felt as if the rigid heat of him was trying to claim my entire body.

  There was nothing gentle about this mating. Couldn’t be, with the heat of the moon burning us both so fiercely. I rode him hard, needing it fast and furious, and Talon was more than happy to comply. Pleasure spiraled quickly and my climax hit, the convulsions stealing my breath and tearing a strangled sound from my throat. He came a heartbeat later, his body slamming into mine, the force of it echoing through every fiber of my being and shuddering through the wall behind me.

  Once the tremors had subsided, I grinned. “That was certainly a promising start, but it was way too fast to be seriously labeled fucking me ‘senseless.’”

  His grin was ferocious. “That was little more than taking the edge off our need. I made a promise, little wolf, and I intend to keep it.”

  If there was one thing I admired about Talon more than his physique, it was his ability to keep his promises.

  But as good as it was between us, he didn’t make me scream his name to the moon. That was the one pleasure I would keep reserved for the man who was my soul mate—wherever he might be.

  After two hours of wild and sweaty sex, Talon took off to find another mate and I had a long, hot shower. Once dressed, I grabbed my bag out of the locker and made my way up the steps.

  “Now, here’s a wolf looking mighty pleased with herself,” Jimmy commented as he opened the door.

  I grinned. “That’s because a good time was had by all.”

  He nodded. “There was a gent in here looking for you earlier.”

  “Really?” I said, surprised. “Who?”

  “Vamp. He had a look around and came back out, asking if I’d seen you.”

  Shit. It had to be Quinn. He’d undoubtedly tried to read Jimmy, but I knew he’d have little success. Jimmy was mind-blind, just like the waiters.

  Whatever Quinn was up to, he certainly was determined to keep an eye on me. “How long ago?”

  “About an hour.”

  Relief swept me. The security system would still have been in place then. He wouldn’t have sensed me. “And you told him?”

  “That you had been in earlier, but you’d moved on to the Harbor Bar.”

  The Harbor Bar was a good hour across town, giving me time yet to escape should he be on the way back. I rose up on tippy-toes and kissed Jimmy’s leathery cheek. “You’re a doll. Mind if I use the side entrance?”

  “Go for it.”

  I swung on my coat and headed around the back. A blast of wintry air greeted me as I pushed open the back door and I shivered, half-wishing I had something warmer than a skirt to wear. Still, in the week of the moon heat, jeans generally weren’t practical.

  I slung my bag over my shoulder and loped toward the Rocker. I heard the club long before I saw it. There weren’t many places in town still playing Presley’s classic “Blue Suede Shoes,” and absolutely none who’d follow it up with Chris Isaak’s “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing.” I often wondered where the club managed to dig up some of the songs they played, as many of them had been released only on vinyl or CD, and those technologies had long since gone by the wayside.

  Unlike the Blue Moon, the Rocker was bright, neon bright. Windows lined the main entrance, allowing curious passersby to peer inside. Nothing more than eating, drinking, and human-style dancing happened i
n the main room—those who wanted to mate did so in the privacy of the upstairs dance hall, far away from the public’s prying eyes.

  I went through the door and checked my bag and coat, then headed to the bar, ordering a cocktail and ending up with something pink and fluffy. With that in hand, I began my search for Liander. I found Misha first—he was coming down the stairs as I was about to go up them.

  “Hey, pretty lady,” he said, appearing out of the shadows as silently as a ghost. “Like that shirt you’re almost wearing.”

  I smiled and kissed his pale cheeks. “Talon did another of his caveman tricks.”

  “I’m jealous.” He grinned, his silver eyes sparkling as brightly as his hair in the glow of the neon lights. “He always gets to tear your shirts off.”

  “Play your cards right, and I might just let you tear off the skirt.” Though after two hours of hard and furious sex, it wasn’t going to be anytime in the immediate future. “You seen Liander about? I need to talk to him about Rhoan.”

  “Why? Is he in trouble?”

  I gave him the same reason I’d given Talon, and he turned, offering me his arm. “Then I shall escort you to where he’s currently demolishing a burger.”

  I smiled and hooked my arm through his. Talon might be a fantastic lover, but it was Misha I was comfortable with beyond the realms of sex. I liked Misha. I was never entirely sure that I could say the same about Talon.

  Misha escorted me up the stairs and through the barnlike space that was the private dance room. Only half the benches and bean bags were occupied, which was odd, considering that the Blue Moon was packed and the full moon was drawing close. Liander was sitting on a sofa down at the far end, and he was alone—something else that was surprising.

  I sat on the sofa opposite him and Misha slid in beside me. His thigh pressed against mine, and desire tingled across my flesh—a reaction that told me that no matter what I’d thought, the moon wasn’t entirely finished with me yet.

  “Nice drink,” Liander said, by way of greeting.