Bound to Shadows (Riley Jenson Guardian #8)

My gaze searched his. "But can you see yourself being one of the dads? You once said you couldn't stand children."

"Riley, this will be your child, and it'll be as close as I'll ever get to having one of my own. That makes the difference." He smiled. It was such a sweet, warm smile that my heart just about melted. "And you are wearing far too many clothes for my liking."

"This from the man wearing a suit," I said, tackling his shirt buttons. When they were all undone, I pressed my hands lightly against his skin, letting them rest on the hard planes of his stomach, reveling in the pleasure of simply touching him. Then I slowly slid my fingers upwards, enjoying the firmness of his toned body, luxuriating in the way his muscles quivered and jumped at my caress.

My hands slid under the material at his shoulders, my thumbs hooking both shirt and coat and slowly sliding them down his arms. Only to come to a dead halt at his wrists.

"Damn," I said, raising my gaze to his, laughter bubbling through me. "I forgot about the shirt cuffs."

"It never happens in the movies, does it?" he said, amusement touching his lips as he undid the problematic cuffs.

"It's the magic of the big screen," I said, watching the play of his muscles as he pulled off his jacket and shirt. Loving the way his gaze held mine, full of promises, full of desire.

"Bet you've never seen this done on the big screen." He bent, and in one smooth motion, scooped me up into his arms.

I grinned and flung my arms lightly around his neck. "The hero carries his heroine to the bed and ravishes her senseless in all the best romances."

He arched an eyebrow, bedevilment dancing in his dark gaze. "But does he do this?"

And with that, he tossed me. I yelped as I flew through the air, then laughed in delight as I hit the bed and bounced several times. "I don't think there are many human males who could throw their women with such ease."

"And there aren't many human females who have an appetite as strong as yours."

"Know this for a fact, do you?"

"Yes. I've been around a long time, remember."

"A very, very long time," I agreed solemnly. "I'm amazed you can still manage to get it up."

He took a swipe at me, but I rolled away from it with a laugh. "And there I was about to add something very nice."

I raised an eyebrow. "Like?"

"Like every day I thank fate for putting such a stubborn, sexy and altogether wonderful werewolf in my life."

Something inside me went mushy. "I might just let you bite my neck for that."

"I might just hold you to that." He bent over the end of the bed and reached for my jeans. I arched my hips to make the zipper easier to reach and his smile grew.

"Such an eager pup," he murmured, hooking the waist of my jeans and panties and pulling them swiftly down my legs.

"Well, I can't have you fumbling around taking forever to get down to business. I do have to go to work soon, remember."

"After being on this earth for twelve hundred years, I'd like to think I'm beyond mere fumbling."

He dropped my clothes to the floor then tackled his own. My grin grew as his body was revealed, my gaze drifting up the lean muscular planes of his legs to the rampant hardness of his erection.

This man was desire personified, and it was all I could do not to jump his bones right there and then.

"Every man fumbles," I commented dryly, "because every man sometimes lets the little head think for the big one."

On hands and knees, he walked up the bed, straddling my body but not actually touching my flesh. His scent, his desire, filled every breath, making my body burn and my heart ache.

"There have only been two times in my life that I've allowed the desire for sex to overrule my better judgement," he said softly, his dark gaze burning into my mine and his expression serious. "And in the second case, it's the best thing that has ever happened to me."

Then his lips dropped to mine and he kissed me. But it was more than just a kiss, more than just a meeting of lips and desire. It was heart if not soul, and the only place I wanted to be, now and forever.

There was no more talking from that moment on, just caressing and kissing and pleasuring. I explored his body as fully as he enjoyed mine, taking my time, letting the pleasure build and build, until it felt like every part of me was wound so tight it would surely break. Then he entered me, and everything did shatter, the power of my orgasm tossing me about like a leaf in the storm. When his teeth entered my neck, I came a second time, the pleasure of that one action sweeping through me like a tide.

And later, when I could think again, I realized that for me, it would never be just about the bite. It was this - the hot and sweaty aftermath, lying replete and exhausted in his arms - that was the most addicting moment.

The blood whores had no idea just how much they were truly missing.

Chapter Four

"Where the hell is your report?" Jack bellowed, the minute I walked through the door of the day division's rather cramped Directorate quarters.

Of course, calling ourselves the day division was something of a misnomer, given we seemed to work all hours of the clock, not just the daylight ones.

"I sent it in before I left home," I said, plucking a coffee from the cardboard tray I was holding and handing it to him.

He sniffed the coffee and looked somewhat mollified. I'd learned some time ago that while Jack could drink any sort of coffee - good or bad - it paid to get the good stuff from Beans when I was in his bad books.

"You were supposed to send it in by five," he said, slightly less loudly. "This one could get nasty, Riley. We need to keep on top of it."

"I know." I gave Kade a grin of greeting as I handed him his coffee, then plucked my own free and tossed the cardboard tray in the trash. "Did Cole come up with anything unusual in the autopsy?"

"No. The body and the saw are clean."

I frowned as I walked around my desk and sat down. "That almost suggests a professional hit."

"If we have three men beheaded in the same way, then yes, I do think we are dealing with professionals."

"So Henry Gateway's death is connected to Haven's?"

"You know, you could read the report and find out for yourself," Jack noted dryly. "But yes, Gateway was killed by the same method as Haven, although it wasn't the same saw, and we haven't yet found the one that was used on Gateway."

"It's a particularly brutal way to murder someone," Kade commented. "It seems to me that the killers are intent on attracting attention more than merely killing."

I glanced at him. The harsh fluorescent lighting gave his normally warm red-brown skin a sallow look, and there were dark shadows under his eyes. Amusement bubbled through me. Several more mares from his herd had given birth recently - meaning he now had a grand total of nine kids - but it looked as if having that many youngsters in the one household was beginning to take its toll.

"If we're dealing with a gang intent on stirring up trouble between the vampires and the humans," I said, "then it's highly likely they do want attention."

"Which is why I've put a lock on the press for the moment." Jack took a sip of his coffee, then added, "And why I want this murder solved as soon as possible."

"Hard to track down a killer who leaves no clues," I muttered, logging onto the computer and leaning forward for the system to scan my retina. "I don't suppose you'd know if there's a connection between the three murdered men?"

I glanced at him as I said it, and saw the slight hesitation. Meaning there was a connection all right, but he wasn't revealing it. Which made me wonder if the vampire council was somehow involved. Jack might answer to his sister, but she answered to the council. She was on it.

"We're still checking into that possibility," he said eventually. Meaning he was still getting clearance to discuss it with the plebs.

"The sooner we know the better."

If only because, if we knew the connection, we had a chance of stopping the next murder. But Jack knew all that - he'd been at this game a lot longer than me.

Jack grunted. "Did you get anything useful from the witness?"

I restrained the urge to point out that it was in my report, and said, "Well, she wasn't really a witness, more a relayer of information. And the man who paid her to call was apparently disguised, so that's not much help."

"Did you check the security recordings?" Kade asked. "They might show something."

"Starke said he didn't use electronic security."

"Then the bastard is lying," Jack said. "Clubs like that must have full scale security by law. Requisition the tapes."

"Requisitioning them might not be wise," Kade said. "If he wanted the Directorate to see them, he would have mentioned them. Asking for them through official channels merely gives him time to dispose of them."

I gave Kade a somewhat filthy look, which only made him raise his eyebrows and look amused. I suppose he wasn't to know that confronting Starke - or rather, confronting his overt sexuality - was not something I wanted right now. Not after barely escaping his presence the first time with my dignity intact.

"That's certainly possible. Go view those tapes, Riley," Jack ordered. "And if Starke tries to deny their existence, tell him I'm ready and willing to conduct a little interview with him."

"That makes it sound like there's a whole lot of history between you and Starke, boss."

"Let's just say we've had a few run-ins over the years, and leave it at that." He pushed away from the desk he'd been leaning against, and added, "But before you talk to Starke, I want you and Kade to head over to Keilor. A woman named Renatta Bailey was found dead in her home a couple of days ago, and the police have called us in."

"So they suspect non-human involvement?" Kade asked, suddenly looking far more interested in the proceedings. Maybe it was the office work that was getting him down - something I totally understood, and the reason I tended to avoid it where ever possible.

"They have no idea what to suspect," Jack said. "They fast-tracked the autopsy and found no external or internal causes. She just died."

"People don't usually just up and die," I said. "There has to be a reason, even if it's as simple as old age."

"She was twenty and in good health, so old age and organ failure are out, as are drugs or other substances. As I said, there was no obvious reason for her death."

"So why has it been fast-tracked to us?" I asked. "And why has it suddenly got priority over the beheadings? If the autopsy couldn't find a cause of death, and the police couldn't find anything suspicious, why do they think we can solve the case?"

"It's been fast-tracked to us because the woman who died is the niece of the governor, and he wants us on it."

"Political clout is a wonderful thing when it's abused," Kade muttered, echoing my sentiments exactly.

"Abuse or not, we'll look into it. And you, dear Riley, are on the case because you're the only one who can see souls. If she's hanging about and feeling talkative, it might be a quick way to solve this one and get back to the important crimes."

As if things were ever that simple. I glanced at Kade as Jack walked out of the room. "You got time to head over there now?"

"Hell yeah," he said, standing and stretching. "Some fresh air would be good."

My gaze traveled up the long length of him, pausing briefly on the washboard abs his hiked-up shirt revealed before moving on past his broad shoulders and muscular arms. Arms that could hold a girl just right, although they hadn't held me for quite a while now. Jack's no fraternizing rule and my own commitment to my relationship with Quinn had seen to that.

"What case has Jack got you working on right now?" I pulled my gaze away from his magnificent form and called up Cole's autopsy report. I didn't bother looking at it, just redirected to my car's onboard so I could check it out later.

"Some stupid vamp is feeding on kids at Luna Park." Which was one of the local amusement parks. Kade walked around the desk and offered me his arm. "Jack wants him stopped before it goes too far. I've spent the whole fucking day going through witness reports."

I smiled and hooked my arm through his, letting him escort me to the elevator. His scent spun around me, rich and fresh, reminding me of sunshine and freshly cut grass. "Like the new aftershave," I said, then added, "So why aren't you out there talking to the witnesses yourself?"

"It'd take too long, and it's only repeating work the cops have already done."

"If the reports didn't give the cops anything, then they're unlikely to give you anything."

He shrugged. "Jack said read them, so read them I am."

Fair enough. "So this vampire hasn't killed yet?"

"No, but he's come close. Last week he attacked a couple of nine year olds who'd just come out of the ghost train ride, and dragged one into the shadows to feed on him. The other kid's screams attracted help, but the vamp had escaped by then."

Which explained why there was a kill order out on a vampire who hadn't actually killed yet. Any vamp stupid enough to attack little kids deserved to die.

"If all the attacks have been at Luna Park, then maybe he's holed up somewhere near there."

"I've done a thorough search of the area, and I can't find anything remotely resembling a vamp den."