Branded by Fire

CHAPTER 32

Mercy was not amused to come home after a night shift in the city to find breakfast waiting for her. “Out,” she said to both the males on her porch. “And I’m not messing today.”

Eduardo raised his hands in surrender. “I’m heading home. This is good-bye.”

“Thank God for small mercies,” she said. “And you?”

Joaquin gave her an enigmatic smile. “Still no scent.”

“Suit yourself.” Grabbing a muffin, she walked into the cabin and shut the door. She heard Eduardo laugh and Joaquin curse, but she really wasn’t in the mood. Eating quickly, she showered and got ready to catch some shut-eye. When she looked out the window, it was to find the men gone, though they’d left the food behind in a thermal container. Reluctantly impressed by their refusal to give in, she stored the food in her kitchen, then crashed, planning to be up by one in the afternoon.

If she’d known what was going on in the woods not far from her house, her sleep might not have been as smooth.

Riley had come down to talk to Mercy and found Eduardo and Joaquin. This time, he wasn’t in a walking-away frame of mind. Stepping out behind the men as they left Mercy’s cabin, he waited for them to turn.

They did, faces predator-sharp. These two were sentinels, strong and well trained. But they didn’t have violent possessiveness running through their veins. “I thought she told you to get lost.”

It was Eduardo who answered. “Leopard females that dominant don’t take well to males who do exactly what they say. But you wouldn’t know that, wolf.”

“I know her far better than either of you ever will.” He watched their eyes, waiting for an aggressive move.

“She doesn’t carry your mark in her skin,” Joaquin said, and it was obvious from his tone that he wasn’t ready to leave the field.

“And I bet she hasn’t let you lay a hand on her.” Her knew Mercy. She was easy with skin privileges in the pack, but she zealously guarded her privacy outside it.

Joaquin smiled. “Her skin is soft, creamy.”

It was a taunt meant to make Riley’s wolf see red and it succeeded, but he was also a lieutenant honed in fire. He narrowed his eyes. “Me and you. Eduardo stays out of it.”

“Done.” Joaquin’s claws slid out. “I win, you walk away.”

“Never going to happen.” He released his own claws, slicing them through skin with the thoughtless ease of someone who’d grown up semishifting.

“Hold it,” Eduardo said, scowling. “What the fuck are you doing, Joaquin? We didn’t come here to mess up DarkRiver’s pact with the wolves.”

Riley waved him off. “I give you my word this won’t impact things politically.”

Eduardo raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? Then go for it. I can’t wait to see how you explain this to Mercy.”

Riley was no longer thinking. Joaquin had moved a bare fraction of an inch, but Riley knew it was in preparation for a strike. He was proven right an instant later as the South American sentinel came at him in a rage of claws and speed. Joaquin was good, Riley thought, moving out of the way even as he used his own claws to shred the other man’s sides.

There was no blood, though Joaquin’s shirt was in tatters. The sentinel had twisted away in a fluid move no wolf would ever make. But a wolf could utilize that fluidity against his prey. He went as if to strike, Joaquin shifted left . . . and Riley struck up with his free hand.

“Fuck.” Joaquin hissed out a breath as his blood scented the air. “Lucky hit.”

Riley didn’t speak, watching. But he wasn’t quite fast enough to evade the kick that almost dislocated his shoulder. Moving with the kick, he grabbed Joaquin’s foot and twisted. Bones would’ve snapped in a human. But they weren’t human. The other man landed on his feet, but his balance was slightly off. Riley had damaged something.

Not allowing his opponent to regain control, he attacked, his driving possessiveness giving him an edge even Joaquin’s feline grace couldn’t counteract. Slamming his claws to within a breath of the leopard’s throat, he gritted out the words, “Be on the next plane out of here or I won’t stop next time.”

Joaquin’s aggression was a golden glow in his eyes. “You’re faster than you look.”

Taking that as acceptance, Riley drew back.

Joaquin straightened, wiping blood off his lips. “Good luck.” He held out a hand.

Unsurprised, Riley shook it. Changelings stuck to their word—it was part of the code of honor that kept peace among their kind. “Make sure your alpha doesn’t send replacements.”

Joaquin rubbed his jaw. “That, I can’t promise. Isabella is a law unto herself.”

“Then tell her that anyone else she sends up,” Riley said quietly, “I’ll be sending back minus body parts.”

Eduardo grinned. “That, she’ll understand. You sure you want to mess with Isabella?”

“If she’s Mercy’s grandmother, I’ll have to deal with her eventually.” He nodded once as the two men headed off. Part of him wanted to follow to make sure they truly were leaving, but the other part wanted desperately to see Mercy, to drive his scent into her skin so no other male would dare what Joaquin had. The field was not clear.

Trusting the honor of the two sentinels, he walked left, to Mercy. He was on her doorstep when he realized he was bruised and bloody. One look and she’d know exactly what he’d been doing. He didn’t care. Raising a fist, he knocked.

The door was pulled open a few moments later by a sleepy-eyed cat dressed in an old T-shirt. Those eyes widened when she saw him, but he kissed her before she could say a word, clasping the back of her head to keep her in place as he fed his need for her. He was expecting to feel her claws any instant, but it was her hands he felt, under the torn fabric of his T-shirt. Shuddering when she flattened her hands on his back, he deepened the kiss until it was a melding of mouths, raw and hot and honest.

That was when her claws pricked him, hard enough that he knew he’d have bruises. Breaking the kiss, he looked down into eyes gone leopard in anger, though her lips were soft, full, so tempting.

“Riley Kincaid, you have Joaquin’s blood on you.” Her nostrils flared. “Dead or alive?”

“Alive.” He winced as her claws dug deeper.

“I told you to stay away from them.”

“I’m not a pet dog,” he growled, closing his hand around her throat. “Don’t try and leash me, kitty cat.”

Those golden cat eyes shimmered with the sharp bite of feminine anger. “Get your hand off my neck.”

Leaning in close, he breathed his next words against her lips. “Make me.”

A taut moment, as they stared at each other, both furious, both unable to walk away. He waited to feel real pain—predatory changeling females could do serious damage when riled, and he’d made her plenty angry—but he didn’t care. Right now, this moment, it was pure ambrosia.

Mercy’s lashes lowered, and when they came back up, he saw the cat prowling behind the irises. “You’re insane, Kincaid.” She bit his lower lip hard enough to make her point. Then, withdrawing her claws, she raised a hand to her throat and pulled at his pinkie. “I’ll break this if you don’t get your hand off me.”

He knew instinctively that he’d pushed her far enough.

“Good choice,” she said as he released her. “Now come in and maybe I’ll patch you up.”

Realizing he’d somehow skirted the icy blade of her anger, he walked in. She padded away into the bathroom and he followed, pulling off his T-shirt as he entered. She stared at the claw marks on his chest, the cuts on his side, his face. “You don’t need stitches.” Putting her hands on his arm, she tugged. “Turn.”

He decided to obey because it felt so good to have her touch him.

“Hmm. No stitches necessary here, either, though you’ll have some enormous bruises. Most of it will heal within the next couple of days.”

“Do you have anything for the bruises?” Stiff muscles could be dangerous, slowing reaction time when it mattered most.

Coming to face him again, she said, “Maybe. Shower off the blood and find me. I might be in a good mood. I might not.”

He blocked her exit from the bathroom, very aware of the sleek nakedness of her body beneath that old T-shirt. “Stay.” God, he was starved for her touch. Just that, just touch.

She looked at him out of eyes that continued to hold a golden edge. “Shower and I’ll let you sleep with me. I did a night shift.”

He moved immediately out of the way. “Why didn’t you say so? I wouldn’t have kept you from bed.” He scowled, the protectiveness he felt toward her trumping everything else. “I’ll be out in five.”

He was as good as his word, rubbing his hair dry as he walked naked into Mercy’s bedroom. She was curled up, half-asleep below the sheets, but waved him over. “Bruise cream.”

“I’ll put it on.”

“Shuddup and lie still.”

Throwing aside the towel, he lay down on top of the sheet. Her fingers felt like perfection on his flesh, feminine and strong and uniquely Mercy. When she’d put the cream over all the bruises, she yawned and got up to wash her hands before crawling back into bed. He was waiting for her beneath the sheets, and to his surprise, she didn’t say a word as he spooned his body around hers, their lower limbs tangling, his hand flat on the warm skin of her abdomen.

“Take off the T-shirt,” he murmured against her ear.

“Pushy.” But she gave him what he wanted, surprising him once again.

Mercy, he thought, was an intrinsically generous woman. He’d known that, but today, he saw another facet to that part of her nature. She was angry with him for fighting with Joaquin, but even so, she was giving him what he needed. She could’ve made him beg—he was so starved for her, he might just have done it. Instead, she’d allowed him into her bed, allowed him the most intimate of skin privileges.

That truth made something in his heart unsnap, unlock, and he wasn’t quite sure what it was.

A feminine hand curled over the arm he had around her waist. “Sleep.”

Holding her tight, awash in the warmth of her, he did as ordered. And unlike the night he’d spent awake and walking the halls of the den, this sleep was utterly peaceful.

Mercy was smiling that afternoon as she sat in DarkRiver’s business HQ. Sleeping with Riley again had been nice. Really nice. They’d woken together, made love with a lazy slowness that had turned her blood to treacle. It had been tempting to stay in bed, but Riley had an afternoon shift on the patrols they were running in the city, and she had to complete several of her security reports.

She’d just finished a call with a firm specializing in high-tech intrusion detection systems when the phone rang. The ID was exquisitely familiar. She answered by switching the clear screen of her computer to comm mode. “Riley?”

His response was audio only, with a little icon that told her he was on a cell phone. “Mercy, you still in the city?”

The sound of his voice crawled inside, touched the cat . . . and wasn’t immediately clawed away. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“We got a tip that something odd was going on in one of the new warehouses they’re building along the Embarcadero,” he said, referring to the long stretch of road that ran around the eastern edge of the bay. “Near the Bay Bridge.”

Excitement sparked. “I’ll be there—”

“No rush. I went in with a small team, checked things out. They—”

Mercy tried to counsel patience and failed. “You what? This is our op, Riley. Not yours. You knew I was in the city, that I could’ve been there in minutes, but you still didn’t call until after you’d gone in?”

He didn’t bother to lie to her, to make up something about using their resources wisely or some other crap like that. He just said, “I made the decision. Deal with it.”

Deal with it? Fine. “What did you find?” she asked, hand curled into a fist so tight, she could see tendons push up white under skin.

“This particular warehouse is almost complete and the foreman says no workers have been inside for two weeks. But someone was here and very recently,” he said, sounding a little guarded at her apparent calm.

Good, she thought. “Alliance?”

“From the human scents and the fact that we found some bomb-making apparatus, I’m saying it’s a good bet.”

“Damn.” She tapped her fingers on the desk. “They’re actually going to do this, blow something up in our territory.”

“I fucking hope not. If they do, it’s war.”

Mercy took a moment to think. “Maybe the target has nothing to do with us—could be they’re here to eliminate Bowen’s group.”

“With a bomb?” Riley’s disbelief was obvious. “It’d be easier to shoot them in some dark alley. They blow something up, it’s about getting everyone’s attention. Right this second,” he continued, “their motivation matters less than finding them. From all the evidence, they’re staying on the move, but we’ve got a scent now.”

“I’ll get some leopards on it, too.” She was already making a mental list of those in the city or close by with the necessary tracking skills. “I’m on my way.”

She kept her anger contained on the drive over, and said nothing when she first saw Riley in the warehouse. Instead, she confirmed his findings, then set Aaron, Jamie, Barker, and Kit to tracking. “Kit, I want you paired with Barker.”

Kit opened his mouth to complain but she shut him up with a look. “I know you’re a good tracker, but you’re still in training. Seriously, boy, do not give me any shit today.”

Kit blinked. He carried the scent of a future alpha, and one day soon, he’d be able to overpower her in a fight—but she’d be his senior until he became alpha. And not only did Kit know that, he knew how to deal with dominant females, having grown up with Rina for a sister. “Someone made you mad today,” he murmured, hands up. “Glad it wasn’t me. Is Barker here already?”

“Should be outside. Check in with me by phone every fifteen minutes.”

“Will do.” Nodding, the young soldier headed out.

The warehouse was clear of everyone but Mercy, Riley, and the scene processing people ten minutes later. Leaving the scientific types, Mercy headed out to her car, Riley by her side. “I’ve got one question for you,” she said as they walked, “what was the tip?”

“That there was a lot of late-night traffic in and out of a warehouse that was meant to be off-limits to anyone but the construction crew.”

“That’s it?”

“One of the soldiers patrolling this area thought she smelled something dangerous—probably caught a whiff of the chemicals. Rats came through with the same info two minutes later.”

Mercy knew he’d received that data directly because he was in charge of city security at the relevant time. “So you knew you were going into danger.” She put her thumb to the car door to unlock it.

“It was a possibility.” His eyes were calm when he looked at her, but the hand he closed over her door when she slid it open and back, was white-knuckled.

“And is that when you made the decision not to call me?” she asked, holding his gaze without flinching. “When you realized it might be life-threatening?”

“We had no idea what we might be walking into,” he said. “The place could’ve been rigged to blow.”

“Answer the question.” She didn’t break eye contact.

“Yes. I didn’t want you exposed to that unstable a situation.”

She was so angry she was trembling inside. “That’s what I thought—and it wasn’t your call to make, Riley.”

“What the fuck use would it have been to put us both in the line of fire?”

“Again, not your call.” She tried to breathe, but her throat was knotted up with too much fury and air barely seemed to get in. “We’re allies. If you start holding back information, that alliance falls.”

His jaw tightened. “You know damn well this had nothing to do with the alliance.”

“Yes,” she said, “it did. Everything we do impacts our packs.”

He didn’t answer, but she could feel the pulse of his anger.

“Don’t you dare treat me like your woman ever again,” she said, teeth gritted. “Not when it concerns the safety of my pack. Which is all our ‘relationship’ is going to concern as of this moment.”

“No,” he said, grabbing her elbow. “You don’t get to end us. Not over this.”

The cat growled and she let the sound travel up through her vocal cords. “I get to do whatever I want.” She wrenched her arm from his. “I invited you into my home,” she said, nose to nose with him. “I trusted you. You just shit on that trust.” Sliding into the seat, she pulled the door shut.

He refused to let it close, leaning down to look at her. “I did not break your trust.”

“Tell yourself that if it makes you feel better.” This time, she pulled hard enough to make her muscles scream, kicking out at his shins at the same time. His grip loosened in surprise, and she got the door moving, sliding her leg back inside in the nick of time. Then she got the hell away from Riley before he did something else that made her heart hurt.

Her eyes burned and that only made her angrier. “God damn you, Riley!” She slammed her palm on the steering wheel hard enough to leave bruises.