“Think about me,” Cade growled, the scrape of the wolf thick under his words. “All night.”
He clenched his hand around the back of Marlow’s neck and kissed him, a quick, hard scrape of his mouth. Marlow sucked in a startled breath, the hot taste of Cade’s mouth on his tongue, and before he could decide how to react, Cade pulled away from him.
There was a pause, and Cade glanced over his shoulder.
“I half expected Bennett to kick the door in,” he admitted. “Based on her track record.”
Marlow gave a snort of laughter and leaned in to kiss along Cade’s collarbone. The skin under his mouth tasted like salt and was almost hot to the touch. Wolves ran hotter before the shift. He’d never been this close to one this close to the full moon.
The thought of it made something between arousal and uneasiness tug at his gut. Arousal had the edge.
“Once this is all over,” he said, “maybe I’ll visit that ranch house of yours.”
Cade snorted. “I’ve already bought the coffee,” he said, “so you better. If you still want to get drunk, whiskey is in the dresser.”
Cade let the door slam behind him as he left. Marlow stared at the dresser for a second but decided against it, so he was sober when Cade’s phone rang from the pocket of his abandoned jeans.
Who’d call a wolf on the full moon?
Marlow hesitated for a second as he debated the best thing to do, then reached down to grab it.
“Yeah?” he said. It wasn’t a deliberate attempt to disguise his voice, but his throat was still thick with the taste of Cade.
“Piper says he’ll call,” Maria said, the words quick and stressed. “He said he’ll talk to you, Marlow. Just you. Now you’re off that high horse.”
She hung up.
That explained why they’d called while the moon was up.
Chapter Five
CADE WOKE UPsmug.
He lay on his back, concrete cool against his ass and shoulders, and peered up at the blue strip of sky overhead. Most of the time, the wolf gave him back his skin and a general sense of a night well spent—mornings he thought he’d eaten someone he knew aside. He’d never woken up and felt quite so ridiculously self-satisfied.
Last night he’d probably done something stupid.
Cade sat up, stretched until something popped, and looked around. An alley somewhere, smudges of graffiti on scar-scored brick walls, and a sheep’s head left balanced on the fire escape. The mild gaze of milky eyes made Cade feel—briefly—guilty, but if he hadn’t eaten it, someone else would have.
There was dried blood on him, crusted on his stomach and smeared down his legs. It was hard to tell if it was his, the sheep’s, or someone else’s, but it didn’t look fresh either way. Cade scratched his stomach and turned to go. He nearly tripped over the tangle of cloth he’d apparently curled up on while still furry.
Black, shredded, and tangled around his feet. He kicked it loose and bent down to pick it up. That explained where the blood came from, he supposed, as he unknotted it and smeared more blood over his hands. He shook it out, and…
Shit.
The TAC team logo was splashed over the back, with NIGHT SHIFT in white block letters underneath. It looked like his grudge against the SDPD had carried over into the night. He hoped he hadn’t killed anyone.
Not really. Not yet. He was sure he’d feel that way at some point, though.
Cade draped the ruined coat over the sheep’s head. The alley was muddy and wet underfoot as he headed toward the street. He stopped on the pavement, one hand up to shade his eyes, and took a second to orient himself.
A man stood on one foot by a bank of lockers as he tried to pull his trousers on and juggle a phone call at the same time.
“What do you mean your mom was called into work?” he said. “Did she take you to your grandfather’s? Well, who’s with you, then? I have… Your mom knows I have to go to work this morning; are you sure she won’t be back until— No. No, it’s fine. I’ll be home in twenty minutes, be ready.”
He hung up and threw the phone back into the locker in frustration. It bounced off the metal, and he stood there for a second, half-dressed and exasperated, with his head in his hands. Cade left him to it as he turned right on instinct and headed down the street.
The plan had been to get a cab and maybe a cup of something hot to wash the sheep down. Instead, Cade stopped at the end of the street and stared at the low gray-and-yellow building opposite.
