Light shocked the backs of Xavier's eyes as he came awake. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd slept all night-been able to sleep all night. Normally, his mind was so thick with ideas, moving too rapidly as he built codes and cracked codes, that he couldn't calm himself enough to sleep well.
But last night had been different.
He growled softly, reveling in the heat and sweet scent of the female curled up into him, her back against his chest and groin. Nothing had prepared him for the depth of desire he'd experienced on his knees before her in the shower. The surge of possessiveness. Even as he held her now, even as his cock filled with blood and grew hard against his belly, he felt it.
Mine.
The haze of sleep still within him, Xavier lowered his head and kissed the back of her neck. She had the most beautiful skin, softness over lean muscle. He was about to follow the line of her backbone with his mouth, all the way down to the curve of her sweet ass, and into heaven once again, when his smartphone rang out from the living room. He wanted to ignore it. He even lifted his hand toward the door and flipped it off, but he knew it could be news about the camera's owner, perhaps even news about Chayton. They were counting on him-Raphael, Ashe, the elders, the Pantera-he'd given his word.
With a quick kiss to her shoulder, promising himself he'd be back beneath the sheets before she even woke up, Xavier left the warmth of her bed and padded out into the hallway.
He swiped the phone from the top of the couch, pressed the answer button and muttered in an irritated voice, "Yeah."
"Shit, X." Captain's laughter rang out on the other end. "Wrong side of the bed?"
Right side. Perfect side. "What's going on, Cap?"
"I have something for you. Got your computer open?"
Rounding the couch, Xavier had both computers open, and his cell on speaker before he even sat down. "Go."
"Tracked down the store that sold the camera," Captain said, his voice booming through the speaker Xavier had attached to one of the computers.
Xavier could hear the male working the keyboard hard and fast. "With the serial number?"
"Yep."
"Show me."
Instantly, both the camera shop website and a copy of the receipt popped up on his screen. Xavier enhanced it while Captain explained, "This place stores their records digitally, which is a space saver, but there was a weakness in their backup files I used my genius to exploit."
Xavier snorted at the male's smugness. "No address?" he asked, his fingers moving over the keyboard a mile a minute.
"Whoever bought it paid in cash and in person."
"Fuck me."
"No, no, bro. Here's the part you're going to love." His puma grin was practically audible. "Maybe it'll even pull you out of the shit-tastic mood you're in."
"Doubt it." He forced his mind to focus. Not on the bed and the warm, wet naked female within it, but on his work.
"Our camera owner emailed the store," Captain told him proudly.
"No shit."
"A service problem. Seems the camera's battery life wasn't as long as promised."
This was good. Damned good. He'd been hoping, but so far the leads had gone dead. Could their target have actually left a digital fingerprint for them? "You trace it?"
"Yeah. No luck yet. The trail keeps bouncing all over the globe. Whoever we're dealing with has definitely got an encrypted router on his PC-or whatever computer he or she is using."
Xavier grinned as the email address popped up on his screen. "Could we possibly be dealing with a techie here?"
"I don't know. But either way, this is your department now. No one cracks code like you, mon ami. It's fucking art."
"Thanks, brother. Soon as I get a location I'm going to check it out in person, see if this human can lead us to Chayton. I'll be on the cell if you guys need me."
Captain paused, then sniffed. "Tracking offline and on foot? Isn't that a Hunter's job?"
"Why, yes, it is," came a female voice behind him.
Xavier whirled around, growled at the intruder. The very sexy, nearly naked, intruder. She was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, wearing only a tank top that barely covered her shaved mound. Blood surged into his dick, and even though his fellow Geek couldn't see shit through his phone, Xavier felt possessive ire barrel through him.
"Gotta go, Cap," he muttered to the male. "I'll be in touch."
Xavier didn't even wait for the male to reply, just hit the off button and stood. "You should've stayed in bed."
"Why? Were you planning on coming back?"
"Hell, yes."
As her mouth curved into a wicked grin, her gaze drifted down his body, lingering on the thick erection pressing against his lower abdomen. "Too bad we have to go. Get to work."
The word we wasn't lost on Xavier, and he shook his head. "Not happening, Beautiful."
She leaned against the door, the action causing the edges of her tank to lift, giving him an unobstructed view of her glorious pussy.
His mouth watered. God, he wanted to taste her again. Spread her thighs and send his tongue up inside her slick, hot channel until she screamed.
But that spot in hell beside Shakpi was growing closer by the second.
"I'm one of the best trackers in the Wildlands, Xavier," she said, her eyes searching his now.
"I'm going outside of the Wildlands, Amalie," he countered.
Her kitty cat grin widened. "Perfect. We could use a break."
"From the Pantera or from each other?"
"I'll leave that answer to you." She crossed her arms, grabbed the edges of her tank and pulled it over her head. Naked, her nipples hardening, her eyes still pinned to him, she tossed the white strip of fabric at him. "You could always leave me here. Alone." She laughed softly. "Or not."
Come leaked from the head of his dick, and a growl escaped his throat. "You play dirty."
"Oh, Xavier," she purred, "you have no idea."
She would be the death of him. Or maybe the life. He wasn't sure which option worried him more. But either way, it wasn't going to get examined in that moment. He was too worked up, and she was too tempting.
"Fine," he ground out. "Put on some goddamn clothes before I fuck you against that door."
"Promises, promises," she called as she turned around and strode back into her room.
Her arms wrapped around Xavier's waist, she reveled in the feel of his back against her chest and the motorcycle's engine between her legs. It wasn't as hot as riding on his puma, but it was pretty damn close.
Getting dressed and leaving the house, and the Wildlands, had taken supreme effort on both of their parts. But the reminder of why they needed to go on this mission, search out any clues to Chayton's whereabouts-find the human male before their enemies did-had sobered their desire.
The heat of the day grew thicker as they drew closer to Lafayette. Insects hit the plastic visors of their helmets, and Mal wished she'd worn something lighter than a black leather jacket over her blue tank. Xavier's friend had tracked the IP address to two possible locations. A coffee shop in Lafayette and a cabin in the swamps. They'd gone to the coffee shop first. The owner had been friendly enough, but hadn't given them anything major to go on. Seemed folks with laptops were in and out of the shop all day long. The human male explained that he recognized some of them, didn't know others, but he rarely got intimate enough with anyone to glean personal information.
Now, as the day started to wane into late afternoon, they were headed for the cabin.
"Wrap your arms tighter around me, Amalie," Xavier called back to her as he took a curve with practiced skill.
"I'm not going to fall off," she shouted.
"Who said anything about you falling off?" He took one hand off the bars and used it to press her arms closer. "I just like the feel of you."
She grinned and rubbed her chin against his shoulder. Fantasy or reality. For three days or one. It just didn't matter. She'd never felt so happy. "I won't forget you said that," she called to him.
He growled back, "Good."
After another stretch of curves, one hill and a bumpy-ass bridge, Xavier finally slowed and pulled onto a road marked, 'Swamp Estates. Private Property.' As they kicked up crazy amounts of dust on the dirt pathway, Amalie couldn't help laughing.
"What's so funny?" Xavier asked as they entered a small parking lot and slid into one of many empty spots.
"Estates is really pushing things," she said as he killed the engine and got off the bike. "Rustic cabins is way more like it."
Xavier glanced over his shoulder at the ten or so cabins dotting the swamp's lip in the distance. "Never underestimate the subliminal powers of marketing, Beautiful." He turned back to face her, his eyes flashing. "Sometimes to accept what we're given in this life, to be content with it, we have to amplify or change its value."
Good god, was it possible that she loved this male even more for his incredible brain than his knee-weakening body? She studied him. And tried to pretend she hadn't just used the word 'love' in her mental query regarding how she felt about him.
"Have you ever done that?" she asked. "Changed the value of something you had to accept?"
"Sure."
Her heart stuttered. "When?"
He didn't answer right away, seemed to be mulling something over in his head. Then he glanced past her to the road they'd just traveled, and scrubbed a hand over his face. "When my father died."
It was something she'd known about, had heard about, but they hadn't been close enough to talk about back then. She hoped they were now. Or getting there. She fought the urge to reach for his hand. She didn't want to do anything to stop him from opening up to her, being vulnerable. "How did you amplify that? Or change its value?"
With a tight exhale, his gaze slid back to meet hers. "I got to have two families."
It took her all of five seconds to glean his meaning, but it made her gut ache. His family was Aristide, maybe even her. And he'd crossed a line he hadn't wanted to cross. "I understand."
"Do you?" he asked, his eyes now piercing in the light of the late afternoon sun. "Because I really need you to."
Before Mal could answer, the rumbling sounds of a car coming up the dirt path rent the air. It was coming fast toward them, into the parking lot, kicking up a shitload of dust. Her Hunter instincts kicking into high gear, Mal grabbed Xavier's hand, and took off for the shelter of the trees down near the swamp.
Silently, they watched the car slide into a parking space and stop with a sputter and a groan. When the door opened and a woman got out, Mal turned to Xavier and whispered, "She look familiar? From any of the shop pictures on the drive?"
He shook his head.
She pressed him. "You sure? There had to have been a ton of film."
He turned and gave her a lopsided grin. "I have a photographic memory, Beautiful."
Her heart freaking swooned, and she uttered dryly, "Of course you do."
He laughed softly. "It's a damn inconvenience. Every inch of your body..." He tapped his temple. "All up here and never going away."
"Good." It was her turn to grin now.
He motioned for her to follow. "Come."
"You have the cabin number, right?"
"I think so," he said, following the water, keeping to the shadows, the shade. "If I can remember it."
She gave him a playful push, laughing softly. At which he growled, and yanked her to his side. But as they drew closer to the cabins, they quieted, moving swiftly, listening, eyes wary as they passed the rustic dwellings, their screened porches overlooking the cypress swamp, now tinted peach in the light of the late-afternoon sun.
"Are we breaking and entering?" she asked, wiping sweat from her brow. "Or just lying in wait to grab the guy?"
He turned his gaze on her. "That's the Hunters way, isn't it, Amalie? No talk, all action."
"Not this Hunter," she said in a hushed voice as they approached the rear of the cabin. "I like talk. Lots of it. In my ear is good. Against my mouth even better."
With a soft snarl, he whirled around and caught her up in his arms. His ice blue eyes narrowed with heat. "Don't make me regret bringing you."
"Oh, you won't." With a crooked smile, she pulled away from him. "I have the nose after all."
"The nose, the eyes, the mouth, the ass..."
She glanced back and winked at him, then darted away, quick and quiet, to the side door of the cabin. She was there only a few seconds, when Xavier came up behind her, whispered in her ear, "Well?"
She shivered. In the ninety-plus degree weather, she actually shivered. "No one's in there."
"No body heat."
She glanced over her shoulder and grinned. "No body heat and no heartbeat. Should we wait inside?"
He shook his head. "Maybe in another cabin close by. Maybe in the trees."
She looked up at the massive cypress overhead. "If only I could access my puma," she whispered. "I hate that we can't shift outside the Wildlands. It's so inconvenient." Then her eyes slid down to meet his and she added, "And that pussy of mine really knows how to dig in her nails and climb."
Her suggestive tone and words had Xavier's nostrils flaring, and he took her hand and led her away from the cabin and back toward the swamp. "I think we'll stay out of the trees for today," he grumbled. "Come, Female."