Keri Arthur - Dangerous Games

"Quinn?"

My voice seemed to echo through the small house. I frowned, flipped off the covers, and got up. Quinn wasn't in the living room, nor the kitchen, nor the bathroom. In fact, he wasn't in the house at all.

An odd mix of worry and anger ran through me. I spun on a heel and walked back into the bedroom. My clothes weren't on the Moor where I'd left them. Anger began to overrun the worry as I walked back to the living room. My purse, shoes, and phone were also absent.

The bastard .

He hadn't brought me here to give me a glimpse of his life. He'd brought me here to keep me away from a case he considered too dangerous.

I should have known.

Should have guessed it was too good to trust.

I picked up the small nude figurine sitting on the kitchen table and threw it against the far wall with all the force I could muster. It shattered against the stone, sending shards of fine white porcelain spearing through the room. I hoped it was expensive. Fucking expensive.

I took a deep breath in an effort to control the rage. Running around breaking things might make me feel better, but in the long run, it wasn't going to help me much. First things first—check whether I still had a car, look for replacement clothes, then get the hell out of here.

A peek through the front curtains provided the unstartling information that my car had also gone. I resisted the urge to rip the curtains from their tracks, and let them fall back into place.

Next up, clothes. As it turned out, not only had my clothes gone, but all his. Not that running around naked particularly worried me, but the night was promising to be a cold one. The chill was already in the air.

The third item in my list proved to be just as elusive—the front door had been key-locked. So were all the windows as well as the sliding door out onto the patio. The key he'd used earlier was gone. Which, while not considered a fire code violation by the law, was a very stupid thing to do.

"Bastard, bastard, bastard."

I'd have to break out. There was nothing else I could do. Without even thinking any more about it, I picked up a chair and threw it through the window. It smashed through the glass, hit the patio, then bounced up to crash through the railing and disappear over the side.

I shifted shape and leapt through the hole. Part of me was hoping like hell someone noticed the window and used it to steal all his fine—and undoubtedly expensive—bits and pieces.

He deserved that, and more.

I followed the riverbank, enjoying the feel of the damp earth under my paws, the freshness of the breeze against my coat, even if they did little to ease my foul mood.

As I got closer to central Warrandyte, I left the river-bank and moved into the streets, padding quietly along the sidewalk. Few people took notice of me. Most were in a hurry to get home, and in the dusky light, I looked like just another stray dog anyway. Under normal circumstances, the magic that helped me change would also have taken care of any clothes I might be wearing—just don't ask me how, because it was a magic I didn't question, just accepted. Of course, once we were back in human form, the clothes were usually a shredded mess, so while the magic might conceal the clothes when we were in wolf form, it certainly didn't look after them. Lucky for me, that wasn't going to be a problem on this occasion.

Was he ever going to get a piece of my mind when I caught up with him.

When I found a main road and was free of the trees, I shifted shape and pressed the com-link button in my ear. "Riley to base—anyone listening in?"

Silence was my only response—not that I'd really expected anything else. The trackers were long range, but the communicator part of the units were far more limited. With the hills and the trees, I pretty much figured it would be a miracle if I got through.

I tried a couple more times, just for the hell of it, but eventually conceded I'd have to contact them the old-fashioned way. I walked down the street until I found a phone booth. Thankfully there weren't that many people out, meaning I didn't have any immediate worries about someone reporting my nakedness to the police. I picked up the handset, rang the Directorate's emergency number, and got put through to Jack.

Wouldn't you know it, the caramel cow answered instead. "Guardian division. Jack Parnell's phone."

"Sal, it's Riley. Where's Jack?"

"In a meeting with the Director. What do you want?"

For you to get back into whatever annoying coffin you crawled out of. I cleared my throat, and said, "I need a car and clothes at my current location."

"You lost your clothes?" Amusement crawled through her cool tones. "Though I suppose it wouldn't be the first time. You wolves do tend to get careless about such things."

"Maybe, but not this time. It was done to prevent me working a case."

Sal sniffed. It was a superior sound if ever I'd heard one. "I've located your call position. We have a car in the area and I've sent an order for them to pick you up. They'll take you home to retrieve some clothes."

Better than nothing. Though if the increasing edge of amusement in Sal's voice was anything to go by, she wasn't being as helpful as it seemed. "Can you transfer me to the following cell number?" I reeled off Jin's number. "I need to call my target and explain why I'm late."

"Consider it done, wolf girl. I shall tell Jack of your predicament."

And enjoy every moment, undoubtedly. "Tell him it was Quinn, and that I'll report once I make contact with my target."

She didn't answer, just transferred the call. As I waited, a teenager walked by and almost broke his neck doing a quick double take. I gave him a wave and he grinned, his feet seemingly glued to the spot as he got out his cell phone and began dialing. Given the grin, I very much suspected it wasn't the cops he was dialing, but his mates. I suppose it wasn't every day a teenage boy found a naked woman standing in a phone booth. What were the odds I'd soon have an audience?

I smiled and, as he pointed the phone at me, gave him a thumbs-up. The answering wows and ahs were audible even from where I stood.

"Hello?" fin's easygoing tones came online, and I snapped my attention back to my job. "Jin, it's Riley."

There was a brief pause, the squeak of a chair, then footsteps and a door opening. Then he said, "Hello, dear Riley."

His voice had dropped several levels, and slid across my skin as smoothly as silk. A warmth that was part desire, part trepidation flooded my senses, as if just by speaking he could call to the wildness within me.

"When you didn't answer your phone," he continued, "I began to fear I'd scared you off."

"I'm not that fragile." Despite the fact that accurately described my state when I first woke up. "I misplaced my phone, that's all."

"Ah. I'm glad you rang, then." He paused, and I heard voices in the background. One male, one female. Accompanying them was a slapping sound that sounded an awful lot like a leather belt against skin.

And given the business cards I'd found, it probably was.

"I'm afraid when I couldn't get you earlier," Jin continued, "I agreed to work. But we could go out afterward, it you like."

"I'd like," I said absently, trying to tune in on the soft noises behind him. The slapping sound was now accompanied by soft sounds of distress rather than enjoyment, and there was something about it that just snagged at my instincts. "Where would you like to meet?"

"I'm not entirely sure what time I'll finish here, as we've a bit of work to do yet."

Yeah, and I was betting it wasn't serving customers alcohol.

"I could just wander into the club and wait for you to finish."

Though if he was at the Hellion Club, I was backing out. Slapping and biting and even being restrained I could handle, but torture and humiliation just didn't rock my sexual boat.