Wolf Rain (Psy-Changeling Trinity #3)(23)

“No. He sticks to friends who know him, and who’re willing to give him the contact he needs without recriminations or demands. That’s part of the problem.”

Hawke knew what Lara didn’t—that Alexei didn’t want to find a woman who meant more to him than a friend. And his reasons weren’t anything logic could overcome. Hawke’s youngest lieutenant had a terrible, painful motive for chasing aloneness.

“Hawke.” Judd exited the den’s tech center not far in front of them. “I was just coming to find you.”

“You got something on Alexei’s foundling?”

Judd’s gold-flecked dark eyes gave nothing away, but his words were ominous. “You need to see this.”





Chapter 12


Alexei Harte: SnowDancer wolf, 6.2, blond, gray-eyed, and panty-melting gorgeous. Word is, he’s won more dominance challenges than any other wolf in the pack. The wild women in SnowDancer tell us it’s because outsiders see his pretty face and think he’ll be an easy takedown. Most of those outsiders are still healing from various broken bones and internal injuries.

—From the “Scary but Sexy” column in the January 2083 issue of Wild Woman magazine: “Skin Privileges, Style & Primal Sophistication”


MEMORY WOKE TO gritty eyes, a body that ached, and a visceral awareness of not being alone. Her pulse spiked, her skin chilling as her mouth went dry. She hated it when Renault found her asleep and vulnerable.

Slitting her eyes open just enough to see, she—

Her eyelids flew all the way up.

A big male body, all golden skin and muscle, was stretched out on the floor not far from her bed. Why, she thought, coming fully awake, was Alexei half-naked on the floor? Her eyes snagged on what appeared to be a small tattoo on the back of his left shoulder, but she couldn’t make out the pattern from this distance.

Then he pushed up on his arms, the line of his body a thing of precision and beauty, and his arm muscles rigid. He held the position for what felt like an excruciating eternity to her, then went back down.

Not making a sound, loath to interrupt him, she watched the fluid movements in breathless fascination. He was only wearing a pair of sweats that hung low on his hips, so she had an uninterrupted view of his upper body.

Her stomach felt funny, her toes curling.

An amber gaze met hers when he rose to his feet after ten more repetitions of the smooth, powerful movement. Wild energy hummed in the air, a prowling kind of patience. “Pack got in touch,” he said in a voice she couldn’t read. “According to allies we asked to do a surveillance check, Erasmus David Renault never came home last night, and there’s no sign of him at his place of business.”

Memory wasn’t surprised; Renault hadn’t escaped detection this long by being unprepared. “He’s rich, has a lot of property.”

“Techs managed to turn one of our satellites in the direction of the bunker,” Alexei added. “No movement around it, no sign of an incursion.”

Memory didn’t flinch. She sat up instead. “He’d have teleported in to confirm my escape.” Bile burned her throat as she spoke the next words. “He considers me his property and he wants me back.”

Alexei’s claws sliced out.

Leaning forward to grip the edge of the upper bunk, his big body far too close and the heat of him nearly a touch, he said, “Yeah? Well, I consider him prey.” His voice was hard and human, but the eyes that met Memory’s were a striking mix of amber and gray.

When he reached down one clawed hand to touch the side of her face, she didn’t jerk back. The deadly tips grazed her skin, but instead of a spike of fear, she felt that strange fluttering in her abdomen, her breath catching. He was so close she could smell the wild warmth of his scent, catch a hint of the perspiration that had dampened the hair at his temples.

Her fingers tingled, wanting to touch his skin, feel the power of all that muscle. Gripping the mattress of her bunk to still the strange urge, she held his stare until his gaze was all amber and his chest rumbled. Memory knew that, to a wolf, aggressive eye contact was a challenge, but she didn’t care.

Never again would she back down from anyone.

He snapped his teeth at her.

It made her jump in surprise. Eyes narrowed in sheer annoyance, she bared her own teeth at him. And, since he was looming over her, she lifted her hands and pushed forcefully at his hips. Her fingers brushed warm, hard abdominal muscles, her palms braced against the cloth of his sweatpants. The raw power of him hummed through her.

Alexei’s eyes gleamed.

Though she was fully conscious that she didn’t have the strength to make him move, he stepped back after grabbing the towel and fresh clothes he’d left on the upper bunk. Her heart thundered as he walked out, her skin prickling, but not in the way it usually did. The pain that was her constant companion had retreated for the moment.

The first thing she did was go to the front door and make sure her palm print still opened it. She didn’t breathe until the lock clicked open. Pulling the door inward a fraction, she looked out into the hazy gray of early morning, the rain a light mist today, and just basked in freedom.

It was a bone-deep pleasure to know she could walk out at will. Because she could, she closed the door after a couple of minutes. The cold was seeping in, and she didn’t want Alexei to walk out of his shower into an icy hallway.