She had passed the courses with honors. But when it came to training maneuvers, she had often endangered the team as well as herself. And yet that had nothing to do with the Council.

"I haven't done anything, or seen anything that the Council would be interested in." Her fists clenched at her sides as she assured him just how wrong he was. "I'm here because it is home. I want to make a difference here."

"There's no battle here." His eyes were deceptively gentle: she could see the cool. calm calculation that rested beneath the purity of the amber color. "There is no fire here, Megan." He moved closer, his body brushing against hers until she retreated against the cool wall behind her. "There is no excitement, nothing to stimulate your very agile mind and body. You hunger for justice. For adventure and excitement. You hunger and yet you steer clear of the banquet waiting beyond your own borders. Why?"

"Maybe I'm scared?" She arched her brow mockingly as she felt her mouth go dry with nervousness. He was too close, too intent on learning secrets that she revealed to no one. "Broken Butte is safe—"

The rumbled growl of warning that sounded from his chest stopped her words as nothing else could have.

"Have I ever mentioned that lies have a scent?" he asked her, his voice soft as he pressed closer. "Such a shame to mar the smell of sweet, aroused female with the rancid tint of a lie. Don't piss me off, Megan."

He flashed those incisors as though she should be frightened of them. She wasn't frightened of his bite; it was his touch that threw her off guard, that destroyed her equilibrium. That was what she feared. And it made her angry at herself and at him.

"Don't piss you off?" She pushed against his chest as she wiggled past him, stomping to the main cave as he followed her slowly. "No, Braden." She turned on him warningly, pointing her finger at him imperiously.

"Don't piss me off, and don't poke your nose where it doesn't belong. Concern yourself with the problem at hand and leave me the hell alone."

Now she remembered why she didn't want a damned Feline Breed on her heels every damned minute of the day.

Arrogance was as much a part of them as the steel-hard muscles and exceptional, savage beauty.

And let's not forget the strength. Before she could do more than gasp he had gripped her upper arm, turning her and pushing her against the wall again, his larger body holding her in place as his erection pressed against her lower stomach.

Arousal swamped her. It ripped through her; not just her senses, but every cell of her body seemed to open up, begging, pleading for his touch.

Damn, she didn't need that. She could feel her womb clenching. And he didn't miss a second of it.

His nostrils flared, his eyes darkening as he held her wrists in one hand, high above her head.

"Do you mind?" She struggled against his grip.

"I don't mind a bit," he murmured, lowering his head to her already abused ear as his teeth raked over it.

Okay, she was screwed, and not in a good way.

She shuddered at the caress. That just felt way too good. Good enough that she couldn't still the hard exhalation of breath that nearly turned into a whimper of greedy need. Talk about a banquet. A smorgasbord of hard, tight male flesh. And if the erection pressing into her stomach was any indication, he was built like a damned tank and loaded.

Her hands strained against his grip as she arched against him, knowing she should be struggling to be free of the sensations that flooded her at his touch. But she wasn't. She was straining closer to the power, the heat of him, needing more. She forced back the need, panting for air as the blood raced through her body.

"Why are you doing this?" She tried to shake her head, but her eyelids only fluttered in pleasure as he drew her earlobe between his lips and caressed it.

"Be still." He growled, pressing his cock tighter against her belly.

"You're not being fair," she protested, her nails biting into his shoulders as she fought the attraction pulling her to him. She couldn't afford to let herself feel this, to need this. "You know this can't go anywhere."

"Who said I'm trying to go anywhere?' Amusement and pure male lust thickened his voice. "But if you don't stop rubbing that hot little body against me, then I'm going to fuck you here, in the middle of this damned cave. Now stay still."

His other hand locked on her hip as he eased back, his head lowering to allow his lips to graze her neck.

Damn, it had just been too long since she'd been with a man. That had to be all it was, because if it wasn't, then she was in more trouble than she could have ever imagined.

"Just blame it all on me, why don't you." She tried to be snide, she really did. But the smile that trembled on her lips fed to her voice.

"It's sure as hell a lot easier that way." He chuckled as he lifted his head, moving farther back until he let go of her wrists and released her from the sensual spell he had been weaving around her.

She should have been thankful.

Instead she wanted to whimper in disappointment. "I just bet it is." She rolled her eyes, fighting to balance her equilibrium once again. "Are we finished in here, or was there something else you wanted to check out?"

She stooped down to retrieve the flashlight that had rolled against the wall before flipping it off and resecuring it on her utility belt. Right beside the wicked submachine pistol she had pulled from her closet and holstered there that morning. She'd be damned if she ever carried another Wounder.

"Oh, there are many things I would like to check out." The heavy-lidded stare had her stomach tightening, her pussy spasming.

"I bet there are." She hid the spurt of laughter that was building in her chest. "But if we're finished with these damned caverns I'd really like to head back to town. I do still have some sort of life here. Living it brings me some satisfaction, you know. And I'm getting rather hungry."

For food, she chastised her aching clit. Just food. No sex. Sex with a Breed was not a good idea. It involved all sorts of complications. Possessiveness, arrogance, and other adjectives she really couldn't seem to pull out of her head right now. She was certain they weren't good ones though.

"Hrnmm," he murmured. The rumbling sound wasn't comforting. "We'll

check the other cave just to be certain before heading out. If they left the schedule here, they could have left something else across the gully."

"Fine." Another climb. Just what she needed. This time he was going first. She was not getting downwind of him with that sensitive nose he had. She was so wet she was certain she smelled of nothing but lust. Wild, hot lust.

She was so fucked. And if she wasn't careful, it was going to be in a too good way.

She fascinated him.

Braden admitted he could be in some very deep trouble where Megan Fields and her various mysteries were concerned. It wasn't just the arousal that concerned him. He had been aroused before, but never had he been this hungry, this intent on one woman outside the drug induced "tests" the scientists had conducted in the labs.

Megan did more than just make him hungry. She made him yearn, and that could be a very dangerous thing. But she also made him curious. Curiosity killed the cat, he thought mockingly as he searched the next cave, attempting to ignore the sweet heat that flowed from her.

He ached so desperately to taste her that the small, almost unnoticed glands beneath his tongue felt swollen. The scientists had labeled them

as advanced taste buds, another of the anomalies of their human/animal genetics. There were quite a few of those.

But the glands had never become inflamed, swollen. And they sure as hell had never spilled the subtle taste of spice into his mouth. And now they were. The very thought of tasting Megan, of pushing his tongue into her mouth and feeling her soft lips surround it, made them throb harder.

Not to mention what the thought did to his cock. The head was pounding like a toothache that refused to ease. He could jack off, but he had learned last night that it brought even less satisfaction than it ever had. He just wasn't the "jack off " type, he guessed. He liked sex. He loved women. The taste, the sound, the softness, all the unique qualities that made women what they were. The feel of their nails piercing his shoulders in climax, or the sweet explosion of earthy lust on his tongue as he licked their cream from between their thighs. Women were softness in a world gone mad. But Megan was making him mad, insane, so desperate for the taste of her that he was on the verge of taking her to the cave floor and covering her like the animal he was.

"There's nothing here, Braden." It wasn't the first time she had made the comment. "No fissures, no tunnels, no hidden little ledges."

Yeah, he had figured that one out five minutes ago. But she was here, the smell of her trapped between the stone walls, stroking his senses and filling him with a peculiar lust that he needed time to understand. To figure out how to control.

If they left the cave, the winds would dissipate much of the scent, and the surrounding land would diffuse it. He would have no time to revel in it. In his memory, no woman had ever been so naturally hot for his touch. It was almost humbling. Fuck that, it was arousing as hell. He couldn't get enough of it, and if she wasn't careful, he would soon be tasting it.

"Keep looking." He bent along the wall he was searching, exploring a fissure that ran diagonally across the stone.

It was thin, barely wide enough for the tips of his fingers, but enough to pretend interest in.

"Keep looking!" she exclaimed before breathing out in exaggerated patience. "You're too bossy."

"And you're too argumentative, but you don't see me pointing that out." She made him smile. It had been a long damned time since anyone had genuinely made him smile.

He loved sparring with her, loved to listen to her snap at him and defy him. She was a challenge, both physically and mentally, and she kept him on his toes. And if he hadn't been mistaken, a definite smile had been edging her lips earlier and echoing in her voice.

"Don't I?’ She was smiling for sure now. She might have her back to him, but he could hear the smile in her voice.

Unobtrusively he shifted the hard length of his cock beneath his jeans, hoping for some relief. The damned thing only seemed to swell further as he closed his eyes and drew the scent of her deeper into his head.

"Whichever one waited in this cavern couldn't have been here long," she finally said. "It doesn't stink like the other one did."

He had noticed that himself.

"I suspect they both spent some time in the other one." He shrugged.

"Coyotes work better in teams. They challenge each other in their viciousness. It makes them more merciless."

He watched as she finished checking a shadowed corner and turned back to face him. Her face was flushed, her nipples pressing against her T shirt as she snapped the flashlight off and clipped it to her belt. "I assume we're done here?"

"For now." He glanced around one last time. "Hopefully by this evening Jonas will have some information for us as well as the pictures of the

Breeds who were murdered. I want you to look at them closely, see if you recognize them."

Even their trainers wouldn't have recognized them the day before.

"That sounds fine." She nodded. "Since I'm stuck with you at the house, I have to do some grocery shopping though. I bet you eat a lot, don't you?"

Her gaze roved over him. He knew the minute she spotted his erection and almost laughed out loud as her eyes widened in surprise.

"I have very strong appetites." He was almost choking on his laughter as heat enveloped her face.

She cleared her throat, a nervous little sound-part arousal. part amusement. "I just bet you do," she muttered heading for the entrance of the cave. "Wouldn't surprise me a bit."