“Who said I was civilized?” He was laughing at her now. The flash of a smile, his wicked incisors gleaming in the dark. “That was just a warning, pretty girl. Once I get my dick inside you, you’ll be begging me to bite you. ”
Yeah, that was what she was afraid of now. Dangerous. Very dangerous. She was playing with a fire hotter and with a greater potential for destroying her than the one she had been playing with for the past ten years.
“In your dreams. ” She scoffed him with much more confidence than she felt. “And if you will excuse me, as entertaining as this little adventure is, I really must be leaving. It’s getting late. ”
She moved to pass him, only to come to an abrupt stop against the chest suddenly blocking her way.
“You’re running away,” he accused, one broad hand reaching up, his finger running down her cheek. “Do you think I conspired to get you here just so you could get away so easily?”
“I think I’ve had enough of your charming company. ” Her body was begging for more, but hell, it didn’t have the good sense to pick decent lovers, so why should she begin paying attention to it now?
“I’m going to have you, Scheme. Fighting it isn’t going to do anything but prolong the battle. ”
“And I’m just shaking in my shoes. ” She rolled her eyes before moving to the side and, this time, succeeding in skirting around him. “Haven’t you heard, Tanner? The chase is half the fun. ” Actually, she had found it was the only fun, but it wasn’t considered an intelligent move to insult the male ego. Let alone a Breed male. “And you will have to excuse me now. I’ve had enough of the party and the witty sexual innuendo. It’s time I leave. ”
“Miss Tallant,” he murmured as she walked back toward the party. “It has definitely been a pleasure. ”
Tanner watched her walk from the garden, the light from the house spilling around her, causing the scarlet dress to blaze on her slender frame and darken the lush fall of sable hair.
He ran his tongue over his teeth. No swollen glands there. For a moment, just a moment, he had tasted something so unfamiliar in his mouth that his heart had tripped in suspicion. Could Scheme Tallant be his mate? The woman he had been plotting to kidnap for years, watching with an almost fanatical fervor, held a fascination for him that no other woman ever had.
The signs of mating heat were firmly established within the Breed community now. The swollen glands, the unusually vicious sexual heat that gripped the mind and body. His hunger for her was ripping through him, stronger than anything he had ever known. But none of the physical signs of the heat were making themselves apparent.
“She’s leaving the party,” he reported, knowing the team on the other end of the earpiece would receive the transmission.
“So we heard,” Cabal growled in response.
Tanner’s lips quirked. Despite his sexual abandon in private, Cabal was rarely comfortable with public flirting.
“Follow her,” he ordered, heading back toward the party. “I want to know when she arrives at the house and whether or not she’s alone. ”
“Are you certain this is the best course of action, Tanner?” Cabal asked. “Following a snake into its den is never smart. ”
“That’s lion,” Tanner informed him with a smile. “Just make certain the house is clear. ”
“We swept it for bugs before heading here,” Cabal responded. “Evidently Daddy dearest doesn’t trust his little princess. Every room in the place is wired. ”
Tanner grimaced. “Have a jammer ready for me. I don’t want this recorded. ”
“Ready and waiting. ” Cabal sighed. “Covering your ass on this one isn’t going to be easy. You’re damned lucky Jackal has a perverted sense of humor when it comes to these games of yours. ”
Jackal snorted in the background. He was one of the few human enforcers within Sanctuary.
“He was just bored this week. ” Tanner smothered his laugh as he neared the patio. “I’m out. See you at the castle. ”
The castle. The princess’s town house in the middle of D. C. had been searched from end to end over the past few days. They found the bugs and little else. Strangely, the princess had no intimate family photos other than a simple four-by-six of her dead mother that sat by her bed.
Her home was sterile. Cold.
“Merc is bringing the limo around for you. ” Cabal spoke in Tanner’s ear as he reentered the ballroom and made his way through the crush of political and not so political guests.
Making his excuses to the hostess, Tanner moved through the lavish foyer of the house, for once ignoring the heated feminine looks thrown his way.
It was rare for him to leave a party alone. But he didn’t intend to be alone for long. Tonight, Scheme was going to get up close and personal with a Breed in a way that didn’t involve blood or death.
First, he would fuck this fascination he had for her out of his system, then get the information he needed, then just as coldly as she had signed the death warrants on Breeds in the past, he would turn her over to Breed Law.
He finally had the proof he needed against her. Pictures, signed orders, and her ex-lover’s confession. All he needed now was one last confession by a council soldier or member to take her out. Scheme Tallant was about to become nothing more than a memory to the Breeds.