Braden completely agreed with him.

"Why is he here? Don't we have enough problems to deal with?' she asked.

"Sit down, Megan," Lanced groused, obviously not in the mood for this little meeting. "Even if it means moving the chair."

She did just that. Braden smiled at her slowly, wickedly, as he watched a light flush color her bronzed flesh. The information he had on Megan had been as clear, concise and well put-together as Braden had come to expect from Jonas.

Her relationship with her cousin had been part of the report. It seemed she and Lance had been sniping at each other for months due to her insistence on taking the desert patrols rather than the safer a.s.signments in town. But they were closer than most brothers and sisters, let alone cousins.

"I do have work to do today," she finally pointed out a bit impatiently when neither of them spoke.

"No, you don't." Lance sat forward then, bracing his arms on his desk as his frown darkened. "You're about to get exactly what you've been wanting for the past two years. Congratulations." He wasn't pleased, but Braden was already aware of that fact. Lance was madder than h.e.l.l, not just at Braden and the Bureau of Breed Affairs. but also at Megan.

"Really?' she drawled in mocking amus.e.m.e.nt. "That's interesting. So, does this mysterious want of mine include a gun?" Evidently that was one argument she hadn't managed to win against her cousin. She hated the police-issue Wounder and had been hara.s.sing him to requisition a more powerful gun for her.

"Use one of your own," Lance harrumphed rudely. "You have enough of them, and since you're no longer on official duty, I can't stop you. Or use one of his. You seem to have done fine with it yesterday."

Megan cast Braden a look from the comer of her eye.

Braden gave her a smug, satisfied smile as her gaze moved fully to his. Finally, she turned back to her cousin rather than voicing the mocking retort he sensed lay on the tip of her very pretty tongue.

"Are you going to tell me what it is I'm getting? I have a lot of wants, you know. Or are you going to let Mr. Arness do your talking for you?"

Spicy. That's what she was. Just spicy as h.e.l.l. He loved it.

He lifted his foot from his knee and set it slowly back on the floor before straightening in his chair. He never took his eyes off her, staring back at her intently, loving how she met his gaze and hid the nervousness he could feel growing inside her.

Sometimes the animal DNA he possessed came in d.a.m.ned handy. The natural empathic abilities easily picked up the emotions of those around him, filtered them and came across without the emotional impact on his own psyche that a normal person would experience. He knew what she was feeling, but he didn't feel it himself.

He growled, a deliberate, rough vibration that rumbled dangerously from his chest as he lowered his eyelids and let his gaze rake over her.

Heat flushed her face and he'd be d.a.m.ned if the soft, spicy-sweet smell of her s.e.x didn't have him ready to jump her then and there. He wondered if she had glimpsed his hard-on. It would be d.a.m.n hard to miss if her gaze slid down just an inch farther.

"Menace," she muttered, clearly not intimidated as she turned back to Lance. "Why is he here again?

You haven't explained that one yet, Lance."

"Making my life h.e.l.l," Lance grumbled as he flicked him an irritated glare.

Braden tilted his head in mocking acknowledgment.

"Fine, he can make your life h.e.l.l and I can leave." Megan moved to rise from the chair.

"Sit down, Meg." Her cousin sighed then. "This involves you, too. Too much. Braden, as you know, is a Feline Breed. Lion, to be exact. His a.s.signment here is a bit complicated."

"And involves me how?"

Before Lance could speak, Braden broke in.

"In the fact that the Breeds you found dead in that gully were here looking for you. As were the Coyotes. Would you like to explain that?'He tilted his head, watching her closely, sensing her confusion.

"Me?" She shook her head, staring back at him, perplexed.

"Why would they be looking for me?"

"I was hoping you could answer that one."

"Lance, what's going on here?" she asked. A subtle scent almost of fear reached out to him, made him want to shield her, protect her.

"Our interrogation of the Coyote you wounded yesterday revealed they were here to kill Mark and Aimee and you. They were to murder them in your area, where you would be drawn to them_" His choice of words had to be a mistake. "From there, they were to kill you, Megan."

She licked her lips nervously as she shook her head in denial. "But I didn't know them. I've never been in contact with Breeds or any part of the Council. Why target me? Why would they want me dead?"

Megan stared at Braden with the heavy weight of fear in her chest. She couldn't imagine why the Council would want her dead, or why two Breeds would have been searching for her. She hadn't been part of the Breed rescues, nor the investigations that had taken down the various Labs. She had left the Law Enforcement Academy and come straight home to her job within Lance's office.

"I was hoping you could tell me." Braden sat back in his chair then, watching her with eyes that mesmerized and seemed to see too much, too easily.

"I don't know." She shook her head. She was confused. This couldn't have anything to do with her empathic abilities. It had to be something else.

"I'm here to find out why, then." His voice hardened, as did the amber glow of his eyes. "I've been placed with the sheriff's department to learn the reasons why our Breeds are dying here and what the Council wants from you. To do that, certain steps have to be taken."

Why did she have a feeling this was the kicker? She could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice. And if that wasn't enough, her stomach was rioting with nenres, a sure sign that she was not going to like what was about to come.

"Such as?"

"A Rep." Satisfaction filled his voice. "I am required to live with, and to work with, a representative of the local law enforcement department. One who is aware of what I am, but will tell no one else. Since you are also part of the investigation, it's been decided by the sheriff and the Bureau of Breed Affairs, that you will be that Rep."

Oh, it was decided? As though she had no opinion'? No say in how she was maneuvered?

"Oh, I don't think so." She came out of her seat, instantly rejecting that idea. There was not a chance in h.e.l.l.

"We have great motels here. h.e.l.l, Lance lives alone. Stay with him."

Braden rose slowly to his feet, and she just couldn't help it. She just couldn't help checking out those powerful, long legs encased in faded denim and sitting in dark, scratched leather boots. She jerked her gaze back to his, her face flaming at the knowing smirk on his lips. Not to mention the more than impressive bulge between his thighs.

"Lance isn't an option," he drawled. "You are the reason they are here. They won't stop until they kill you, Megan."

"Bull. s.h.i.t," she snarled. "If they wanted to kill me they could have done so at any time. Your Coyote is lying to you, Braden. Have you thought of that?"

"I thought of it." He nodded slowly, that d.a.m.ned smile still in place. "I prefer to err on the side of caution. So, roomie, when do we head home?"

Megan turned slowly to Lance. Her cousin had been watching the argument silently, which wasn't like him. The look on his face wasn't comforting.

"Do something," she snapped.

"I did." He sighed, his look intent, determined. "I approved it."

Like h.e.l.l.

"Then you can disapprove it." She could feel herself shaking, and knew she was making a mess of this meeting and she couldn't help it. "You can't make me let him live in my home, Lance."

Her response to Braden Arness was too strong, it went too deep. Every cell in her body was tuned to him, and she didn't like it. She didn't want it.

"Megan, sit back down." Lance sighed wearily as he stared up at her, his eyes, nearly the same blue as her own, darkened with worry.

"I don't want to sit down," she explained with mock patience. "And I definitely don't want that fangtoothed Neanderthal as a roommate."

She ignored the little growl, subtle and warning, that came from Braden. Just as she tried to ignore the fires that the sound set in her body.

"Your cousin has a sharp little tongue, Lance." The rumble in Braden's voice was deepening. "She's going to meet someone capable of dulling it, soon."

"That'll be the day," Lance grunted, appearing less than pleased at the subtle warning.

"Lance." Megan leaned forward, bracing her hands on his desk as she met his gaze. "We don't know him. He could be behind all this himself." Of course, she knew better. She could feel it. "How can you trust him far enough to order me to let him stay at my home?"

"Because those Coyotes are trying to kill you, Megan." Lance leaned forward, his voice guttural, filled with anger.

"Because I'll be d.a.m.ned if I'll sit back and watch you walk into a f.u.c.king ambush. So get used to it. You can cooperate in this or I'll contact the family and we'll all move in with you. How does that one sound?"

She jerked upright. Contact the family? Her eyes widened at the threat, then narrowed furiously. It wasn't helping that she could tell Braden was enjoying every moment of the confrontation.

"Like h.e.l.l." She tried to keep her voice reasonable as she cast Braden an accusing stare. She was definitely going to blame him for this.

She hadn't lived with anyone since she had left the Academy. She couldn't handle the emotions that vibrated between the walls from others, the resonation of nightmares, dreams, hopes and fears. And G.o.d knew, Braden had to have plenty of nightmares. And that was beside the fact that he made her jittery. Well, maybe jittery was the wrong word. Nervous, uncertain, not comfortable in her own skin. The thought of him was enough to arouse her, and the memory of that little nip to her ear was enough to set flares of sensation racing through her s.e.x.

"Megan, what the h.e.l.l is wrong with you? She could tell Lance was as confused by her outbursts as she was.

"You know you're not safe."

She flashed him a severe look. He knew what was wrong with her.

"I can't do it," she retorted, reminding him of the problems she had living with others, dealing with their fears, their emotions. "You know I can't."

His expression hardened. "You don't have a choice."

She turned on her heel and stalked to the door, refusing to argue the point further, refusing-period.

"Megan, damrnit, come back here." Lance's anger was like a whip stinging her sensitive mind. She shook her head as she gripped the doork.n.o.b, glancing back at the two men disdainfully.

"I don't think so." She smiled coldly. "Find him another bed. I don't have one free," she informed them with a calm she didn't feel before jerking the door open and fleeing the room.

She stomped the short distance to her own office, determined to collect what she needed before heading to the desert. Patrol was mostly boring as h.e.l.l, but at least there she had a chance to calm her mind, to think logically. She really needed to think logically right now.

As she stepped into her office, without warning, she was pushed against the wall as the door slammed closed and a distinctive, warning growl sounded from the chest her face was currently pressed against.

Struggling didn't help. She tried to kick, to bite, to slap, and each move was countered until she stilled, silent, fighting to ignore an instinctive burning arousal that began flaming in the hungry depths of her p.u.s.s.y.

Son of a b.i.t.c.h. She wanted him. She stared up at him in realization, feeling a flush of pure pleasure racing over her flesh as he held her to him. Had she ever felt this? Ever known such intensity of sensation from so little?

"Finished now?' Braden's voice was calm, infuriatingly amused but tinged with dark hunger.

She refused to answer. He moved back enough to stare down at her. Megan refused to speak. If she did, she might have to do something stupid. Something irrational. Something guaranteed to get her into trouble. And...

He had a hard-on.

Her eyes widened in shock as she felt the thick wedge of flesh pressing against her lower stomach, hot and hard, and if she wasn't mistaken, more impressive than the bulge she had glimpsed the day before.

"Let. Me. Go." She forced the words from between her clenched teeth as her c.l.i.t screamed in protest. She wanted to rub against him, feel her nipples raking his chest, and that just made her madder.

"You're not going to win." He held her arms behind her back with one broad hand, refusing to release her as he arched her closer. The other hand gripped her braid to pull her head back.

His eyes were dark gold, staring down at her with a latent sensuality that had her womb spasming and her s.e.x creaming furiously.

Yes, she hated him. She did. She hated him bad.

"Don't bet on it." She narrowed her eyes, staring up at him furiously even as her body screamed with the pleasure of being so close to him. "I don't want or need you. And the next time you manhandle me, I'm going to shoot you."

His lips quirked in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"You try to shoot me, and I might have to bite you again." Her eyes widened in shock as his head lowered, his lips settling at her abused ear lobe to draw it into his mouth and lick it.

She jerked her head to the side, trying to slam it into his.

Moving back, he chuckled, the sound rough and heated as he stared down at her once again.

"Keep your d.a.m.ned vampire teeth to yourself," she snapped. "And let me go or I'm going to scream b.l.o.o.d.y murder on your a.s.s. This is called hara.s.sment, you know. s.e.xual hara.s.sment."

"Hmm, that's not s.e.xual hara.s.sment, baby. When I decide to get s.e.xual, trust me, you'll know it." He did let her go though. Slowly. Too d.a.m.ned slowly. "Now sit down and we'll talk this out." The latent warning in his tone caused her to tense.

"You talk it out." She drew herself up stiffly, staring back at him indignantly as the urge to scream became almost overwhelming. He had to be the most infuriating, most stubborn man she had ever met in her life. "I am going to breakfast. A nice quiet breakfast. Without you. Then I am going on patrol. Without you. I do not need your help. I do not want it. Do you understand this?" d.a.m.ned dimwitted male that he was, he probably hadn't even heard her.

"We'll see if we can reset your schedule while we're at it. For the moment, all patrols are out. Lance rescheduled you for today, but I thought you might like to have some input on the rest of the week."

Shock shuddered through her. He was ignoring her, but even worse, he had her schedule reset?

You reset whatever the h.e.l.l you want to." She snarled, shaking, on the verge of a violence she had never imagined herself capable of. She couldn't believe he was running over her like this, or that Lance was allowing it. This was her life, d.a.m.nit. She had enough problems dealing with the curse she fought daily. She did not need this. "I'm finished with you and my Benedict Arnold of a cousin. Go sleep in his bed, because none of mine are free."

Before he could stop her, she jerked the door open and stalked down the hall. Reset her schedule, did he? Canceled her patrol, had he? Screw him. There was always something to do, even if it meant going home. She would be d.a.m.ned if she would stand there and put up with his highhanded att.i.tude. No matter what her body wanted to do.

Chapter Three.

Megan knew she was in trouble. She wasn't stupid; she wasn't being stubborn just to be stubborn. She was terrified, and that fear wasn't directed where it should have been. It wasn't the Council or their beasts of war that terrified her. It was her response to one arrogant, too-sure of himself Breed.