Missy was right. He needed a nice Pride to take care of him. A bunch of females who made sure he ate, fucked him, and bought him stuff to keep him happy. What he didn't need was a thirty-six-year-old cop with two dogs she insisted on referring to as her "boys."

He followed Dez to the bathroom. She stood at the sink brushing her teeth with an electric toothbrush when the alternative radio station she had on suddenly busted out with No Doubt's "Oi to the World!," in honor of the Christmas holidays. That's when Dez began to shake her ass and bop her head from side to side. The T-shirt she wore barely covered that adorable butt of hers.

Mace closed his eyes. Keep thinking accommodating Pride females. Keep thinking foot rubs and being the first to eat.

He opened his eyes, and Dez bent over to spit out the toothpaste. She wore no panties. Of course, she hadn't had any on since the night before.

Mace, really having trouble breathing, turned around and went back to the bedroom. He looked at the two dogs still waiting for him.

"Well, come on. Let's get this nightmare over with."

Dez came out of the bathroom as soon as she heard the front door close. She checked both floors, every room.

Holy shit. He's actually taken my dogs for a walk. She'd only been joking. She never thought in a million years Mace would actually walk her dogs. She thought he'd follow her into the bathroom, throw the baggies at her, and then fuck her on the bathroom sink.

Dez stood in the middle of her hallway. Either Mace truly loved her or she just experienced one of the signs of the apocalypse the nuns always talked about.

"What have I gotten myself into?" she asked no one in particular. The sad thing was...she really expected an answer.

Mace turned over on the bed, letting his arms hang over the sides. A wet snout sniffed his hand. He gave a short roar and the nose scrambled farther under the bed with his canine buddy.

When had this relationship taken such an odd turn? He always controlled every relationship, and the women he'd been involved with had never minded. But, except for the bedroom, Dez never gave him a goddamn inch. She always knew what he was up to and called him on it every time.

He wasn't at all sure about the dog thing either. Irritating little bastards. Dez had made it clear, though. Love her, love her dogs. He actually picked up dog shit for her.

He pushed his mane of blond-brown hair out of his eyes. Within twenty-four hours, his hair returned to its standard length. It took him all of puberty to grow the first round, but once there it didn't like to go.

Mace sighed and looked at the clock next to Dez's bed. Where the hell was she? A shower shouldn't take this long.

He hated waiting. It was the lion in him. He didn't wait to eat. He didn't wait to go out. He didn't wait for anything if he didn't have to. True, he could leave without her. But that wasn't going to happen. Not with him having the best time he'd ever had with a woman. Cranky bitch that she was, he liked her as much as he loved her. So, for once and without any direct orders from a C.O., Mace would wait. He would wait for Dez. Christ, what was his life coming to anyway?

A tongue swiped at the fingers he had resting on the carpet. Great. Playful dogs. They'd started liking him. In typical dog fashion they found a way to make this work. Even if they forced him to like both of them.

He growled and the dogs yipped back. He almost smiled. Grudgingly.

"Are you being mean to my dogs again?"

Mace looked up, about to tell her he had just been considering what pieces of her dogs would taste good with barbeque sauce, when he pretty much stopped breathing completely.

He barely noticed the black jeans she had on or the black leather boots. No, it was that black leather bustier that had his full attention. Clearly created specifically for her, because no way could something off the rack from a fetish store have done those magnificent tits as much justice as the bustier she now wore. Tight and form fitting, it tied up the front, showing a healthy amount of cleavage that simply called to him. The bustier fit over a black leather top with long leather sleeves that molded to her strong arms and scooped nicely off her shoulders. Her tits practically defied gravity in that outfit. She didn't need a bra, and he could make out her tight nipples through the leather. The light brown skin she showed looked satiny and soft. For some reason he found her outfit almost as hot as when she stretched out in front of him completely naked, and at the moment she barely revealed anything. He wanted to rub himself up against her until he was purring and she was coming.

She'd even put on a little makeup for the occasion and brushed her hair until it fucking gleamed. No one had a right to be this pretty, least of all the woman holding onto his heart like she held onto one of her many guns. One good squeeze and she could blow his whole life apart.

"Christ, you haven't said a word. Is this outfit that bad?" He still didn't answer her. Not with him fantasizing about her, that bustier, and those damn handcuffs. He wondered how many times he could make her scream his name.

"Okay. I'm changing." She turned to walk away.

"Don't you dare." She stopped, clearly surprised by his order. And it was an order. "Get my ass over here."

She smirked. "What? You think you're going to give me orders when we're not-"

"Now."

What a demanding son of a bitch. Yet she did exactly what he told her to. Of course, she only seemed to operate that way when she knew some kind of sex would be involved. Otherwise, she made the man work for it.

He lounged on the bed like a lion sunning himself on a rock in the Serengeti. With crossed arms, she stood in front of him.

"What?"

He watched her with those gold eyes. "I like that top." At least she guessed that's what he said since he growled more than spoke.

Dez ran her hands down the front self-consciously. The bustier had been a guilty pleasure buy. One so expensive she saw it more as an investment. She didn't do the S & M thing. Yet she did like their wardrobes. Very few people knew that. Somehow, though, she didn't mind showing that side of herself to Mace. Although she never expected to see that expression in his eyes. It went way beyond desire to something else altogether, and Dez had no idea if she were ready to handle that.

She cleared her throat. "I've only worn it once. The cop bar down the block from the precinct just doesn't seem the right place for this thing."

His eyes narrowed. "Some guy buy it for you?"

"What do you care?"

He slowly pulled himself up until he kneeled on the bed in front of her. "Answer my question."

"No."

He watched her closely, then leered. "You bought it for yourself, didn't you?"

"Are we going or not?" She started to walk away again, embarrassed he picked up on her thing about leather so quickly, but he grabbed her arm and hauled her up against him.

"You did. Didn't you?" He brushed his lips against hers. "My kinky little puppy."

"I hate you."

He kissed the bare flesh above the swell of her breasts. "You wish."

Her hands snaked through his hair. "God, I do." She breathed desperately as he bent her back. She wanted to hate the man, but he continued to make her ache in all the best places. No man had ever gotten to her like this before.

"I thought...we were...going..."

He gripped her tighter. "Fuck 'em."

"No. We're going out." She pulled away from Mace.

Surprised and none too happy, he made a grab for her. She jumped back to the door.

"We're going out."

"I don't want to. Get over here."

Oh, she liked this. For once, she had the control-and without handcuffs. It sure did feel good.

She shook her head. "I'm going out now. Wearing this top. You can stay here with the dogs or you can come with me. Your call, cat." Then she slipped out into the hallway and down the stairs.

Mace crossed his arms in front of his chest and silently seethed. This had been a bad idea. He knew it as soon as they arrived at the Pack's hotel. The whole group had been waiting outside for them, and as soon as Dez stepped out of the cab, every male wolf eye turned to her-and those tits. In general, it hadn't been a bad evening really. A good dinner, some drinking since they didn't drive in, a couple of clubs, dancing with Dez, and a few near fistfights made for a festive Christmas Eve. But the male wolves were clearly into Dez, and as always she was clearly oblivious.

Now they sat in Dez's favorite coffeehouse a few blocks from where she crash-landed in his lap a few nights ago, talking and drinking espresso. Mace probably wouldn't be so annoyed if Dez sat near him, but she sat near Sissy Mae, and the male wolves suddenly found a reason to sit near the pair. He glanced at Smitty, who seemed to be seriously enjoying himself since, for once, the wolves were ignoring his sister.

His friend turned to him, and they both knew in a few more minutes Mace would start kicking some dog butt.

Dez put her hands over her ears. "We are not having this conversation."

"But you know I'm right," Sissy whispered.

"You are not right. You are very, very wrong, and I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"No, I'm not. I think you'd look lovely in white."

"You do know I'm the one person who can shoot you and make it look like justifiable homicide?"

Sissy Mae shook her head. "But you love me."

That was it. Dez stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom."

"Okay. We can talk about china patterns and the right bouquet when you get back."

Like a dog with a bone.

Dez walked to the back of the coffeehouse until she got to the bathroom. She went into the stall and took care of business quickly. She wanted to get back to Mace. She found it quite entertaining watching him get jealous.

She washed her hands, dried them, and headed back to Mace and the Pack, but she stopped when a small hand grabbed her leather jacket and tugged.

Dez turned to see a small child standing behind her. Tears poured to the floor and she pointed to the back door. "Please," the little girl whispered, her head down. "I think my brother's hurt and I can't find my parents."

Dez crouched down next to her. "It's okay, honey. Show me. And then we'll go find your parents, okay?"

The child led Dez outside as she marveled at how fucking irresponsible some parents were. It was well after two A.M. These kids should be in bed, not hanging out at a coffeehouse while their parents did whatever they did.

Dez followed the child to another small child, lying faceup in the alley. Dez snapped her phone off her hip and flipped it open as she touched the child's face. She had just punched in 911 and was about to hit Talk when the child's eyes snapped open and he smiled. Dez blinked.

Jesus Christ, are those fangs?

Then Dez watched the ground rush up to meet her.

Mace's phone vibrated against his side. He pulled it out of its holster and glanced at caller ID. He rolled his eyes as he flipped the phone open. "Yeah?"

"Mace?"

His sister sounded panicked. She never sounded panicked. She didn't allow that particular emotion. "What is it, Miss?"

"Um...I'm sorry to ask you this, but I was just talking to Shaw and we got cut off."

"Oh...kay."

"It was the way we were cut off, Mace. I'm afraid something's happened to him."

Mace caught Smitty's eye. "Do you know where he was?"

"That's what really has me worried. He told me he was at the Chapel. Mace, that's hyena territory."

"Yeah, I know. But didn't you tell him what I told you about Doogan?"

"I never got a chance. He didn't come to the house last night. He hates all the social events."

A man after Mace's heart. "I'll go over there and see if I can find him."

She sighed. "Thank you."

Mace closed his phone. "Want to go babysit Shaw?"

Smitty grinned. "Hey, our first job."

Even when human, Smitty's tail always seemed to be wagging.

Mace looked around, noticing for the first time Dez hadn't come back from the bathroom. "Sissy, where's Dez?"

Sissy frowned. "She never came back from the bathroom."

"How long has she been gone?"

Sissy thought for a moment. "A while."

Not the answer he wanted.

Of all Dez's experiences, flung down a flight of stairs by a small child had never been one of them.

She hit the ground, and pain shot through her left arm.

She tried to get up, but the giggling little bastards kicked her back to the ground. They wrapped a rough, heavy cord rope around her throat and proceeded to drag her across a concrete floor.

Dez fought to breathe, desperately pulling on the rope, trying to loosen it before it choked her out or snapped her neck. But she couldn't get her fingers under the rope. As she started to black out, they stopped. Dez shook her head to snap herself out of whatever abyss she'd been about to fall into. Then she pulled herself to her knees. She had her hands on the knot at her neck when another hand grabbed the rope and yanked it taut. She grabbed at the hand holding the rope and looked up into the viciously torn face of Anne Marie Brutale.

The woman sneered at her. "I'm going to have such fun with you, human."

Mace picked up Dez's phone. Her last attempted call still blinking, waiting for her to hit Send. 911. "You smell 'em?" he asked Smitty.

Sissy Mae stood next to her brother. "They smell young."

Mace closed his eyes. Not good. Anything but that. Anything but hyena children. He could see it now. They lured Dez out here by pretending to be innocent kids. As a cop, no way in hell would Dez ignore them.

Smitty cast around until he locked onto the scent. He followed it to an unlocked metal door. He walked over to it and threw the door open. The scent of hyena sucker punched Mace and made him want to retch. Nothing smelled as bad as their markings. He glanced down. The stairs seemed to go on forever. But he could smell Dez. This is where they'd taken her. He had to go after her, no matter what the cost.