Dora grinned at the night as she tossed one leg over the fence and then the other. “Damn,” she muttered as her pant leg snagged and tore a small hole. “These were good pants.”

But she didn’t let it slow her down. Despite a few setbacks, namely two arrests, she was finally making some headway.

For the first time in the four years since her father had passed away, she felt like she was in the right place at the right time. She had some leads, some momentum, some ideas. For the most part, her old panache was back. And that felt good. Like going for a stroll after getting a cast removed.

She jumped down, quiet as a bird, and landed in a three-pointed stance on the ground. She knew there were motion sensor security lights about fifty feet down; she’d cased the place out earlier. So she treaded softly in the opposite direction, knowing there was an outbuilding back in the woods on the edge of the property. Based on what she’d seen before, that’s where the real magic was done.

Dora froze for just a second as an owl hooted in the trees overhead. The noise skittered down her spine like ice, but she grinned with the thrill of it. She didn’t scare easily. And when she did, she liked it.

As she crept along the edge of the fence, keeping in the shadows, Dora realized that it was the second time in one night that she was feeling that zipping thrill. The first had been standing in the Malashovik’s driveway, with 6 plus feet of 200-pound man leaning into her. Good-smelling man, she recalled. Like pine trees and morning, before the sun burns the mist off the world.

But ornery. Jeez. He had not wanted her around. Except for when he’d leaned down like he was going to lap her up like ice cream. But Dora knew that had started out as a way to distract her. And boy had it worked. She was only glad they had been interrupted or else the two of them might still be distracted, tangled up in the sheets somewhere.

And as nice as a little playtime might have been, Dora had a job to do. Some puzzle pieces to put together. She was about 90% sure that Danil and his family were one of those puzzle pieces. So, it was probably better that they didn’t get involved. Objectivity and all.

Not that Dora ever really had a problem staying objective about the men she slept with. They were a means to an end for her. Hopefully a really fun or interesting or talented means to an end. But a means to an end no matter what. There had only ever been one person in her life that Dora had loved: her father. And after he’d passed, she’d made herself a little deal that she wasn’t going down the whole love road again. Not without some real nice insurance. Like a signed and certified contract from God himself saying she wouldn’t be putting that person in the ground any time soon.

She was a strong person, both emotionally and physically. In fact, creeping up on the edge of the outbuilding, Dora scaled the brick wall and crouched on the roof as effortlessly as a monkey. But even she had limits. She wasn’t going to get tangled up in somebody right now. She had her job to do, a mystery to solve, and that was as good as rose petals down the aisle for her.

She put every other thought out of her mind as she crawled along the edge of the roof. She knew that the lights were off inside the building, with the exception of some security lights burning low over the doors. If there was anyone inside, she didn’t think that they were working right now. So, gripping hard on the downspout of the roof, Dora leaned over the edge and slid her head down to peer through the window.

There were test tubes and beakers. Syringes tossed haphazardly over the gleaming metal counters. A layman might have thought it was some kind of meth lab, but Dora knew better. She saw the leather restraints on the walls. The scratch marks. The clumps of thick fur on the ground. With a sick twist of her stomach, she saw the cattle prods on the wall. It matched all the other sites she’d found over the past year. An animal testing facility. But they weren’t testing makeup or a new kind of lotion on the poor creatures. They were testing something else, something that Dora hadn’t been able to figure out yet. But it looked damn close to torture to her.

And with an even further plummet of her stomach, she realized there was a coating of dust over everything. Smashed beakers on the counters and animal droppings on the floor. All signs that this particular operation had been out of business for months.

“Shit,” she murmured, swinging down from the roof and landing quietly on the floor. At least she didn’t have to be in complete stealth mode anymore. But she was deeply frustrated. Every time she got a new lead on where to find these assholes, catch them in action, they’d already moved on, months before her. It was the opposite of a high speed chase.

Dora leaned in the window, peering to see if there were any clues she’d missed when a stick cracked in the woods behind her.

Dora froze, knowing full well that she was currently backlit by the dull glow of the security lights inside the building. It suddenly occurred to her that she was standing in the dead of the night in the middle of the Washington State wilderness. Though the reasons she’d gone to ask the Malashoviks about bears had been subterfuge, they now suddenly stood up. She supposed she would rather not meet a bear in the flesh right now.

Turning slowly, her back against the brick wall behind her, Dora peered into the woods, knowing with a crawling of skin, that whatever was in there could see her a hell of a lot better than she could see it. Well, worst came to worst, she could swing back up onto the roof. Hopefully whatever it was couldn’t climb.

A light night breeze ruffled the pines, throwing deep shadows through the already dark trees and Dora saw a glinting green for just a moment. A primal terror raced through her, lacing her blood with zinging adrenaline as she realized there was a large animal not fifteen feet from her. The breeze came again, tossing shadows, and Dora saw them again. Twin points of reflection. Two big, green eyes staring at her. And the flick of a tail. She blinked hard. Saw a flash of orange. It was ridiculous. Not possible. But Dora could have sworn she was looking right into the eyes of a-

No. Couldn’t be. Dora blinked and the night shadows swirled around, swallowing up whatever it was that she thought she’d seen. Her eyes couldn’t see it anymore. But her body could feel it. Something raced up her spine and for the first time since she’d hopped the fence, she felt real fear. She hadn’t been scared when she’d thought she might run into whoever was running that lab. But she was worried now about whatever had just slunk back into the forest.

Another night, she decided. The testing site was abandoned. Hadn’t been touched in at least a year. It would hold for another night.

 

 

***

 

Danil pulled a hairbrush through Dora's hair as she leaned back in between his legs and purred like a kitten. It felt so good. The sun on their faces, the scratchy hairs on his legs rubbing her soft skin. She knew they'd have to get up soon. But for now they spread out in the living room, the afternoon sun streaming in over them. Dora's eyes closed for just a second before they popped back open as he took her earlobe between his teeth.

"No sleeping," he growled, his accent thick.

One of his hands trailed down the side of her neck, tightening slightly in a delicious possession of her body. A body that he'd fully claimed. He touched her with the familiarity of a man who knew exactly what she needed and exactly how to give it to her.

His hand continued traveling south, down the center of her chest, between her breasts, intentionally ignoring the sensitive points of her nipples. She mewled in protest, wiggling slightly in his lap but he hushed her, his lips at her ear.

"Don't be greedy," he growled. "You'll take what I give you."

And she did. His searching hand found the wetness between her legs and it was all Dora could do to keep still, to let him work his magic. And magic it was. Her body bucked and arched as a powerful release took over her.

"Danil," she whispered his name like a prayer. Like an ancient, powerful word.

"Shit." Dora sat straight up in bed, rolling her eyes at the heavens and cursing herself. Her blood raced with her release and every centimeter of her skin was tingling and over-sensitized. This was getting ridiculous.

It was the millionth time in two weeks that Dora had woken up, panting and thinking of Danil. Damn sexy Belarusian lawyer. She rolled out of her bed and toward the shower. It was barely light outside but she knew she wasn't getting any more sleep.

He was doing dirty things to her almost every time she got a chance to get some shut eye and it was driving her crazy. In more ways than one.

Spokane wasn't a small town, but she'd seen him from afar or bumped into him almost every day since their almost-kiss. It didn't help that she'd gotten hauled into the precinct twice more. Luckily they weren't charging her with anything. At this point, most of the cops found it sort of funny. But not Danil.

Every time their eyes connected across the precinct, he stared daggers at her. She knew it was because his family was hiding something. She just didn't know how to tell him that she wasn't a threat to him. Not her problem, she thought as she turned the shower on full spray. If he wanted to be a suspicious ass, that was his prerogative. A hot, five o’clock-shadowed, suit-wearing, deep-voiced, good-smelling, suspicious ass.

She stepped into the punishing cold of a shower yet to turn warm.

She had better things to think about. Tonight she was going back to the animal testing site she'd found. She'd gotten scared away by whatever animal had been in the woods. And tonight was finally the night she was able to go back. She'd been staking out a package sorting facility almost every night for two weeks. But at this point, she knew their schedule. They wouldn't be receiving anything. So she had the all-clear to go back and explore to her heart's content.

She was glad for it. She'd gathered a lot of information on her stake-outs. But there was too much time with her thoughts for her liking. Which ultimately meant too much time with Danil. She was sick of thinking of him.

As long as he gave her a little breathing room to do her job, she didn't care.

Couldn't care. About anything but what she'd come to Spokane to find out.