It seemed as if only moments later we were on the dance floor and I felt Colt’s strong hands, gently moving across my body. Although I had seen Colt move with a sinuous animal grace when he was fighting, for some reason I did not expect that to translate into dancing. He seemed to me to be too broad, too heavy, too manly, really, to be a graceful dancer.

I was wrong. Colt danced like he fought – with complete control over his body. That joyful energy that seemed to infuse his every move, Colt now let loose, his hips twitching to the rhythm as he drew me closer. I felt his strong body brush against mine and a sharp shock of pleasure that seemed to be wired into my loins sparked through me. This had been a bad idea. Yes, it was going to convince anyone watching that we were a couple, but there was too much natural chemistry between Colt and me for us to dance and there not be consequences.

But although I was very conscious of that danger, I couldn’t help myself. The music throbbed and something primal, something very wolfish, within me answered with a throb of its own. The room was hot with the crush of dancers, but a whole other kind of heat burned between Colt and me. Our eyes were locked, with each beat of the music we seemed to move closer, until our bodies were pressed against each other, my breasts flattened against the sculpted solidity of Colt’s torso. I felt his strong arms about me, making me feel safe and yet never more in danger – a danger that I badly wanted to fall into. His right hand was on the back of my head, stroking my hair, while his left was pressed against the small of my back, keeping me close, as if afraid to lose me. How I wished that left hand would go lower.

My own hands were around him, too and, as long as we had already thrown caution to the wind, I allowed myself the wicked pleasure of letting them steal lower to cup the tight, perfect cheeks of Colt’s ass. Even though I had been expecting the hot fizz of desire that passed through me as I squeezed his hard glutes, I was unprepared for the ferocity of it, like a pulse of high voltage desire. In helpless response, I ground myself against Colt, the heat of my core finding some relief in the friction against his strong thigh.

Our eyes were still locked together in an endless stare. We each knew what the other was thinking – this is wrong, this is too far. But neither of us had the power to override our own desires. Stretching upwards, I kissed Colt lightly on the lips, and was rewarded with the feel of a movement against me down below. The bulge I had observed in his pants earlier in the evening was growing.

Suddenly, and whether for better or worse, I could not decide, the character of the music changed to something less intense, and more jump around. I’m not sure who pulled away faster, me or Colt – we had succumbed for a moment to the heat of the situation, but it was only for a moment. And though the taste of him lingered teasingly on my lips, the moment had passed.

Now, we could play at being a couple having fun, and it turned out we were pretty good at that, too. For the next half hour, Colt and I danced with the energy of teenagers. I couldn’t remember when I’d last laughed so hard or had so much fun. The effervescence that Colt exuded was infectious and I completely lost track of why we were here in the fun I was having. Again, while I was used to going out with men, dancing and having a good time, it was always with the end goal of sex in mind. It was really nice to be just having fun. I enjoyed simple fun more than I would have thought. It was like being a child again, a feeling I had not felt since the death of my mother.

The music changed again to a slow dance, and Colt and I both instantly claimed we were too tired to continue – we weren’t taking the risk of putting ourselves in that position again.

“Think we’ve done enough?” Colt asked.

“It’s usually enough.” I wasn’t one for staying in bars and clubs till closing. I liked to go out and have fun for just long enough to find someone with whom I could go home and have some fun. Back home that had been enough to attract attention from The Brotherhood, hopefully it would be here, too. At this point of the night, I almost didn’t care; I had enjoyed too good of an evening to be that concerned with our real purpose in being here. I had not seen anyone paying special attention to us – although that might have been because my attention had been wholly on Colt.

We left the bar, each with an arm around the other, and turned to head back to the apartment. It seemed that tonight’s venture had failed. Well, we would have to do it again tomorrow night, I thought happily to myself.

“Good evening.” A shadowy figure stepped out in front of us as we entered one of the alleyways that riddled this area of the MacKenzie territory. The figure was instantly backed up by three more, and as I looked behind us, I saw more bodies, cutting us off. They were werewolves, I could tell from their smell.

“We’d like to teach you a little lesson about racial purity.”

Seemed like tonight had worked after all. Now, if we could just get out of this alive, that would be great.

Colt shoved me out in front of him. “Take her. She’s the one you want, not me.”

He was a pretty good actor, especially since I knew that every instinct in him and all his training was telling him to attack.

The werewolves laughed.

“Typical human cowardice. Go on, get out of here, we don’t want human police sniffing around. They won’t care about one more shaved man-bitch.”

The werewolves parted to let Colt through.

“Oh, thank you, thank you so much,” he whined in a pathetic, little boy voice, almost on the verge of tears. Seriously, he could have won Oscars. “Thank you so…”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me after him as he dashed through the gap, swiping aside the one wolf with the presence of mind to try and stop us.

“After them!” yelled the leader of the wolves, and the hunt was on.

I’ve never been the object of a hunt before. I’ve got to say; it’s a lot more fun on the other side. Colt and I didn’t have much of a start, we gained a little ground when our pursuers paused to shift into wolf form, but on four legs they would make up that ground quickly.

“This way.” I tugged Colt after me.

“If they get close, you need to change and run,” said Colt as we ran.

“I’m not leaving you.”

“I’ll be fine. It’s not me they want.”

“Can we not have this argument now? This way.”

As a daughter of Hokkai Jack, I’d been on enough hunts to know exactly what I was doing. There were ways to get around the werewolves’ superior speed and sense of smell, and I’d made sure to scope out the surrounding streets before tonight.

The warehouse in the next street took deliveries at night, when it was quiet, and its doors were wide open as I ran through, with Colt just behind me. Around us hung huge sides of beef, fresh from the slaughter house, ready to be frozen. Even though I was currently on the run for my life, all my wolf instincts were telling me to stop and eat, more importantly, the smell was overwhelming. Colt and I ran through row after row of bloody cow corpses, heading for the fire exit on the far side. From behind us I heard shouts.

“Oh, for the love of…!”

“Not these bastards again!”

“I’m reporting you to MacKenzie Sean!”

Workers in meat warehouses took a different view of werewolves to that which most humans might take when a hunting pack charged in through their doors – they saw the wolves as vermin. One of the aspects of big city life which wolves had struggled to get used to was places like this, just begging to be raided for food. Most butchers and the like had a standing arrangement with Pack Leaders in the area on how such raiders were to be dealt with.

Colt and I sprinted out the other side of the warehouse. We didn’t slow down but I knew we had done it. Even if our pursuers could disentangle themselves from the warehouse and its angry workers and make it out the far side, there was no way they would pick up our scent again now, mixed in as it was with the blood and flesh of the warehouse.

The plan was now in the hands of Jackson and Clarke. Though we had not seen them, they had been waiting outside the bar while Colt and I were having fun within. When we left, they would have followed at a distance, keeping out of sight, and when we were attacked and chased, then they would have kept pace with The Brotherhood wolves – keeping back but ready to step in if shit got real. But now that we had gotten clear of our pursuers, Jackson and Clarke would let us go and stick with the wolves, who, we all hoped, would lead them to the Brotherhood HQ. As for me and Colt, our part in proceedings was kind of over, for now. All we could do was wait. Which is easier said than done when you are buzzing with adrenalin.

As we entered the apartment, I threw my bag across the room – anything to expend some of the pent up energy that was boiling inside me.

“I can’t believe we got away with this!”

“It was your plan,” laughed Colt.

“Exactly.” I kicked my shoes across the room, flopped back onto the couch and kicked my feet in the air. “I feel like dancing. Can we go out dancing?”

“We just got in from dancing.”

I bounced back to my feet. “I know. Let’s go for a run then.”

“Go for a run?”

“Don’t you want to do something?”

The beaming grin on Colt’s face told me that he was as energized as I was. Wolf Takers these days seldom got the chance to put their skills to some sort of use and he was enjoying actually doing something.

“In case I forget to mention it,” I prattled on, “you were awesome back there.”

“I didn’t do much.”

“You’re a good actor.”

“You’re a good runner.”

“You’re a fantastic dancer.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

I practically skipped across the room to Colt. “We really did it. And now Jackson and Clarke are going to track them to their lair and down they go. I’ve never had a night like this before.”

“Me neither.” Colt was still grinning.

“I mean, I’ve been out drinking and dancing and having fun, and that’s a high…”

“Total high.”

“But then getting chased through the streets.”

“Almost getting caught.”

“Almost getting killed.”

I burst out giggling. “I almost got killed and I can’t stop grinning. This is why people go skydiving, isn’t it? The rush of just… not being dead. It’s like… It’s like… It’s like…”

I had been bouncing around Colt on the balls of my feet as I talked, the energy exploding from me, desperately seeking some outlet, and as I found myself facing him, there was only one thing I wanted to do. Bouncing up on my toes, I threw my arms around Colt’s neck and kissed him. He caught my body, holding my weight easily against him, his mouth opening automatically to receive my eager tongue, which he swiftly answered with his.

This was the comparison I had been looking for. Kissing Colt was like skydiving – it was dangerous but the rush was enough to leave me light-headed. The kiss continued and I felt Colt’s grip tightening around me. Again, I felt that stirring from down below as Colt began to harden against me. There wasn’t a moment of hesitation, there wasn’t room in me at that moment for anything but happy thoughts, and the happiest of those was the feeling of Colt holding me. If kissing him felt like this, then I could only imagine what other stuff might feel like.

I pushed back on my toes, tugging at his neck where my arms had settled, drawing him backwards. He went with me, unresisting, as excited and carefree as I was as we tumbled to the couch, giggling with glee.