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sleep."
    "Not going to happen, Lil ," he said with a soft laugh and a stubborn tilt to
his jaw. "I'm no longer tired."
    Apparently Lilly was someone Ricky knew
pretty well. Considering that he'd only been working for APS for the past three
weeks, and Jordan had been close-by the whole time, it was a little surprising.
Jordan didn't even want to acknowledge the jealously he was feeling. He had no
right to feel anything against the people Ricky dealt with. Jordan wasn't a
worthy mate, and Rick deserved to be happy—no matter whom he chose to be happy
with.
    "Fine, just give us a few minutes to
clean up the mess."
    Jordan frowned at that. "Mess"
suggested a fight, injuries, and maybe even deaths. What the hell had come
looking for Ricky?
     
    ~*~
     
    Rick really wanted to spend time with
Jordan—he'd been of the mistaken belief that his mate had returned to
Lupinville—but he also wanted to know what the hell was going on. He knew
Jordan well enough to know for certain that he wouldn't be sidetracked by
anything as fun as sex until he was absolutely certain Rick was safe.
    "Trafficking
ring?" Jordan asked.
    "One of the cases we're
investigating," Rick said, wondering how much he was allowed to tell his
mate.
    "Who are they abducting?" Jordan
looked freaked out enough to grab him and take him back to Lupinville as fast
as he could.
    "We think they're limiting themselves
to young paranormals, but we're not sure how deeply it goes. There are a lot of
missing persons cases on APS's files, so it's going
to take a while to figure out which ones are related." He glanced at his
mate, tried not to drool over the hard abs, tight thighs, and seriously hot pecs , and decided he'd better cover the guy up before he
did something embarrassing. Hell, his mouth watered just at the idea of sucking
on Jordan's cock again.
    Moving over to his closet, Rick grabbed
shorts and a T-shirt and threw them to his mate. Jordan seemed confused at first
as if he hadn't realized he was naked.
    "How long have you been in wolf
form?"
    Jordan didn't answer, but it was very clear
in his body language that he knew Rick wouldn't like the truth. Rather than
start a fight, Rick chose for the moment to ignore his valid concerns and try
to find something else to talk about.
    "I thought you'd gone home weeks
ago."
    Jordan curled his lips into the parody of a
smile and shook his head. "I just…wanted to make certain you were
protected."
    Rick glanced at the monitors where he could
see Lilly and one of her siblings—Troy, if Rick hadn't mixed up the brothers
when he'd been introduced—continued to discuss something in a tone low enough
not to register on the microphone attached to the camera. Rick made a mental
note to upgrade the damn thing, and then almost leapt away from the screen when
Lilly turned to look straight at him, an eyebrow raised as if she'd heard his
secret plan.
    Rick managed to gasp and laugh at the same
time. It was true the woman was kind of spooky sometimes, but it was more
likely she already knew him well enough to know he'd be watching the monitors
until she dropped by to let him know what had happened.
    "They smell human," Jordan said,
stepping up beside him at the monitors, "but I don't think they are."
    Rick nodded in agreement. Adrian's mate was
a Lupinville werewolf, and Adrian had already explained that he himself was a
werewolf "of sorts." Rick had no idea what "of sorts" meant
in that admission, but he'd assumed the same qualifier went for the man's
siblings.
    Unable to control his need to look at his
mate, Rick tried to be casual as he turned toward Jordan. He wore the clothes
Rick had given him, but it did nothing to wipe out the image of his mate's
delicious, naked body from Rick's mind. When he'd woken to find Jordan in his
room he'd be certain he was dreaming.
    "I've missed you," Rick said,
needing the man to know even if he didn't really want to hear it.
    Jordan nodded slowly, but didn't look at
him.
    Embarrassed by the longing he