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to.”
    Their muzzle twitched. Prey. A field mouse skittered a few feet ahead. Kate pounced. The wonderful taste of hot blood warmed her gullet. She crunched through small bones. Suddenly wary, Kate fanned magic around her. All she felt was Tara, Joe and Mike. After a moment’s hesitation, she ran toward them. They were gamboling in a small clearing; they looked so happy, goddamn it, it broke her heart.
    Just for tonight, I’ll pretend right along with them… A throaty purr rippled from her throat.
    Dawn was lightening the eastern skyline when she loped back to her clothes, shifted, and dressed. For once, her cat didn’t complain. Kate trod the now familiar path toward home, taking care to undo her earlier markings with elbow grease and magic. No point in leading a poacher right to her friends. The underground weren’t the only ones trafficking in black market food.
    Kate unlocked her door. She figured it was around six. Fortunately, she didn’t have clients until later in the afternoon. Though she didn’t need as much sleep as humans, she was tired. Two or three hours of rest would help. She set the alarm system, climbed the stairs to her bedroom, and sat on the edge of her antique four-poster bed to jimmy off her sneakers. She loved antiques, probably because she remembered when they’d been the newest fashion.
    “We need a mate. ” The cat’s comment came out of the blue.
    Kate felt sad. It was a rare shifter lucky enough to find their mated partner. The one whose soul would link with theirs through the whole of their long lives. “Great idea. Where do you propose we find one?”
    “I’ll look. My instincts are better than yours.”
    “You do that, sweetie. Good hunting.”
    She thought about brushing her hair and her teeth, but opted for later and tugged a coverlet over herself. Her eyes shut. Just before sleep claimed her, the man’s face from earlier rose from her memory. He was smiling right at her, dark eyes lit with sensual promise.

Chapter 4
    Three days had passed since Devon’s brief fling with Huong. He’d shuttled between work and home, but no matter where he was, Kate filled his mind. He couldn’t get her out of his thoughts. Not that he tried very hard.
    He’d hedged when his captain asked about his surveillance assignment. Keeping a poker face, Devon told the captain he thought their intel about Kate was incorrect because he hadn’t been able to sense anything unusual about her. The captain cocked his head to one side and asked how long since Devon’s last injection. His only comment before reassigning Devon to a different project was sometimes it took a while for the infusions to reach maximum potential.
    During the intervening time, Devon had done mostly desk work and nonshifter-related surveillance. There’d been a rash of drug deaths and he’d run down the ringleaders who’d brought tainted heroin into the city.
    The previous night he’d wakened from the most erotic dream he’d ever experienced, drenched in sweat and semen. He’d taken Kate from behind, holding the creamy globes of her ass tight against his cock as he pounded into her. Heart hammering, cock still throbbing, he’d turned on the bedside lamp, unable to believe he’d had a wet dream. That hadn’t happened since he was fifteen. He closed his eyes. Her body, at least as he imagined it, was damn near perfect. And her hair was amazing. Long and thick, she’d wrapped it around his cock to tease him before he’d flipped her around and entered her.
    The dream decided things. Mystified by his obsession with Kate, he had to do something to force a meeting. He’d already scheduled a doctor appointment to try to get a referral to see her as a surrogate, but it was still several days away. He couldn’t chill that long. She was driving him crazy.
    Maybe, if they were face-to-face, it would help him figure things out. Raw need frazzled his nerves. He couldn’t wait any longer to sit next to her, talk with her, and inhale