But the Shifter in him had other ideas. Mate. Take. Mine. “Son of a bitch,” he whispered again.

This was not the time for mating frenzy—that basic Shifter need to take a mate someplace safe where they could screw for days. And days. Weeks, even months if need be. Not to come out until they were both half-starved and exhausted, and the female was plump with cubs.

Shifters could follow their rituals, ceremonies, laws, protocol—whatever they called it this century—but the truth was that the mating frenzy could still grab them by the balls at any time and not let them go.

The woman in Jace’s arms had awakened his frenzy as no other female had before. This was crazy. Jace had only just met her—he hadn’t known her more than an hour.

The mating frenzy didn’t care.

With effort, Jace made himself loosen his hold on her. At least he could give Deni the chance to run.

Then I can hunt her, the leopard in him said with glee. Chase her. Catch her. Make her mine.

He was so screwed.

Deni gasped. Jace hadn’t been able to look away from her, her light hair and face a pale smudge in the darkness, but now her eyes were round with fear as she gazed off at something behind him. Jace turned his head to see what had caught her worry, and his own breath constricted.

Across the flat plain behind the arena, about a mile away Jace would guess, came lights. Flashing lights—red and blue—and the white pulses of headlights. A ton of them, sirens blaring, all heading toward the arena.

* * *

“Shit.” Jace snarled and grabbed at his jeans, zipping them as Deni groped for her fallen sarong. She wrapped the cloth around herself, fastening it quickly, her heart pounding.

Human police poured toward them, racing for the Shifters’ very illegal fight club. Not good. Not good at all.

Even as Jace pulled on his denim jacket and started at a run for the arena, Deni following, her body thrummed with elation. For a year now, she’d been walking around in a half-aware state, but at this moment, in spite of the imminent danger, she was alive.

She was a little embarrassed she’d grabbed Jace like that, barely able to control her mating urge, but dear God and Goddess, he’d taken her in a storm. Deni wasn’t a stranger to casual sex—Shifters often needed to burn off steam—but this encounter went beyond in intensity anything she’d experienced before.

Deni couldn’t stop watching Jace’s lithe body as he ran, the grace of his wildcat evident even in his human form. He smelled of the road, of Texas dust, of himself, and now of what they’d done together. The combination made Deni want to catch him, throw him down, and fling herself on top of him. She was shameless, but he was beautiful, virile, and strong, and Deni wanted him with a mindlessness that unnerved her. Even the string of lights and sirens couldn’t dampen her need.

Deni sprinted into the arena alongside Jace to find that Dylan’s match had finished, though the noise hadn’t much lessened. Ronan was sitting heavily on a bench, human again, breathing hard and looking rueful. His mate was wiping his naked body with a towel, giving him it’s-all-right-I-still-love-you caresses.

Dylan took his triumph in stride, but quietly, without gloating. His mate, on the other hand, a tall blonde named Glory, watched Dylan admiringly, her gaze roving Dylan’s honed body. She opened her mouth, probably to boast that her mate was undefeatable, but Jace’s voice cut over the din.

“Cops!” he boomed. “Coming. Now!”

The Shifters who’d been celebrating, or grumbling about Ronan’s loss, came alert. Shifters stopped, jerked around, stared at Jace or gazed beyond him. Stillness, silence, and animal wariness took over, erasing anything human about them.

Then one of the Shifters yelled, “Go to ground!” and the arena erupted again into noise.

“No!” Jace bellowed over them all. “Stop!”

The power of his voice sent a hush rippling across the Shifters again. Jace had the compelling presence of a leader, Deni noted with admiration, the ability to make others stand still and listen, no matter how dire the situation.

Jace had his hands up. “If we run, they chase,” he said, his words carrying across the arena. “The slowest will be caught.”

The Shifters’ unease didn’t lessen, Deni saw, and the smell of fear was high. They wanted to flee, and damn the consequences.

“The lad’s right,” Dylan said. In spite of his bruised and abraded body, he stood upright, his blue eyes hot. “No one gets taken. We stand.”

“Then we all get arrested,” someone else shouted.

No one moved, though. They wouldn’t ignore Dylan.

“No, we won’t,” Deni said. She stepped up onto one of the cement blocks, using Jace’s shoulder to steady herself. “They’re going to find us—no time to get away. But we can decide what they find. I have an idea.”

In a few brief sentences, Deni outlined what she had in mind. The humans looked bewildered, but Shifter faces began to relax, smiles starting to take the place of fear.

“You’re cunning, sweetheart,” Jace said. His hand on her back was warm as he slanted her a grin. “Anything you’re not good at?”

Deni went hot all over, her face flaming as his eyes sparkled. She wasn’t sure what the consequences would be of her crazed mating in the parking lot with Jace, but the look he was giving her made her decide that losing control had been worth it.

“You heard her,” Dylan said. “This is what we do.”

Shifters broke off, organizing themselves as only Shifters could when the need was upon them. The police cars and lights came nearer, sirens cutting the air. Deni still sensed deep fear, the humans barely containing it, the Shifters striving to suppress it.

The waves of panic caught her, jarring Deni’s already-heightened nerves. The wolf in her growled, wanting to shift, to confront her enemies and make them run. To chase them if need be and bring them down.

Deni clenched her hands, shuddering, a bead of sweat running down her back. Damn it. If she lost it now, she’d condemn them all.

A comforting touch warmed her shoulder. “Easy,” Jace said, his breath in her ear.

He was leaning close, his body heat wrapping around her, his scent relaxing the tightness inside her. Deni’s fear eased before a wash of relief and also desire. Jace put his hand in hers, and she leaned into him, wanting to twine herself around his big body again.