Wild Invitation

smiled. “I’ve got all day to play with you.”
    She sucked in a breath. “Is that what this is? Play?”
    “Sure.” He drove them back onto the road, knowing she was talking about more than his teasing promise—pretty, sexy Annie Kildaire thought they were heading for a quick, hot fling. He grinned inwardly. Poor baby was going to get one hell of asurprise when he told her the truth, but she wasn’t ready for that yet. “The best kind of play.”
    She was silent for a few minutes, then he heard her coding in the call. With her being so close, he could hear both sides of the conversation. Most humans who lived with changelings tended to get earpieces, so they could have private conversations. He’d have to get Annie one, he thought absently.
    “Mom, it’s Annie. About tonight,” she began.
    “Don’t you dare cancel, Angelica Kildaire.”
    Angelica?
    “I’m not,” Annie said, obviously attempting to keep her temper in the face of the sharp response. “I’ll be late, and—”
    “We’re doing this for you,” her mother interrupted. “The least you can do is turn up on time.”
    Annie pressed her fingers to her forehead and seemed to mentally count to five. “I’m bringing a guest,” she said without any lead-in. “His name is Zach.”
    Complete silence from the other end. Then, “Well good grief, Annie. Now you tell me. I’ll have to find another woman to balance out the table. Who is he?”
    “A DarkRiver soldier.”
    The silence was longer and deeper this time. Zach could feel Annie’s distress at the reaction, but he was proud of her for sticking to her guns.
    “Mom?”
    “Aren’t you a little too old for childish games?” her mother asked. “I know some women find those rough types attractive, but you have a brain. How long do you think he’ll be able to keep that engaged?”
    Zach’s cat smiled in feral amusement. He was used to the preconceptions some humans, and most Psy, had about changelings. The majority of the time, it rolled off his back. But this time, it mattered. Because this was Annie’s mother.
    “I am not having this discussion with you,” Annie said, tone final. “We’ll be there for dinner. If you’d rather we didn’t come, just say so.”
    “No, bring him,” was the immediate response. “I want to meet this Zach who’s got you ordering your own mother around.” She hung up.
    Annie stared at the phone for several seconds before thrusting it back into her pocket. “How much did you hear?”
    “All of it.”
    She shifted uncomfortably. “Sorry—”
    “Annie, sweetheart, leave your mom to me.” He shot her a grin brimming with deliberate wickedness. “Today, I want to lead you astray.”
    Her returning smile was a little shy but full of a quiet mischief he figured most people never saw. “Are you sure I’m not already beyond redemption?”
    He chuckled. “How could you be with a name like Angelica?”
    She made a face. “I’m an Annie, not an Angelica.”
    “I prefer Angel.”
    “Do you like your women angelic?”
    He chuckled. “No, baby, I like my woman exactly as she is.” He knew he’d surprised her, waited to see what she’d do.
    “So, this thing…you want more than just a day?”
    He wasn’t going to lie to her. “Are you going to run if I say yes?” He pulled into the forest proper, taking a narrow track that would lead them to one of the smaller waterfalls. It was only a trickle right now because of the cold, but it was still a sight to be seen.
    “I’m here today, aren’t I?” A question with a slight acerbic bite.
    Tasting the piquancy of it on his tongue, he decided he liked it. “All alone with a big, bad cat who’s rethinking his policy on biting.”
    Arousal colored the air again, and he sucked in a breath to contain his most primal instincts. “Look ahead,” he said, voice husky.
    “Oh!” Her eyes went huge. “It’s a buck,” she whispered, as if afraid the animal would hear her. “His antlers are huge.”
    Zach slowed the vehicle to a crawl, but the buck caught his scent and shot off into the trees. “Sorry. They tend to scatter the instant they smell leopard. It’s why I look after the predators—it’s hard for me to check data on the nonpredatories.”
    “They know they’re prey.” She looked at him. “Do you hunt them?”
    “When the cat needs it, yes.” He glanced at her. “Can you handle knowing that?”
    “I teach a lot of little cats,” she reminded him in a prim, schoolteacher