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“You said this was your mother’s hobby?” Trisha ran her hand along the gleaming bench top as she walked farther into the big room. Everything was crisp and clean, the way Steve’s mother had left it. “She must have been some hobbyist. I couldn’t have asked for better in a laboratory that wasn’t built expressly for medical purposes.”

“Mom was a researcher, like you, only in chemistry, not medicine,” he admitted, missing seeing his mother tooling around in here. “Although, she did like to tinker with plant genetics on occasion. Some of her work with drought-resistant plants was patented. It became an interest of hers when we moved to the desert.”

“She sounds like a remarkable woman.” Trisha turned to him, halting in front of the centrifuge.

“She was,” he agreed in a quiet voice. Sometimes it was hard to hide the pain he still felt at her loss.

Trisha reached out to him and placed one soft hand on his arm. Tingles ran from where she touched him, all through his nervous system. His body definitely recognized the touch of its mate.

“Her death was recent, right? Deke told me he hadn’t been able to make the funeral. He felt really bad about that. He wanted to be here for you.”

“It’s okay. The arrangements happened very quickly. She passed a couple of months ago. It was sudden. And violent. She was murdered.”

“I’m so sorry. I hope they caught whoever was responsible.”

“Yeah, we got them. In fact, Slade and Kate were instrumental in the hunt.” Better to get her used to the idea that the Clan handled things on its own, rather than involve human authorities, a little at a time.

“Really?” She seemed both surprised and intrigued. “I thought they both worked for your construction firm.”

“No, not at all, in fact. Slade only moved here recently when he married Kate. They met when he came to help track my mother’s killer. He’s got special skills in that area, and once he met Kate, well, it was clear they were meant to be together. He moved here to be with her since she’s an integral part of our community.”

As they talked, he helped her unpack the small cooler full of samples they’d brought with them from the Pack house. Trisha started to look through the drawers for the supplies she’d need and she smiled when she found the centrifuge tubes and pipettes. The smile of discovery was familiar to Steve. He’d pottered around in the lab with his mom often enough that he remembered the way she had smiled when she discovered something that helped her research.

That wasn’t to say that Trisha reminded him of his mother. Not in the least. Well…a little. Maybe. In her quest for knowledge and her caring heart. In all other ways, she was unique. And uniquely fitted to him.

He started to think about a future spent by her side and he liked the idea very much. It fit well with what he hoped for his future. A smart, caring mate. A happy life. All those things everyone sought in this world and seldom found.

Steve hadn’t been sure he ever would find the woman meant for him. Having seen what he’d seen of the world and done all the things he’d done, he wasn’t sure he really believed in happy ever after anymore. Until now. Until Trisha and her wonderful, alluring, amazing scent.

Maybe, just maybe, there would be a happy ending for him. If he could get her to agree to be his.

Not being a shifter, he didn’t know how she would handle everything. It bothered him that she probably wouldn’t feel the mating imperative the way he did. The fact that she didn’t know about his people or his ability to become the cat that lived inside his soul was yet another thing to worry about. How could he tell her, only to have her reject him?

Right now, that was his biggest fear. He didn’t think he could live through her rejection. For one of the very rare times in his life, Steve was truly afraid.

“What does Kate do? I thought she was the company nurse or something,” Trisha observed as she laid out her supplies on the bench top.

“She’s a…counselor of sorts. But she’s completely independent of the company. She works for herself.”

“She was very helpful with my friends. She must’ve had some kind of medical training.” Trisha seemed thoughtful as she took the samples from him and began to work.

“I’m not sure. You’ll have to ask her,” he answered vaguely. And good luck to Kate in trying to explain that she was the priestess who served the local shifter community. “Is there anything I can do to help?” Steve changed the subject. “I’m pretty handy in the lab. I used to help my mom a bit.”

“Really?” She looked at him over her shoulder, a playful expression of disbelief on her pretty face. “Do you know sterile technique?” Her tone made the question a mischievous dare.

“Does a cat scratch?” he answered in the same tone.

She laughed and handed him some of the samples she’d been transferring into centrifuge tubes.

“You know how to load that thing?” She nodded toward the nearby machine that would spin and separate the blood into its components.

Without commenting further, he expertly balanced the tubes—one on one side, then one opposite until he had the machine properly balanced. They worked together in silence for the short time it took to get all the samples prepared for separation. Trisha was using only about half of each sample, resealing the rest and packing it back in the ice they’d used to transport it. He wasn’t sure what she had in mind, but it was probably better to keep some of each of the samples from the seven women in reserve so they could do more tests later, if it became necessary.

What followed was several hours spent preparing samples and analyzing data. The results were disturbing.

“Well, this is new,” Trisha reported as she examined the various results she’d managed to isolate. “It’s got organic and inorganic components. And a trace of silver that was probably meant to act as a catalyst. It’s going to take a while to figure this out—if I
can
figure it out.” She sighed heavily and leaned back against the lab bench. “But now I know why I got sick when the other girls didn’t. I’m allergic to silver. Lynda is too. The rest of the gals make fun of us because they can’t buy us silver jewelry for gifts. They claim we’re just holding out for gold.” She laughed weakly.

“Silver, huh?” Steve observed, thinking deep thoughts.

Silver was poisonous to many magical people—shifters, in particular. Apparently, fey and whatever Trisha had in her lineage was also affected by the deadly metal. Whoever had targeted the group of women—if it had been a trap designed for magic—had to have known that anything with silver in it wouldn’t work as expected on magical folk. So what was the point?

Perhaps dosing them all with silver and waiting for the magic ones to self-identify? But why knock out the non-magic ones and leave the potentially more dangerous ones conscious? That seemed counterintuitive. Steve rubbed a hand over his forehead and decided to leave it for now. He’d bring the findings to Grif, Slade and the rest, and see what they thought.

In the meantime, he had a mate to protect.

She looked so defeated, her head hanging down as she leaned against the countertop. He wanted to comfort her. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her and tell her everything would be all right. He wanted to take her to his home, lock them both in his bedroom and make love to her until that worried exhaustion left her body completely.

But he couldn’t do any of those things. Not yet. Maybe not ever. He had to approach her cautiously. Woo her.

Unfortunately, Steve had never been big on wooing. His looks and position in the Clan meant women were usually wooing
him
. There were a lot of females out there who wanted either the thrill of bedding an Alpha cat or the perceived power having him as their bed partner would create. He was second-in-command to one of the most powerful Alphas in the country. Possibly the world. Currying favor with Steve was something a lot of shifters tried to do, but he had a nose for those overtures of friendship that were genuine and those who were only seeking him out for their own benefit.

Steve moved closer to Trisha and put one hand on her shoulder, offering comfort. Not as much as he wanted to offer, but it was a start. “It’ll be okay.”

“No, it won’t. At least not for a few days.” She turned to him and suddenly they were standing very close. He could see tears in her eyes, though she seemed loathe to actually let them fall. “This compound…” she began in a soft, defeated kind of tone. “It could potentially keep them unconscious for days. This is a lot more serious than I expected. I figured—at worst—it would turn out to be some kind of date-rape drug, but this is serious anesthesia. Only it’s been modified into something new and strange to me.”

A tear did fall then, but she quickly wiped it away. Steve couldn’t take it. He reached for her and gently pulled her into his arms. Somewhat to his surprise, she didn’t resist. If anything, she clung to him for support as her lithe body trembled ever so slightly. Her head fit neatly under his chin and he felt the pressure of her cheek resting just above his heart. He’d never felt anything more perfect in his life.

She was a strong woman, but her friends had been hurt and it clearly bothered her even more than she let show. Steve understood. He’d been in her shoes, only worse. His lost friends wouldn’t wake up. Ever. At least not in this realm. They’d passed beyond this mortal coil. On to bigger and better things, he hoped.

“It’ll be okay. We can watch over them. We’ll make them as comfortable as possible until they wake up.”

“They should be in a hospital.” She hiccupped and he pretended not to notice. He sensed she wouldn’t want him to make a big deal out of her tears. He pulled her a little tighter and ran one hand up and down her back in a comforting gesture.

“We take care of our own around here,” he said softly. If she really wanted her friends to be admitted to a human hospital, he’d have to agree, but things would be a lot less complicated if they could handle all this themselves. As the Clan usually did. “They’re just sedated, right? There’s no chance they could die, is there?”

If a bunch of humans died in their care, there would be hell to pay, but just nursing a few doped-up women should be all right. He’d have to rely on Clan folk to help, and it would also mean inconveniencing the wolf Pack for a bit longer than he’d hoped, but it could be done.

“No, they won’t die. They’re probably just going to be unconscious for a couple of days, followed by one hell of a hangover.” She pulled slightly away from him to look up into his eyes. “Taking them to a hospital is going to open up a huge can of worms with their families, my family and a whole host of people you don’t even want to know about.” She chewed on her lower lip, worrying, and he was sorely tempted to give her lips something else to do—with his.

“They can stay where they are and we can all keep an eye on them. They’re safe, which is something I can’t guarantee in a hospital. Whoever tried to abduct you all might try again.”

“It really was an abduction attempt?” Her gaze held even more worry and he was sorry to have put it there, but she needed to know the truth.

“There was an ambush waiting outside. I think the bar fight was started to force you all out into the street where a group of men was waiting to shove you into vans. My guys disabled the vans—and the people driving them. Without their help, I’m not sure I could’ve gotten all of you out safely. That kind of setup reeks of advance planning. Somebody wants one or all of you for some reason, and I aim to find out why.”

“Marcia’s dad is loaded. It’s probably her they were after. She’s the bride-to-be. She flew all of us here on her father’s private jet.”

Trisha didn’t seem in any hurry to leave Steve’s arms and he wasn’t complaining. The feel of her in his embrace was doing things to him, though. Things he enjoyed…and wanted to take a whole lot further.

“Now that you’re done with your lab work, I can get a better handle on the investigation. I already put some things in motion before we left the house and it’s about time to check progress.”

“Do you think you can find out who did this?” Suddenly, she seemed fiercer than she had. Good. He liked a strong woman who could stand up to a challenge.

“It’s what I do, sweetheart.” He smiled and she laughed. His boast was only a little bit over the top and just what was needed to bring a smile back to her face. He didn’t like it when she wore that worried frown.

“All right then. You helped me. Now how can I help you?”

“You really want to help me?” His voice dipped low and suddenly the mood changed.

He couldn’t help it. Feeling her body against him made him want things…made him want
her
. Although, all she had to do was breathe and he wanted her. He’d come to accept that fact since the moment he first caught her scent without the chemicals masking her true nature.

“Depends what you have in mind.” Oh, yeah. She was rising to his challenge all right. Her playful tone and teasing smile was exactly what he’d hoped for.

“For starters…” He moved closer, dipping his head only a little to hover near hers. She didn’t move away and he took it as permission to move closer. His lips hovering over hers, he whispered. “How about this?”

And then he was kissing her. Tasting her for the first time. The flavor of her kiss sent his senses spinning into overdrive as he learned the true meaning of desire. Of want. Of need.