Free Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur

chairs, many of them occupied by wolves either mating or watching others mate, ringed the packed dance floor. Toward the back of the room, there were curtained booths for those who preferred to mate in some privacy, and they were also occupied. By the end of the week, when the force of the moon raged through our blood, those booths would have queues.
    While most of those on the dance floor were naked, there were some who preferred something more exotic. A few wore leather outfits that clung to their bodies as closely as flesh, while others had donned more outlandish costumes that glittered and sparkled under the hologram moonlight.
    The DJ was set up in the far corner, and the music he played filled the air with sensual and erotic melodies designed to seduce the senses. The room was heavy with the rich aroma of lust and sex, and desire rushed through my veins. All I had to hope was that I could control it long enough to find Rhoan.
    But given the fierceness of that fever, I knew control would only be claimed by sating some of the need.
    It was just too bad Quinn wasn't with me.
    I frowned and thrust the thought away. Until I knew a whole lot more about the mysterious Quinn and his reasons for wanting to see my brother, I could not afford to do anything more than lust from a distance.
    I walked down the steps and headed into the change rooms. After taking a quick shower to wash the smell of work and vampire from my skin, I put on my club clothes and did my makeup. Then I swept my long hair into a ponytail, shoved my bag into the locker, my credit card and locker key into the small pocket in my skirt, and headed out into the crowd.
    Closer to the dance floor, the sensual beat of the music was accompanied by grunts of pleasure and the slap of flesh against flesh. The fever in my blood rose several notches and the deep-down ache that had started with Quinn that morning shifted into high gear.
    But as much as I hungered to become part of the lusty, sweating crowd, I still had enough control to put business before pleasure. Davern was there somewhere, and I had to find him.
    I skirted the edge of the dance floor, my gaze sweeping the tables lining the walls. Davern was near the rear of the room, close to the privacy booths. But he wasn't alone at the table, and I wasn't about to interrupt. Wolves, especially males, tended to get extremely violent if you did.
    I grabbed a drink off a passing waiter--all of whom were mind-blind and nonhuman, which not only meant they could defend themselves if things got nasty, but the aura of a werewolf in heat had no effect on them. And while they were all normal men and women, and
did
get aroused, they were paid
extremely
well to ignore their hormones. Which was why jobs at all the werewolf clubs were most sought after.
    I took a deep breath, inhaling the scents that swirled around me, allowing the atmosphere to soak through my pores, a richness that spoke of pleasure, indulgence, and carnal fantasies.
    Was it any wonder humans were busting their balls to get into the wolf clubs? The sexual freedom of the clubs had to leave them feeling like kids in a candy store compared to the uptight, moralistic sensibilities currently being forced onto the human race as a whole.
    Of course, having humans around during the full-moon phase would be a dangerous thing, especially considering there were some packs who liked their sex
extremely
rough. Humans just weren't designed to cope with a werewolf's idea of wild sex--which was why clubs Australia-wide were banding together for the first time in history to fight the government's plans. The last thing anyone wanted was a human casualty during the bloom of the moon--if only because the blame would be placed on werewolves and the clubs rather than the idiots who'd forced the change of rules.
    As I looked back to the stairs, a man entered. He was tall and powerfully built, with chiseled features and dark golden hair. And the sheer sexual energy radiating off him was