Free Things That Go Hump In The Night by Lily Marie, Terra Wolf, Artemis Wolffe, Mercy May, Amanda Jones, Bliss Devlin, Steffanie Holmes, Christy Rivers, Lily Thorn, Lucy Auburn Page B

the truth.
    Hey, Rafe, I'm a werewolf and I spent last night locked in my basement and howling at the moon.
    Yeah, no.
    She plopped herself down into the über-comfy black leather chair next to his. Accustomed to his sardonic sense of humor by now, she lifted a brow and stared back.
    "Maybe," she drawled back. "But a lady never tells."
    Rafe's mobile features creased into a wide grin.
    She did not miss the thumbs-up he gave his brother when Gabriel entered the conference room, impeccable in a tailored suit and tie and looking good enough to eat.
    Rafe thinks I was out with Gabriel last night? Shit, shit, shit.
    She didn't want her boss to lose respect for her because he thought she was sleeping with his brother.
    Gabriel frowned slightly in reply. Then he saw her.
    Nicole wanted to shrink down under his intense, assessing gaze, knowing he was probably getting the wrong impression of where she'd been last night and what she'd been doing.
    Not that it was any of his business. She forced herself to sit upright in her chair, shoulders squared, and returned his stare.
    He held her eyes for a long moment, his expression unreadable, then began hooking up his laptop to the boardroom's overhead projector.
    All traces of last night's horror-movie-loving guy with the silly French accent were gone, and Mr. Serious Business was back.
    As the rest of the Archangel 2.0 project team straggled in, clutching bottles of water or mugs of coffee, Gabriel cleared his throat.
    "I know you're all busy, so I'm going to keep the team meeting short today. Good job meeting our beta build milestone. I'm happy to report we're currently back on schedule for a year-end production release. Rafe, why don't you start by reporting on the progress of Build 2.0.27b?"
    Gabriel did not look at her again for the rest of the meeting.
    Nicole tried not to care, but it didn't work.
    * * *
    "What the fuck did you do to Nicole, Gabriel?"
    Gabriel looked up as Rafe entered his office, slamming the door behind him.
    Gabriel had been expecting his brother to drop by at some point today, and he hadn't been looking forward to the conversation.
    Scowling, Rafe threw himself into one of the chairs that stood in front of Gabriel's desk.
    "Let her off her leash and watch while she frolicked in the park last night?" he continued, sarcastically. "Because I'm not seeing any evidence that you actually helped her take care of her little problem, like you said you would."
    "Everything's under control," Gabriel said coldly. It wasn't, not really, but he wasn't ready to admit that to his younger brother, of all people.
    "I like her, you know I do," Rafe said, passionately, "but a lone shape-shifter is a fucking menace. You don't want Korinna and Mark showing up here to take care of things, do you?"
    Gabriel felt a cold prickling down his spine at the mention of those two names.
    Korinna Vélos and her philtatos Mark Aquila headed up the Physical Site Security division of Archangel Security Networks. They were also Hunters, employed by the Council of Oligarchs to hunt down rogue Children of Lilith and out-of-control shape-shifters.
    And they were both very good at their jobs.
    Gabriel sighed and looked at his brother. "I couldn't get Nicole to agree to a date last night—"
    Rafe interrupted with an incredulous howl of laughter. "You? She turned you down? My God, she's got the biggest fucking crush on you I've ever seen. You should see the way she looks at you when she thinks you're not paying attention."
    This news warmed Gabriel. His instincts hadn't been wrong. He would definitely have to ask her out again...and soon.
    Rafe was still talking. "—then what happened? You just let her go? I didn't hear any reports of any attacks on the morning news—"
    "Rafe." Gabriel's didn't raise his voice, but something in his tone made his younger brother stop talking. "You were right about Nicole not being able to control her transformations, but I discovered last night that she's taken measures to