Adele could feel her anger and hurt slipping away with each passing second.
“No more trying to mate with me?”
Xavier made an X across his heart. “No more. Not until you’re ready. Besides, it wouldn’t mean the same thing without you agreein’ to it first. I want to know that you want me just as much as I want you.”
Adele gripped Xavier’s shirt collar and pulled him down for a kiss. She felt his fingers tangle in her hair as she savored his scent and taste.
“That sure felt like forgiveness,” he said when she pulled away.
She smiled. “It was. Thank you for your apology.”
“Thank you for forgivin’ me.”
He took her hand as they turned to go inside.
* * * *
“Okay, now. What’s the deal?” Serafine asked the small group gathered around the table.
“The biggest issue we’re facin’ is access,” Oscar said. “We can’t just break locks and storm the doors. Equipment that disables security systems ain’t easy to come by.”
Georgina spoke up. “Fortunately, I’ve already made progress with that. I used my status as a grad student at Tulane to propose a fake research project concerning animals at the Aquarium. The research I’ll be doing will be the focus of my term paper for my research methods class. I figured if I was going to be committing espionage, I should get some class credit for it. I just need to get some department signatures to make everything official.”
“I can help you with that,” Adele said.
“With my regular access to the Aquarium, I can learn the layout a little better and figure out how to get spare keys that will give me direct access to the exhibits,” Georgina continued.
“Easier said than done,” Xavier said. “You have any clue how to go about doin’ that?”
“I’ll have to figure it out as I go along, but I know I can make it work.”
“And what if you don’t?”
Georgina’s eyes narrowed. “Trust me, I will.”
“Let’s not squabble,” Serafine said. “Georgina’s a damn smart woman. I know she’s gonna figure this all out. We gotta move on with the rest of the plan.”
Manuel shrugged. “Georgina can’t get us access, so we’re stuck for what to do next. Even if she manages to get us all the keys, we just can’t waltz in there after-hours and take Rosaline and Armand. They got a system, they got guards. It ain’t like we can shift and disguise ourselves, neither. What do you think they’re gonna do if they see a bunch of gators runnin’ loose?”
Adele smiled. “I have an idea.”
“Oh?” Serafine raised her eyebrows. “What you got, girl?”
“We’ll throw a party. Rent out the Aquarium after-hours for an event of some kind. I know it’s expensive, but it seems like the best way to get access with the fewest number of people around. Well, without breaking any laws, that is.”
“What kinda party are we all gonna have?” Oscar asked. “Ain’t like we got anybody getting married anytime soon.”
Even though he knew he needed to behave, Oscar couldn’t resist winking at Adele as he spoke. She rolled her eyes and shook her head but didn’t seem angry.
“How about a corporate event?” Adele asked. “You can come up with some excuse to be celebrating with your company. A record-breaking quarter, new leadership, even just a general social event. We can rent out the private room on the second floor. If we do it in the evening, we’ll have after-hours access and won’t have to worry about the general public getting in our way.”
“Yeah, but the guards will still be there,” Andre Celestin said. “I think they gonna notice if we try to steal our mate and son back.”
“That’s why we create a distraction,” Adele said. “Get the guards all in one room. Then someone can sneak into the gator exhibit. Rosaline and Armand can shift, emerge as humans, and pass as members of the party.”
“Damn, you make it sound easy,” Manuel said.
“Don’t be fooled. It’s still risky,” Serafine said. “But it’s the best plan we got.”
“Let me be in charge of the scheduling,” Adele said. “Georgina, do you think you can get access to the place within two weeks?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll try.”
“Time is of the essence,” Serafine reminded her. “The sooner you can get it, the better. You gotta do it for the congregation, honey. I know it seems impossible, but we need you.”
Georgina nodded. “I’ll do it, Serafine. I don’t know how, but I’ll figure it out. I promise.”
Serafine turned to Adele. “You sure you’re up for helpin’? Don’t get me wrong, we need everyone who’s willin’, but I ain’t gonna lie. It might be dangerous. You sure you wanna take that risk?”
Adele smiled. “I don’t want Villemont to take your family away any more than you do. It’s totally worth the risk if I can help out.”
“I just wanna make sure you’re prepared. I’d hate for you to change your mind about us if you wind up in any danger.”
“I won’t change my mind. I want to help. My whole career has been devoted to protecting the natural world from people who want to cause problems. Helping the congregation is perfectly natural.”
“Even when you have to deal with the likes of Xavier?” Oscar asked with a slight chuckle.
Adele giggled at Xavier’s frown. “Even then.”
“Okay, I think we be done here. We’re gonna meet again next Saturday, work out the details for the rest of the plan,” Serafine said. “Now, it’s been a long day. I’m thinkin’ it’s time for us to eat. We can’t spend the whole day workin’.”
Oscar hadn’t expected Adele to stay for the food, but when the group dispersed for the kitchen, she walked with Georgina and grabbed a plate to load with crawfish étouffée. She kept her distance from Oscar and Xavier, and Oscar knew better than to push her boundaries. Still, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He suspected they hadn’t completely lost favor with her, either. He caught her staring at them on more than one occasion.
As the sky darkened into night, Adele and Georgina stood up so Georgina could take Adele home. After saying their good-byes, Georgina headed straight out the door, but Adele walked toward them.
“Why don’t you two walk me to my boat?” she asked.
“Our pleasure,” Oscar said, jumping to his feet. He offered his arm, and Adele accepted it. He was pleased to see that she took Xavier’s arm as well.
“Why don’t we have dinner together next Friday?” Adele asked as they stepped into the warm spring air.
“What? Really? I mean, that sounds great,” Oscar said, trying to keep his cool. “Any place in particular you had in mind?”
“The Sazerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel. It’s my favorite. Should I make a reservation for eight o’clock?”
“Works for us,” Xavier said.
Adele smiled. “Wonderful.”
She slipped her arm from Xavier’s, turned to Oscar, and gave him a kiss so deep that his cock began twitching to attention. Before he had the chance to get fully hard, though, she pulled away, and gave Xavier a kiss that looked just as intense. Pulling away from him, she flashed another brilliant smile and hurried off to her boat, laughing all the way. Georgina started it up, and they sailed off into the night.
Chapter Five
Adele rushed into the Sazerac Bar five minutes late, frazzled after a difficult day. She’d woken up with jitters, and things had only gotten worse from there. She’d planned to work through her lunch hour and leave an hour earlier than usual so she’d have plenty of time for a relaxing bubble bath before getting dressed for dinner and heading out to the French Quarter. The only thing that had gone according to plan was that she skipped lunch. Unfortunately, she didn’t even get the chance to eat at her desk. A problem with one of her experiments kept her busy until the afternoon and made her late for office hours. Only one student showed up, but he was a needy undergraduate who wanted lots of hand-holding and expected an au
tomatic A for effort. He’d kept her twenty minutes late, and then there had been a traffic jam on the way home, caused by an eighteen-wheeler going off the road. She didn’t make it home until after six, and she had to rush through her beauty routine to make it out the door on time. Then, there had been even more traffic, as people piled into the French Quarter to celebrate the start of the weekend. By the time she had found a parking spot and hurried over, she felt completely drained. On top of all that, she was still nervous.
Taking a deep breath as she approached the maître d’, she saw that Xavier and Armand were both already seated at a semicircular booth. She couldn’t believe how well they cleaned up. They looked gorgeous even when they were fresh off the boat after a day of work. Now, they were freshly showered and shaved. Oscar’s hair was slicked back, and Xavier’s was carefully styled to look like he had just rolled out of bed. They both wore crisp shirts and dark jackets.
For a moment, Adele pondered sneaking back out into the night. She was having a hard enough time believing that these two gorgeous men could turn into vicious predators at a moment’s notice. Somehow, it was even harder for her to believe she was destined to be their mate for life. But she drew upon the well of confidence that had inspired her to ask them to dinner in the first place, and she crossed the room.
Both men smiled when they saw her and got up out of their seats so she could slide in. As soon as she was settled, they sat back down, one on either side.
“Sorry, I’m late,” she said, giving Oscar a quick kiss, then turning and offering one to Xavier. “It’s been a crazy day.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Xavier said with a smile and stealing another kiss. “We took the liberty of ordering you a Sazerac. We figured if you requested this place, you must be a fan of the house drink.”
“You figured correctly.” Just as she finished speaking, the waiter set the drink down in front of her. Adele took a slow sip and willed herself to relax. “How have your days been?”
Oscar shrugged. “Oh, you know. Fishing. More fishing. Planning how to rescue our family. More fishing. There ain’t a whole lot of variety in our schedules.”
“But we ain’t so interested in talkin’ about ourselves. We’re more interested in you.”
Adele felt herself blush. “Oh?”
Xavier nodded. “Have to admit, we were both a little surprised by your invitation last weekend, especially after the way I acted. You changin’ your mind about things?”
Before Adele had time to answer, the waiter returned to take their orders. She hurriedly gave hers, feeling nervous by Xavier’s question. She was changing her mind but was reticent about admitting her feelings. Once she revealed them, there was no turning back.
As soon as the waiter was gone, Adele turned her attention back to Xavier. It’s now or never.
“Some things were a little difficult for me to accept at first, obviously. I never actually considered the possibility that shape-shifters were real until I met the two of you. And then, of course, with you trying to mate me so quickly, well, you know how that went. But after Xavier apologized, I felt a lot better. I mean, you’re only human after all. Well, um, you know what I mean.”
Xavier laughed. “Yeah, we ain’t perfect, I’ll give you that.”
“Anyway, after Xavier’s apology, I realized I wanted to get to know the both of you better.”
Oscar smiled. “So what do you want to know?”
“I mean—I have so many questions,” Adele said. “I don’t know how we could get to them in just one dinner.”
“We don’t have to get it all out on the table in one night. Just ask away. We have all the time in the world.”
Adele set down her glass. “When you shift, do you retain any essence of what it’s like to be human?”
“We keep our minds, if that’s what you’re asking,” Oscar said. “We can’t talk, of course, since we ain’t got vocal cords in our gator forms, but we can still think like we’re human. We can communicate with each other through telepathy.”
“Does it hurt to change?”
“Naw,” Xavier said with a laugh. “It’s strange the first time, but it don’t hurt. In fact, it’s awesome to feel once you have control over the power. No greater feelin’ in the world than transforming from human to animal to back again.”
Oscar ran his hand up and down Adele’s thigh. “I don’t know. I bet I can think of something else that feels even better.”
Adele blushed. “I know this seems like a silly question, but your eyes—they’re not like any color I’ve ever seen before. That particular green is stunning, and the gold flecks are so bright. Is that something characteristic of being a shifter?”
Xavier nodded. “And when a human is turned into a shifter, their eyes turn that color, too.”
Adele didn’t want to admit that this possibility unsettled her. She could almost wrap her mind around the possibility of suddenly being able to switch between human and gator form. But she didn’t like the idea that there would always be something in her human face that would indicate her shifter status. She wanted to exist as one or the other. She didn’t like the thought of the two identities blending together.
Thankfully, the food arrived before Adele had the chance to let her worries get the better of her. They dug into their plates, silent for awhile, enjoying the tastes and smells that surrounded them.
“Hey, you have a little sauce stuck on your mouth,” Oscar said. Adele put her fork down and offered her lips. Oscar ran his finger along the corner of her lip, and she sucked the juice off the tip. Seeing him attempt to suppress a groan, she took his hand and slid another finger into his mouth, and then took a third before finally releasing him.
“Did you like that?” she asked with a wink.
“What do you think?”
“I think we should go somewhere a little more private if we want to keep doing this,” Oscar said.
Adele smiled. “Just what I had in mind.”
“Shall we go upstairs?” Xavier asked.
Adele looked at him with a puzzled expression. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s over an hour back to the boat houses,” Xavier explained. Every time Oscar and I come into the city for the evenin’, we usually get a hotel room. It’s safer than tryin’ to take the boats back when we’re tired after a night on the town. Since we were havin’ dinner at the Roosevelt Hotel tonight anyway, we figured it would be nice to book a room here. We like to indulge ourselves when we can.”
“And the bed just so happens to be big enough for three,” Oscar said, giving her a wink. “’Course, if you’re havin’ second thoughts, you don’t have to join us. But if you’re as interested in continuin’ this as we are, you have an open invitation.”
Adele grinned. “I think that sounds perfect.”
“In fact,” Xavier said, “why don’t we just put the dinner bill on our room tab so we don’t have to worry about paying that right now?”
After a quick word to the maître d’, Xavier and Oscar both linked arms with Adele and escorted her to the elevator. As the cabin rose, Oscar leaned over and pressed her in a deep kiss while Xavier dotted the back of her neck with kisses of his own. As Oscar’s tongue slid in and out of her mouth, Xavier eased a hand up her dress and pushed her panties aside and began working her clit in slow circles. The kisses didn’t stop. Oscar plunged his tongue farther and tugged on her lower lip with his teeth. Xavier’s fingers increased their pace, bringing her body closer and closer to the edge of release. Adele felt her body pulsing with need and wanted to cry out in frustration when the elevator stopped and the doors opened.
“I was so close,” she gasped as they stepped into the hallway.
“Don’t worry, you won’t have to wait long before we finish you off,” Xavier whispered. He kept his hands on her hips as they walked down the hall to the room. Once they were inside, he pressed her against the wall and kissed her.
“Wait,” Adele said as he pulled away. She want
ed to make sure the rules were clear before they got carried away.
“What’s wrong?” Oscar asked.
“I just have one thing I want to make clear before we begin.”
Oscar nodded. “What’s that?”
“No biting. Not yet. I want both of you. I’m just not sure I want you in that way yet.”
Xavier balked. “But we were meant to be together. Can’t you feel it?”
Adele stepped back. “I feel an attraction to the two of you that is more powerful than anything I’ve felt in my entire life. But I’m not ready to give up life as I know it for two men I barely even know. The attraction I feel isn’t enough to convince me that we’re designed to be together. If you don’t like that, you don’t have to fuck me. You can go off to your congregation, and you won’t have to worry about hearing from me ever again.”
Xavier looked even more frustrated, but as he opened his mouth to speak, Oscar clapped a hand over his mouth.
“Whatever you want,” Oscar said. “Besides, it ain’t right to mate and turn you without any ritual. This is a damn nice hotel, but it just ain’t a good idea to mate here and turn our back on tradition.”
“I hate to put a stop to things, but would someone mind telling me what this ritual entails?” Adele asked. “I’m more than a little curious.”
“If we knew, we’d tell you,” Oscar said. “But we’re just as clueless as you are.”
He pulled Adele into his arms, and as she breathed in his musky scent, her mind became less concerned with the future and more interested in the moment.
“Let’s not think about that now,” she said. “I don’t know about you two, but I’ve had other things on my mind all night.”
Oscar pressed Adele into another kiss, lifting her arms up over her head and pinning them against the door. Adele moaned into his lips as Xavier pulled down her skirt and panties in one fell swoop. As Oscar broke the kiss, she stepped out of her shoes and walked slowly toward the bed, inching her shirt over her head with every step, and popping off her bra with one hand before she bounced onto the mattress.
Rose, Charlotte - Bayou Rescue [The Shifters of Alligator Bend 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 6
