I took a deep breath and let it out. “He didn’t fuck anyone tonight.”
Caleb had joined the others crawling around Nathaniel. He plunged his face into Nathaniel’s groin. Elizabeth moved back so he could do it. “I smell sperm, but not pussy.” This after I knew that Nathaniel had washed thoroughly. Caleb stood, and Elizabeth moved back. He put his hand behind Nathaniel’s neck and moved their faces together as if they were going to kiss, but he stopped just short of their lips touching. “I don’t smell pussy here either. I don’t think he had sex.”
Zane raised Nathaniel’s shirt as far as he could reach from his knees, then stood pushing the shirt up to Nathaniel’s neck. The bite marks were almost black in the starlight. There was a bite mark on almost every inch of his back; the edges didn’t touch, but I hadn’t missed much. It made me blush.
Vivian looked at me, and I realized that she could probably smell the blood rushing to my cheeks.
Zane said, “He might not have had sex, but he had something.”
Caleb came around to gaze at Nathaniel’s naked back. “Someone had fun.”
“Look at this,” Elizabeth said. She drew them around to the front and the bite mark around his nipple. They ran their fingers over it, and Zane pulled Nathaniel’s shirt off and threw it on the hood of the nearest car. Everyone but Merle, Gina, and Vivian swarmed Nathaniel, touching the wounds with fingers, hands, and tongues. Nathaniel’s head went back, eyes closed, and I knew he wasn’t exactly having a bad time, but . . .
“That’s enough,” I said.
Elizabeth pulled Nathaniel’s shorts down, and I got a glimpse of just how not-unhappy he was.
I yelled, “That’s enough!”
Elizabeth turned on her knees, her hands on his butt. “Whoever did this could have just as easily done more damage. They could have cut him up bad, and he would have let them do it. Wouldn’t you have, Nathaniel?”
“I would have let her do anything she wanted,” he said.
Shit.
“You can’t let him do this,” Cherry said, standing and coming to me. “You can’t let him skate on this, Anita. Or the next time whoever she is might just kill him.”
“She won’t kill him,” I said.
“You know who it is?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Why didn’t you say so?” Merle asked.
I took a deep breath and blew it out. “Because I’m not comfortable with it yet. But that’s my problem not Nathaniel’s.” I held my hand out to him. “Nathaniel.”
He pulled his shorts up so he could walk and came to me, squeezing my hand as he took it. I put him behind me, the line of our bodies touching. Physical contact was a way of saying he was under my protection. “I marked him.”
Elizabeth laughed still on her knees. “I know he’s your favorite, but I never thought you’d outright lie for him.”
“At least some of you can smell it if I lie. I marked his body, my teeth marks.”
“Your anxiety level has been high since we got here. I can’t tell if you’re lying,” Merle said. “And if I can’t tell, then no one else here is alpha enough to be sure.”
“It’s gotten so that your scent doesn’t change when you lie,” Cherry said.
I’d heard of lying with your eyes, but never with your scent. “I didn’t know you could do that, lie with your smell.”
“I think lying just doesn’t make you anxious anymore,” she said.
Oh. “Being a sociopath does have its benefits,” I said.
Caleb crawled towards us, in that gliding crawl the leopards could do. It was inhumanly graceful. He came close enough to put his face against my leg. I let him, because I figured that they’d get around to smelling me if I claimed Nathaniel. I just hadn’t planned on it being one of Micah’s cats first.
“He does have her scent on his skin.”
“They sleep in the same bed most nights,” Elizabeth said. She was on her feet, hadn’t even snagged her hose.
Caleb rubbed his face against my leg. “She smells of wolf and . . . vampire.” He gazed up at me. “Did you do your Ulfric and your master last night? Is that why Nathaniel doesn’t smell like pussy, because there wasn’t a hole left for him?”
I’d tried to keep my version of an open mind, but I decided then and there that I didn’t like Caleb. “The pard has a right to question who Nathaniel sleeps with, because he doesn’t have good judgment. None of you have the right to question me.”
Caleb moved in one of those too-fast-to-see motions and shoved his face into my groin, hard enough that it almost hurt. I pulled the Browning without thinking about it and had it pressed against his skull before I realized it. Faster than normal—even for me.
Caleb raised his head back so that his forehead was pressed against the end of the gun. He stared up at me. “You don’t smell like dick. Don’t tell me you had at least three men with you in a bed and nobody got to fuck you.”
“Caleb, I’m really beginning not to like you.”
He grinned. “But you won’t shoot me, because that would make Micah mad.”
“You’re right, I shouldn’t have pulled the gun. I’m just not used to being able to draw a gun before I have time to think about it.”
“I’ve never seen you move that fast,” Zane said.
I shrugged. “Benefits of the change, I guess.” I put the Browning back. I wasn’t going to shoot him for just being obnoxious.
Caleb rested his cheek against my thigh, and I let him. My struggling would just amuse him, and he was behaving himself, relatively speaking.
Vivian touched my arm. “Are you really going to be one of us?”
“We’ll know in about two weeks,” I said.
“I am sorry,” she said.
I smiled at her. “Thanks.”
“You didn’t top Nathaniel,” Elizabeth said. “You’re too squeamish to use your teeth on him like that.”
I looked at her, and I let the darkness fill my eyes that was my own version of a beast. The look that said just how far down the well I’d fallen. “I’m not as squeamish as I used to be, Elizabeth. You might want to remember that.”
“No,” she said, “no, you’re protecting him. He’s been teacher’s pet since day one. You’re just afraid of what Micah will do. Afraid of what a real Nimir-Raj will do to him now that he’s disobeyed a direct order.” She stalked over to us. “And you should be afraid, Anita, you should be very afraid, because Micah’s strong, strong the way Gabriel was strong. He doesn’t flinch.”
“I’ve heard enough about Gabriel to wonder if that’s a compliment.” Micah came out of the woods with a tall man beside him. Before Micah, I’d never slept with a man that I’d just met. I’d never slept with anyone that didn’t make my heart beat faster, my skin react to the sight of him. As Micah glided from the trees, he was graceful and handsome, but I wasn’t in love with him, and my body didn’t react like I was. I was both relieved and a little ashamed of that.
He was wearing shorts that had been cut off and allowed to go ragged at the hem. A white tank top seemed to glow in the dark, making his tan look even darker. A wide leather belt encircled his slender waist. He’d tied his hair back in a ponytail, but it was so curly that it didn’t give the illusion of short hair; you knew even from the front that there was a lot more hair behind him. He seemed more delicate in clothes than he had without them. Maybe I just hadn’t been paying attention to how small boned he was. There was something graceful in the way he was made, fine bones, smooth skin, very . . . refined, especially for a man. Jean-Claude was prettier, but he was too tall to ever be called delicate. Micah was delicate. The only thing that saved him from looking fragile was the play of muscles in his arms, the way he walked, like the world was his and everywhere he moved he was the center of the universe. It wasn’t so much confidence as surety. So much potential in such a small package. He reminded me of somebody.
The man trailing behind Micah was dark complected, with very short, close cut hair, a
nd there was something about his skin tone, even by starlight, that didn’t look tan. He was handsome in a young, almost preppy sort of way, but muscled and very alert. That explained why Merle hadn’t been glued to Micah’s side. We’d had a change of guard. Micah introduced him as Noah.
I’d dreaded seeing Micah again—wondered what I’d say, how I’d feel. I wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as I’d thought I’d be. Maybe I’d have been more so if I hadn’t been trying to defend Nathaniel’s honor. Maybe because I didn’t give any sign of what we’d done, Micah didn’t either. Or maybe he was as confused as I was about it. Or maybe that’s how casual sex works. I just didn’t know.
“What is everyone so tense about?” Micah asked.
“Show him, Nathaniel.”
Nathaniel never questioned, just stepped out from behind me and showed his back to the two men.
The bodyguard gave a sharp whistle. Micah’s eyes widened, and he looked over Nathaniel’s shoulder at me.
“You did this?”
I nodded.
“She didn’t,” Elizabeth said.
Caleb had risen as far as he could on his knees and was sniffing my stomach, his face pointed towards other things, but he was careful not to touch them. I don’t think he would have sniffed my groin in front of Micah. Elizabeth was right on one thing. The leopards just weren’t as afraid of me as they were of Micah.
“She smells of blood, too,” Caleb said.
“Get away from me,” I said.
He smirked, but he crawled away.
“Are you saying she has a wound on her like what he has on his back?” Elizabeth asked.
Caleb nodded as he crawled.
“Then she’s lying. Whoever did his back, did her, too.”
I sighed. “Am I really going to have to prove this?”
“I would take your word,” Micah said, “but apparently your pard won’t.”
“It’s just that we’ve wanted you to take one of us like this for so long,” Cherry said. “And now . . . I think we’d have believed sex but not this. It just doesn’t look like your work, and Elizabeth’s right about one thing. Nathaniel is your favorite, and you do protect him.”
Great, no one believed me. “Fine, just fine,” I said. I started sliding out of the shoulder holster to let it flop at my back. Pulling my shirt out of my jeans wasn’t a problem, even taking it off and laying it beside Nathaniel’s shirt on the car hood wasn’t a problem. I was wearing a very nice black bra. It was meant to be seen. Jean-Claude had been a very bad influence on my wardrobe. The problem was taking off the bra. I really didn’t want to do that.
I undid the back, but held the front in place. “What happens when you see the bite mark?”
“If you show me a bite mark on your breast that doesn’t have fang marks in it, I’ll believe it was Nathaniel,” Micah said.
Everyone had crowded close. I never liked being the center of attention, not for this kind of thing. “Give me a little breathing space guys.”
They moved back a fraction of a step, and I thought, screw it. Everyone here, except Elizabeth and maybe the new bodyguard, had seen me naked. Oh, hell. I slipped the bra off and laid it on the hood with my shirt. I made absolutely no eye contact.
A hand came into view, and I grabbed the wrist. It was Caleb. “Nathaniel gets to take a bite, and I can’t even touch it.”
“No, you can’t,” I said.
Micah didn’t come any closer. “Why did you mark him?”
I met his eyes, expecting to see accusation, or disdain, or something negative. But his face was very still. “I needed to sink my teeth into something. I needed . . .” I shook my head and looked away. “It wasn’t sex I wanted. I wanted to feed.”
“No.” Elizabeth came crowding close. “No, you can’t be Nimir-Ra for real, not for real.” There was something close to panic on her face. I could smell her fear. She moved close enough that our bodies almost touched, and I could hear her heart thundering.
“Be afraid, Elizabeth, be very afraid,” I said.
She half-turned away from me, and Micah said something at the same time, which is my only excuse for not seeing her fist coming. She rocked me back against the side of the Jeep, filling my mouth with blood and making my knees go weak. Only Cherry catching me around the waist kept me standing. The world swam in black and white streamers for a second. When my vision cleared, Elizabeth was being held by Micah and Noah, the bodyguard.
I pushed myself upright and stepped away from Cherry. She kept hold of my arm, and I let her for a second while I let the last of the vertigo slip away. I put a hand to my mouth and came away with blood.
Merle moved up to take Elizabeth’s arm, and Micah came to stand in front of me. “Are you alright?”
“I’ll be okay.”
He touched my bare arms. It was the lightest brush of fingertips, but it made me shiver. My nipples grew hard, and there was nothing I could do to hide the sudden reaction.
I looked at him, and I didn’t have to look up for it, not even an inch. “I don’t know you, why . . .”
His arms slid behind my back, pressed our bodies together, and I suddenly couldn’t get enough air. “I am your Nimir-Raj, Anita. There is no shame in that.”
“You say Nimir-Raj like other people say husband.”
He ran one hand through my hair, until his fingers were tight to my scalp, the other hand at the small of my back. “Our souls resonate like the sound of two perfect bells,” he whispered, as his mouth hovered over mine. The comment was so romantic it was stupid, and I should have laughed at it, but I didn’t.
He kissed me, a push of his lips, then his tongue slipped into my mouth. I knew when he tasted my blood, because his hands tightened on my body and his body reacted against me. He was too large for me not to feel him grow hard between our bodies.
I ran my hands over his arms, his shirt, and it wasn’t enough. I wanted to touch his bare skin to mine, to drink in every inch of him, into every inch of me.
He kissed me as if he would drink me in, and I knew that part of the excitement was the fresh blood. I pulled his shirt out of his pants and ran my hands up his back. But it wasn’t enough.
He drew back from the kiss, and I pulled his shirt over his head. Just pressing our bare chests against each other was better. It was as if my skin craved his skin. I’d never felt anything like it.
We held each other, both breathing too hard, our arms locked around each other, faces pressed to each other’s shoulders, his breath hot on my neck.
“We don’t have time for more,” he whispered.
I nodded, my head still against his neck. It wasn’t like I’d been planning on more, but . . . “I had to touch my skin to yours, why?”
“I told you, you are my Nimir-Ra, and I am your Nimir-Raj.”
I pulled back enough to see his face. “That doesn’t explain it to me.”
He held my face in his hands, making very serious eye contact. “We are a mated pair, Anita. It’s legend among the leopards that you can find your perfect mate, and from the first moment you have sex you’re bound, more than marriage, more than law. We will always crave each other. Our souls will always call to each other. Our beasts will always hunt together.”
It should have scared me, but it didn’t. It should have made me angry, but it didn’t. I should have felt a lot of things, but all I really felt was that he was right, and I didn’t even want to try and talk him out of it.
“Richard’s going to love this,” Elizabeth said.
Merle and Noah took her down to her knees, in an abrupt gesture that had to hurt a little. I looked at her. “Thanks for reminding me what I was about to do, Elizabeth. I got distracted.” I drew away from Micah, my fingers trailing down his arm, as if I couldn’t quite bare to let go of him.
“Let her go, boys. She’s my problem, not yours.”
They looked to Micah, who nodded. Elizabeth stayed on her knees, as if uncertain what to do. She tried to get one of them to help her to her
feet, but they ignored her and left her to stand on her own.
I took time to put my bra on as I walked back to my Jeep, the shoulder holster still flapping around my waist. I slipped it over my naked skin, and it was not comfortable, but I didn’t want to take the time to put my shirt on. I knew what I was going to do now.
I walked to my Jeep, and everyone waited in the dark while I unlocked the door, scooted into the passenger seat, opened my glove compartment, and got out a spare clip of lead bullets. I’d started carrying an extra clip of lead bullets in the Jeep since I ran afoul of a few rogue fairies. You can shoot the fey with silver all day and it won’t do much. But lead, they didn’t like lead. Lead also had other uses, because it wouldn’t kill a wereanimal. Only silver would do that. I walked back towards them, popping out the clip that was in the gun as I moved. I put the clip in my pocket, though it didn’t fit well, and shoved the new clip home until it clicked.
Elizabeth finally started looking worried when I was about two cars away. Anyone else would probably have been running, but common sense wasn’t one of Elizabeth’s strong suits. I had actually pointed the gun at her while I very calmly walked closer, before she said, “You wouldn’t dare.”
I stared down the barrel of the gun at her, and I felt nothing. It was a big, cold empty place inside me—utterly calm, peaceful. But at the center of that empty peacefulness was a tiny kernel of satisfaction. I’d been wanting to do this for a long time.
I shot her twice in the chest, while she was still telling me I wouldn’t shoot her. She went over backwards, spine bowing, hands scrabbling at the road, legs kicking while she tried to breathe.
Everyone had cleared a big space around her. I stood over her and stared down while she tried to breathe, and her heart struggled to beat around the hole I’d put in it. “You keep saying I can’t kill you like a real Nimir-Ra by tearing your throat out, or gutting you. Maybe that’s going to change soon, but until then I can shoot you, and you’ll be just as dead.”
Her eyes rolled desperately, while her body tried to cope with the damage. Blood welled out of her mouth.
Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Collection 6-10 Page 224
