Batty for You

by Zenina Masters

  “Right. Of course. Dare I ask?”

  He winked, “I would rather you didn’t. My family is fairly open about their sex lives and the contents of the bag are in that vein.”

  She blushed, and he laughed as if they were the only two people in the room.

  “You blush so easily.”

  She muttered, “I don’t get out much.”

  Teebie cleared her throat. “I believe that Bethany was getting ready for an evening out.”

  She blinked and nodded. “Right. Thank you for the kind words.” She turned to the ladies. “Thank you for the entertaining afternoon. I really enjoyed it.”

  They made quick farewells and Bets slid past Weller, heading upstairs to put on something suitable for a night of dancing after her dinner in the café. She was looking for something cute and flirty that didn’t show stains. It was a good thing that this was not her first time trying to get some attention. The difference in the Crossroads was that she might actually be successful in her bid for a mate.

  The dress she chose had many thin straps that supported the bodice, a cascade of rhinestones that added the look of a starry night to her bustline and a flirty skirt that was demure when she was standing still but that floated up and around her thighs when she was in motion. She did love chiffon for certain purposes.

  When she was ready and rather hungry, she slipped on her shoes and headed down the stairs with her hair cascading to the centre of her back.

  Bets was going dancing, and she would do it alone if she had to, but first, dinner.

  She should have been less surprised to see Weller waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

  He smiled. “You look resplendent. Would you care to join me for dinner?”

  She sighed. “It seems inevitable, does it not?”

  He offered her his arm. “It is not a resounding yes, but I will take it.”

  She curled her fingers into the crook of his elbow and smiled. “I apologise. Yes, thank you for the invitation.”

  He chuckled. “Nice recovery.”

  They left the bed and breakfast and walked slowly down the street.

  She couldn’t think of a conversational gambit until he took them to the restaurant and they were seated in the discreetly lit room.

  “Why are you here, Weller?”

  He looked up from the menu in surprise. “To have dinner with you.”

  “Why are you at the Crossroads? I know why I am here; my community is too small and lacks the variety that would let me find one of my own. Why are you here?”

  The waiter quietly appeared next to their table and waited.

  Weller smiled at the server and ordered wine and a glass of water. Bets did the same. When the server had left, Weller closed his menu and looked at her, his green eyes gleaming.

  “What do you see when you look at me?”

  She tilted her head. “Honestly?”

  “Please.”

  “You are handsome to the point of pretty, your eyes have the brilliant shining green of an orange tree and your hair is the same colour as coffee berries at the peak of ripeness. Your body is fit and lean, but that is to be expected as you are a shifter and the amount of calories burned in a shift from someone your size to a fox is astronomical.”

  He sat back and blinked in surprise. “That was fairly direct.”

  “You asked me to be honest.”

  “I did and you were.”

  Their wine and water arrived, and she sipped at the water. The wine was dessert. It was a sweet Riesling that should set her teeth on edge, but her beast loved it.

  Weller sipped at his wine and opened his menu once again.

  It showed good sense that he was willing to alter his food choice to match his wine. Bets smiled at the display of flexibility. It was a rare commodity.

  The waiter came back and she ordered the special. A light came to Weller’s eyes and he grinned. “I’ll have what she is having.”

  Bets was startled into a coughing laugh. The waiter grinned and winked at her as he took the menus and left.

  Weller was still chortling when she narrowed her eyes at him.

  “Why are you here, Weller?”

  “Honesty?”

  “Please.”

  “This is where you are, Bethany. My beast wanted yours the moment we first met, but I didn’t act quickly enough. You were here and out of my reach unless I followed you. I did not want to miss the one chance at a true mate that fate had provided me with.”

  She cocked her head. “You are actually serious.”

  He shrugged. “It costs nothing to tell the truth. It is a lot harder to remember a lie.”

  “You are not what I expected from a male fox.”

  He smiled. “There might be a reason for that. I am the only fox in a family of five children.”

  Warm rolls and butter were placed to one side of them and the waiter melted into the shadows once again.

  Weller offered her first pick, and when she declined, he took one and carved it in half before slathering it in butter.

  She bit her lip before asking the very personal question. “What is the rest of your family?”

  He chuckled. “Wolves. I grew up in the house of an alpha and his mate who taught me that no matter what nature may have created within me, I was still their child.”

  Bets smiled. “It sounds nice.”

  He snorted. “Have you lived with wolves? Being a fox has left me with a certain level of hygiene that they don’t come to instinctively. The sheer amount of shed hair was mind boggling.”

  She laughed and covered her mouth. The mental image was funny. She pictured a disgruntled fox in a nest of white fluff and the thought remained amusing.

  “Now for you. I had heard that there was a healthy bat population in that town.”

  She sipped at her wine and then her water. “There is, but I am the wrong kind of bat.”

  He blinked. “How does that work?”

  “Well, foxes are a certain kind of animal but not wolves. I am a certain kind of bat, but not the same sort as my family.”

  “How so? I am sorry but I am not familiar with bat cultures.”

  “I am a tropical fruit bat, not a standard cave bat. I like trees and fruit, they like night and bugs.” She twisted her lips. “It makes for some tense moments.”

  “I noticed you are rather robust for a bat. Most that I have seen are the size of mice.”

  She blinked and covered her eyes with her hand, muttering, “I am a giant golden-crowned flying fox.”

  His delighted laugh made her blush.

  She felt his fingers curl around hers as he eased her hand down, and he kept custody of it.

  “I am a red fox. My origin is as mysterious to my parents as yours probably is to your people.”

  She brushed her hair over one shoulder with her free hand. “The guess is that they are endangered in their natural habitat and their souls went looking for representation.”

  The waiter brought in their meals, and Weller reluctantly released her hand.

  The plate was gorgeous. Pasta was the base with a bloom of sliced chicken and a centre of baby vegetables and sauce. You had to destroy the blossom to eat it.

  Weller chuckled. “A work of art.”

  “Spike was right. Her mate can cook.”

  “You haven’t tasted it yet.”

  She smiled and met his gaze. “Sometimes you can tell something is good just by looking.”

  To her amazement, he blushed, and then, they were both focussing on their meal.

  Normally, pasta wasn’t on her list of items to eat on a first date, but it had just jumped out at her, and if it was a special, there was a reason for it. The chef had been inspired and that was good enough for her.

  Ten minutes later, there was not a speck of food left on either of their plates and they were perusing the dessert menu.

  Bets went for a trifle and Weller opted for a candied-bacon-crusted chocolate cake.

  The waiter was positiv
ely gleeful as he nodded and returned to wherever he stored himself when not attending the patrons.

  “I am glad you opted for dessert. I was terrified that you would turn your nose up at it.” He rolled his wineglass between his fingers.

  “I never turn my nose up at fruit.” She smiled and reflexively leaned back to allow the waiter to place her trifle in front of her.

  Now that she had what she really wanted, she took her time in consuming it. She nibbled at the fruit and sipped her wine with deliberate pleasure.

  She was halfway through when Weller cleared his throat.

  “Watching you eat that is almost indecent.”

  She blushed but kept going. “I heard the happy growling when you were eating that cake, so we all enjoy desserts in our own way.”

  She flicked a glance at him, and he was watching her eat with both his elbows on the table and his chin resting on his palms.

  If he wanted to stare, she was going to make him pay attention. She morphed her tongue and flicked it rapidly over the spoon, wrapping around it and getting all the cream and fruit nectar off.

  His pupils were completely dilated. He was staring at her with black eyes with narrow green rings around them.

  She laughed and resumed her normal human tongue. She sipped at her wine and kept going.

  “I would offer you some, but I am rather enamoured of it right now, so you will have to enjoy the memory of your cake.” Bets smiled smugly.

  He swallowed. “I have a few memories that I will enjoy from this evening, and I hope to add to my collection if you will join me for an evening of dancing.”

  She scraped her spoon along the bottom of her dish and took the last mouthful of cake, fruit and cream with a sigh of delight. “I think that is possible. I was going dancing with or without a partner.”

  He raised his wineglass in a toast. She met him halfway.

  “To women who don’t wait.”

  She paused and nodded, sipping at the last of her Riesling before setting the glass down.

  Weller paid for the meal and rose to his feet, offering her his hand.

  With no hesitation, she took his hand and let him lead the way to the Crossed Star. It was time to see how well they could move together.

  Chapter Five

  Bets had never had so much fun with a partner. Weller was graceful, quick and had a knack for moving out of the way when some of the clumsier shifters got too close.

  For the first time she could remember, when she staggered off the dance floor, it wasn’t because she had been injured, she was simply exhausted.

  Sitting in the booth, she smiled at Weller. “Thank you.”

  He drew his brows together in confusion. “For what?”

  “For a wonderful evening. I had a great time.” She watched to see if he caught on to what she was saying.

  “The evening isn’t over.” He touched her cheek.

  “It is for me. Rushing into things isn’t something I enjoy, especially not when it matters this much.”

  He cocked his head. “Even if you are already certain?”

  She nodded. “Definitely then. I can explain but not here.”

  “Shall we leave?”

  A surge of gratitude welled in her. “Please.”

  He offered her his arm, and they left the bar where only the most die-hard of dancers were still on the floor.

  Outside in the cool night air, she shivered, and he put his arm around her shoulders.

  “Once upon a time, I was engaged by long-distance agreement. His name was Robert and he came to claim me when I was nineteen.”

  “Arranged marriage?”

  “It is common enough in closed communities. They contacted another colony and made a match.”

  “They?”

  “My parents. They did it when I was born because no one knew what I would become. I didn’t shift for the first time until I was twelve, and by then, no one wanted to tell Robert that his bride was a diversion.”

  “I haven’t heard that term before. What is a diversion?”

  “It is a random born within the same general species but vastly different evolutionary scales. I don’t eat the same foods or crave the same environments. It makes a difference.”

  Weller nodded. “I suppose it would. I hadn’t realized that I was lucky in that respect.”

  “My parents tried, but it was a wall between us. I took comfort in my knowledge that I had a mate and I just had to wait for it. It helped me think I had a place in their world.”

  “I am guessing that Robert didn’t care for the differences in your beasts.”

  She made a face. “He said it didn’t matter, but what I didn’t know is that he was having sex with my cousin while we were planning the wedding. I just wanted to jump, to lock in my place in bat society, to be part of them in a way I had never been before.”

  “You wanted to rush.”

  “Hell yes. Fortunately, my cousin got pregnant and came to me to gloat. It was two days before my wedding and Robert tried to deny that he was the father. My cousin didn’t take that well and there is now a feud between those colonies. Robert left and my cousin got a lecture about cows and milk.”

  “A harsh lesson.”

  “Yup. Her kid is cute though; he is nine now. It was Reggie that first hauled me into the Night Star Diner claiming that he wanted to show me a really big fairy.” She chuckled.

  “Your cousin lets you see him?”

  “If things had been different, he would have been my son, or so the colony believes. If I had been married to Robert, then the child I bore would have had the same soul.”

  She shrugged. “It is natural for me to feel affection for him. He and I go rollerblading in the mall parking lots during the full moons.”

  “Why full moons?”

  “I don’t have sonar.” Bets laughed. “It hampers my ability to move in the dark though my sense of smell compensates.”

  He made an odd noise. “I thought that the boys said that a high-pitched sound drove them from the diner.”

  She rubbed the back of her neck. “That wasn’t sonar; that was a sonic blast. There is a difference. I can’t use it to see, I just drive off wildlife with it. Funnily enough, they don’t like the noise.”

  He snorted. “I imagine not.”

  “Anyway, Robert taught me the lesson that I need to confirm everything about a situation and wait to see if something else is going to raise its head and ruin my chance at happiness. Stupid but true.”

  “Not stupid. You learn from your mistakes. It is admirable, if frustrating.” He smiled.

  “I am sorry. One man’s infidelity makes a mark that rippled through all around him. The weird thing was that he still wanted to marry me.” She shook her head. “That always confused me.”

  “It doesn’t confuse me. You are the ideal mate. Your cousin may have been easy, but you have strength that radiates from you. You are a woman who will stand next to her mate and not need constant attending. He probably thought that you would be so grateful to him that you would turn a blind eye to his philandering.”

  “Oh, good word. Why would he think that? I would have kneecapped him in seconds.”

  Weller’s face showed that he was uncomfortable. “I think he believed that you were so eager to buy your way into their society that you would put up with anything to be part of the group and so he would get a wife and you would get your place with your people. He guessed that you wouldn’t want to lose that.”

  She tightened her lips. “He guessed wrong. I never would have put up with it. I might not have a place with my people, but I do have a family, and in their own way, they love and support me. When I said I wanted to head to the Crossroads, I was surprised my brother didn’t cut his own finger off, he was that eager to provide the sample. My parents were more restrained, but there was definitely enough for the transporter.”

  She grinned. “My sister made the call. It was a group effort.”

  “It sounds like they wanted you t
o find a mate.”

  She sighed. “It is what I have wanted for as long as I can remember. My beast is lonely. She wants to fly through the woods and have her mate nearby, and I can’t offer her that.”

  As if summoned, her inner beast rose up and tried to fling herself at Weller. Bets tensed and continued up the path to the Open Heart.

  “She just spoke to you, didn’t she?” He smiled.

  “In a way. She doesn’t make a lot of noise, so she is a little on the physical side. She tried to make me jump you.”

  Weller paused for a second before mounting the steps with her. “I see. My own beast is rather interested in this outcome.”

  “He will have to wait.”

  She was ready to go inside, but he turned her toward him.

  “If this is the end of our date, may I have a goodnight kiss?”

  Bets looked at the curve of his lips and smiled. “Yes, thanks for ask—”

  He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her flush to his body. His mouth came down on hers and her beast rushed to the fore to taste him.

  Bets held onto him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he licked at her lips, requesting entrance. She opened her mouth to let him in, and her body exploded in flame. The liquid thrust and retreat of his tongue caused her pussy to clench and relax in the same rhythm. Her clit throbbed and her blood pounded in her veins.

  He pressed a hand to her lower back and pressed her against him, his erection hot and hard against her hip.

  Bets let out a low moan and released him with shaking hands, sliding her palms to his shoulders and pushing gently.

  Weller released her immediately. She mentally tallied another point in the positive column.

  Bets stiffened her legs and smiled. “Good night, Weller.”

  “Good night, Bethany. Would you go for a walk with me in the morning?”

  She nodded. “That sounds like fun.”

  He stroked her cheek. “Sleep well, Bethany.”

  She used all of her self-control to open the door and make her way up the stairs with him trailing behind her. As she passed the first floor and kept going, he peeled off and must have headed to his room.