thirty-one
Kendal was laughing so hard she nearly fell out of her chair. My sides were hurting, and every now and again, I had to bend backward to release the cramp in my stomach.
“He did not!”
“Oh, he really did.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I thought he’d filled that tank already.” Tears ran down my face and only squeaks escaped my lips I was laughing so hard.
We sobered when Drym and Thurl walked into the common hall where Kendal invited me to chat. She said she was going stir crazy. I felt horrible when she explained that the whole compound was on lockdown since my attack. No one in or out except for Luna and Zeus.
She waved away my concern. “Don’t worry about it. It’s no great hardship to stay locked up with Drym.” She gave me a look, clearly holding in laughter. “When my well isn’t dry.”
Drym looked at Thurl. “What does that mean?”
Thurl shrugged. “I still don’t know.”
In a conspiratorial stage whisper, I said to Kendal, “Don’t tell them.”
“Never,” she said back.
Drym furrowed his brow. “I’m not sure I appreciate all the giggling if I’m the butt of the joke,” he said, leaning closer to Kendal.
Kendal shot me a mischievous grin, but played innocent. “It’s more of an inside joke,” she said, patting Drym’s hand. Then, turning to Thurl in mock seriousness, she added, “Don’t worry, it’s nothing that impacts our security.”
Thurl arched a brow, arms folding across his broad chest. “If it did, I’m sure we’d know,” he said, his tone so serious that Kendal and I burst out laughing all over again. Thurl glanced at Drym, shrugged, and then shook his head. “Human jokes,” he murmured, as if that explained everything.
“Actually,” Kendal said, trying—and failing—to maintain a straight face, “we were discussing the importance of… uh… hydration.” She caught my eye, and we both struggled not to dissolve into hysterics once more.
Drym’s ears perked. “You’ve got to stay hydrated,” he agreed earnestly, as if offering profound wisdom. “It’s key to peak performance.”
His unwitting addition to our joke sent us into another round of guffaws and snorts.
After a bit, I managed to squeak out, “Words to live by.” I turned to Kendal. “What should we do this afternoon?”
She tapped her lip. “I’d say invite the girls over and booze it up, but I don’t think Kragen will go for that.”
I tilted my head at her. “The girls?”
“Oh!” She sat up, excited. “Virginia and Gaelynn. They’re mated to some of the Supe Sec guys. There are still so few of us, they started a club. The Society Mates Club. Don’t worry, you’ll love them. I’m sure Virginia will get you a shirt.”
“There are shirts?”
She grinned as she nodded. “Jerseys, actually. Remind me and I’ll show you mine.”
I nodded, dumbstruck by the idea that there were so few mates they’d started a club. I guess I should have known after reading the binder, but it didn’t fully register.
Kendal mused about our afternoon plans. “How about a movie marathon? Drym and I have all the streaming channels and a huge sectional that will fit both the guys. We’ll pop popcorn and just veg out.”
“That sounds amazing.”
“Okay, then it’s settled.”
She stood up and I followed her while our mates trailed behind. Kendal kept up an easy stream of conversation. I looked over my shoulder to find Thurl keeping a close eye on me and smiled as the bond lights wove and bounced between us.
“Do you have the lights, too?” I asked as we walked.
“Yes, they’re so pretty. Like stars or fireflies.”
“I think they look like embers that escaped from a wood fire.”
She stopped as she opened her front door. “Wait, what color are they?”
“Red. What color are yours?”
“Gold.” She looked over at our mates to include them in the conversation. “The bond lights match your eyes.”
Drym and Thurl looked at each other in surprise. Drym tilted his head. “Yours aren’t gold?”
Thurl copied the movement. “Yours aren’t red?”
Drym shook his head. “We’ll need to tell Bacon. She’ll want to add that to the information she’s compiling on us.”
I perked up at the name. “I like Bacon. She seems nice.”
Kendal nodded. “She is, but her familiar can be a lot.”
“Her familiar?” I needed to brush up on Society terminology. Thurl mentioned there were more binders. Maybe I could borrow them.
“Yeah, Meanosaurus is a talking chicken with a big attitude.”
I blinked. “A… talking… chicken?”
Kendal laughed. “Yep. That was my reaction, too.”
We’d made it to the couch, so I tucked my legs under me and settled against the plush cushions. Thurl draped me with a throw blanket.
“I’ll make the popcorn,” Kendal said over her shoulder as she made her way into the kitchen. She was pulling out an air popper when she exclaimed, “Oh! And have you seen a dragon? There are honest to God dragons.”
“No, but Thurl said they have dragon DNA so I figured they exist. Does that mean all the things we thought were myths actually exist?” My mind spun.
“Well,” she called, her voice muffled from inside a cabinet, “I can’t say if there are unicorns, but the major ones like vampires, and shifters of course, are definitely real.”
“Elves?” I squeaked.
“Fae, definitely, but I haven’t seen any that look like Legolas, sadly.” She winked at me and poured kernels into the popper.
I thought my world exploded when I witnessed a murder in a dark alley. It had, but that was a firework compared to the nuclear blast of finding myself submerged into a whole new universe. It was like the world had tilted on its axis and everything I thought I knew about it was wrong. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this.”
The next two minutes were filled with the sounds of popping corn, but when they petered out Kendal flopped onto the couch and offered me a big bowl. “You will. It just takes some getting used to. But look at it this way, even Society didn’t know about wyrfangs until a little bit ago, so you can assume you’ve already met the most fantastical among them.”
Somehow, I doubted that. Surely there was a supernatural that out weirded the ‘fangs, but I stayed silent and leaned against my own fantastical beast who warmed my side and stole my popcorn.
I fell asleep about when Jupiter was embarrassed after telling Caine she’d always liked dogs. I woke up in our bed at Thurl’s house.
I’d always been a heavy sleeper, but being here made it ridiculous. I’d never had this sense of peace and safety before. My brain and body were completely on board with letting the wyrfang take the wheel. Even if it meant going to sleep in one place and waking up in an entirely different one.
I smiled at the flickers of red that danced out the door. I dressed and followed them, slowing when I heard Thurl’s low voice coming from the living room.
“It’s all right. I’m not going to hurt you.”
I peeked around the corner and my heart swelled until it burst. Thurl crouched on the floor, Pawssanova curled in his lap, Sir Purrs-a-lot perched on his shoulder like a fluffy orange gargoyle, and Whisker was draped over his tail, legs splayed and belly on full display like the slut he was.
Three feet from Thurl’s outstretched hand sat Catzilla. The only person the Bengal tolerated was me, but he sat there slow blinking at Thurl. He didn’t make a sound. Not the hiss that was his go-to whenever anything got too close. Not the yowling growl he trotted out when he really meant business, and not the spit and swipe that happened when both were ignored.
I caught Thurl’s ear twitch in my direction and smiled when he turned his muzzle to look at me directly. “I think you’re winning him over.”
He turned back to the cat and tilted his head. “Do you think so?”
“I do.” I sauntered into the room and ran my hand down Sir’s back before tracing across to Thurl’s unoccupied shoulder.
My phone rang on the kitchen counter, startling us both, and triggering the hiss from Catzilla I’d expected. I rolled my eyes at the cat. “Oh come on, Zilla. It’s not like you’ve never heard my phone ring.”
A woman’s voice I didn’t recognize greeted me across the line.
“Jade?”
“Yes, who is this?”
“Hi, I’m River. I work with Zeus at Superhuman Security.”
“Oh, right. You’re housesitting for me. I hope I didn’t leave dirty underwear lying around.”
She laughed. “No dirty underwear, and far less cat hair than I expected.”
“That’s surprising, for sure. What can I do for you?”
Thurl’s warm hand skirted across my lower back and curled around my side. I leaned back into him, letting my shoulders drop from my ears. My neck protested. I was going to need a massage after this was over.
“I just wanted to let you know you had another unwanted visitor early this morning.”
I gasped, but she kept going before I could interrupt her with the million and one questions that wanted to spill out of me like a two-liter Coke stuffed with Mentos.
“It’s fine, the threat was neutralized,” her chuckle sent a shiver over me, “and I didn’t damage anything. I already informed Zeus, who contacted Kragen, so the whole team knows. You’re safe where you are.”
“So stay with the wyr—“
She cut me off with a volume that made me take the phone from my ear.
“Yes, you’re safe, but your phone isn’t secure, and we have to assume the bad guys are competent enough to be listening.”
My cheeks heated. “Oh, right. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. This isn’t a normal situation, and you have no reason to be thinking about things like that. That’s what we’re for. Just keep your head down and you’ll be fine.”
I heard a pained groan in the background. “What was that?”
Once again, her low laugh sounded evil. “Your unwanted guest.” She seemed to be speaking to herself when she added, “I didn’t expect him to wake up so soon.”
Another voice called out. “Damn it, River! We’re going to have to sand her floors to get that out!”
“They’re real hardwoods. It’ll be fine.”
I had no idea what was happening at my house, but I was positive I didn’t want to know.
“Don’t worry, Jade. You’ll never know I was here.”
“Um… okay.”
“Stay safe, and when you see Zeus next, flick his ear for me.”
I would absolutely not be doing that. The line went dead with a click, and I set my phone back on the counter.
“Are you okay?”
Thurl’s fingers curled tighter around my side, pulling me until our bodies melded from shoulder to thigh. Mine, not his. The top of my head barely reached his chest.
“Yeah, I guess. There was an incident at my house.”
“I heard.”
I spun out of his hold and stared at him. “What do you mean, you heard? River didn’t seem that loud.”
“She wasn’t. I have excellent hearing.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Just how excellent? Have you been eavesdropping on everything I’ve said since I got here?” My conversations with Kendal ghosted through my mind and my stomach flipped. No wonder he’d been so unsure around me. He’d heard me being unsure about him.
His nose swung back and forth, his ears plastered to his head. “No! I would have to be focused on you. I don’t multi-task well.”
I huffed. “Fine.” I let my hands drop. “So how good is your hearing? Can you hear a bug move from a mile away or something?”
“Not quite that good,” he chuckled. “But…” He tilted his head and we both went quiet. “I can hear the insect that is bumping into the porch column.”
“Holy shit. What about your other senses? Taste, smell, sight?”
He leaned into my neck and inhaled, making me giggle as both his cold nose and his breath tickled.
“I can smell your sugar scent, the spice that lingers from your arousal, the undercurrent of me on your skin.”
“Okay, that’s hot.” I let my head fall to the side to give him better access.
His tongue licked from my collarbone to the curve of my ear. “You taste delicious, like Nanna’s snickerdoodles, but better. You are my favorite thing to eat.”
And I was soaked. How he could take me from needing coffee to wide awake and wanting in five seconds was a talent I’d never tire of. “And sight?” The words left me on a sigh.
He grunted. “My sight is … impaired.”
That threw an ice cube down the back of my shirt. I stepped away and pointed to my glasses. “So is mine.”
He looked away from me. “No aid can help in my case.”
On my tiptoes, I traced the scar that ran through his eye. “Will you tell me what happened? You don’t have to.”
He pulled me into his arms, his muzzle rubbing along my back. It was my favorite place to be, surrounded by his strength and warmth. I wrapped my arms as far around his waist as I could and rubbed my nose on his chest.
“They sent us on a mission. We thought the objective was simple: breach a house and take out its occupants. But that was just what they told us. The real aim had been to test us when things went wrong. Until that point, we were flawless. Our missions carried out without incident. It was ‘too easy’ and they needed to up the difficulty.
“So they sent us with faulty equipment. A flash grenade on the shoulder strap of my tactical vest exploded, sending shrapnel into my face.”
I squeezed harder. “That’s so cruel.”
“Quin patched me up in the field and Cavi did what he could when we returned, but my eyesight was lost.”
“Is that why it’s dimmer than the other?”
He nodded. “Cavi thought it might cease to glow altogether, but so far its light has just dimmed. Even so, I am damaged.”
I stepped back and grabbed his muzzle to force him to look at me. “You are perfect.”
He wiggled his head from side to side, and I yanked. “Perfect. Do you hear me? You’re amazing.”
“I am broken.”
I growled and it surprised both of us, but I was so angry. At the scientists whose treatment of them was inhuman, unethical, and evil. And at him, for thinking he was less than. “Do you think me damaged, broken?”
“No!”
“Then neither are you! How can you even think that? You’ve worshiped my body like I’ve never experienced. You’ve opened your home to me and a dozen cats. You make me feel safe.” I took a deep breath. “Loved.”
His eyes closed as if to hide, since I wouldn’t let him pull his face away.
“Nothing about you is damaged or broken.”
I released him.
“You are.”
I got angry all over again. Was he calling me broken? “I am what?” I snarled at him and his eyes snapped open.
“Loved.”
Well, that put a hole in my barrel. I speared my fingers through the fur at his neck. “So are you.”
I grabbed his wrist, turned for the stairs, and tugged with all my weight in a futile attempt to get him to move. Coffee be damned.
“What…?”
I didn’t bother looking back at him. “I want you to fuck me, Thurl.”
I was leaned so far over I would have face planted if he hadn’t scooped me up.
He pressed my back against the wall, his breath hot against my ear as his whisper sent a shudder through me.
“Fuck you, kitten?”
“Yes.” Raw, unfiltered need laced my words.
His claws pricked as they flexed against my hips. Suddenly, I was free. The cool air that rushed where his warmth had been made me want to scream in frustration, but when I looked at him I could see the fire licked at him, too. His fingers flexed and fisted and for several breaths we stood, staring and panting.
“You should not ask me such things. You should run from me, kitten. I am a monster.”
Yep, these panties were goners. “You’re my monster. And right now, I want the beast.”
He growled, the sound filling the room and hitting my chest like a caress.
“Then run.”
It took a heartbeat for me to process what he was saying. Then I took off. I raced up the stairs and blindly into our room but I was caught. He tackled me onto the bed, looming over me like the beast he claimed to be.
Caged by his arms, he pushed his knee between my legs, and it made its way slowly up until it was flush against my greedy sex. I ground myself against him, seeking the friction I so badly wanted.
“You are perfect.”
His words were laced with wonder, but I didn’t want compliments. “What I am is turned on beyond belief and sure that if I don’t orgasm in the next few seconds, I’ll die.”
His claws made quick work of my clothes and with his palm at my sternum, holding me down, his hot mouth attacked my pussy.
Luckily for my life expectancy, I came within seconds. I caught my breath as he hovered over me. With a mischievous grin, I swung my leg and used all my strength to push him over. I straddled his hips and rubbed myself up and down his hard cock like a bitch in heat.
He moaned, and his eyes shuttered. “Jade, please.”
A heady sense of power rushed through me. I did this. I made a monster beg.
I slid up, pressed the tip of him at my entrance, but moved with him as he tried to surge up. He growled in frustration.
“You like this.”
It wasn’t a statement, but I answered him anyway. “Oh yes.” I lowered an inch and we both moaned. Slowly I sank, the sensation of fullness overwhelming as I bottomed out. I lifted and sank back down, but it wasn’t enough. Out of breath, I said, “Okay, you take over. I need your beast, Thurl.”
I was under him so fast it made me dizzy.
“Gladly.”
He wasted no time, thrusting into me with a punishing rhythm. My body coiled, spiraling ever higher, spurred on by the sound of him pounding into me and my own moans.
“Thurl,” I begged, his name a plea on my lips.
His speed increased and I lost my mind. The tip of his tail pushed at my clit and swirled circles around it with delicious pressure. I fisted his fur and hung on as I shattered like fine crystal. The lights of our bond blazed incandescent around us, lighting the room in fire.
My throat closed and my mouth opened in a silent scream as he kept my orgasm going like the Energizer bunny. Even the feel of his cock pulsing with his own release set me off. Or maybe I hadn’t stopped. At that point, I couldn’t tell. My brain had been deprived of oxygen for too long and all I knew was searing pleasure.
I floated so high I thought I’d never come down, but my lungs remembered their job and I gulped air like a guppy.
Thurl rolled to my side, the pads of his fingers tracing lazy circles on my stomach. I chilled as sweat cooled from my body. I had never been so bold. I should be embarrassed, but I wasn’t. It was Thurl, and…
“I love you.”
He jerked like I’d slapped him. I rolled into him and placed a gentle kiss on his pec.
“I choose you.”