Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

him.
    “The…ah, ah…” She had to pause and gulp in a breath. “The door to the bedroom. It’s
     open.”
    He paused ever so briefly to glance that way. “But so very far away.” He resumed what
     he’d been doing.
    Which was incredibly distracting, but she choked on a laugh and grabbed his head and
     said as firmly as she could, “Rule. The door.”
    He flashed her a grin as impish and delighted as that of any little boy with a frog
     he meant to present to the girliest girl in class. He was thinking about making her
     forget the damn door, she knew it, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop him,
     but the guards—they could hear too much. Even if they didn’t come out of their bedroom—and
     they wouldn’t. He’d sent them there and they wouldn’t come out until shift change,
     but even so—
    “The door,” he agreed, and straightened and drew her hand to his lips again, but this
     kiss was placed softly on the back of her hand—a knight’s salute to his lady, not
     a seduction.
    She used those few seconds to get rid of the bra and everything else, too. She might
     not be as fast as a lupus, but she was motivated.
    He closed the damn door and turned and stopped, looking at her. “Sometimes,” he said
     softly, and stopped, then started again, “I often wonder why human men are so fixated
     on how a woman looks when there’s so much more to explore, and so many kinds of beauty—why
     obsess overone particular version? But sometimes, when I look at you, I understand.”
    And sometimes, when he looked at her the way he was now, she was beautiful. Not just
     okay. Not even really pretty. Beautiful.
    “And you’re mine.” He sounded smug as he slipped off the shirt she’d ripped open and
     reached for the zipper on his slacks. “Not theirs. Mine.”
    That smugness made her want to laugh because it was so innocent. Possessiveness was
     a forbidden delight for lupi, not one Rule was used to, and most of the time he was
     wary about indulging in it.
    “And you’re mine,” she agreed when he came to her, and she put her hands on his wonderfully
     bare shoulders while down lower another part of his body said hello to her stomach.
     “The Lady says so.”
    “As do I.” He kissed her lightly…then again…and again…and they were gasping and clutching
     and stroking all the delicious bare skin they could find, and stumbling in mutual
     haste to the bed, and when he slid inside her she felt jolted by reality—felt suddenly
     twice as real as usual, brimming with more than sensation. Full. So full.
    He started to move and reality shimmered, breaking up into shards of need and demand.
Rule!
    Here.
He moved smooth and fast.
I’m here, right here with you,
nadia,
my love, my Lily…
    It may have been pure startlement that broke the connection—his or hers or both. Certainly
     it broke their rhythm. She stared up into his astonished face. “Well,” she said, and
     gripped his waist and pushed up against him. “Well, that’s interesting, but so’s this.”
    He grinned and followed her lead.
    L ILY lay sprawled on her back amid a tangle of bedclothes and Rule, breathing hard and
     frowning at the lovely but too-bright chandelier. “That’s stupid.”
    Rule turned his face on the pillow—how had he endedup with a pillow, and where was hers?—to smile at her. “What is?”
    “Most hotels don’t have ceiling lights. Why does this one? And the switch is all the
     way over there by the door. Why didn’t they put a switch by the bed? Stupid.”
    Rule looked up at the light. After a moment he nodded. “You’re right. It shows a sad
     lack of planning.” He paused. “I can wiggle my toes again, however, so I’m sure I’ll
     soon be up to the challenge of sitting. No doubt walking will be possible soon after
     that.”
    She smiled and snuggled closer. No matter how enthusiastic the sex, Rule recovered
     quickly, and in every way. It was nice to think she’d wrecked him for a little while,
     though. “You heard me. Earlier, I mean.”
    “And you heard me.”
    He didn’t sound sure. She nodded. “Does that freak you out?”
    “A little. And yet…it was lovely, too.”
    She propped herself up on an elbow so she could see him. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”
    He smiled and toyed with a strand of her hair. “That much I knew.”
    Since Lily had discovered her capability for mindspeech and began the sessions with
     Sam, she’d accidentally mindspoken Rule a few times.