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Chapter 8

I was sitting in a small hallway that served as the perfor was perh wouldn&039;t like a lot of light Big surprise there There were no chairs, and I was getting a little tired of sitting on the floor I&039;d given a statement first to a uniform, then to a detective Then RPIT had arrived and the questioning started all over again Dolph nodded to er That had been an hour and fifteen nored

Richard Zee across from me Richard&039;s hands were clasped loosely around one knee He earing white Nikes with a blue swoosh, and no socks Even his ankles were tan His thick hair brushed the tops of his naked shoulders His eyes were closed I could gaze at hisas I wanted to His sto above the sweat pants His upper chest was smooth, perfect, no hair at all I approved

Stephen was cuddled on the floor, asleep Bruises blossomed up the left side of his face, black-purple and that raw red color a really bad bruise gets His left aro to the hospital He rapped in a grey blanket that the paraiven hiuess he&039;d lost his clothes when he shapeshifted The wolfs had been a very different shape So the skin-tight jeans and the beautiful cowboy boots were history Maybe that hy the black shapeshifter had been naked Had that been why Richard Zeeman was naked, as well? Was he a shapeshifter?

I didn&039;t think so If he was, he hid it better than anybody I&039;d ever been around Besides, if he had been a shapeshifter, why didn&039;t he join the fight against the cobra? He&039;d done a sensible thing for an unar; he&039;d stayed out of the way

Stephen, who had started out the night looking scru to his face, ith sweat There were dark s was rapid and shallow His eyes were struggling underneath his closed lids Dreahtmare? Do olves dream of shapeshifted sheep?

Richard still looked scru him into a concrete floor He opened his eyes, as if he had feltat him He stared back, brown eyes neutral We stared at each other without saying anything

His face was all angles, high-sculpted cheekbones, and firm jaw A dimple softened the lines of his face and made him a little too perfect for my taste I&039;ve never been comfortable around men that are beautiful Low self-esteem, maybe Or maybe Jean-Claude&039;s lovely face had made me appreciate the very huht?" I asked

"Who?"

"Stephen"

He glanced down at the sleeping htened Definitely a nightmare

"Should you wake him?"

"You mean from the dream?" he asked

I nodded

He sht, but he won&039;t wake up for hours We could burn the place down around him and he wouldn&039;t move"

"Why not?"

"You really want to know?"

"Sure, I&039;ve got nothing better to do right now"

He glanced up the silent hallway "Good point" He settled back against the wall, bare back searching for a more comfortable piece of wall He frowned; so ed back from wolfman to human in less than a two-hour ti It didn&039;t

"So?" I asked

"Usually a shapeshifter stays in anies back to huy to shapeshift early"

I glanced down at the drea shapeshifter "So this collapse is normal?"

Richard nodded "He&039;ll be out for the rest of the night"

"Not a great survival method," I said

"A lot of olves bite the dust after collapsing The human hunters come upon them after they&039;ve passed out"

"How do you know so much about lycanthropes?"

"It&039;s h"

I just stared at hih science teacher?"

"Yes" He was s "You looked shocked"

I shookmessed up with vauess"

I had to smile "That doesn&039;t explain how you know about lycanthropes"

"I had a class in college"

I shook my head "So did I, but I didn&039;t know about shapeshifters collapsing"

"You&039;ve got a degree in preternatural biology?" he asked

"Yep"

"Me, too"

"So how do you know more about lycanthropes than I do?" I said

Stephen ood ar his stoh

Richard drew the blanket back over the sleepingin a child "Stephen and I have been friends a long tis about zoe"

"Probably," I said

"Stephen&039;s not a teacher, is he?"

"No" He smiled, but it wasn&039;t pleasant "School boards frown on lycanthropes being teachers"

"Legally, they can&039;t stop you"

"Yeah, right," he said "They fire-bombed the last teacher who dared to teach their precious children Lycanthropy isn&039;t contagious while in human form"

"I know that," I said

He shook his head "Sorry, it&039;s just a sore topic with hts for zombies; why shouldn&039;t Richard have a pet project? Fair hiring practices for the furry It worked fortactful, ht it of you" Jean-Claude was in the hallway I hadn&039;t heard hi with Richard Yeah, that was it

"Could you sta up on ,to our handsome Mr Zeeman" His voice was pleasant, mild as honey, and yet there was a threat to it You could feel it like a cold wind down your spine

"What&039;s wrong, Jean-Claude?" I asked

"Wrong? What could possibly be wrong?" Anger and soh his voice

"Cut it out, Jean-Claude"

"Whatever could be the ry; why?"

"My human servant does not know my every mood Shameful" He knelt beside me The blood on his white shirt had dried to a brownish stain that took up most of the shirt front The lace at his sleeves looked like crumpled brown flowers "Do you lust after Richard because he&039;s handsome, or because he&039;s human?" His voice was al entirely different Jean-Claude whispered better than anyone else I knew

"I don&039;t lust after him"

"Coered hand reaching for my cheek There was dried blood on his hand

"You&039;ve got blood under your fingernails," I said

He flinched, his hand squeezing into a fist Point for my side "You reject me at every turn Why do I put up with it?"

"I don&039;t know," I said, truthfully "I keep hoping you&039;ll get tired ofto have you with ht I would grow bored"

"I think I would get tired of you," I said

His eyes widened a bit I think it was real surprise "You are trying to taunt ed "Yes, but it&039;s still the truth I&039;m attracted to you, but I don&039;t love you We don&039;t have sti &039;I must remember to share that joke with Jean-Claude, or tell hinore you when you let s we have in common are violence and the dead I don&039;t think that&039;s much to base a relationship on"

"My, aren&039;t we the philosopher tonight" His ht blue eyes were only inches from mine The eyelashes looked like black lace

"Just being honest"

"We wouldn&039;t want you to be less than honest," he said "I kno you despise lies" He glanced at Richard "How you despise ry with Richard?"

"Am I?" he said

"You know da that the one thing you want is the one thing I cannot give you"

"And what do I want?"

"Me to be human," he said softly

I shooka va"

"Really?"

"Yeah You&039;re an egotistical, overbearing bully"

"A bully?" He sounded genuinely surprised

"You want me, so you can&039;t believe that I don&039;t want you Your needs, your desires are more important than anyone else&039;s"

"You are my human servant, ma petite It makes our lives complicated"

"I am not your human servant"

"I have marked you, Anita Blake You are my human servant"

"No," I said It was a very firht that he was right, and I would never be free of him

He stared at ot, dark, blue, lovely "If you had not been od so easily"

"You mind-raped me, Jean-Claude I don&039;t care why you did it"

A look of distaste spread across his face "If you choose the word rape, then you know that I auilty of that particular crime Nikolaos forced herself on you She tore at your mind, ma petite If you had not carried two of er was bubbling up fro up e to hit him "And because of the marks you can enter ames harder on me, not easier Did you lie about that, too?"

"My need was great tonight, Anita Many people would have died if the creature had not been stopped I drehere I could find it"

"From me"

"Yes, you arenear me you increase my power You know that"

I had known that, but I hadn&039;t known he could channel power through me like an amplifier "I know I&039;m some sort of witch&039;s familiar for you"

"If you would allow the last two e of flesh, blood, and spirit"

"I notice you didn&039;t say soul," I said

He made an exasperated sound low in his throat "You are insufferable" He sounded genuinely angry Goody

"Don&039;t you ever force your way into ain"

"Or what?" The words were a challenge, angry, confused

I was oninto his face I had to stop and take a few deep breaths to keep frory "If you ever touch ain, I will kill you"

"You will try" His face was nearly pressed againstme to him Our lips would touch I reainst his chest The roughness of his cross-shaped burn under ers I jerked back, and felt almost dizzy

It had only been one kiss, but themy body like every bad romance novel you&039;d ever read "Leave me alone!" I hissed it in his face, hands balled into fists "Damn you! Damn you!"

The office door opened, and a uniformed officer stuck his head out "There a problem out here?"

We turned and stared at hi, but Jean-Claude spoke first "No problem, officer"

It was a lie, but as the truth? That I had two vaI really wanted to be coe The police sort of frown on people who have close ties with theI shook , officer It&039;s just late Could you ask Sergeant Storr if I can go home now?"

"What&039;s the name?"

"Anita Blake"

"Storr&039;s pet anihed "Yeah, that Anita Blake"

"I&039;ll ask" The unifor to add to this?" He was speaking to Richard

"No"

The unifor to a dull roar"

"Of course Always glad to cooperate with the police," Jean-Claude said

He nodded his thanks and went back into the office We were left kneeling in the hallway The shapeshifter was still asleep on the floor His breathing made a quiet noise that didn&039;t so much fill the silence as e at Jean-Claude I was suddenly very aware that Jean-Claude and I were only inches apart I could feel the line of his body like warainst my skin His eyes flicked fro only a bra underneath the unzipped jacket

Goosebumps rolled up my arms and down my chest My nipples hardened as if he had touched the to do with blood

"Stop it!"

"I a, ma petite It is your own desire that rolls over your skin, not mine"

I sed and had to look away from him Okay, I lusted after hiht I scooted away fro at hiht for information, not to play footsie with the Master of the City"

Richard was just sitting there,my eyes There was no embarrassment, just interest, as if he didn&039;t know quite what I was It wasn&039;t an unfriendly look

"Footsie," Jean-Claude said I didn&039;t need to see his face to hear the smile in his voice

"You knohat I mean"

"I&039;ve never heard it called &039;footsie&039; before"

"Stop doing that"

"What?"

I glared at hihter A slow smile touched his lips He looked very human just then

"What did you want to discuss,very important to make you come near me voluntarily"

I searched his face for , but his face was as s hu what lay underneath I wasn&039;t even sure I wanted to know