Page 25 (2/2)

He looked at me sort of sideways as if afraid to look me full in the face "I know that now It was this trip that I realized you didn&039;t even knoere playing a ga me You don&039;t think about me at all"

That last sounded sort of pitiful, but I couldn&039;t help that "I keep having to apologize to you, Nathaniel Half the ti for"

"I don&039;t understand how you can be my Nimir-ra and not be s Gabriel didn&039;t"

"What is a top?" I asked

Zane answered for hiain "A dominant to Nathaniel&039;s submissive A submissive is called a bottom"

Ah "I ahed, but it wasn&039;t a happy sound "Would you get mad if I said sometimes I wish you were?"

I just blinked at him "I&039;m not mad, Nathaniel, you just puzzle the hell out ofcare of you, but I don&039;t kno to do it" He was like soift, but the instructions didn&039;t come in the box

He lay back down on the pillow, head turned so he could see me "I ith Mira when I realized you weren&039;t there for me"

"I am there for you, Nathaniel, but not in that way"

"Is this where you tell hed, and it was harsh

"You don&039;t need a friend, Nathaniel, you need a keeper"

"I thought you were going to be my keeper"

I looked at Cherry and Zane "How about you guys?"

"Nathaniel is the most" Cherry hesitated, "the most broken of us Gabriel and Raina made sure ere all bottoms; it was all ere trained for They were the tops, always, butbut Nathaniel" She finally shrugged

I knehat she meant Nathaniel was the weakest of them The one who needed the most care

I set the suitcase down and went to kneel by the bed I brushed his hair from his face so I could see his eyes "We&039;ll all be there for you, Nathaniel We are your pard Your people We&039;ll take care of you I&039;ll take care of you"

Tears filled his eyes "But you won&039;t fuck me"

I took a deep breath and stood "No, Nathaniel, I won&039;t fuck you" I shook my head and picked up my suitcase I&039;d had all I could take for one afternoon If Marianne wasn&039;t happy with this little lesson, then screw her Maybe it wasn&039;t supposed to be sexual, but thanks to the way Gabriel and Raina had treated the wereleopards, sex did keep co up I was almost afraid to hear what Marianne&039;s solution to that one would be

39

I ran out of hot water before I filled the tub, and I didn&039;t care The sh that a truly hot bath seeh in the wall, so if I was careful, I wouldn&039;t flash So I kept theopen, even the drapes, hoping for a stray breeze I sank down into the lukeater without a bubble in sight There was nothing but Ivory soap and a partially burned white candle on the corner near the faucet I put the Firestar on the s there, but it was too big and kept trying to slide into the water

I was co off my hair, when I heard the door crash open I surfaced, sputtering, groping for the Firestar I had the gun pointed before I even saas coh the door Even when I could see, it didn&039;t make any sense

There was a woman in the doorway Physically, she was small, about my size, but she seemed to fill the room as if she took upand brown The bangs had been allowed to grow and were thinned until the hair covered her face past her nose like a veil The hair was tinted ever so slightly blue She wore a jean jacket with no sleeves One bare,the door so that the force of its being kicked in didn&039;t send it flying back in her face Under other circumstances, I&039;d have been sort of disdainful, except for the roil of power pouring frootten lost on her way to a punk biker bar Psychically, she felt like a wind from the mouth of hell, hot and unfriendly

There was so much power in the tiny room, I felt like the bathwater should start to boil I kept the gun very steadily pointed at her chest I think it was the only thing that kept her just inside the door The look on her face was pure rage

Water dripped downin e to wipe the water aith er," I said

Roland appeared behind her in the doorway This just got better and better He was still tall, tanned, with his short, curly hair His brown eyes swept the rooun on the wo

He touched the wo voice of his "Roxanne, trust me, she will kill you"

It made me not want to shoot him after all

A second man peeked into the room He was taller than Roland, which li, black hair Then he ducked back, eyes averted, a gentleman He said, "Roxanne, this is not appropriate"

Roxanne shook off Roland&039;s hands and started to walk farther into the rooun inches from her head The sound was thunderous The bullet took a bite out of the door and buried into the wall behind It was a Glazer Safety Round, so the wall stopped it I wasn&039;t afraid of it going through the wall

My ears rang with the shot in this tiny, tiled room For a second, if someone spoke, I couldn&039;t hear it I keptI had the barrel of the gun sighted in theto realize that under all the tattoos, the funky hair, and the power, she was pretty It was a traditional, girl-next-door pretty Maybe it was the reasons for the tattoo and the hair When nature makes you look wholesome, there are ways to cheat

"Come on, Roxanne," Roland said, "back away"

She just stood there Her power breathed aroundI&039;d never been around any shapeshifter that had this kind of raer Or never around one this powerful who didn&039;t even try to pass for human Roxanne didn&039;t vibrate with power She was power And I was about two seconds away fro it out

"You would really kill etting tired of crouching in the water Made it hard to be tough Of course, being naked didn&039;t help, either

"Why didn&039;t you kill me just now?"

"You&039;re the lupa for Verne&039;s pack Killing you would rain all sorts of crap down But I will do it, Roxanne Now, back out of the rooet dressed If you still want to talk, fine, but don&039;t ever, ever pull shit like this again"

"Without that little gun you wouldn&039;t be so confident"

"Yeah, it&039;s a real confidence booster Now, get the fuck out of the room, or I will shoot you"

Marianne was suddenly in the doorway "Roxanne, let&039;s go have soet dressed" I don&039;t knohat Marianne did, but even I felt calmer It was like she projected calm and peace into the roo her back through the door Roxanne pointed a finger at me "You insulted un"

"Fine," I said

The door closed behind them The lock had shattered in a pile of splinters Cherry&039;s voice cah the door "I&039;ll stay outside the door until you&039;re out I can give you a warning if any uys Was Roxanne a bad guy or just psycho? I was betting on the latter