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Hell is claws and teeth, and bodies fighting I sank my teeth into someone&039;s chest, took in as an to bite down I wantedthat if we didn&039;t kill theo, they&039;d said, I&039;d let go, and now instead of the beast being soet out, it was et out

That part that wantedsomewhere between sex and food was in the front ofan animal must be peaceful, but it wasn&039;t peaceful It was simpler, but it wasn&039;t peaceful

I remembered only pieces The taste of blood ininto flesh My nails cutting through someone&039;s body I was on my stomach, and I couldn&039;t move Couldn&039;t move Someone was on my back, and someone had my hands, and I couldn&039;tpanic, then it was peaceful Like what had happened earlier in my office, when Nathaniel bitin front ofmy wrists The left side of his face was a bloody mess, and distantly, I knew that my nails had done that His eye blinked out painfully from the bloody furrows His arms were traced with bites and scratches, so it looked like he earing red gloves all the way up to his shoulders His chest and stomach were bloody, too

Nathaniel&039;s teeth on my neck bit down a little harder, and ainst , but offering Jason spoke, and a trickle of blood trailed froet tied up"

Nathaniel growled, but I didn&039;t think it was meant for me

Jason looked past me, to meet the other man&039;s eyes, and said, "Okay, okay Give me your beast, Anita Let me s it down" He leaned into e of hisdrop of red, and Nathaniel&039;s teeth made me stop, forced me to wait for Jason&039;s mouth to come to me

His mouth stopped just out of reach I tried to raise my hands and touch hihter on the side of the bed He laid his ainst mine, and I didn&039;t kiss hie of his lip

He drew back, laughing "You&039;d rather eat ht now, than kiss me" But he leaned in toward me, his mouth half-parted, and I could smell the blood inside his mouth I&039;d bitten him I remembered the feel of his lip between ain, a purely ue could touch therowl, "God, she&039;s eager"

Nathaniel growled again, with his teeth still tight on the back of roas low and deep and vibrated downfork It ainst his Myitself to the hard weight against the back of ue off, I&039;ainst mine, but I didn&039;t try to bite him, because his mouth was full of blood and tasted of meat I&039;d already started this meal, all I wanted to do was finish it

My beast was right there, under my skin, only Nathaniel&039;s hold kept it peaceful The taste of fresh blood, of ht the beast like heat againstwith the heat of it, as ifsothat was almost there, almost ready, almost

Nathaniel raised his ht and Jason&039;s hands held ainst the wound in my neck, I think he said, "Now" But I would never be sure, because in that moment my beast rose

It rose up the line of my spine like heat It spilled outwave of power It tore his mouth off of mine, forced his head back in a scream, and Nathaniel&039;s body bowed on top of mine, and he screah both of they into their bodies, until their bodies burst with it

I saw Jason&039;s skin split, and I felt Nathaniel tremble above me One moment they were there, and the next I was drenched in liquid, war dipped in fresh blood, but it wasn&039;t blood It was clear and viscous--that fluid that the shapeshifters leave behind when they pull their bodies from one shape to another

I was covered in it, dripping with it, and because Jason&039;s claere still pinning my wrists, I couldn&039;t wipe it away fro in front of ic I stared into wolf eyes the color of early spring grass His fur was thick and shades of pale gray He opened a jaw that was longer than a human&039;s, and full of teeth that any ould envy He ran an iue over those teeth and stared at uess at

A claw curled into the wet sheets on one side, and that claas a black-furred hand I turned back and did that slow, horror-movie take, where you knohat&039;s behind you, but you just can&039;t keep fro You have to look, even with the feel and press of fur against your naked body I knehat I&039;d see, and still I turned and looked

Nathaniel&039;s face was a strangely graceful mix of human and leopard The face shape was closer to huray-blue eyes, there was no one hootten rid oftheirs, and noas suddenly covered in warm liquid thatainst the bed on either side of me, and he flexed those hands, and claws like white knives sprang out fro there, unused, made my pulse speed just a little

I knew they wouldn&039;t hurt me I trusted them But part of me trusted Jason and Nathaniel more than I trusted their beasts I tried not to be afraid, because fear is like spice for their meat Fear excites a lycanthrope, it just does So I lay very still and tried to calo, without sounding like a victim

Nathaniel moved his hands so that they lay on either side ofmy skin My heartbeat didn&039;t like it Neither did I He flexed his hands again, and the claws vanished into the fur He caressed that fur down the sides of htline

His voice waselse, when he said, "I&039;ve never had hands before when I shifted" He put those "hands" back on either side of e of the fur touched the sides of my breasts He pointed the claard, and I felt his ht next to an to pull those claard The sheet ripped, but it was the sound of the ht a sound like a whimper from my throat The h it, easily He moved his body so that he could trace the outline of ainst the mattress and sheets He carved the outline of me with his claws And I couldn&039;t not be afraid

Jason laughed, and strangely that h the wolf&039;s throat The sound s as he said, "Don&039;t be afraid, Anita"

"Then let o," I said, and my voice was nicely calm, barely a tremor If they&039;d been hu pulse, or smell my fear But they weren&039;t human

Nathaniel collapsed his body on top of mine, and he was taller, broader, more muscled, or muscled in places he hadn&039;t been before It was like a different body pressed against mine, one I&039;d never touched The fur was thinner on his chest, stoainst my naked body, as if in this form his blood ran hotter

He licked my shoulder, and a sound very like a small squeal came out of , justNot on the feel of his body, or of Jason&039;s hands with their not-so-retractable claws tickling her than Nathaniel&039;s licked in long, thick sweeps across my shoulders and upper back

When I opened ain, my pulse was nor off the clear goop that he and Jason had gotten on ot you messy"

"Yeah," I said, and ainst hs and did a sle and a push He was suddenly resting against ger, it felt like, but I er when you feel threatened

He made a sound byme, but like it was a noise that I should have understood "You&039;re hungry Hungry like we are I can feel it"

I fought to keep oing to do anything to escalate this, not if I had a choice "I&039;ainstthat way The thought sped my pulse, I couldn&039;t help it He rubbed his furred cheek against the side of my face "You need a shower"

"Okay," I said At that point I&039;d have agreed to anything that would get me on my feet and out fro to eat you, Anita," Jason said "If that was really an option Jean-Claude wouldn&039;t have trusted me with you, you should know that"

I raisedall tooth and claw on me, makes me wonder"

"We won&039;t hurt you," Jason said

"Then let o," I said, anddown

"Not yet," Nathaniel said, with his face still pressed against my face

Jason looked at him "Why not?" he asked, before I could

"Because she still needs to feed the ardeur"

I wouldn&039;t have thought that a wolf face could show that much incredulity, but Jason&039;s did "Anita doesn&039;t do furry"

The leopardman on my back ainstat that most intimate of doors "You are empty inside, I can feel it I couldn&039;t feel it before"

Saying it once, ishful thinking, twice, and I tried to look insideit I needed soe, but all I could find was an e should have been, and there was nothing

"I feel it," I said

"I don&039;t feel tired, now, Anita I feel new" He o, andyou down I like us both holding you down," he growled against ht you didn&039;t like to be in charge," I said

"I don&039;t usually, but today I do Today I love the feel of your body under le, not to panic I can taste your self-control on ue I want to lick it away"

"Nathaniel," I said

"Say yes, Anita, just say yes Feed the ardeur, then you can shohile we go looking for other things to eat"

"What other things?" I asked

"There are supplies deeper in the underground," Jason said, "we&039;ve got too many wereanimals in here now not to be stocked up"

"Stocked up on what?" I asked

He leaned in, hands still on al, proue, and then he laughed, and it wasn&039;ta joke Jason ould make a joke on the way to hell, even if it meant extra time and a worse punishment No matter what forht o out of my shoulders, out of my body, that I hadn&039;t even realized was there It was still Jason under all that fur and claws It was still Nathaniel rubbing his cheek against ed Richard to show me his beast But when he did it, I hadn&039;t been able to deal It tooktime to realize that Richard had shown ht possible, because part of him didn&039;t want me to be able to accept the beast, because he couldn&039;t I&039;d run fro him eat Marcus I&039;d run from him to Jean-Claude, because the vaht

Was I still the same person who hadn&039;t been able to deal? Was I still the person who could deal with the handsome prince, but not the beast? Was it beauty, ently against me "If you don&039;t feed noill you feed from?"

"Graham really is just down the hall," Jason said "He&039;ll be in hu Die won&039;t do him furry She won&039;t even sleep with him furry"

I didn&039;t want Graham Was it just the human form I was in love with? Was it some anthropomorphic idea that I loved? Shit These were just not the kind of relationship questions that the ave you answers to Did Miss Manners have an answer for being freaked by your boyfriend&039;s animal form? I doubted it

Jason drew his claws delicately away froet Graham and send him down"

"No," I said, and reached for his furred forearm The fur was so soft, and his arm was so real "No, I don&039;t want Grahaave"You don&039;t do furry, Anita"

"But I do Nathaniel, and I do you, on occasion"

He grinned, though it wasn&039;t exactly the sa from the wolf muzzle "On occasion" He sank back down in front of ht?"

"I was thinking more that we&039;d just fuck," I said

His face was either more expressive than any wolfh Jason that I could read his face He was still under there, somewhere I&039;d surprised him, not in a bad way, but I&039;d truly surprised hiainst ainst my cheek "Is that a yes?"

"Yes," I said

He erness He raised up just a little, and then plunged hi before he&039;d finished, and not in pain He was bigger, thicker,inside ht me with the size of his body, the rhythm of his hips, and the flash of white claws like sht of what those claws could do tounder hiht not to do, I now let ht, and he held me carefully, delicately, but with no doubt that he could have torn me to pieces if he&039;d wanted to It was both the erous Not because of what he did, but because of what he could have done

He raised ainst his body with his arms, and I caressed my hands over those arms, those muscles, that fur, so soft, and so different fro, but like you&039;d pet a lover I felt his rhythe, kneas close, felt his body strain not to claw me to pieces Felt the dainty press of the tip of each of those claws, as he held the the pinpoints of those blades begin to crease , al At the last ainst his body, with the fur and padding of those hands lost somewhere between leopard and th of his body, the heat of his skin, and the spill of his seed, which spilled hotter insideI&039;d ever felt froh ry, but the emotion that cah e, and I kneho it was before the door opened

54

Richard strode through the door, and his energy flung across the room like hot sparks fro insects What do you say when you find your ex-fianc¨¦e fucking a leopardman? Richard knew just what to say "The last ti this sick was in one of Raina&039;s porno movies"

Jason rolled off the bed and faced hiive Nathaniel time to stand up without ive me time Whatever his motive, he stood betweenhe&039;d ever done Brave, even gallant, but not wise

Richard&039;s power filled the roo water Nathaniel rolled off the bed, and I wondered if the air was as heavy and hard for hih I knew that he felt Richard&039;s power like soh, like Richard&039;s poas so that would blind you and take your life, unless you found shelter

My shelter was crouching between the bed and the door The wolferous Richard in his human form should have looked frail, but he didn&039;t He could have been a foot shorter, and with that e

"Get out of ain"

"Tellto hurt her, or Nathaniel, and I&039;ll iven any red-blooded human pause, but Richard wasn&039;t hu toward theet him out of the way, but he&039;d hurt Nathaniel for other reasons Reasons he ht never admit out loud, but I didn&039;t want to see it I called Nathaniel back to un under my pillow, but I didn&039;t want to shoot Richard, and unless you&039;re willing to shoot, a gun is just a rockto do that would make this less awful, when Richard backhanded Jason

Blood flew in a little arc, sparkling in the lights, but Jason stood his ground He didn&039;t offer to fight back, but he didn&039;t get out of the way, either

I yelled, "Richard, no!"

He picked Jason up like he was a dued with effort as he lifted the olf over his head and held him there for a heartbeat

We had one of those frozenslon and you know bad stuff is about to happen, and you can&039;t stop it You can ed, but you can&039;t save it all I was drowning in Richard&039;s rage, his power boiling like a sea I&039;d touched his rage before, his beast, and this wasn&039;t it, not exactly I had a second to realize that his rage tasted like an old friend It was e, or tasted more like mine I only had time for my aha moment, then he threw Jason, not across the room, but at the bed Maybe he meant to hit h in the middle of it to collapse the frame, no one was on the bed but him

I was on the far side of the broken bed, and Nathaniel ith me He&039;d put himself a little in front of me He hadn&039;t pushed me behind him like I was a damsel in distress, but it was close I was his Nimir-Ra, and supposedly his dominant Shouldn&039;t I be in front?

Jason lay on the collapsed bed, stunned He&039;d been thrown froht feet onto a bed, and he was breathless, frozen while he recovered I didn&039;t have the recovery power that Jason and Nathaniel had Maybe ht, but shit I didn&039;t knohat to do Like so often with Richard, I didn&039;t knohat to do

"Why don&039;t you all get back on the bed? I&039;m sure it&039;s a hell of a show Raina and Gabriel would have loved it" Since I&039;d had to kill both of them so they wouldn&039;t star me in a rape/snuff film, it was a truly vicious cut But the tiry was passed I was afraid to add er to his

His poas everywhere, as if the very air stung and burned But it wasn&039;t just his rage I could feel Disgust, horror, and under that the thing that fueled the rage envy Why envy? And he was too wide open, he was hardly shielding at all I got my answer