"Then learn your guns, respect your fellow guards regardless of gender, and don't be a sleazebag about the women you're fucking."
"Anything else . . . ma'am?"
"Yeah, be careful who you piss off here; not everyone is as nice as I am."
That made his eyes widen and that flash of fear return. He buried it under the anger again, but it was in there, behind the bravado and the macho posturing.
I shut my locker, gathered up a towel, and headed into the showers. The men cleared the way for me with silence, or "Ma'am." There were other men, nude or in towels, in the doorway to the showers; apparently we'd had more of an audience than I'd realized. That was okay; I didn't have a problem with all the men now, nude or clothed. I'd been scary and that was what they'd remember, not that I was small and a woman. Peppy followed behind me, smiling. Girls rule; boys drool.
44
I HADN'T REALIZED just how much stuff had dried in my hair until I tried to get it out. I was still peeling it out of my curls when Peppy told me she'd wait for me. "If you're done, go ahead, and tell Micah that I'm running late, trying to get cleaned up."
"Having trouble getting it out of your hair?" she asked.
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"You had so much in your hair that it looked straight and paler. Long hair is a pain in the ass when it's got that much in it."
"Micah's in medical talking to Rafael."
"He's with our king?" she asked.
"Yeah, is that a problem?"
"No, no, just . . . I'll get Micah the message."
"Thanks," and I went back to literally scraping with my fingernails down the length of my hair, before shampoo did me any good. It had just made the stuff sort of gelatinous before, so I'd scrape it off and try again. Maybe I'd start packing some of those plastic hair coverings like they wear to crime scenes. It had to be an improvement over this.
When my hair was finally clean I wrapped the oversized towel around me; since it was meant to cover men that were closer to seven feet tall and four times as broad as I was, I was covered from under my arms to my ankles and had enough material to wrap around me tight and secure. I gathered up all the hair stuff to put back where I kept it and stepped out. I knew just from the noise level that the shower was a lot emptier than it had been when I went into it. What I didn't know was that Kane, Asher's new lover and Dev's nemesis, was in the showers near the door to the locker room.
Kane stood with his back to the room. He had serious tan lines low on his hips and in a narrow line across the tight roundness of his ass. The contrast between his skin tones let me know that he tanned darker than Micah did, or his base skin color was paler than Micah's, so the contrast was greater.
"Are you staring at my ass?" he asked.
I looked up and saw he was looking over his shoulder at me. He was almost bald, but it wasn't because he'd lost all his hair; it was because he cut it down to black fuzz. The way his hair looked shaved down that short made me almost certain that if he grew it out it would be curly. He had two deep areas on either side of his head where his hair had receeded from a sharp widow's peak, which again raised the question of baldness, or fashion choice. The lack of hair bared the bone structure of his face and let you know he was handsome, bordering on pretty, especially for a six-footer.
"Yeah, I guess I was." I kept walking, which actually brought me closer to him, but if I kept moving maybe I wouldn't get caught in our usual snark-tastic repartee.
"Like what you see?"
"I was actually wondering if you tanned darker than Micah, or if your natural skin color was paler, and that's why your tan lines are more pronounced."
"What, you don't like tan lines?"
"I think I'm neutral about tan lines."
Some of the guards close to us were rushing their showers. They darted covert glances from me to Kane. They shouldn't have been looking at him like that; he wasn't their king, or a prince, or whatever. He was just the lover of one of our shared lovers, but there it was; they were treating him like he had enough power to make them afraid, or at least enough that they didn't want to get caught in the middle of us. Asher was technically Jean-Claude's second-in-command if you were counting vampires, but honestly as Micah and I had taken on more responsibilities Asher's role had gotten smaller, partly because his emotions got in his way, a lot, and partly because Asher had spent over six months exiled to another city. By the time he came back we'd divided up a lot of the daily upkeep without him. So why were the guards looking at Kane like getting on his shit list could ruin their day?
Kane turned around in the shower, so I could see that the tan lines went all the way around. It was a nice view, but the sourness that always seemed to roll off him ruined any momentary attractiveness. Asher had finally found someone who was more cranky than he was, and dealing with Asher was hard enough; Kane just seemed like too much work for too little payback to me.
He ran his hands down his body to cup himself, massaging a little so I could see he had room to grow. I raised an eyebrow and started walking. I was done here.
"Does it bother you to know you can see, but not touch?" he asked, with that edge of meanness his voice so often held.
That made me stop and look back at him. "Excuse me?"
He was working himself up with his hands in the spray of the shower, almost like he was masturbating. "There's finally a man in town that you want, but who doesn't want you; how does it feel, Anita?"
I laughed; I couldn't help it. It was the wrong thing to do if I'd wanted to de-escalate; most men don't like being laughed at when they're naked and turgid, but Kane had no sense of humor about it. His face went from sexy pouting to scowling at me.
"You think you can lead everyone around with your pussy; well, here's one man who doesn't give a damn about it. If it's not a cock, I don't care."
"Trust me, Kane, you're not on my hit list either."
Two of the guards turned off their showers and hurried past me through the door into the locker room. They smelled scared, and they shouldn't have been. Kane wasn't good enough to be one of our guards, which meant they could have taken him in a fair fight, so why that cold sense of panic?
"But you like dick."
"I like dick when it's attached to the right person. Since you make such a big deal of being monogamous for Asher, I'd think you, of all people, would understand that."
Two more guards got out of the showers and fled, and that was the right word. They sensed a fight that no matter which way it went gave them something to lose. They shouldn't have felt that way, which meant I had missed something important between our bodyguards and Kane, but what was it?
"Asher said you liked men."
"I do, but not all men, and I have a couple of female lovers now, so I'm exploring my options sans dick." I smiled when I said the last, because it was just such a weird conversation to be having, especially with Kane. It was probably the longest one-on-one conversation we'd ever had.
"I've got to go meet Micah; enjoy your shower." I was actually at the door this time when he said something that stopped me.
"How many lycanthropes did you fuck last night to cover yourself in that much of us?"
I frowned at him. "Not that it's any of your business, but I had to call Domino's beast to save his life. Forcing the change like that can be violent and messy."
"Nice story, but if that were true then you wouldn't have had sperm mixed with Domino's juices so that the guards didn't recognize you."
"I know stories grow in the retelling, but I was only in the shower for an hour, that's damn quick embellishing."
"You're denying it?"
"Yeah, though frankly if I wanted to bring in all my wereanimal lovers and have a bukkake festival, what difference would it make to you, Kane?"
"Your level of debauchery keeps surprising me, Anita, that's all."
"You're the one who was playing with himself in the shower, trying to get me to watch the show, so tell me again which of us is debauch
ed?"
His anger flared like a hot wind, the edge of his beast riding with it. It was a lot of heat, far more power than the last time I'd been near him when he'd been pissy. "You've had a power jump, Kane. How?"
"Guess," he said, and he was far too pleased with himself, so whatever had happened, he didn't think I'd like it.
"I don't know, and I really do have to meet Micah before I go meet with the FBI, so I really don't have time to play twenty questions."
"Let's play Jeopardy instead," he said.
"What are you talking about, Kane?"
"Categories are vampires, lycanthropes, and love; pick one."
I narrowed my eyes at him, but said, "I'm not playing games with you, Kane; tell me, or don't."
"You're no fun."
"Not for you, no, and I really don't have time for this shit today." I went into the locker room. There was no one else in there, but the towels were scattered everywhere. There was even a pair of jogging shoes left forlornly on their sides as if people had left too quick to double-check their gear. Why would everyone run like that? What the hell was going on? Why was Kane so smug? Shit, I needed to know. I almost went back into the showers, but Kane saved me the trouble. He came out soaking wet, as if he hadn't even bothered with a towel.
"What is one of the most sacred things a vampire can do for a shapeshifter?" he asked.
"I don't know," I said.
"Oh come on, what's the phrase for a lycanthrope attached to a vampire?"
"Pet?"
He frowned at me.
"Just tell me, Kane, the foreplay is getting freaking tedious."
"What is something that a vampire does for love and power?"
I was frowning, too, now. "Makes someone a human servant."
"And if they're not human to begin with?"
I looked into those dark eyes of his, the smug look on his handsome face. "Oh shit, Asher made you his hyena to call."
"Ding-ding-ding, you win!"
"Fuck, Kane, Narcissus has been after Asher to make him his hyena to call for almost two years. You're not even one of the most powerful hyenas in your group. You've gained a hell of a lot of power, but Asher hasn't gained nearly as much from you."
"He loves me."
"Yeah, so freaking what? Narcissus could kill you and him for this."
"He wouldn't dare harm me now, because that could kill Asher, and everyone knows that Jean-Claude would kill to protect his vampire lover."
"Why was everyone scared of you in the showers just now?"
I didn't think he could look any more pleased with himself, but I was wrong. He positively glowed with self-congratulations. "I'm working out with the guards now."
"You started working out with the guards when you saw how much Asher appreciated all the muscles and gym work."
"I have muscles, and every hyena works out, or you don't survive unscarred."
"Yeah, yeah, you and the werelions are all macho and shit, but you've never worked out to the level we hold our guards to; you still don't."
The anger was back, full and rich and . . . more. In fact, the anger had a familiar flavor to it. I laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"Did Asher tell you that when you bind yourself to a vampire, you and he exchange some personality, or quirk?"
He frowned, water still beading down his face. "What are you talking about?"
"You taste of some of Asher's anger added to your own, which means he got something of yours, too. I can't wait to find out what, since you are such a shit."
Anger went to rage, his hands in fists at his side. My weapons were still in the locker, and it was just the two of us. He wasn't as well trained, but he had me in reach, size, strength, and speed, and he had some training. I didn't want this to get out of hand, or did I?
"Why were the other guards that practiced with you this morning afraid of you?"
"For the same reason that Narcissus won't hurt me, because that would piss off King Jean-Claude."
"Why would you getting your ass handed to you in practice piss off Jean-Claude?"
"Because if you hurt me, it could hurt Asher, and Jean-Claude doesn't let anyone hurt his golden-haired vampire boy." There was anger when he said it, fueled by a very serious case of green-eyed jealousy.
I realized that with a little bit of prodding, I could make more food for myself. One thing I'd noticed is that anger never seemed to be "full." Lust could be satisfied, at least temporarily, but my ability to absorb anger didn't act like a full stomach, or a content libido. I could always be angry. "No matter what you do, or how much Asher says he loves you, you'll always know that the man he wants most in his arms and in his coffin isn't you."
"Asher loves me."
"Oh yeah, he loves you enough to be incredibly stupid."
"Don't say that."
"Narcissus is free to discipline his hyenas in the way that works for him. We don't dictate that."
"Because hyena isn't one of Jean-Claude's beasts to call, but they answer to Asher, to my master."
"Up to a point, yeah, but this . . . Narcissus will make an exception for this."
"You're just jealous."
"Of what, of you? Of you and Asher? I'm still having sex and bondage with Asher, because you're vanilla. You're a fucking freak emotionally, but in the bedroom you're the gay male equivalent of missionary position with the lights off."
"Asher didn't say that about me."
"If you weren't too tame in bed for him, Kane, he wouldn't still be fucking me and Nathaniel, and Jean-Claude."
"Shut up," and his voice held an edge of growl. His beast was thick in his anger, as if they were even more entwined than before.
"If you didn't bore Asher out of his mind in the bedroom, he wouldn't still be letting Richard chain him up and press his body against his; you know Asher would let Richard fuck him in a heartbeat."
"That's not true!"
I let him see my version of a pleased, unpleasant smile, and said, "It is, you know it is."
He screamed and tried to hit me, but I moved just enough for him to smash his hand into the lockers behind me, and I touched his bare chest. I fed on his anger, the way I'd fed on Ricky earlier.
Kane dropped to the floor, and I rode him down, keeping my hands on him, draining all that delicious rage. I fed until I felt my eyes go all vampire, and I knew when I looked down at him he saw them like cognac diamonds with the sun shining through them, as if brown could be the color of fire.
I felt Asher down that long cord that bound them together now, more surely than the wedding ring he'd denied Kane, and far more permanent. But Asher was still hours dead and couldn't give extra power to his beast to call, so I could feel the tie between them, but the vampire couldn't help him.
I took my hands back from Kane, forced myself to stop feeding from him, so he could look up at me and still hear and understand what I was about to say to him. I could have fed him into unconsciousness and he'd have woken not even remembering why he was so tired.
"If I find out you hurt one of the guards, because you made them afraid to hurt you first, I will make certain that you step into the practice ring with them again, and they get to kick your ass. Narcissus is going to want you and Asher dead for this amazing insult to him. He is the Oba of your entire clan, one of the most powerful groups in this territory, and you just superseded him as Asher's beast to call. He will not forgive, hell, in hyena society, he can't forgive and forget this, because it would make him appear so fucking weak that his own people will turn on him. You and Asher have left Narcissus with no choice but to punish you. If Asher had told him first, discussed it with him, but he didn't, did he? Just like he didn't mention it to Jean-Claude first."
Kane managed to say, "No."
"No, what, Kane? No, he didn't discuss it with Jean-Claude first? No, you didn't talk to your Oba first? No, no, no isn't going to save you from whatever Narcissus is going to do to you."
"Jean-Claude . . . will save . . . Asher."
He couldn't quite make his eyes focus, as if he were struggling to stay conscious; maybe I'd taken a little too much energy from him?
"No, Kane, not this time. I won't let Jean-Claude endanger us all because Asher lets his fucking heart overrule his head again and again." My towel was loose; I didn't try to keep myself covered but took the towel off and sat across his waist as naked as he was. The only thing that made it not a preamble to sex was that I was a few inches too high.
I put my glowing eyes just above his, and he still couldn't move enough to do anything to stop me. "I haven't made anyone my hyena to call yet, Kane, did you remember that? One of the things I learned from the Mother of All Darkness was how to break the bonds between vampires and their servants. I could just take you from Asher, bind you to me, and thanks to the ardeur I would be your exception, Kane. You'd fuck me, because you'd crave me like a drug."
"No . . . lies."
"Oh, I'm not lying. Why tell a lie when the truth is so much more terrible?"
"Bitch."
"Oh, Kane, you can do better than that."
"He'll never . . . top you . . . again if you hurt me."
"Narcissus is going to kill Asher if he can, so he won't be topping, or fucking, anyone."
"He loves Asher."
"You know, I think he does, but Asher never loves the people who love him the most; he always chases the ones who don't want him, haven't you figured that out yet?"
"He loves me enough to . . . do this."
I nodded. "Yes, he does, because in you he's finally found someone more problematic, more jealous, more of a shit, than he is--it's only taken him six, seven hundred years to find someone who exemplifies his own worst traits. He'll keep you close, Kane, I don't know why, but he sees something in you he wants."
Kane swallowed, and his eyes were able to look at mine again. I got up still nude and left him lying on the floor with my towel curled up beside him. "You and Asher deserve each other, Kane, you really do."
"Thank you," he said.
"It wasn't a compliment," I said. I got my weapons out of the locker and since I'd totally forgotten fresh clothes I carried all of them, mostly in one arm, because the other hand was for my Browning BDM naked in my hand. I left Kane lying on the floor to recover, or pass out. I didn't shoot him, not even to wound. And people say I have no sense of humor.
45
I LEFT THE showers nearly vibrating with energy, but the combination of being buck naked and juggling all my holsters, guns, knives, and ammo pouches because they had nothing to attach to was just awkward, and then I started seeing the early-morning shift of the guards coming and going. Have you ever tried nodding good morning to people while naked and holding a small arsenal of weapons? It was a first for me, too, and I didn't care for it. Though they were almost all lycanthropes, which means technically they don't give a damn about nudity, they kept doing the little eye flicks. It may have been the guns and stuff, but I was self-conscious enough to want to start snarling, What are you looking at?