She hisses again.
“I’m just patiently waiting for the moment you catch it.” I keep my hand on her belly. “I can’t wait to see your tail flick when you realize, your hand pressing protectively against your womb, your ears going alert from the recognition.” She whimpers and starts to purr and I pull her closer against me. “It’ll be everything to me.”
“Stop it or we’ll never get out of here,” she whispers.
I groan, kiss her lips, then pull back to look her over. “I’m looking forward to a day in bed with you. We’ve got a lot of making up to do.”
She purrs again, her tassel coming up to brush against my cheek. The softness of the fur on my skin, the vibration of her purring moving through my whole body at the same time—it nearly takes me out. I’m about ready to pick her up, carrying her right back to that bed, and forgetting about Eric, Henry, the Witching Glen, everything that isn’t the sound she’s making right now.
Mara wraps her arms around me. “Those vampires aren’t making this easier.” Her ears twitch.
I grin, knowing exactly where she’s going with this.
“They just keep going and going.” Her face scrunches up. “Do vampires sleep?”
I chuckle and kiss her nose. “Yes, but I don’t know the logistics of how and when.”
“They’ve been going all night, Aaron.”
I laugh and pull away from her, grab her hand. Josiah isn’t going to wait for us. We head out of the room and down the stairs. By the time we reach the bottom Mara’s ears and nose are twitching. I can smell it too.
Andrew is behind the bar with several plates set out at the bar counter. He looks up when we come down and nods at the plates.
“Sugar-free butter pancakes and sausage cooked two ways. Well done for a human and medium rare for the lioness.”
Mara drops my hand and sits down, grabs the fork, and digs in.
Andrew looks at Mara and he’s smiling so wide I can see his fangs. “It’s an honor to serve a lioness. You know they’re the top breed of supernaturals. The top male is a dragon shifter, but the lioness? She tops all species.”
I look over at Mara and she’s biting into her pancakes with her eyes half closed, not paying attention to a word he’s saying. I’ve noticed it before. A lot, actually. The way she walks into aroom and the world just lights up around her. Andrew is fan-girling over her right now and she doesn’t even see it. That’s part of what makes her who she is. She has no idea the effect she has on the people around her. My chest swells with pride just watching it.
I snap out of it. “Where’s Josiah?”
In a blur, Josiah and Layla are standing next to me with matching grins on their faces. Josiah is in a fresh charcoal suit and Layla is in a sleeveless black gown that hugs her curves, the fabric flowing past her feet, covered in tiny red spider and web patterns. Both of them freshly cleaned up and looking like they didn’t just spend the entire night doing what Mara and I had to listen to through the walls.
“You rang?” Layla runs her hand over Josiah’s chest, adjusting his tie, tucking it inside his suit jacket.
“Thank you, my love.” Josiah looks down at her and leans in for a kiss.
I love Jo, but when he and Layla are together these two are deeply disturbing.
“Are you going to eat?” he asks me. “I’m sure you need the energy for what we’re about to do.”
I shoot him a look but grab a sausage from my plate and bite into it. Food is the last thing on my mind but I keep that to myself. I roll my eyes when the plate of pancakes slides over to me. There’s just two left on the plate. Mara could’ve filled her belly with them and I wish she had.
“Sorry,” Mara says. “I got carried away.”
I slide the plate back over to her and give her a hard look. “Go ahead and finish, baby. You’re eating for two.”
She glares at me. “You are being impossible.”
I shrug and finish my sausage, then grab my orange juice. “Eat up.”
“Ahhhh, you’re building a family. How lovely,” Josiah says, and he has this strange look in his eyes, almost like longing.
Layla hooks her arm through his. “Don’t envy, Jo. We have a family of our own.”
Josiah just looks at her and smiles in admiration. I wonder what the hell she’s talking about. Vampires can’t have children unless... I stop at the thought and shake it off. Nah. He wouldn’t dare. But then again this is Jo we’re talking about. The man feeds people to piranhas for fun. You can’t put anything past him.
