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Kota snored softly, and I wondered what had become of my mate with Kota hogging the main living space. Catching the trail of her scent, I followed it to the office Dason had set up on the first floor. The door was partially closed, so I opened it silently as I peeked inside. The view was almost as good as the living room’s bank of windows, but it was my mate sitting behind the executive desk looking the part of a sexy CEO that had me smirking as I leaned against the doorframe.
She hadn’t seen me yet, so I got a few uninterrupted minutes to just watch her.
Her hair was styled around her shoulders, lustrous in the overhead lighting. Her cheeks were just slightly pink from whatever blood she’d recently consumed, the color faintly purple from her new core temperature.
Lorn sighed and clicked away at the keys of the laptop she sat in front of until she cocked her head and bit her lip enticingly while she studied the screen.
I was so enraptured with her pretty mouth, dreaming about putting those lips to good use while I devoured her, that I almost missed the uncertain jerk of her hand as she clumsily worked through a few basic phrases of sign language.
Why was it suddenly hard to fucking breathe?
Lorn clicked the mousepad, apparently rewinding whatever video she was watching, and tried to follow along again.
My heart stuttered before galloping away, the beat an inconsistent flutter as it declared itself Lorn’s.
“Don’t be intimidated by the movements. I know it can feel silly at first, but really go for it, otherwise your signs will be half formed and hard to read,” I instructed, startling Lorn so badly she squeaked and jumped in her chair, throwing herself away from the laptop like she’d been caught watching porn instead of trying to learn American Sign Language to communicate with my best friend.
Both scenarios were intriguing, but this was the one that captured me mind, body, and soul.
Sex was wonderful, and yes, I hoped to have it with Lorn someday, but the fact that she was learning something most people never bothered with just to communicate on a basic level with her mate... fuck. If I wasn’t in love before, I was now.
Sy had lived a hard life, and he was the most deserving man I knew. Our mate was an incredible woman, I’d known that from the first moment I laid eyes on her in that alleyway, watching her take on a wicked shade and win, but this? Words weren’t adequate enough to explain how much it meant.
“Jesus, you scared the living daylights out of me,” Lorn chastised, not looking truly upset. Her small hand was splayed over her heart, and it raced a little faster now. It was ironic that faster for Lorn meant regular speed for everyone else. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get used to listening to the slower pace of it, but I couldn’t complain too much. She was alive, and that trumped any changes she’d had to endure to stay that way.
Smirking, I strode into the room. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Let’s start again. What are you up to?” I stopped when the desk prevented me from going any farther, leaning my hands against it and peering over the edge of the laptop as my mate readjusted herself in the chair. Her eyes darted to the notebook she had laid out beside her, something she’d surely found rummaging through Dason’s desk, and then she shrugged noncommittally.
“Honestly, I came in here to try and find some information about that town we were in, Cedar Falls. Something about it hasn’t been sitting right with me.” She pursed her lips and leaned on the desk, propping one elbow on the surface and cradling her chin in her palm. She stared at the notes, flipping page after page of scribbles.
I grinned at her sprawling, looping handwriting. What had started as clean, clear, dainty letters on the first few pages had turned into scribble that was one iota away from being classified as a doctor’s handwriting.
“I pulled everything I could, but hell, it was difficult to find information. Who can wipe an entire town off the map like that?”
Lorn’s blue eyes searched mine, looking for answers I couldn’t give her. Truthfully, I hadn’t given the town of Cedar Falls much thought.
Instead, I gave her my best guess. “Mama Dunne’s got some powerful connections.” I tilted my head. “There are at least a dozen other towns just like it, though they were still standing thanks to the intervention of the shadow touched. Doesn’t mean each one doesn’t bear the battle scars though.”
Lorn tapped her pen against the paper. “Do you think I could get a list of those other towns? Maybe I can figure out a pattern.” She scribbled a note about the additional towns in her notebook.
“Sure. Dason probably already has one compiled. I know he feels personally responsible for Cedar Falls, not that he should, but from what I understand, he’s been looking for a common link between all the attacks for a long time. Maybe he has more details he can share.” I shrugged casually, making a mental note to talk with him about getting the information for Lorn to check out. For that matter, we should probably all look into it and see if anything stood out to any of us. “The more eyes on a problem, the better.”
“Thank you.” Lorn leaned back in her chair with a sigh that released the tension she was holding in her shoulders.
I rounded the desk, drawn to my mate like a moth to a flame, and moved behind her chair.
The moan she emitted when my fingers dug into her shoulders stirred the libido I was doing a poor job of tamping down. Each breathy sigh pulled at my dick like she’d wrapped her hand around it. My fingers worked the tension from her muscles, kneading them like bread dough.
“So, are we going to talk about the other thing you were doing when I spotted you?”
“You said spying wrong,” she sassed, drawing a chuckle from my chest.
“Ah, but it can’t be spying if I outed myself, which I did.”
Lorn tipped her head back to look at me upside down.
Her blue eyes sparkled beautifully, so full of life and energy. Lorn may be a vampire now—or part vampire—but she glowed with vitality. The magick in her was a little stronger today, and I felt it against my palms where they met her body. My thumbs stroked over the muscles beside her shoulder blades, making her gasp.
“When I got frustrated with the research, I decided to try my hand at sign language,” Lorn admitted, her gaze tentative. I smiled encouragingly, urging her to continue. “I want to talk to Syler so badly. I don’t have the pack bond nor the mate bond with him, and it makes it hard to have a simple conversation. I’ve been really appreciative of you and Kota always translating for me, but I need to learn how to sign.”
