and the women. We actually had enough women living down here that it wasn't as silly as when we'd first had it put in. It was nice not to be the only girl. When we were in the locker area Nicky reminded me of another reason it was nice to be a girl. He took me in his arms, and kissed me.
The kiss was soft, and then he pulled back, and looked at my face with that one blue eye and the fall of his hair over the other side of his face. "Did that hurt?"
"No," I said.
He grinned, a fierce baring of teeth, and kissed me again. This time it wasn't soft. He pushed his mouth hard against mine, and it did hurt.
I drew back. "That hurt."
"I want to taste the blood in your mouth, before the sex helps heal you."
"You aren't a sadist. You don't enjoy causing pain."
"No, but I'm a lycanthrope. I enjoy the taste of blood and meat, and right now your mouth will taste like both."
"Some shapeshifters would lose control doing something like that." I studied his face, searching for a clue as to what it meant to him. Was this a bit of kink that he'd always enjoyed, but it had just never come up before, or was it a test of how much I trusted him?
He was my Bride, so he could feel what I was feeling, but Brides were different from any other metaphysical tie that I had. I couldn't feel his emotions; it was all about his feeling mine, and catering to me. It meant he was, in some ways, a mystery to me.
I realized I was a little spoiled that I could just peek, or share emotions with almost everyone else. I used to hate the intrusive psychic connection; now I counted on it.
"Don't you trust me?" he asked.
Ah, the trust tests. "You're my Bride; I thought you couldn't cause me pain, that it bothered you to do that."
"You like a little pain mixed with your sex. I think it'll translate to pleasure for you, and I know I'll enjoy the blood, meat, and sex."
I nodded. "Yeah, the whole prey-predator-chase thing gets confused with sex for most shapeshifters."
Nicky grinned. "If we weren't kinky before the change, we are after."
I smiled. "Can't argue that."
"Can I kiss you the way I want?"
"Let's take the weapons off first," I said.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because once you get the taste of blood and meat, and if the pain flips my switch, we may forget the weapons and I don't want you tearing the custom-made holsters off me just so you can get my clothes off."
His grin got even wider, filling that blue eye with a shining joy. "Okay." He let go of me and stepped back, hands going to his own holsters and guns. I started with the wrist sheaths and the two silver-edged blades. It would take me longer to strip weapons because I carried blades and guns. Nicky did guns, and kept one folding blade for utility purposes. He didn't actually see the knife as a weapon, though I knew he could fight with a blade if he had to, but it wasn't his forte. He preferred guns or hand-to-hand. He'd proven just how good he was without weapons in the fight with Ares.
"You're all serious," he said, "and not thinking about sex. You're almost sad, what's wrong?"
"You're that finely attuned to my mood, wow."
"You know I live to make you happy."
"I'm sorry that you actually mean that and it's not romantic rhetoric." I paused in taking off the waist holster and the Browning BDM. I'd already put the knives in one of the little open lockers that came with its own key and lock.
"I know you're sorry that you took most of my free will. I appreciate that it bothers you, but I would have killed you, and Micah, Nathaniel, Jason, all of you, if my old Rex had given the order. I'd have done it without blinking."
I was left looking into his face again, trying to figure him out. It was like looking at a wall: smooth, untouched, blank. He was handsome, but his face gave nothing away, and I didn't think it was the blankness Jean-Claude had fought to master, or my cop face. It was more than that, or less. Sociopaths don't have to show emotion; they do it most of the time because they've learned to ape what "normal" people show them, but they never really understand the emotions