“I solved that problem using my teeth. I bit you several times hard enough to draw blood. And I enjoyed myself. But I was thoroughly distracting you in other ways.”
Damn it. Fucking scar tissue. “You probably bit me in one of the dead zones.”
“Dead zones?”
“The scarring is so bad in places I just don’t have functioning nerves. So a lot of the wounds I take? I don’t feel it much. So you probably bit me in one of those spots. If the cuts are shallow, I don’t feel it. And if you were distracting me, I wouldn’t have even noticed.”
“Your skin isn’t sensitive?”
“It’s a chunk of scarred mess, Sebastian. I mean, making the kittens cry because I’m that ugly is only part of my problems. I just don’t complain or worry about the rest of it because I never thought there was anything I could do about it. I’m changing what I can. I just didn’t think I could afford to fix the rest, and the creams don’t work. Nobody cares if I don’t have good skin sensitivity.”
“I very much care if you don’t have good skin sensitivity!” He drew in a deep breath, and to my delight, he roared his frustration.
Nice. Lions could roar and drive at the same time. “I don’t know why this is so upsetting, but that roar.” My purr came out raspier than normal, and I checked the cup holders to discover an unopened bottle of water, which I claimed for myself. “You broke my purr. My purr is broken. I didn’t know it was possible to break my purr.”
“I’m not sorry I made you purr so much you lost the ability to purr. I’m very upset you can’t enjoy when I nibble on you. I am now extra motivated to get your scar removal done, because you should get to enjoy me worshipping your body as much as I do.”
My face warmed. “You nibbled on me?”
“I enjoyed it very much. I also did many other things, but now that I understand there are more problems at play than merely your self-esteem, I’m more motivated to get this serial killer bagged. When I’ve worn you out enough you can’t complain about working, we’ll go over the intel the CDC and FBI has on this guy so we can make a plan. Since we’re fairly certain he’s not a lycanthrope, if you’re game to try the new perfume, we can do so after our viruses have settled. Mine’s probably spiking, and yours is probably tapped.”
“Because I’ve been exposed to a great deal more of your virus.” I wrinkled my nose. “That part of being lycanthrope and female really isn’t fair.”
“Oh, no. I had plenty of exposure to your virus. I just have a lot more body mass, my virus has been spiking for a few days now, and I’ve gone out of my way to expose myself to as much of your virus as possible. You’re a lot smaller than I am, so your virus has to extend itself a lot more to meld with my virus, where mine’s hardly being taxed at all. Honestly, I’d like to take you to some nice restaurants on the way, but if you’re okay with it, we’ll hit up a buffet or two. We need the calories. If we take turns driving, we can get to the spa sometime tomorrow, and a few days to relax will be good for us and our viruses.”
“My check-in is tomorrow. I expected it would take two full days to get there, so I planned to just crash hotels on the way. I hadn’t expected to go all the way home after that hit in Battle Lake.”
“It was a necessary detour.”
I grinned at that. “Yes, it was. I just hope you brought the cuffs. I have some serious purring to catch up on.”
“You can count on it.”
Eight
Well, that’s a damned shame.
Lycanthropes paid a premium when eating at buffets, and for a rare change, I didn’t mind the doubled cost for our lunch and dinner. The first buffet he took us to had the promised barbecue chicken, and to get my filthy little hands on it, I had to stand in line. Everyone in the buffet understood the importance of the barbecue chicken line.
The beleaguered chefs working the ovens and grills ruled with iron tongs, too.
The taco bar was worth writing home about, so I did, making use of Sebastian’s cell phone to take pictures and send them to my uncle,