Unleashed by the Defender (Brides of the Kindred #25) - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,55

you, er, give me such an intimate massage. But…well, there’s no excuse I guess.” She shook her head.

“No excuse for me either. I just wanted so damn badly to taste your soft little pussy—to lap your honey right from the source,” J’are told her hoarsely.

“I wanted it too,” Imani admitted. “But maybe…maybe we ought to get going now.” She looked down at her watch. “The car will be here in a little while. Maybe we’d better get dressed.”

“That’s probably for the best.” J’are nodded and helped her off the table. “Thank you for letting me massage you, Mistress,” he said softly. “It was the greatest pleasure of my life.”

“Oh…” Imani put a hand to her heart. “You gave me great pleasure, too, J’are. I’m sorry things can’t be different between us.”

“It’s all right.” He shook his head. “I understand. I’ll try not to overstep the boundaries again.”

“I’ll try as well,” she promised. “For now, I guess we’d better get ready for court.”

J’are nodded and stepped back. But he couldn’t help licking his lips for the last traces of her honey. And when the feral side of him growled, Mine, he didn’t try to disagree. In a very real way, he had Claimed Imani, just as she had Claimed him.

The tasting had been deep and satisfying for both of them and no matter how much he tried to reason with his feral side, he couldn’t help thinking how badly he wanted to bond with Imani and make her his forever.

Twenty-Eight

Imani walked into the courtroom on shaky legs. Though the massage had been meant to calm her and ease her tension, she couldn’t help feeling more tense than ever.

Shouldn’t have done that, whispered the little voice in her head. You know you shouldn’t have let him do that to you, Imani. How can you keep any professional distance between yourself and your client when you let him lap your pussy and make you come all over his face that way?

Imani didn’t know but she did her best to push the scolding little voice away as everyone rose for the entrance of the judge. Opposite her were Mistress Bittlebum and the green-haired Prosecutor, as well as another one of the morphids. The way the light caught on its shiny pink shell made her feel sick to her stomach.

Judge Thoughtgood had lime-green hair today and an outfit to match. She looked sternly down her nose at Imani.

“Well, Councilor, I thought you promised me you could prove that big brute of a Kindred was safe to be around?”

“I beg the court’s pardon, your Honor, but what do you mean? My client is perfectly well behaved.” Imani nodded at J’are, who was sitting quietly and wearing the thick leather harness around his arms again. She had hated to put it back on him, but she knew the judge wouldn’t be happy to see him without it. Still, as big and menacing as he looked, he had been as quiet as a lamb. So what could Judge Thoughtgood be talking about?

“I’m referring to the fact that he blew a hole in the wall of the Luxx hotel and caused thousands of credits of property damage!” Judge Thoughtgood exclaimed. “I find it truly shocking that you would dare to show your faces in my courtroom and pretend like nothing happened this morning!”

“What? But your Honor, that is simply not true!” Imani exclaimed. “J’are wasn’t responsible for the bomb that went off—it was planted there by a third party. Possibly the same one that attacked me on the access bridge last night, as we were leaving court and trying to get back to the hotel.”

“Is this true?” Judge Thoughtgood frowned. “You were attacked?”

“I have had two separate attempts on my life since leaving your courtroom yesterday, your Honor,” Imani said, nodding. “And both, I believe, involved morphids.”

She looked pointedly at the huge pink praying mantis sitting beside Lady Bittlebum. The immense insect looked back, it’s vast, compound eyes completely blank.

“That’s ridiculous, your Honor!” Lady Bittlebum cried, before her lawyer could say anything. “Everyone knows that morphids are completely harmless. They can only mindlessly obey the one who owns or controls them—the person they acknowledge as the ‘queen’ of their hive.”

“Well maybe this ‘queen’ of theirs is the one having them attack me,” Imani shot back. “And you’re the only one I see with a morphid sitting beside you, Lady Bittlebum.”

“Oh, how dare you? How dare you?” Lady Bittlebum sputtered, her lemon-yellow hair quivering with rage. “Your Honor, I must