hand up to me, and I took it. She licked a quick tongue across my hand, a greeting that only the leopards used, then one slender hand went to my leg, holding onto my pants like a small, shy child. She seemed to think something bad was about to happen.
I half expected Jason to come to me like the wereleopards had, but he didn't. He moved farther into the room, away from Jamil, but he didn't ask for help.
"What's the big deal?" I asked. "Jamil just offers me his cheek first, right?"
"Oh, no," Jason said, "much more fun than that."
That made me frown because I knew what Jason's idea of fun was. "Maybe I asked for something I don't understand."
"But you did ask," Jamil said, "and as our lupa it is your right."
I was beginning to suspect I'd made a faux pas. That I'd asked something of Jamil he didn't want to give and I probably wouldn't like receiving. "If you hadn't been such an asshole when we first got here, Jamil, I'd probably let this go."
"But ... " he said.
"But I don't back down, not to you."
"Not to anyone," Jason said softly.
That, too.
"If I refuse, it's challenge between us," Jamil said.
"Fine, but remember, you've had your last free pass for the weekend, Jamil."
He nodded. "I see the gun."
"Then we understand each other," I said.
"We understand each other," he said. Jamil closed the distance between us, eyes still an eerie shade of yellow.
"Don't get cute, Jamil."
He gave a quick baring of teeth. "I am doing what you asked, Anita."
Zane moved behind me, hands on my shoulders, but giving me more room to move. Cherry huddled against my legs. Neither of them moved away. I took that as a good sign. I hoped I was right.
Jamil touched my face very lightly with the tips of his fingers. "If we were in public, it would be this." He bent downward and it looked like he was going to kiss me.
He did. A soft brush of lips, fingers still holding my face. He drew back from me. When he opened his eyes, they were still that rich, golden yellow. It was a startling color against the darkness of his skin.
I had just stood there throughout, too startled to know what to do. Neither the leopards nor Jason called foul, so Jamil was doing what I'd forced him to do. Probably. If it had been Jason, I'd suspected some sort of ploy to steal a kiss, but Jamil didn't play those kinds of games.
He stayed with his hands still cradling my face. "But tonight won't be in public. Between ourselves when no one watches..." He didn't finish the sentence. He just leaned over me again.
His tongue ran across my lower lip.
I jerked back.
He let his hands fall to his sides. "You read the wolf books, Anita, I am a submissive wolf begging a dominant's attention."
"It's a variation of food begging by pups," I said. "In two adult wolves, it's a ritual of licking and biting gently at the mouth of the dominant wolf by the subordinate."
Jamil nodded.
"You've made your point," I said.
"The greeting I am trying to teach you is like our version of a handshake. You both offer your faces at the same time. It's more like a kiss."
"Show me," I said.
He leaned into me again, but this time he didn't try to touch my mouth. He rubbed his cheek along mine, rubbing his face across my ear until his face was buried in the hair behind my ear. His movement had put my face against his hair. His hair was in cornrows, and the texture was rough and soft at the same time.
Jamil spoke with his mouth still against my hair, "You have to bury your face in the hair and smell the skin."
He burrowed his face into my hair until he had to be touching skin. I heard him breathing in air. His breath was almost hot against my skin.
I tried to return the favor, but had to raise on tiptoe, one hand against his chest for balance. Zane slid away from me, and I used my other hand on his shoulder. The cornrows made it easier to put my face next to the skin of his scalp. The braids moved around my face like small thin ropes.
I could smell his hair straightener, his cologne, and under all that was him. The moment his scent hit me, I felt a rush of power, and it wasn't his. I suddenly knew that