Rafael (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #28) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,46

said.

“What? Why, Rafael? Why did you keep pushing at it when you knew you were hurting me?” It was all I could do not to touch him physically, and I didn’t mean in a romantic way. I wanted to at least shove him, but I knew better. If I shoved him and he did anything aggressive at all, I’d do more. I wanted to do more. I was pissed, and I was about to risk life, limb, and maybe more with him as my closest animal to call. No one else would get to me in time if he pulled something like this again.

“The power, Anita, I’m so sorry, but the power was incredible. It felt so good and I could feel that there was more, that if we just touched more, the power between us would be even more.” He reached out as if to touch my hair, and I hissed at him like a cat does. That sort of scared me, so I just walked farther away from him.

“Could he bring her rat for real if we weren’t with her?” Nathaniel asked.

That stopped the fight. We all looked around at each other. Jean-Claude cut to the heart of it. “If ma petite is to choose a beast form at last, then we need to discover if she can choose which one it will be.”

“She might get more than one form like I did,” Micah said.

“We can’t take that chance,” Nathaniel said, shaking his head.

“What would be so wrong with her being a wererat?” Rafael asked.

“I thought you were our friend,” Nathaniel said.

“I am.”

“Then you know for our happiness she needs to be a wereleopard.”

“We all date between species here in St. Louis,” Rafael said.

“Don’t get cute, Rafael,” I said. “If I change, it needs to be leopard.”

“I will not argue the point, you are far better at relationships than I am, but I honestly did not know that your eyes had started to turn so easily.”

“It doesn’t happen all the time,” I said.

“But it’s happening more often,” Micah observed.

I nodded and agreed.

“Why was the connection so much stronger right off the bat?” I asked.

Nathaniel said, “Since Damian and I became a triumvirate with Anita, none of the other animals to call have a stronger connection than I do, until just now.”

“Has anyone else been a leader of their group?” Benito asked.

“Micah is,” Claudia said.

“No, Micah is not her moitié bête, he is her Nimir-raj; it is a different connection,” Jean-Claude said.

“How can he be her leopard king when she is not truly a wereleopard?” Rafael asked.

“Much of what ma petite does metaphysically is impossible, it is one mystery among many.”

“But Rafael is the first animal to call who ruled his animal group,” Micah said, and he drew me into the circle of his arms. I tried to let the lingering anger go and ease into it, but I couldn’t do it. I let him hold me, but I couldn’t relax against his body.

“Why should that matter this much?” Nathaniel asked.

“I don’t know,” Micah said.

I willed myself to melt into his arms, his body, and let go of the terrible tension and the ache in my gut from what my inner beasts had done. I had a thought that made the relaxing even harder.

“What do I do if this happens again tonight?”

“I was allowed one other wereleopard with me. We need to pick someone for you that isn’t a wererat,” Micah said.

“I’ll go,” Nathaniel said.

“No, Nathaniel, and you know why,” I said.

“I can’t fight well enough,” he said.

“It’s not your strong suit,” I said.

Micah kissed the side of my neck, and I snuggled in against the side of his face. We both reached for Nathaniel at the same time, and he came to us and wrapped his arms around us both. We held each other in a three-way hug, and the rising level of leopard was like some vibrating purr of energy. It felt so right. It felt like home. They were home. If any animal energy was home, this was it.

“Do you have any animals to call that can fight well enough to go in with you tonight?” Benito asked.

“It doesn’t matter, she is my queen, so only wererats can stay at her side,” Rafael said.

“You can feel some of this energy, I know you can,” I said. “Do you really want me to lose this with them tonight by accident?”

Rafael took in a big breath of air and let it out slow. “No, of course not.” But