Caged View (4 page)

She wiped the drops away with her hands.

“How did you know I came back?” I leaned
down to her and slowly rubbed my chin against her forehead, tracing
her X brand.

“The rims of your eyelids were black, and
all the gold in your irises disappeared.” She sighed, put the
sponge down in the soap dish, and turned to leave the shower.

I seized her waist. “Where are you
going?”

“I’m going to heat up some food. You have to
be hungry.”

“I’m naked with you in the shower.” I turned
her around and pulled her to me. “You really think all I want is
food now?”

“Stop being crazy.” She gently tapped my
hand away. Her heartbeat sped up, banging against her chest. She
avoided my eyes. “We need to talk about tonight.”

“Let’s talk about why I’m naked and you’re
not.” I put my left hand back on her waist and turned off the
shower with my right.

She cleared her throat and fixed her eyes on
the purple Captain Habitat bathroom stickers decorating the shower
wall. “You were covered in blood so I decided to wash you.”

“Please look at me,” I whispered.

She didn’t move at first, like she was
considering if it was a good idea or not, and then she turned those
beautiful coffee-brown eyes to me.

“Did you kill him?” she asked, her voice
more anxious than I wanted it to be.

“I don’t want to talk about that right
now.”

“You were completely covered in blood and
shaking,” she said.

I growled.

“Fine, but we do need to talk about this,”
she insisted as I wrapped my arms around her, bringing her in
closer to me and inhaling that lavender scent.

I began to purr. The noise hummed loudly
from my neck down to my chest.

She shivered underneath me.

Was it fear or need?

“MeShack, what are you doing right now?” Her
eyes shimmered into that flaming orange glow.

“Doing what I’ve always wanted to do.” I
pressed my body into hers.

“You’re using me as a diversion for your
real feelings.”

I grunted in aggravation.

“I hate that you’re taking that psychology
class.” I kissed her cheeks, leaving a trail to her ears. “If you
don’t want me to touch you, then say it.”

A tiny sigh left her lips as I licked the
tip of her ear.

The desire to make her more vocal charged
inside me, waking my body out of its agonizing slumber. I hardened
at the mere thought of her saying my name in ecstasy.

“My dad is going to tear you into tiny
little pieces if he walks in on us,” she muttered.

I didn’t even tense at that possibility.

“Do you know how many nights I lay on the
couch in the dark, contemplating whether I should act on my
feelings for you?” I buried my faced into the curve of her neck,
licking the drops of water from her skin.

She moaned, her body trembling within my
arms. Her stiff peaks pressed against my chest.

My hunger for her rose to an impossible
height. I had to have her tonight or I wouldn’t be able to eat or
sleep.

“I won’t fear death anymore.” I nipped at
her flesh, savoring the luscious texture. “Life is too short.
Besides, you’re all I have left now.”

She gently pushed me away, catching her
breath. “I really don’t think we should. Let’s wait and make sure
this isn’t just—”

“No.” I looked at her nightgown and
considered tearing it apart. “You want me. That’s something I’ve
known for a long time.”

“I also want more than sex. Has that been
clear to you too?” She brought both of her hands to her face and
wiped more water away. “Let’s just discuss this later. Too much has
happened tonight.”

She tried to climb out of my arms.

“Wait.” I scowled and tightened my grip.

Be careful with our mate
, my beast
said.

“I love you. That shouldn’t be hard to
believe, right?” I kissed her X brand.

“No. Let’s just slow down.” She averted her
eyes. “And…I love you too.”

“Then stop trying to move away.” I pressed
my lips against hers and thrust my tongue between her lips.

She bit it hard.

I jerked back. “What was that for? You want
me to stop?”

Her eyes widened as she shook her head.
“No…I’m just not that…experienced with kissing.”

“Well, you don’t bite when you kiss.” I
chuckled.

“Shut up,” she muttered and pulled away from
me.

“Wait, La La. I’m sorry.”

Some of my sadness left, and for a few
seconds everything was back to normal as she returned and faced
me.

“So you don’t know how to kiss at all? What
about Kris?” I asked, enjoying our playful banter. I touched her
bottom lip with my finger and traced its fullness.

“I bit him too.” She sighed. “And also the
others—”

A deep, murderous growl boomed from my
chest. “Others?”

She moved her mouth away from my fingers.
“Well, I’m done confessing if you’re going to react like that.”

Who were the others?

I tried to direct my concentration back to
her, shoving away the thoughts of someone else touching those lips.
Regardless of whether she’d injured their tongues or not, I didn’t
like it. However, tonight I’d let myself go over the edge. I hadn’t
yet decided if murdering Joe was right or not, but I had to control
my rage.

I looked down at her.

I have to make sure I don’t hurt her.

“You’re being ridiculous,” she mumbled under
her breath. “You made out with half of the cheerleading squad last
year.”

I grinned.

I’d actually made out with the whole squad
and a few of their friends, but I doubted she wanted to know
that.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t like to think
about anyone touching you.”

“I’m sorry about Fiona.”

Sorrow swam inside of me and threatened to
take me under.

Why did she have to remind me?

I tilted my head forward and rested my
forehead against the wall behind her, hiding the tears that began
to well up in my eyes. Part of me wanted to go back into myself and
let the cheetah take over again.

The cheetah perked up as if waiting for me
to decide.

La La embraced me, tightening her grip
around my waist and surrounding me with her soft, sweet-scented
flesh.

Fuck. She feels so good.

I’ll stay for now.

The cheetah snarled.

My hands slid up to the center of her back,
caressing her damp skin.

“Promise me you’ll never leave me,” I
whispered.

“I promise.” She kissed my chest once,
stopped as if unsure of what to do next, and then kissed me
again.

“Promise me we’ll always stay together,
whether you’re mad at me or not.”

She paused for several excruciating seconds
and then said, “I can’t. You’re going through your Season. We
should wait until you’re done. Maybe try this again when your mind
is more clear.”

“Fuck waiting.” I picked her up and devoured
her lips, exploring her mouth with my tongue.

Every now and then she accidentally bit me,
but it was worth it to my beast and me to finally take our mate in
our arms.

I wish I’d told Mom that my beast chose La
La. She loved La La like her own daughter and would have approved
of the union.

Minutes rolled by as we savored and tasted
each other until our lips went numb from the kissing. My tongue
ached from the workout.

Tiny love marks covered La La’s neck and
chest. I smiled with pride at the plum-colored bruises.

Graham, her father, is going to kill us.

Let him try
, the cheetah said.

She climbed out of my arms. “We should stop.
Dad will be home soon.”

“He’ll probably be high and pass out on the
couch.”

“Please let me down, MeeShee.”

I put her down and was forced to calm my
beast’s complaints.

Relax
, I told him.
We’ll hold her
again
.

My mom’s face flashed through my mind. The
last time I’d seen her, she’d told me to take care of La La and
stick together because the habitat life was rough and would swallow
us up whole.

I’d snorted and left her standing there in
the rain without a reply.

But now I understood what she’d been trying
to say. It all clicked in my head. If we stuck together, we’d be
stronger to deal with life’s heartaches. We wouldn’t have our
parents’ fates. We could charter our own destinies.

I will take care of her, Mom.

I will.

THE HEART RIPPER’S
SONG

Zulu

“Zulu, we do this quick and easy,” Ray said.
“No ripping his chest apart, taking out his heart, and painting his
blood across the pavement.”

“Come on. I did that once, and you still
won’t leave it alone.” I shrugged my shoulders and leaned back in
the van’s backseat.

Ray wiped sweat off his wing forehead brand
that identified him as a Fairy. He’d been sweating, burping, and
farting our whole stakeout. The brown carpet lining that covered
the van’s walls and floors reeked of Ray’s watermelon candy
scent.

“You’ve ripped several hearts out,” he
argued.

“I have not,” I insisted and pushed open the
van’s tinted window to air the space out.

“No, mon,” Nona said, on my right, in her
thick Rebel dialect. “Me think it was six times.”

I didn’t respond.

If Nona said it was six, then it was
probably true. The Were-dog was many things; the Rebel Shifter’s
fierce leader, a mom to three rowdy Were-pup boys, and, most of
all, a painfully honest observer.

“Me think you go too far, mon.” She took off
her hunter-green sunglasses that matched her emerald-green Mohawk.
Those black eyes peered at me as her tan fingers stuffed the
glasses in her suit pocket. “You roar and bang your white hands
upon your chest like a crazy mon and—”

“I got it, Nona,” I muttered.

She and the Fairy exchanged worried
glances.

“What now?” I held out my hands.

“The little mon and me,” Nona said, pointing
to Ray as he peeked around the driver’s seat and faced us. “We
think you need to change your look.”

This from a six-foot female with a green
Mohawk and flashy dress suit.

“I’m not a little man,” Ray corrected Nona.
“This is just my fairy glamour. I’m bigger than five feet.”

I chuckled.

Nona hadn’t seen Ray’s real form yet, the
one he hid under Fairy magic. It would give her nightmares, which
was saying a lot considering I’ve watched her eat a man while he
was still alive.

“What do you both mean I need to change my
look?” I crossed my arms across my bare chest.

“When we do these missions, everybody knows
it’s you afterward. We might as well hold up signs over your head,”
Ray said. “There aren’t that many white Mixbreeds running around
the habitat with blond dreadlocks.”

“I won’t cut them.” My lips curled down at
the edges. My fangs pierced my gums.

“No. We want you to put them in a ponytail
or something,” Ray explained and launched a bag of rubber bands at
me.

They landed on my lap with a thud.

“You can’t be a thug anymore. Now that you
started Mixbreeds for Equality, you have to act more like an
upstanding individual,” Ray said.

I gathered all of my blond dreadlocks into
one hand and attempted to stuff them into a rubber band. The end
result was a huge haphazard dreadlock ball the size of a melon that
stuck to the back of my head.

I groaned. “Anything else?”

Ray pointed to all of the multicolored cords
sewn individually into the muscles on my arms. They covered the
majority of the space from my shoulder to my wrists.

“You know I can’t get rid of these,” I
said.

They were permanent. I’d had them since I
was a kid. My existence without the cords would cause misery and
bloodshed to the Santeria habitat.

“I know you can’t take them off.” Ray pulled
out a black jacket. “But you can just as easily cover your arms.
You can’t just walk around the habitat all the time with no shirt
on. It’s not normal. Even Shapeshifters wear shirts.”

Nona nodded in agreement.

“My cords like the sun.” I snatched the
jacket from Ray. My arm cords glowed to bright blues, reds, and
purples before I slipped the rough jean material on.

Aggravation flowed through me, almost
reaching to my boiling point.

There better not be anything else, or I’m
going to roar.

The fabric tore as I wrenched it over my
biceps.

I grinned at Ray. “Oops. I ripped it. Maybe
I should take it off.”

“This was the worst day to stop drinking.”
Ray rubbed his eyes with both hands.

I snorted.

Ray stopped drinking every Friday and
started right back on Monday.

“Just keep the jacket on,” Ray said. “It’s a
temporary fix anyway. Besides, X-large was the biggest I could get.
I’ll get you something else later.”