Lunacy Page 15

I sighed, begrudgingly agreeing with him. "But your car's so sexy! It gets my motor running," I added with a grin.

  Jynxx and I shared a laugh at that one and he surprised me with a sudden kiss more ferocious than any previously. It stole the breath from my lungs and he spoke when we parted. "Even dirty car talk won't convince me to take you right here, right now. Get back in your seat, or you'll be late for your test."

  "Are you sure, peasant? Even if this is our only chance?" I teased.

  He snorted and slapped my ass hard enough to make me gasp and leave a strangely pleasant and warm stinging sensation behind. "Have we met, rich girl? I make my own chances," he purred.

  Without further protest, I climbed back into my seat and he righted his. He fidgeted uncomfortably for a second, opening his window to let some of the cool nearly winter air flood the car. We sat in quasi uncomfortable silence until we were almost to the school.

  "Just to be clear, you do know that I would be totally cool with christening my car with you, if it wasn't your first."

  I arched a brow at him. "You mean you've never... In this car?"

  He shook his head. "And get my Baby all dirty? Hell, no. It'd take a special girl for something like that."

  I was torn between exhilaration at Jynxx's confession that he did actually want me, and silently cursing my virtue for preventing me from what would have likely made the most awesome morning ever. I was hopeful that it wouldn't be our only chance.

  ***

  Oberon High loomed before us with its oppressive walls and I sighed affectedly, turning to glance out the window back toward the woods as Jynxx parked his car. "This is going to be the longest day ever," I groaned.

  With a chuckle, he leaned in close and pressed a tender kiss to my lips that had my heart racing from the second our flesh touched together. His eyes were black as a moonless night, and from this close they were stunning. "So, whaddya say, Kaysh?"

  I stammered for a second. "Say about what?" I finally managed.

  He laughed, and it made my heart light to hear him so happy. "Since you're totally not catching hints, I can be all formal, I suppose." He took my hand in his, the warmth calming and comforting, looking down at our fingers wound together before his gaze came back up to mine. "Be my girlfriend, Kacea."

  I felt like a retard, but tried to play it off. "Are you kidding me? I've been wanting you to ask me that since we were in, like, seventh grade."

  His smile was dazzling, the happiness filling his eyes as he pressed a soft kiss to my knuckles. "Let's get you to class then, brainiac. You'd better ace that test, or I'll know you were thinking of what could have happened this morning instead of focusing."

  The dark promises underlying his words made me blush and I just shook my head. "Why ya gotta be an ass like that?!" Distraction: accomplished.

  Luckily, I managed to get through my Shakespearean Literature test with minimal total losses of direction. I made a point of not looking anywhere near the desk Jynxx was seated at, even though he was close enough that his scent was heady and made me long for the end of the day.

  At lunch we sat together, Raul wiggling his eyebrows at us from across the table. "Well, well. Aren't you two looking all cozy this morning?"

  I jammed my straw onto the table and pointed it at him, blowing hard through the open end and pegging him effectively in the face with the wrapper. "Your point, Captain Obvious?"

  He smirked and retorted, "Kinda touchy, eh Lieutenant Sarcasm?"

  I shrugged and ate my whole lunch in approximately five minutes. That wasn't normal for me. At all. Must have been because the full moon was so close. I was stocking up on energy just like the boys were. Raul had watched me, slack-jawed, as I cleaned my plate with frightening efficiency.

  "Jesus, Kaysh. You're not pregnant, are you?"

  I almost choked to death on what was left of my carton of milk. After a coughing fit that was befitting of a two packs a day smoker, I shook my head. "Why the hell would you throw something like that out into the universe?!"

  He shrugged with a little smile, his gaze going to Jynxx, tone suddenly all business. "You'd better take care of her, big guy, or you've got me to answer to."

  Jynxx nodded solemnly. "Not a problem."

  "Aww, look at you, Raul! All playing the big brother, when I could so totally kick your ass." I sniped, sticking my tongue out at him.

  He snickered. "In your dreams, girl. Maybe when we were kids, but not now."

  I waved it off with a chuckle. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Ginger Avenger."

  He pelted me with a grape and I caught it before it could fall to the floor, popping it into my mouth and mumbling my thanks around it. Raul rolled his eyes and went back to chatting with Tarren.

  The rest of the day dragged on, but the blissful reprieve of the final bell had me practically running to get out the door. I didn't need anything from my locker, so I headed to Jynxx's car as quickly as my legs could manage. Jynxx wasn't far behind me, but his gait was much calmer than mine, much better controlled.

  "Ready for some more training, grasshopper?" he asked with a smirk.

  I shrugged, climbing into the little sports car when he unlocked the doors. "I'm ready for it to be the end of this weekend so this shit can be done and over with. For a few weeks, at least."

  "You're not the only one," he agreed as he climbed in. He started the car with a roar and took us back to his place, and one of our final rounds of etiquette training for the samling.

  Chapter 19

  School on Friday went by surprisingly fast. I wasn't sure if that made me happy, or made me want to bend time so Saturday wouldn't be coming up so quickly. The samling was tomorrow night, and I was starting to mentally go into full on panic mode. Were Jynxx and I prepared? Honestly, as prepared as we could be with barely a week to get all our shit in the same bag. Elomina and the boys had done their best to run every possible scenario by us that could come up, so all we could do was remember and follow through on those contingency plans if everything went sideways.

  "Hey. You alright, kitten?" Jynxx's words brought me from my thoughts and I nodded, keeping my eyes on the road out the side window.

  I apologized, settling my hand on top of his where it rested on the shifter. He'd been driving us around a lot more since we'd started dating a few days prior. Must have been a protective thing. Not that I was complaining.

  "I'm just kinda spacey, right now. Worrying about tomorrow, and all that."

  "I really don't think we have anything to worry about. I mean, from what I grasp, the clans are currently at peace. It's not like we have to be afraid some rival clan is going to just pop in, slaughter anyone able to lead, and take over. We don't live in the Middle Ages anymore, Kaysh." His warm eyes flicked to mine, and he gave me a smile that warmed me down to my toes. "I've got a feeling that everything will work out just like it's supposed to."

  "Not if I can help it. I won't let them win." A voice rang in my head, like something I should have remembered.

  I suddenly had a sharp, shooting pain pierce my skull. I cried out, both hands clutching the sides of my head like I thought my skull would fall apart without the support. I had a flash of grey eyes looking down at me. Before I could fully grab onto the image, the pain stabbed my brain once more and I let it go.

  Jynxx had just pulled into the parking lot of Club Luna and he shut off his car, frantic as he tried to figure out what had happened to me. He was asking me questions, but all I could hear was a ringing sound, soft and muffled like I'd been too close to a grenade that had gone off. I shook my head, slowly at first, gesturing to my ears and waving my hands spastically before clutching at my skull again.

  He frowned, and I watched him scent the air. He moved my hands away from my head and turned it slightly to get a better view of my left ear. He touched his finger to the edge of it and held it before me. The tip of his finger was coated in blood. I cringed, leaning back away from it a little.

  I spoke, trying not to shout and not whisper all
at once. "Just... Just give me a minute, Jynxx." As I spoke, the pain started to ebb and I could hear a few more bits of the world around me. "I think if we just sit here and chill for a few, my hearing will come back completely."

  I grabbed a napkin from his glove box and checked my right ear for bleeding, but it was fine. I used it to blot at my left ear until it stopped coming away with fresh moisture. Almost instantly, my hearing came back in a rush. The world seemed too loud, so I rolled up my window and breathed in shallowly to let my body readjust.

  "What the hell just happened? It was like someone shot you, Kaysh. With the way you screamed, I nearly drove us off the road." He gripped my hand tightly, his hard-fought control obvious by the corded veins in his forearm.

  "I... I don't know. I thought I saw something, heard something, and then it was like my brain tried to liquefy itself." My voice sounded reedy, afraid. I was unsettled as hell. Whose eyes were those? Whose voice? And why did it feel so horribly familiar?

  When I tried to get a handle on it, my forehead throbbed, a dull pain this time that was almost like a warning. I backed off, not wanting to get zapped again by whatever it was that my mind was trying to protect me from. I knew if it was really that important, it would come to me in time. Apparently, that time was most definitely not right now.

  He lifted my hand in his, pressing a gentle kiss to my knuckles. “We can go back to my place and just chill if you’re not up for hours of screaming and thrashing, you know.”

  Jynxx’s words were gentle and completely innocent, but I couldn’t help a small smirk. “Doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be hours of thrashing and screaming at your place. Then you couldn’t puss out because we wouldn’t be in your car anymore.”

  He narrowed his eyes and shook a finger at me. “Don’t you be biting off more than you can chew, kitten. This dog bites back.”

  I wiggled my eyebrows at him, starting to feel better with the humor. “Maybe this kitten likes it when the doggy bites back.”

  Jynxx snorted at that and gently ran his fingers down the side of my face. “This kitten doesn’t even know how she likes it,” he teased darkly, leaning in closer to capture my lips with his.

  I melted into the kiss, sliding my fingers into his thick hair, the nearness to this absolutely gorgeous man who cared about me like Novocain to my already healing eardrum. The petting went on for a few moments before I broke away, breathless.

  “Keep that up and I might end up breaking my rule about the car…” he practically purred, resting his forehead on mine.

  It was my turn to laugh, quickly fixing my mussed hair in the mirror and opening my door. “You still think you’ve got what it takes to deflower me, peasant?”

  Quicker than normal eyes could follow, he was out of the car and had me pressed back against it, the heavy rhythm of his pulse against me drowning out my own heartbeat. I gasped at the speed, then all heat in me cooled rapidly as a familiar and unwelcome voice rang across the parking lot. “Get a room, will ya?”

  Alain Reece was shooting us dirty looks and I flipped him off, but Jynxx respectfully gave me some space. “It’s up to you, Kaysh. If you’d rather be somewhere quiet, we can leave.”

  I pondered it for a minute, finally shaking my head. “We need you to be here to show that you’re purposely being involved in the wolfy community. If we bail now, it might reflect badly, and that’s the last thing we need with how much we’ve busted our asses for the last week.”

  He sighed, agreeing with my words, but obviously not happy about it. "Why do you have to be right all the time, huh?" he whined.

  I smirked. "Elementary, my dear Watson. Females are possessing superior intelligence. Therefore, you're just outclassed, my friend."

  He rolled those pretty black eyes and pushed me forward with a hand at the small of my back. "Onward then, oh most highest of geniuses."

  I was honestly surprised I could feel anything other than the pressure of his hand through the thick material and unforgiving steel bones of the corset I was wearing, but this metaphysical werewolf and kinda-sorta goddess thing had made our connection deeper than it should have been. I could feel the heat of his hand through everything, forcing myself to shove the sensations to the back of my mind for now. We were in public, and about to be fully immersed in several hours of moshing and getting rid of pent-up anxiety over the samling tomorrow. Now wasn't the time to be letting my mind wander into the realm of irreversible naughtiness.

  I smiled at Feign as we handed him a few bucks to cover our entry fee, passing by the table and heading to the large inner chamber that housed the show. Just about to kick off, we were lucky to be more towards the back of the crowd than last time. I was thankful, not wanting to get jostled around too awfully much after my episode in the car.

  The bands scheduled to play tonight were also small-timers, but hard rock and metal groups from a little ways away. None of the local wolves were on the bill for tonight. They all wanted the chance to let off a little steam, and that meant I was definitely going to hang towards the back. All I needed was to get majorly hurt by some Ulven throwing windmill kicks and make Jynxx and the boys look weak. As if sensing this, Jynxx was content to hang back with me for most of the show. A few times I made a point of shooing him to go and get his aggression out. Like any metal head, there was only really one time and place that you could kick someone's ass and get away with it. That was in the pit, and I wasn't going to deny him that sort of release.

  Not to mention that I was rewarded for my efforts with some pretty heavy making out each time he returned, his pulse speeding and his whole body radiating a heat that made me want him more and more with each passing moment. I'd say that it was all due to some wolfy pheromones he was kicking off, but I was fairly sure part of it was my awe with the whole situation.

  The guy that I'd been drooling over since we were thirteen was mine now, and he wanted me. Me, and only me. That was hard to adjust to, after so many years of short-lived relationships, mostly because they all thought I'd be their sugar mama, or that goth girls were an easy lay. Jynxx didn't seem interested in any of that, his lust for my body secondary to how much he liked my personality. My nerdy eccentricities, the hours we'd spent playing video games together, our shared love of similar music, and the whole metaphysical mess that had initially drawn us together were what made us click. I really couldn't have hit a bigger jackpot, even if I'd been spending a hundred bucks on the lottery every week.

  I ran my fingers over his bare arms, fingertips gliding easily up the thick muscles from the moisture that slicked his skin. Our eyes met, dark to light, and he took my hand in his with a soft smile, leading me outside. I didn't ask where we were going, and I had no reason to protest. I trusted him perfectly, and that moment of blind faith made me hesitate for a second as he drove us. Was this all just hormones talking, or was it truly something deeper? We got along so well, but was it all just a ploy to get in my pants? An elaborate plot, if ever there was one...

  No. Jynxx wouldn't do something like that to me, when he could have had more than his fair share of tail from anywhere else he wanted to proposition for it. I shook my head slightly, watching the scenery go by. I saw that he was taking us back to my house, not to his. As if sensing my insecurities, he settled his big, warm hand over mine. "All you have to say is 'no', kitten. I'm not in this for anyone but you." I rested my other hand on top of his, giving it a gentle squeeze but saying nothing.

  It was Friday night, so my parents weren’t home, and I had the ultimate safe word. The only thing that could make it more perfect and borderline fairy tale would be if it was prom night. I chuckled a bit at that, glad that we were avoiding that cliché, at least.

  Inside the giant empty house, I led the way after locking the doors. Without words, I needed him to know that this was what I wanted. I wasn’t pressured, and his warm hand in mine was all the reassurance I needed. Everything about this night just felt… Perfect.

  Alone in my room at last, everything fell i
nto place. A loud moan escaped my lips as his hands slid over my denim-clad ass, lightly squeezing the firm flesh there. Jynxx lifted me, the strength in his arms keeping me well above the ground, and I wrapped my legs around his waist to support what I could of my own weight. Cradling his face in my hands and sliding fingers through his thick hair, I hungrily lowered my lips to his. Dark hair fell about us like a shining, silken curtain and we were still for a moment, no movement between us aside from the clash of lips and tongues.

  Walking like I weighed nothing at all, he carried me to the bed and tossed me onto the thick coverlet. He gazed down at me quietly, taking in the swelling of my lips from our heated kisses, the eager flush in my cheeks. Jynxx smiled and crawled on top of me, seizing my lips once more as he blindly, expertly, undid the clasps and buckles that held my aching flesh trapped inside the corset.

  He slowly peeled the vinyl prison from my body, exposing the full swell of my pale breasts and the taut firmness of my abdomen. The air felt cool on my exposed skin and I gazed up at him, shivering at the hungry look in his eyes. Trying to speak, words totally evaded me. Clearing my throat, I tried again, taking his face in my hands and making him look into my eyes as I spoke. My green eyes appraised his, glad to see that they were still black.

  “Tell me that you’re thinking about sex and not food, Jynxx...” My voice was soft, half joking.

  He chuckled darkly and leaned down, licking and sucking at my ear. “What’s the matter, Kacea?” His breath was hot on my skin and he rolled an earlobe between his teeth. “Afraid I’m going to eat you?” He slid his lips back to mine, murmuring between kisses, “The only thing on my mind is you, and you’re not on the menu.”

  “Glad to hear it,” I murmured in reply, slowly dragging my tongue across his perfect lips.

  He laughed a little, wrapping his fingers around the large ring that hung from my collar that matched the discarded corset, giving it a sharp but gentle tug that tore a surprised gasp from my throat. He muffled my cry with his lips, slipping his tongue between them as he slowly trailed his fingertips down exposed porcelain skin, cupping my ample breasts in his hands.