Page 71 of Hidden By the Gargoyle

I glanced down and saw four round bruises spread out just inside my hipbones. I twisted but couldn’t see the back, but I assumed I had a matching thumb-sized bruise on my ass as well.

“Cool, my first sex bruises. Maybe I need to put that on my list.”

“Dammit, Ally, this isn’t a joke!” Dax burst out.

I grabbed my conditioner bottle, and my eyes narrowed. “No, it’s not. Why are you beating yourself up for something we did together, something I really enjoyed?”

It was Dax’s turn to study me in silence. I smoothed conditioner through my hair. I didn’t let it sit as I usually did but rinsed it out almost immediately. I really didn’t want to take an ice-cold shower. Nor did I really want to continue this conversation while I was naked.

Dax didn’t say anything else as I washed my face and my body. He did shift out of the way when I stepped out from beneath the spray and started squeezing the water out of my hair. I met his gaze with a level stare of my own.

“I am perfectly capable of telling you when I don’t want something, Dax,” I said. “I demonstrated that last night when we argued. If you were hurting me earlier or if I didn’t like it, I would have no problem telling you.”

“Ally, you’re inexperienced and I treated you like?—”

I threw my head back and laughed, which made him shut up.

When I stopped, I leaned forward and patted him on the chest. “You’ve met Minerva. Don’t you realize that she was extremely frank when she discussed sex with me. She was also the first to tell me to invest in some decent sex toys. She said that I wouldn’t be able to tell someone else what I enjoyed if I didn’t know that for myself. She also said that I had no business having sex with someone if I didn’t feel like I could tell them no or talk about what I liked. So, while I may not have had sex before you, I have experimented on my own.” I leaned forward slightly and whispered, “I’ve even watched porn, some of it a lot more intense than what we just did. While I may not have had sex with anyone but you, I am by no means a prude or uncertain about what I like.”

By the time I was done speaking, Dax was looking down at me with an astonished expression.

“Now, I’m going to get dressed because we have to get to the resort soon, right?”

He nodded, his eyes never leaving my face.

I exited the shower, reaching for a towel from the rack next to the stall. As I bent to wrap it around my hair, Dax swore.

I straightened and turned my head to see that he’d stepped under the shower spray. Judging by the stiff way he was holding his body, the hot water had run out.

Biting back a laugh, I grabbed another towel, wrapped it around my torso, and left him to his cold shower.

* * *

Two hours later,we were standing in front of the main lodge of the resort, watching as Poppy stepped forward to greet the alpha of the visiting cat shifter clan.

The man stared at her as though she were diseased, but he did give her outstretched hand a brief shake.

Dax tensed behind me but didn’t move. Poppy insisted that she could handle the arrival of the cat clan, so Dax had agreed to stand back unless something catastrophic happened.

I was too far away to hear what they were saying to each other, but Dax must have been able to because he shifted slightly behind me, as though he were about to step forward.

Poppy must have sensed the movement because she glanced over her shoulder at him and gave her head a single, slight shake.

Dax took a deep breath but settled back into his stance behind me.

As I watched Poppy deal with the cat shifters, my chest began to feel tight. It was a feeling I recognized. One I would never forget.

“Oh, shit,” I whispered.

Dax leaned down. “What is it?”

The tightness increased and I felt the swelling inside me, the same pressure I’d felt last night.

Before I could answer Dax’s question, the alpha who was speaking to Poppy stiffened. His head turned until he was looking straight at me.

Power crackled along my skin, invisible, but there was a scent of ozone in the air. Even with my human senses, I could smell it.

I knew Dax sensed it too when he whispered, “Shit.”

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