Page 42 of Tamhas

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Tamhas

There was a discreet knock at my door in the morning, hours after we’d finally stopped out of sheer exhaustion and fallen into a deep, happy sleep.

Keira had muttered something about round seven just before passing out.

She was on her side, spooned against me, my arm thrown over her. At the sound of that knock, she wriggled slightly in her sleep. Her bare skin rubbed against mine—everywhere, including areas I’d been certain wouldn’t possibly be able to respond after all the use they’d gotten, but I realized I’d been wrong.

“Mmm…” she groaned, wriggling again.

“Careful, now,” I whispered. “You’ll wake a sleeping dragon.”

“Very funny. Did somebody knock?”

“Yes. Unfortunately.” I slid from the bed, wrapping a sheet around my waist at random before doing to the door.

Another knock. “What?” I whispered, opening the door a crack. Alan was waiting out there.

“A call. From Mary. I would like you to be there.” He was at least wise enough to avert his eyes and stand back from the door.

“All right. Give me a minute.” I hurried through the process of dressing and told Keira I’d be back in a minute—the sight of her in bed, stretched out on her back without a stitch of fabric covering her body, was enough to make me regret Mary’s timing.

Then again, I’d never get enough of her. She was a drug I could easily become addicted to—already had, in fact.

Which meant I had to hurry out the door and down the corridor before the temptation to linger grew too great.

“Ahh, Tamhas.” Mary’s smile was a familiar one, and welcome. She looked out at us from one of the screens mounted to the wall in front of Owen’s seat.

“Hello, Mary. How are you?”

“Well, thank you. Busy, but that’s how I like it.”

“I know the feeling.”

Alan cut into our pleasantries. “Klaus sent a message out to Mary overnight, in regards to what we discussed outside.”

“Ah. I see.” I pulled up a chair. “What do you think, Mary?”

“I think it’s remarkable that this young woman bears the mark of a Blood Moon Priestess, seeing as how even I knew at the first mention of the name what Klaus referred to. A very known name, to be sure, but only in certain circles. And definitely not as well-known as it once was.”

“That was a bit before your time, wasn’t it?” I asked.

“Quite a bit,” she snickered. “Thank you.”

“Do you currently have the time and manpower to research the group?” Alan asked. “I’d hate to take you away from something important.”

“No, no, not a problem.” She looked around the room as it appeared on her screen. “Is she there? In the room? Just outside?”

“The witch? No.”

“Don’t call her a witch,” I warned Alan. “She was orphaned as a babe and has no knowledge of any of this.”

Mary ignored this little spat. “I only wanted to know what you planned to do with her.”

“She’ll live here, with us,” I announced, jumping in front of Alan if only to get under his skin. I couldn’t abide by his desire to degrade her, even when she wasn’t within earshot.

“I can’t pretend to agree with this,” he grumbled, setting his jaw.

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