Page 77 of Carnal: The Beast Who Loved Me

Serene cocked her head. “Why temporary?”

“Because, when we get everything up and running again, the elevators will work. Humans will move to upper levels and there will be more ground level space.”

She nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Have you come up with a timeframe?” Rosie asked.

Free glanced at her and back at his plate. “Tomorrow I’m taking Cage and Breaker with me to meet with the military brain trust and see what we think of their plan. Meanwhile, Red is taking his people to further assess what can be done about housing and how long that might take. We’ll have a better idea in a couple of days.”

Rosie looked across the table at Charming. There was no mistaking the fact that he was excited by the prospect of moving to the city and, in a way, that excitement was hopeful. It was certainly better than dread.

Rosie went to sleep reading by the light of an oil lamp. When she woke in the early morning, the oil lamp was off, her book had been left open to its place on a bedside table, and she was tucked under covers. It was cold in the early dawn. She rose to get to the bathroom before the household woke. When she opened the door and stepped into the hall, she noticed something was amiss.

Carnal’s door was never closed unless he spent the night, which was an occurrence so unusual as to be considered an event. But he was, apparently,in residence. She snorted softly at her use of the phrase. Apparently Charming’s description of Carnal as ‘his highness’ had resonated with her.

When she emerged from the bathroom, Carnal stood on the other side of the door looking sleepy in the most attractive way. Before she could form another thought, he pressed her back against the wall and passed his lips lightly over hers before urging her mouth open into a sensuous kiss that left no room for anything in her mind but the taste and feel of Carnal. Her awareness bounced back and forth between the hardness of the body bearing down on her, the implied danger of a touch of fang, and the ecstatic pleasure of his tongue tangling with her own.

At the very moment when she’d become pliable as a jellyfish with nothing more than a hazy notion of who and where she was, he let her go abruptly, stepped inside the bathroom, and shut the door. Left standing alone in the hall, wondering what just happened, she wasn’t sure whether to feel flattered, angry, used, or embarrassed, but after a few seconds she’d discarded ‘flattered’ as one of the options.

When she arrived downstairs for breakfast twenty minutes later, Carnal was licking frosting from a roll with an amused twinkle that only intensified when she glared at him.

“Morning, Rosie,” he said with annoying cheer.

Rosie’s responding harrumph caused Serene to turn around and look at her.

“Good morning, Serene,” she said sheepishly before giving Carnal another glare behind Serene’s back.

He wasn’t sure whether she was glaring at him about the ambush kiss or about leaving her barely able to stand on her own. Either way he was satisfied that he’d shaken her up, disturbed her complacency, and guaranteed that she’d be thinking about him all day. He wanted her to be experiencing the same pleasure/pain of not being able to get her off his mind.

After the freaky comment about not being shared, Carnal had done exactly as Rosie suggested. He’d gone straight to his father.

Free had sat back in his chair and chosen words carefully. “I’m afraid that idea is ripe for misinterpretation. I asked Rosie to point out possible pitfalls, problems that might be avoided if they’re anticipated. Most of the time we can put countermeasures in place if we know what’s coming.

“She said there’s a sexual math problem. Too many males, not enough females, and that the human females will choose hybrid over human.”

Carnal smiled. “For obvious reasons.”

“And,” Free said pointedly, “that will leave unmated human males with a powerful resentment toward hybrids that could turn into another conspiracy.”

Carnal’s smile failed as he narrowed his eyes. “And you suggested that problem could be solved by…”

Free sighed and looked away. “I said that two Exiled males might form a household with one human female, thereby solving the math problem.”

Carnal cocked his head at his father. “You didn’t say that.”

“I did. Cage and Breaker liked the idea. Charming seemed to take to it as well.” After a few beats Carnal started laughing. “What’s so funny?”

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen you blunder. When you do it, youreallydo it. I can’t wait to hear your plan for extracting yourself from this one.”

“We were brainstorming. It wasn’t intended to be a well-considered or serious solution ready for proposal.”

Carnal was nodding and smiling. “Serious. Solution. Wow.”

“You think it’s easy? Wait till it’s your turn.”

“My turn to what?”

“To lead.”

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