Page 21 of Love the Way You Lion
“Mine are more serpentine.”
“Huh. Curved and all?”
“Yeah. They’re retractable like a snake’s fangs, too. They come from the roof of my mouth.”
He thinks for a minute, and I almost lose my courage. “Cool. Do you have two or four? Some snakes have four.”
“Only two.”
He studies me as if imagining and squints. “Are they long?”
“Longer than yours. Probably longer than your mate’s, though hers are bigger than all of ours. Cats have some serious incisors.” My eyes cut to his neck, finding the four holes and noting that I’m right. I’ve not looked at Taurus’ marks from her, but I’m betting they’re pretty large.
“Can I see or would that bother you?” he asks, looking curious.
“One or both? They’re independently retractable,” I reply, trying to make myself as brave as I was when I started this conversation. He’s not making an issue about them, but this is not something I let people see. “Full set. I’m curious.”
Swallowing hard, I blink my eyes once, twice, and my pupils contract to diamond slits. I hiss and stretch my neck and then turn to peer at him. Two and a half inches of sharp and wickedly curved fangs glisten wetly where my incisors used to be. I peer at him, scenting the air to taste his reaction.
His eyes rove over the fangs and meet my eyes before he reaches over to cup his palm along my face. “Very nice pet. Venom or no?”
Flushing, I meet his eyes and nod. “But like all poisonous snakes, I don’t have to use the venom.”
“Interesting. Fatal or ouch?”
“Very fatal. I can poison a cow.”
“I could suggest a few.”
I hiss, laughter not working well in the snake guise. “Um, mind if I put them away now? You’re looking tastier than normal.”
“Go ahead, if it’s tempting you,” he grins and leans back against the couch.
Slipping back into normalcy, my lips quirk. It worried me he’d be inconsolable with Wilde, like he was with the others. He’s not. I still believe that there’s something that was going on with them, but I will not ruin this moment by prying.
“Better now?”
“No, but at least I won’t spear you.”
“Wouldn’t’ve minded unless it bothered you.” He smiles, his handsome face making my entire body heat.
“My hunger for your blood keeps growing. I feed differently than you do, though I imagine you might have figured that out. I don’t dislocate my jaw, nor is my tongue forked, but I’ve got better eyesight than an average chit. I’d break a fang if I fed like you guys do. I’m a ‘strike and watch them bleed’ type. If I get deep enough, I can hit more than one vein at a time. It’s very bloody.”
“Then what?”
He looks interested and hell, in for a penny, right?
Rafe’s not running away in disgust and he’s not playing some crazy ‘mine is better than yours’ game.Why not?“I drink. They die. I’m immune from my venom and it’s an anticoagulant derivative. If I’ve got a dirty mark, I can kill first and sip later. It’s not like a real snake.”
“Obviously. But what are you?”
“This isn’t genetic to me like it is to you. There’s a long story about how this happened to me. I guess I don’t know any other type ofstory but long. Serpentine is the best I can do to answer your question of what.”
“You don’t use the fangs because you can’t do it without killing people, then?”
“No. I don’t show my fangs because everyone has them and I wasn’t in the mood to explain where mine came from, as if I was trying to rationalize being more special than everyone else.” I shrug. “I have issues with lack of originality.”
“Oh, well, that makes sense. Look at the woman—no sooner than her quest starts, other people pop up with special shit.”
