Page 19 of A Lion's Heart
Nisa had known he was going to come back. She didn’t know how or why, but she’d known.
Another shower hadn’t eased the ache that was firmly planted between her legs. Nor had it washed away the feel of his hands on her. She could look at each spot on her skin that he’d touched and recall with absolute accuracy the sensations that had gone through her body at the time. Especially as his fingers had slipped deep inside of her. Never, in all her years of pleasuring herself, had Nisa felt the way she did when Decan’s fingers penetrated her. Even now she wanted to sigh with the intensity of that memory.
But she didn’t.
Instead she lay on her side with her back to the door, staring into the darkness of the room. She’d already searched the space earlier and knew that there were cameras and audio wires all over the place. So as much as she could, she kept the lights off. Even when she was in the shower she’d been in the dark. Apparently this was a place where they felt they needed to watch everyone doing everything. That was all well and good, it was their place not hers. But she wasn’t going to be watched or photographed, or whatever their intention was. And she wasn’t going to run back and tell her father that someone under his supervision had even expected her to. No, that’s what they were certain she would do. Which is why Nisa was doing the exact opposite.
It was also why she’d kissed Decan so wantonly. Because each time he looked at her he saw the Assembly Leader’s daughter. A task to mark off his list of things to do. Well, Nisa wasn’t going to be so neatly compartmentalized. True, it shouldn’t matter what Decan thought of her or wanted, or didn’t want from her. He was simply escorting her to the Central Zone. Nothing more.
Yet, Nisa knew that was a lie.
She couldn’t explain exactly how she knew, but she did. There was something more brewing steadily between her and that lion shifter. Something she admitted only to herself that she’d never felt before. Or had she? In the past few months her body had felt differently. The way she touched herself feeling more inadequate each time. She’d tried to brush it off as simply being tired after working so hard and long on getting the holodeck up and running. Now, she wondered what it all meant.
She wondered about so many things.
Decan and everyone in this place were working hard to keep a secret from her and most definitely her father. Nisa was going to find out. What she was going to do with the information when it was hers, she wasn’t quite sure. But she was going to find out.
There was no sound to the lock disengaging but she’d sensed him on the other side of the door moments before it opened quietly. It was a warming that began slowly in the pit of her stomach whenever he was near and then her cat, sliding slowly against that warmth as if it had been waiting for it, forever.
She brought her knees up closer to her chest, her hands pressed between them, head sinking into the thick soft pillow. She wore shorts and a tank top with socks on her feet because the cement floor, although smooth and glossed, was cool and unfamiliar to her bare feet.
He moved slowly, almost predatorily as he approached the bed. Her tank top rode up her back with her latest movement and she felt the heat of his gaze against her skin. He stood there for endless moments and Nisa willed herself to remain still. He was watching her and she was thinking of him. It was a strange sensation, one which had her biting her bottom lip in consternation. This wasn’t a predicament she’d found herself in before. It didn’t mean that she couldn’t come up with a way to get through it. To the contrary, her mind was already working to figure this out.
“Get some sleep,” he said finally, his voice low. “We’re leaving early in the morning.”
“Since I’m sure you’ve locked both of us in here this time, I guess there’s nothing to do but sleep.”
That wasn’t what she should have said. She’d told herself that she was over him locking her in this room like she was some uncontrollable child. So maybe she wasn’t over it, but she hadn’t intended for him to know that.
“You should take your own advice,” she continued quickly and turned over to lay on her back.
Her next move took a little thought but managed to feel totally natural. Nisa stared directly at him as she extended an arm and patted the pillow beside her. “Leading requires a clear head. Rest works wonders for a busy mind. My Uncle Baxter used to say that to me when I was a little,” she told him.
Baxter was the Overseer who had been with her father and her father’s family for years. He was a human who had come to the United States with his assigned shifter family. His job was to watch over them as they made the transition into the human world. To keep them safe and to report back to the Elders and the Seer of the Gungi on their status. He’d turned eighty-nine last month, celebrating his birthday reluctantly with the four-tiered chocolate cake Nisa had directed their baker to prepare for him. Next to her parents, Baxter held a huge chunk of her heart.
“I’m not a child,” Decan replied.
That admission hadn’t been necessary. Nisa knew he wasn’t a child. He was a full grown shifter. One whom she was undoubtedly attracted to. She wondered if that were the reason she’d invited him to sleep beside her. No, it wasn’t. She believed in keeping her enemies, and those she hadn’t quite yet decided whether or not to trust, close.
“And yet, the rest theory, would probably still work,” she quipped. “Come on. I’ll stay on my side of the bed. I promise I don’t bite.”
That brought a chuckle from him. The sound was quick and momentarily startled her. It wasn’t until she felt the bed give beneath his weight as he sat on the other side and leaned over to remove his boots that she realized it was because she liked it.
Following her advice it only took him a few seconds, of which he used to pull his shirt over his head and lay back on the bed beside her. Nisa was surprised by how close he was. Maybe this bed was smaller than she’d thought. She attempted to roll over again, but immediately felt his arm going around her waist to pull her back against him.
When her back was spooned against his front and she was once again biting her lip at the new development, she felt the sharp nick against her neck.
“I’m not making any promises about not biting,” he whispered as his tongue licked over the spot where his lion’s teeth had scraped along her skin.
That was when the first slither of doubt etched along her spine, sending a warning echo to her brain. What the hell was she doing? And how was this going to end?
This wasn’t going to be good.
It couldn’t be.
The clicking he’d already connected with dread sounded loudly and every muscle in Decan’s body went on instant alert. They were coming for him. Again.
There were five of them this time. They never came alone. Not after the first time. The time that had ended with him sinking his teeth into the human’s throat and crushing his windpipe.
