Page 54 of A Lion's Heart
“The security shields are stronger on the holodeck?” he asked her.
She’d just finished wiping her hands with a napkin and tossed it inside the basket, before settling back against the pillows. Her legs were crossed at the ankles as she looked relaxed in his bed. This space was just as close to belonging to Decan personally as any other location in Oasis. Since he’d returned he’d never stayed in one place long enough to call himself settled. And when he had spent those months at the Assembly Headquarters, the room on the floor beneath Nisa’s room, only served as a resting place for the time he wasn’t following her around or in meetings with her father. This bed, after this time spent with her, would never be forgotten in his mind.
“Definitely much stronger,” she told him. “But not only on the holodeck. We’ll implement that new technology in everything from the comlinks the guards and enforcers carry to the vehicles we all use. That way nobody will ever be able to disable our tracking device without us knowing.”
Decan’s head jerked in her direction.
“Yes. I figured that out just before we left Keller’s place. And I know that Keller Cross is still listed as being on some explorative sea voyage,” she told him. “I figured you would tell me why when you were ready.”
Dammit. Decan was so not ready to tell her any of that.
“Have you ever heard of a mercenary?” he asked her.
“I have,” she said, “Just not in Oasis. There’s no need for any such profession here.”
“But in the world above there used to be. Now, after so much change has occurred, the job has taken a different turn, but Keller loves it. And he loves fighting for the Shadows in whatever capacity he can.”
“I cannot ignore that bunker, or the fact that he has some type of technology designed to hack into the controls of our vehicles. I’ve already drafted an addendum to our maps and once the holodeck is installed everywhere his ability to get in and do what he wants will be severely hampered,” she told him.
Decan did not have the heart to tell her that it didn’t matter what she designed, Keller was not going to be deterred. He also couldn’t help but feel as if he were stuck between two worlds.
“So what else do couples do?” He found himself asking, because flipping topics seemed to be his go-to method for surviving his time with her now.
Decan was no doubt wishing he’d kept that last question to himself right about now. Because Nisa had been quick to figure out another way she could learn about the shifter that had invaded her world for the past few days and that she was increasingly afraid was overrunning another part of her.
She’d immediately hopped off the bed and cleaned up the meal she’d had the kitchen staff prepare for them.
“I was also told that massages after a strenuous day at work are a good idea,” she said when she was standing on the opposite side of the bed from him.
For the first time in her life Nisa felt nervous. She hadn’t been at all sure of the things Shya had told her because she’d never done them before. And, unlike Shya, she hadn’t spent her spare time reading stories of romance and love and finding one’s perfect mate. That’s where she and her best friend differed. Shya was a dreamer while Nisa had passed her time in Oasis by learning. Now, it appeared, Nisa had neglected one very important subject.
“I’ve got an even better idea after a strenuous day at work,” he told her seconds after a low growl echoed throughout the room.
His eyes changed before she could respond. The blue took on that crystalline look she’d seen last night just before he ripped that guy’s throat out and she gasped. But not in fear. No, she’d never been afraid of Decan and she wondered why. She’d also felt completely comfortable with him, right from the very start. That was strange as well. But if Nisa was standing there thinking about all the anomalies where this thing between her and Decan was concerned, there was one she could admit and accept without question—her cat was inexplicably drawn to his. From the very start, and even now.
She blinked and knew her eyes were different when she opened them. Her skin even felt different, more sensitive. And the room had definitely gotten warmer, just in the last few moments.
“What’s your plan?” she asked.
The soldier and inventor in her questioned why it was so easy for her to submit to this shifter and his salacious looks. The jaguar inside easily pushed past those queries opening the door to the completely sensual side of her that craved his words, his stares, his touch.
“Take off your clothes,” he said slowly so that there was no mistaking what he wanted her to do.
Nisa hesitated. Why, she had no idea.
He’d already seen her naked, more than once. His mouth had found the most intimate part of her, twice. And she’d enjoyed every moment of it. So what was the deal?
Tonight had been a date and they were standing in the middle of a brightly lit bedroom. Not a dark creek or an almost darker room in an old cabin, even though shifters could see in the dark. She was being silly and that wasn’t like her.
“Is sex how everyone relieves stress?” she asked even as her fingers went to the hem of her shirt in preparation to lift it up and over her head.
His hands went to the waistband of the black shorts he wore.
“I can’t speak for what anybody else does,” he told her. “But this is not going to be just sex.”
No, it wasn’t, Nisa thought.
Not for her at least.
