“No worries. My soul stays where it is.” I sighed. “Alesa did mention there might be more untapped powers, but to learn them I’ll have to go along with her notion that we can be like sisters.” I shuddered. “Can you imagine? With a family like that, I’d fall on the first available stake.”

Jerry started to speak, then shut his mouth. Restraint. Because I knew exactly what he’d started to say. If it bothered me so much I could forget Rafe’s involvement and kick Alesa to the curb. No secret power was worth putting up with her. I patted his cheek then traced the curve of his firm lips.

“Nice job. Can we move on to the kiss-and-make-up portion of the evening now?” I smiled at him and looped my arms around his neck.

Jerry glanced around at the plain concrete rooftop, then up at the clear night sky. “We have an hour until dawn and a bit of privacy. I think there’s time for full-on make-up sex.”

“On this hard concrete?” I sighed when he slipped his hand under my top. I pulled his head down for a deep and satisfying kiss. At least we’d moved on from the statue thing and the endless fight about Ian, Rafe and the demon. And I was happy to put off going downstairs. My home was no refuge, that was for sure.

Jerry sent me a mental message and we were soon shifting to fly to a deserted area of a nearby park. There was a stream glittering in the moonlight and a cushion of leaves on the ground for a bed.

“Am I allowed to see you naked, lass?” His eyes gleamed as we shifted to our human forms beneath a large oak tree. “Or did my unruly tongue get me into too much trouble for that?”

“Your tongue can be unruly. Or very talented.” I sauntered up to Jerry and toyed with the collar of his shirt. “Naughty as well.” I made quick work of his buttons and tossed the shirt away. “I think I shall make you work for a glimpse of my hideous stomach.”

“Gloriana.” Jerry groaned when I bent my head to lick a path along the muscles of his chest. I sucked one brown nipple into my mouth, then the other, enjoying the way his hands clutched my back as I gave him pleasure. I did so love to have him in my power.

“Now it’s your turn.” I lay back on the bed of leaves and held out my hands. “Whatever I do to you, do to me.”

“With pleasure.” He fell on top of me, making quick work of my top and then my bra. He gazed down at my breasts, his eyes bright with lust. “You are beautiful. I never tire of this sight.” He bent his head to swirl his tongue around each peak, causing me to gasp. If he never tired, the wonder of it was that I never failed to feel that new bite of ecstasy when he touched me. You’d think the feelings would wane, grow stale after hundreds of years. And yet each time was as thrilling as the first. As if a magic spell had been cast on us.

“Jerry.” I gripped his hair and pulled him closer as he suckled me, the draw of his mouth and the scrape of his fangs making my womb throb with longing. Finally I gently pushed him away. “My turn.”

“What now?” His eyes were drowsy as he lay back and slid his hand across my waist. “What’s your pleasure?”

“Take off your jeans, your shoes. Well, hell, just strip off.” I grinned. “I’m feeling much too lazy to do the job myself.”

“Wonder why.” He grinned and went to work on his belt, the sound of his zipper sending a thrill through me that made me reach for my own. We raced to see who could get naked first. He won, of course. My jeans never came off easily. I struggled with spandex.

“Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?” I gazed down at him, spread out for my taking. He had a rough masculine beauty that made me sigh. His sex stood tall and ready, the hair dark and curling around it. His legs were long and well muscled and his scars from long-ago battles just made him even more desirable in my eyes. I leaned over him to trail my hair over his body, across his cock, up over his stomach and then back down again.

“A man is not beautiful.” He slid his hands over my ass and tried to hold me still above him. “This, this is beauty. These full breasts that taste like heaven. This sweet, wet crease that is the gate to paradise.” He nudged my legs apart with his knee. “And then there’s this ass, so round and soft that I could write poetry to it if I had the words for such.”

“I think you just did.” I sighed as he explored me, our game deteriorating into a sensual slide of skin on skin, lips to skin and then lips to lips. He pulled me up to probe me with his tongue until I bucked and could stand it no longer. I cried out and grabbed his ears, twisting until he shoved me down hard on his cock. It filled me as another orgasm surged through me and I heard him shout my name. We breathed together, an old habit from our human days.

No, I’d not had human days. But I must have known how humans made love. Jerry and I had spent nights together before he’d turned me. He’d become my lover, teaching me things my husband had never dared. Or had I had a husband at all? My mind whirled, suddenly full of doubts about what was real and what were mere fantasies planted by some unknown entity. Why? Who? How had I really come to be in Jerry’s life?

As I lay across his chest, still connected to him thigh to thigh, heart to heart, I struggled with these questions and more. If I had never been human, what had I been before? And could Jerry love that, that thing as he loved Gloriana St. Clair? Hah! Even the name was undoubtedly a fiction. I could lose this man, lose everything with the truth. I shuddered and tightened my hold on him. Once again I’d denied him my blood, Ian’s claims about it making me withhold that pleasure. And Jerry had gone along with it. Could Ian have made up all of this? Fooled Penny somehow with his test results? I helped Jerry into his clothes, then he helped me into mine just before dawn and he left me at my door with a sweet kiss. Laurie grinned at me from the couch.

“The demon’s made herself at home in Penny’s room. You can relax. She won’t bother you during the day.”

“God, that never occurred to me. Thanks, Laurie.” I took a shower, scrubbing myself clean quickly then falling into bed as I felt the dawn hit me. Demons didn’t seem to ever sleep, which left them plenty of time for mischief. I didn’t like that idea one bit.

Eight

“I thought Rafael was going to be here.” Alesa threw herself out of my car Monday night, ignoring the guards who’d stepped forward as I’d pulled to a stop in front of Ian’s house. “I don’t see his car. Which is probably a good thing. I’m not sure I like his attitude.”

“Maybe he flew in.” I’d listened to her gripe all the way out here. She didn’t want the top down on the convertible. Her tummy was upset. No surprise there. I’d watched her down a frozen bean burrito which she hadn’t bothered nuking, a quart of Ben & Jerry’s, and two packs of Rafe’s Twinkies. Oh, and that was after the nachos she’d become addicted to. My apartment smelled like a mall food court.

“Wouldn’t blame him if he skipped this. You gave him an out. I’d jump on it if I were him.” Laurie had managed to pretzel herself into my tiny backseat.

“Who asked you? And quit breathing down my neck.” Alesa glared at Laurie. “What did you have for dinner? A whole cow?”

“At least I don’t look like one.” The were-cat smirked as she climbed out of the car.

My stomach heaved. I’d rather whatever Laurie ate during the day remain a mystery. “Alesa, you are going overboard with your eating. I swear you’re bigger tonight than you were when you first arrived a few days ago.”

“It’s all baby. And I’m sick of all this negativity.” Alesa slammed the car door, barely missing Laurie’s foot. “It can’t be good for the little one.”

“I’d bet demon babies thrive on it, devil woman.” Laurie grinned. “Didn’t you like the surprise under your pillow?”

Alesa’s screams when she’d discovered an ancient prayer book and crucifix tucked into her bed could have been heard down on Sixth Street. She’d broken land speed records getting away from them and ended up taking Laurie’s spot on the couch, muttering about her room being “defiled.”

“Keep it up, tiger. Your day is coming. When Luc snaps to the fact that he wants me back, he’ll be glad to get even with anyone who caused me pain.” Alesa sniffed.

“Obviously your evening with Laurie wasn’t a success.” I’d gone to church with Penny, then spent the rest of the evening at Jerry’s, leaving Laurie to demon-sit.

“She kept chanting, burning her shitty leaves and leaving religious things where I’d trip over them.” Alesa gestured at her with a middle finger. “Leave me with her again and you’ll regret it, Glory.” She shot me a red-eyed look.

“I’m quaking in my boots.” I glanced down. These were pretty cute but years old. Tomorrow night I’d try to find some new ones. I was actually looking forward to my shopping trip with Aggie and Flo. Another night away from any demon influences. I hated to do it to him but, if necessary, I’d get Rafe to ride herd on Alesa just to keep her safely occupied.

“Seriously, Glory, you’re starting to look like the reason for all those dumb-blond jokes.” Alesa sniffed and tossed her dark hair back over her shoulders. “If you’re not scared of me, you’re too stupid to live.”

“Not living, haven’t lived for hundreds of years.” I smiled as Penny opened Ian’s front door. “We’re here. Please tell me the ultrasound machine arrived and is ready to go.”

“Yep. Got here during the day. One of the shifters set it up.” Penny gestured for us to come in. “We’ve been playing with it, making sure we know how it works.” She leaned closer and glanced at the silent bodyguards who’d followed us inside. “Shifters have the most interesting internal organs.”

“Fascinating.” Alesa breezed past us. “Where’s the doc?”

“Here I am. Valdez and I were conferring. I took a DNA sample from him. To compare with your baby when the time comes.” Ian smiled at me then got serious when he met Alesa’s gaze. The moment he noticed Laurie behind her, he stiffened. “I see you’ve got a new bodyguard. Gloriana? Is she yours?”