rogue shifter 07 - cut off Read Free Page B

you hungry?" she teased, tossing back her long golden locks with an arrogant flick of her head. She knew I hadn't fed today.
    I ignored her question. "Why am I here?"
    "I will bring you a snack. Someone sweet."
    "I don't take blood." I didn't mention that Jackie was the exception.
    She tilted her head and frowned. "That is ridiculous. How do you feed?"
    Seeing no reason to lie, I told her, "I can take energy from shifters by touching them."
    Her frown became a scowl. "That will not be entertaining at all. You are the first vampire I have had at court and I was so hoping that witnessing you attend to your needs would cause some excitement among my people." She ran a hand over her hip, smoothing out her gown and showing off her lithe figure. "The centuries can grow dull."
    "I'm afraid I'll be disappointing you and your followers." I made every effort to keep my tone neutral and non-confrontational. I wasn't an idiot. She could kill me with a snap of her fingers.
    "When your hunger becomes too much to bear, you will take whom I offer. We have no shifters here." She said the word shifters as if it were abhorrent to consider having them at court.
    "I won't feed from innocents."
    "We will see how long your morals hold as your body begins to starve."
    The room darkened and I fell to the floor, returned to my former state. Sadly, I was no wiser as to why I was brought here. Surely it wasn't for entertainment purposes as she'd hinted because, if that were the case, she could have taken any vampire.
    Without stimulus, time slowed. I focused my mind on warm memories of Jackie and Charlie, doing all I could to stay sane and ignore the gnawing pain.
     
    We were all in the living room. Charlie, only four, giggled from his seat on the couch. "Mommy, you can't dance good."
    "I'm trying to learn. It's hard."
    "S okay, 'cause you fight really good. Fighting's more 'portant than dancing." As usual, Robin Hood was carefully placed beside him on the couch, open to an illustration of Robin fighting with Little John in the river.
    "Not at a wedding," Jackie sighed. Sinc and Gabe were having their mating ceremony soon and Jackie was practicing with me. Sinc had told her there'd be lots of dancing.
    She was fighting my lead. I pulled her closer to my body, her lean muscles molding to mine perfectly. "Relax. You're having trouble giving up control."
    "Duh." She rolled her eyes. I raised an eyebrow. We were trying to break Charlie of that same habit. "This partner stuff doesn't come naturally to me."
    I grinned. "Kind of late to tell me that, don't you think?"
    She whacked my shoulder. "You know what I mean."
    I tucked a clump of hair behind her ear, then kissed the perfect line of her jaw. "There are times when you allow me to take the lead." I teased.
    "Mmm. Hmmm." She nuzzled against my chest, her mouth curving up.
    "Dancing is similar." I spoke into her fragrant hair.
    "I don't think so..."
    "Think of it as foreplay." I whispered. She gasped then giggled against my shoulder.
    "That's better, Mommy. You're 'laxed now."
     
    Sprawled on the wooden floor of my prison, I could not contract or stretch my muscles to form a smile, but it was there just the same.
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
    "Where the heck are we?" Charlie asked, throwing the leather jacket Sash had gotten him for his last birthday on the floor by his feet.
    I looked around, not sure where we'd ended up. The room was full of exercise equipment. "The gym."
    My sixteen year old son gave me that sneer that's unique to teenaged boys. "I can see that it's a gym. I worked out at the vamp villa with Sash for two hours yesterday." He rubbed his shoulder as if it was still sore. "I don't need more time in the gym."
    "This isn't what you think. Calm down."
    "You want me to calm down?" He took in my attire and groaned. "You showed up in the middle of the movie looking like some kind of terrorist. Then you dragged me away before it ended like I was a little kid," he bit out, fuming. "Jay and Grady are gonna be