"Think she'll manage?" Daemon asked, smirking as she glared at him silently.
"Probably not," the dragon said happily, spinning her around so that her back was to him and her arm crossing her chest, his long fingers catching her other arm and trapping her against him when she had tried to wriggle free, her arms crossed over her chest.
Daemon grinned appreciatively as he looked down at her chest, admiring the effect on her cleavage. She kicked his shin while he was distracted.
"Come on then, let's go see if we can get the vampires to tolerate you," he said, rubbing his bruised shin.
Dirdos released one arm and spun her back around, holding onto her hand as they headed out of the office and she found herself staring at her twin curiously, a million questions in her mind as she tried to figure out the woman. At least her efforts had allowed Letari to know love, or at least sexual pleasure, but still, it was jarring.
Letari felt eyes on her and glanced around, her smile warm.
"Stop staring at me, I'll tell you about it later," she said and Etani blushed, ignoring the two men and their interest in the subject. Was she the only one of them who hadn't had any experience in the subject? She frowned as she looked first at Jagum and then at Daemon and Dirdos.
Jagum would be a popular male in his clan, Daemon wasn't shy about bragging over the subject of his love life and Dirdos had admitted to having lovers and victims both.
She felt odd being the only one who hadn't taken a lover willingly, though she couldn't explain to herself why.
Watching Dirdos, he glanced back at her and lifted a brow in question, but she only shook her head, not wanting to discuss the subject.
They had gotten close a few times, but it had always been interrupted, and a part of her was developing a curiosity about the subject, while the rest of her was trying not to scream at the thought of being touched by any man. It was an odd feeling, and she forced it down as they headed back into her suite to find Kai and Versalis sitting on the couch.
The two vampires had been talking quietly, but the moment she stepped into the room their heads whipped around and the tension hit all new levels of hostility.
"This was a bad idea," she whispered, tugging to try and get her hand free as the two vampires glared at her, a faint hint of red in Versalis' normally soft eyes.
Kai stood slowly, his movements carefully controlled, and he approached her, his jaw tensed.
Fear filled her as he reached for her, and she tried to crush it down. Kai hadn't hurt her, but what he had asked of her was burning her.
Remaining still, she flinched as his fingers touched her cheeks, trailing up to brush her hair back from her face.
He was so tense, so carefully restrained, that she worried he might snap like a bowstring, but he didn't. Lifting her face gently, he met her eyes and his were wide with some unknown emotion.
He leant forward and rested his forehead against hers and he breathed a tiny "I'm sorry…" that she didn't think had anything to do with his reaction to her.
Her eyes closed and her fingers were light on his arms as he dragged his fingers through her hair, simply being close to her and sharing in her pain.
She could feel him battling his need to fight her or flee, but he remained still, and when her eyes opened, she found his still open and calmer.
Moving his arm down around her waist, he pulled her closer, and she breathed a soft sigh of relief as she sank into him, the warmth and scent of him enveloping her.
"Stop hogging," Versalis growled a good ten minutes later, refusing to be outdone by Kai.
Kai let go of her, and she felt his loss, panic going through her with the absence of his comfort.
Versalis glared down at her and without a word, he pulled her into him and shivered at the coolness of her, his cheek against the top of her head.
"There's my girl," he murmured, and she relaxed, glad he didn't hate her.
"Good, the other one didn't seem to have an issue," Daemon said and Versalis shifted at her sudden tension. Kai glanced at her, meeting her eyes for a moment before looking away again.
She caught Dirdos staring at Kai with narrowed eyes, his lips set in a hard line, though she couldn't tell why.
"What now?" Jagum asked, but Daemon only frowned.
"No idea. You two are the most important to deal with right now."
"Epharis," Letari chimed in, and Daemon glanced at her.
"Oh right, the lich."
"Why Epharis?" Kai asked, calmly removing Versalis' arms while ignoring the death glare of the vampire King and taking her into his arms again.
"Sobek's binding has locked her magic in. That's why everyone is suddenly afraid of her. We're seeing her without the magnetic pull, and why you feel better about being near when you're actually touching her."
Making a soft sound of distress, she looked up at Kai, but he only growled when she moved, his cheek on top of her head and refusing to let go of her again.
"Leech," she grumbled, but he only mumbled his agreement and rubbed his cheek into her hair happily.
"Why aren't you affected?" Versalis demanded, his hand still in hers.
"Letari is like Etani, so it won't affect her at all, Bast and Jagum? It seems to be a cat thing. I don't know about him," Daemon said, jerking a thumb at Dirdos. "As for me, it's just not working on me."
"More like his desire to get into her skirt is stronger than his fear," Dirdos said, and Kai looked around at the demon, his teeth bared in warning.
"What about you?" Versalis asked.
"Her magic never affected me; I've always seen her as you now see her. It's part of why I didn't just hold her down and fuck her in front of you all when you turned up."
Turning her best hostile glare on Dirdos, he met it and shrugged. "What? I didn't know you and I hadn't had a woman for years. Then one with your beauty just wanders in. It was tempting, but curiosity won out and here we are."
"Jagum tried to seduce her," Letari said, and she laughed at his indignant glare. "Oh please, like you were singing at her for any other reason."
Dirdos looked around at the werecat, impressed, but then he frowned in thought.
"How would that work? Don't you have...? You know… like your tongue?"
Jagum looked around the room as everyone waited for his answer, and then turned and stalked out.
"Jagum, come back!" Letari cried, running out after him.
"I love that crazy girl," Dirdos said happily.