Cherry was still sitting very still on the bed, hands clasped in her lap. "It's one of the rules that works the same for the wolves and for us."
I glanced behind me at them. "How do the two of you know all this?"
"With Raina and Marcus in charge, we all got to do a lot of petitioning for protection," Jason said.
"Gabriel spent a lot of time with Raina," Cherry said. "We, the wereleopards, got to spend a lot of time with the wolves."
"So when Zane moved up close, what was I supposed to do?"
"Do you want to protect him against me?" Jamil said.
I stared up at that tall, muscular body. Even if he hadn't been a lycanthrope, he'd have scared me in a fair fight. Of course, nature had made sure there would be no fair fight. Jamil outweighed me by a hundred pounds or more. His reach was twice mine. His upper body strength ... well, enough said. There was no such thing as a fair fight between the two of us. That was why I felt perfectly comfortable using weapons.
"Yeah," I said, "I want to protect Zane against you. If that's what it takes."
"Then touch him," Jamil said.
I frowned again. "Can you be a little more specific?"
"The touch is what's important," Jamil said, "not where or how."
Zane was standing at my back. I moved backwards until my back touched his body. Our bodies made a nice solid line. "Enough?" I asked.
Jamil shook his head. "For God's sake, just touch him." He motioned to Jason. "Ask for my protection."
Jason came to his side with a smile. He stood very close but was careful not to touch. Jamil put an arm across his shoulders, obviously protective, almost a hug. "There, that's it."
"Does it have to be just like that, or can I touch him anywhere that's noticeable?"
Jamil made a small sound between an umph and a growl. "You are making this too complicated."
"No," I said, "you are. Just answer the question."
"No, it doesn't have to be just like this, but it's best if you get in the habit of making the offer look normal to people."
"Why?" I asked.
"What if Zane were running from me in public? He sees you through the crowd, comes up to you. All you have to do is pretend to hug him, or even kiss him. I know you've given him your protection and none of the humans around us know anything is wrong."
I wasn't sure how I felt about not being included with the other humans, but I let it go. I drew Zane out from behind me with a hand around his waist. I'd have been more comfortable if he'd been wearing a shirt, but hey, that was my hang-up, not his. I made it my left arm, leaving my right free. I also moved back enough so that my gun wasn't pressed up against his body. Having my arm around Zane's waist, standing a little apart, made the gun under my arm very obvious. There were a lot of different ways to make threats. "Happy?" I asked.
Jamil nodded once very curtly.
Jason stepped away from him, closer to Zane and me.
"Jamil's just mad that Zane told you he had to do a submissive greeting."
"And you've reminded her," Jamil said.
"Ooh," Jason said, "I'm so scared."
A roil of power prickled through the room. I watched Jamil's brown eyes bleed to a rich yellow. He stared at Jason with wolf eyes. "You will be."
Cherry slid off the bed, kneeling behind me. She reached a hand up to me, and I took it. She licked a quick tongue across my hand, a greeting that only the leopards used, then one slender hand went to my leg, holding onto my pants like a small, shy child. She seemed to think something bad was about to happen.
I half expected Jason to come to me like the wereleopards had, but he didn't. He moved farther into the room, away from Jamil, but he didn't ask for help.
"What's the big deal?" I asked. "Jamil just offers me his cheek first, right?"
"Oh, no," Jason said, "much more fun than that."
That made me frown because I knew what Jason's idea of fun was. "Maybe I asked for something I don't understand."
"But you did ask," Jamil said, "and as our lupa it is your right."
I was beginning to suspect I'd made a faux pas. That I'd asked something of Jamil he didn't want to give and I probably wouldn't like receiving. "If you hadn't been such an asshole when we first got here, Jamil, I'd probably let this go."
"But ... " he said.
"But I don't back down, not to you."
"Not to anyone," Jason said softly.
That, too.
"If I refuse, it's challenge between us," Jamil said.
"Fine, but remember, you've had your last free pass for the weekend, Jamil."
He nodded. "I see the gun."
"Then we understand each other," I said.
"We understand each other," he said. Jamil closed the distance between us, eyes still an eerie shade of yellow.
"Don't get cute, Jamil."
He gave a quick baring of teeth. "I am doing what you asked, Anita."
Zane moved behind me, hands on my shoulders, but giving me more room to move. Cherry huddled against my legs. Neither of them moved away. I took that as a good sign. I hoped I was right.
Jamil touched my face very lightly with the tips of his fingers. "If we were in public, it would be this." He bent downward and it looked like he was going to kiss me.
He did. A soft brush of lips, fingers still holding my face. He drew back from me. When he opened his eyes, they were still that rich, golden yellow. It was a startling color against the darkness of his skin.
I had just stood there throughout, too startled to know what to do. Neither the leopards nor Jason called foul, so Jamil was doing what I'd forced him to do. Probably. If it had been Jason, I'd suspected some sort of ploy to steal a kiss, but Jamil didn't play those kinds of games.
He stayed with his hands still cradling my face. "But tonight won't be in public. Between ourselves when no one watches..." He didn't finish the sentence. He just leaned over me again.
His tongue ran across my lower lip.
I jerked back.
He let his hands fall to his sides. "You read the wolf books, Anita, I am a submissive wolf begging a dominant's attention."
"It's a variation of food begging by pups," I said. "In two adult wolves, it's a ritual of licking and biting gently at the mouth of the dominant wolf by the subordinate."
Jamil nodded.
"You've made your point," I said.
"The greeting I am trying to teach you is like our version of a handshake. You both offer your faces at the same time. It's more like a kiss."
"Show me," I said.
He leaned into me again, but this time he didn't try to touch my mouth. He rubbed his cheek along mine, rubbing his face across my ear until his face was buried in the hair behind my ear. His movement had put my face against his hair. His hair was in cornrows, and the texture was rough and soft at the same time.
Jamil spoke with his mouth still against my hair, "You have to bury your face in the hair and smell the skin."
He burrowed his face into my hair until he had to be touching skin. I heard him breathing in air. His breath was almost hot against my skin.
I tried to return the favor, but had to raise on tiptoe, one hand against his chest for balance. Zane slid away from me, and I used my other hand on his shoulder. The cornrows made it easier to put my face next to the skin of his scalp. The braids moved around my face like small thin ropes.
I could smell his hair straightener, his cologne, and under all that was him. The moment his scent hit me, I felt a rush of power, and it wasn't his. I suddenly knew that Richard was sitting on a bed, holding his mother. I felt him look up as if he'd see me standing at the foot of the bed. But I was miles away, standing at the foot of a different bed. We drew in the rich warm smell of Jamil's skin, and Richard's power broke over me in a march of goose bumps.