From that, the PWP had sprung. What Lonnie had convinced himself would be a way to leap ahead several steps to success had actually turned into a problem.
The damned PWP had become viable, and he spent as much time shielding his activities as he did working the system.
Frustrated and annoyed that things weren't going the way he'd intended, he pushed himself harder inside the malleable woman beneath him. He came hard, but the climax left him wanting. Melissa enjoyed it too much.
“Lonnie.” She moaned his name again when he pulled out, conflicted by shame and enjoyment, that familiar look of chagrin on her pretty face.
Annoyed with her, he had no intention of letting her come. “I'm so sorry, my dear. I just realized I have something urgent awaiting me. We'll take this up again the next time you're in town.” A not so subtle way of making her leave.
“And I just took a shower. I guess I'll head in again—”
“No. I'm afraid you'll have to go now.” He raised a brow when she tried to argue.
“But I'm—”
He interrupted again. “You're what? A whore who enjoys a fat cock up her ass?
Yes, you are. So you should wear your shame home. Let it soak into your panties and remind you where you belong.”
At the word belong she subsided. “Yes, Lonnie.” So incredibly easy to maneuver. Melissa no longer provided a challenge. A pity, but she'd soon have to go.
He sighed. “I do look forward to our next meeting. Now out you go.” She quickly dressed and left without another word. The cow. He hurried into the bathroom and showered, eager to rid himself of her stench. Cleaning himself, he put into plan a new course of action, one that would certainly benefit him in the long run. And maybe he'd find out where the hell Jack Keiser was hiding. A loose end he definitely needed to tie up on the off chance the bastard knew more than Melissa had said.
Lonnie whistled under the hot spray, knowing he wouldn't dream anymore tonight. Melissa had been good for one thing at least.
Ava stared at her grandmother the next day, dreading this meeting. Alicia had called everyone into her office. The spacious conference room a few doors down would have better served everyone, but her grandmother preferred her cozy space.
A large desk area sat against the far wall, while five Circs, Morgan—a cousin so distant, she wasn't sure the blood tie even existed—Sheridan, her grandmother, and Ava occupied the seating area. She found it no great surprise that Gunnar took the chair farthest from her.
Apparently, the sexual play yesterday had made him more than wary. Too bad, mate. You’re going down. Right underneath me. She smiled at him and winked, and he scowled back. Ava hadn't realized it before, but running her mate to ground was actually turning out to be rather enjoyable.
Jesse and Olivia looked at Gunnar, then exchanged an amused glance.
“Fuck off,” Gunnar growled at Jesse. “I'm not in the mood.”
“You sure?” Ava asked sweetly.
Morgan coughed to hide his laughter. Kisho didn't grin, but his eyes sparkled with amusement.
Sheridan and Jules continued to talk in low voices with her grandmother.
Though anyone wanting to know what they conversed about could easily hear. Hell, just about everyone in the room was Circ through blood or relation. At the thought, she suddenly missed her brother very much.
Her grandmother raised her head and looked directly at Ava. “Explain.” Everyone turned to Ava.
She sighed inwardly and pulled her inner shields tight. “Grayson is in trouble.”
“The forecaster?” Kisho asked. “I'd wanted to talk to him last week, but he left before I could. I had an odd dream about him.”
Morgan frowned.
“Not that kind of dream,” Kisho continued, a flush on his handsome cheeks.
Ava thought him adorable. So strong yet almost shy when it came to dealing with his mate. The sensitive Circ. Her gaze immediately sought his opposite.
Gunnar—the antithesis of sensitive.
“Jesus, Kisho. Is that a blush?” Gunnar snickered.
Jules interrupted just as Morgan opened his mouth. “Ava, please. Before this turns into a brawl. What is it about the psychic we need to know?”
“How about, he's her brother?” Morgan replied and steepled his fingers over his chest.
Jules scowled. “Grayson is your brother? Then that means he's Circ, right?”
“Um, yes.” She tried to ignore the grumbling and irritation clearly visible on the team's faces. “I think he's in trouble. He sent me a jumble of thoughts and images I'm having trouble processing.”
Jesse blinked. “Your brother is telepathic too? I thought Grayson was like Hayashi and saw the future.”
Ava shook her head. “Not really. He's a powerful telepath, but I'm not.” She ignored Gunnar's muttered Thank God. “It hurts when he forces the contact, so by sending to me the way he did, I know he's in trouble.”
“Your brother.” Jules's low voice rumbled through her. The true alpha of the team, regardless of her and her grandmother's power, Jules commanded without even trying. “We've avoided this because Mrs. Sharpe told me to. And we've had enough to worry about with Jack and Melissa's defections. But I really think the time has come for you to explain some things.” He looked to her grandmother as if giving her the opportunity.
“Oh no.” Alicia fingered the pearl at her ear. “Let the girl tell it. You'll have less questions that way. Ava likes to talk.”
“Does she ever,” Gunnar had to add.
“Shut it, Frederik.” Pleased with his scowl, Ava did her best to answer the questions that had been building for days. “Well, you obviously know I'm Circ, or at least, an earlier version of what you are now. So is Grayson.” Sheridan nodded. She'd treated Grayson months earlier, when he'd had been undercover, working alongside Raul LaGarda, of all people.
Ava knew Grayson hadn't told her everything before when she'd asked. She had a feeling her idiot brother had answered the rest of her questions with that migraine of information he'd sent her. Now she just had to reach through the mind-blowing pain for answers.
“My parents are like me, as is Grandma.”
Everyone stared at Mrs. Sharpe with speculation.
“But we're different than you. We were born this way, for one.” Sheridan's blue eyes widened. “Amazing. Again a case of science catching up with what nature had intended. I never saw you change, Ava. Do you look like the others?”
Ava didn't need to see Gunnar to feel the sexual energy directed her way. She knew the arrogant Circ had liked the look of her in her beast's form that brief time he'd seen her. But not half as much as she liked him, any way at all. She cleared her throat. “Um, yes. Kind of. I don't get as large as you do. Actually, I only grow a few inches in height. And my muscles aren't huge. My bones change, and I'm really, really fast. I have the ability to influence my body's density. That's the most scientific way to explain it, though I don't even think that's technically the right of it.”
Kisho leaned forward on the couch, where he sat next to his mate. “So…what?
You can change, but you don't look all that different from the way you look now?”
“You need to show us.” Jules didn't so much ask as order.
“Yeah.” Gunnar nodded. “I didn't catch that much of you when we fought Montaña. I was too busy trying to kill the bastards threatening your 'frail human shell.'”