Kett scowled at her. Chance remained unmoved.
“He’s cute,” she said.
Kett shrugged.
“What are you so pissed off about?”
She stopped, squeezed her eyes shut. Nothing she had any reason to be pissed off about. “Nothing,” she said. “I’m just…cranky.”
Chance touched her arm, and Kett knew she was trying to weigh up the spell. Well, that wasn’t helping with the crankiness. Being trapped in one skin was maddening. How did other people manage it their whole lives?
“Can you lift it?” she asked.
Chance frowned. “No. I…you know I’m still learning. Striker might be able to.”
Kett snorted.
“Okay, he will be able to. Whether or not you can talk him into it, I don’t know.”
“I owe him enough already. I’ll think of something else,” Kett said.
Chance started to say something, hesitated, then said, “It’s suppressing your shifting powers, isn’t it?”
Kett nodded and started walking again. She didn’t ask how Chance knew-for one thing, Chance knew a lot of things without being told, and for another, it had been a long time since she’d appeared in public with all her scars showing.
Of course, the nakedness hadn’t helped with that.
“And you don’t have any idea who did it?”
“Nope.”
“Or why?”
“No, I think I have a handle on the why. You want to keep a shapeshifter in chains, you stop her shifting.”
“Chains? We’re not talking the fun, kinky kind of chains here, are we?”
“No.” Kett chewed her own lip. “I need a smoke.”
“Thought you’d given up?”
“I gave up cigarettes. I need a cigar.”
Chance was quiet as they walked a little farther, then she said, “Kett, what the fuck happened?”
Kett sighed. “I don’t know. I really don’t.”
Chance frowned, but she didn’t press it. “How’s your leg?”
“Five by-” She saw Chance’s face and amended, “Better.”
“You need anything, give me a yell,” Chance said. She pointed to a door. “Think this is yours.”
“Cheers.”
Chance nodded and backed down the corridor. “And Bael really is cute. Fancies the pants off you too.”
“Right,” Kett said, knowing when she was being consoled.
“Have some sex. Really. It’s good for you.” Chance winked as she disappeared around a corner.
“I had no idea,” Kett said sourly, pushing the door open and coming face-to-face with Bael. Well, face to chest, really. He was lounging on the bed, magnificently bare-chested, wearing only the loose pants he’d had on under his robe.
Kett bit her lip to keep her mouth closed as she took him in. Good heavens. Sweet, merciful fuck.
Clearly, she hadn’t been paying attention before.
Bael had wonderful golden skin, a light dusting of hair and the most marvelous musculature she’d seen outside of the army. Or in it, come to think. Really beautifully defined chest, narrow waist, the sort of tight stomach that came from hours of hard exercise. Fabulous arms. Strong biceps and, even better, wonderful forearms. Sword-fighting, bow-pulling forearms.
Last night’s frantic sex in the woods had been too hurried, and too dark, to make out any details. This afternoon she’d been too preoccupied with the throbbing pain in her leg to notice anything. But now she could see old, small scars on his skin. Maybe he was more of a warrior than she’d thought.
“Kett,” he said cheerfully.
Of course, a warrior would have better survival instincts.
“How did you get here?”
He looked nonplussed. “Er, I walked.”
“I mean, before me.”
“I walked faster?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. Of course, she’d been limping around getting lost. Without being able to turn into something with superior tracking abilities, she felt half-blind.
“Kett, Kett, Kett,” he said, swinging to his feet as she shrugged off her kimono. “I know you’re crazy for my body but I didn’t expect you to start taking your clothes off so soon. However, I can’t possibly deny you,” he said, and started unfastening his trousers.
“I’m going to bed,” she snapped.
“Great. Bed is excellent. One of my favorite places to have sex.”
“Not for sex,” she said, because despite his big hard chest and delicious forearms, she was still a little mad at him. “To sleep.”
“Oh.” He looked disappointed, standing there with his clothes half-off. “You’ve been sleeping all day.”
“So?”
“Er. Are you really still tired?”
“Yes,” she said. And because that really wasn’t true and he could tell, added, “And my leg really hurts.”
“Oh,” he said again, looking really disappointed this time. “Really hurts?”
Another exaggeration. But it wasn’t pain-free.
“I could always rub it better,” he offered, brightening. “With some liniment.”
“No. It’s fine.” She shucked the shift she’d been wearing under the kimono and crawled into bed. Bael stood right next to her, all big and muscular and irritating and wrong.
“Or kiss it better?”
“It probably still tastes of liniment,” she said, pulling the covers up to her chin and closing her eyes so she didn’t have to look at his hot body anymore.
“Well, then, I’ll kiss somewhere else better. Take your mind off it.”
Kett swallowed. Beneath the sheets, her nipples puckered. Picking up where they’d left off did sound tempting.
“Because, you know, it doesn’t have to be sweaty, athletic sex.”
And why was she really mad at him, anyway? She was just overreacting. Frustrated.
“It could be gentle, tender sex. Probably still sweaty though. But we could always take a bath together afterward.”
Hadn’t she vowed to try to be more rational? Being mad at Bael for no reason clearly wasn’t rational.
“But if it really hurts,” Bael said, sounding regretful, “then I guess-”
“It’s not that bad,” Kett heard herself saying.
“It isn’t?”
“Uh.” She opened her eyes. He’d turned down the lamp and the room was sultry and dark. The scent of jasmine washed over her again from the blossoms outside. Bael stood by the bed, all big and hard and naked.
“You could try kissing it better,” she whispered, and he grinned and leapt into bed beside her. The mattress bounced and he laughed, and Kett forgot that she was mad and frustrated and laughed with him.
“You’re pretty gorgeous when you laugh,” he told her, wriggling under the covers and pinning her beneath him.
“That’s such a line.”
“No, it’s true,” Bael protested, nuzzling her neck and kissing her jaw. “You’re pretty gorgeous most of the time, actually.”
“Most. Boy, you really know how to compliment a girl,” Kett said. She knew he was flattering her and she didn’t care, because his big, hard body felt really good pressed against her. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, felt the muscles tensing in his back. Yeah, really very good.
“Well, the rest of the time you’re absolutely gorgeous,” Bael said, his stubble scraping against her collarbone.
“You don’t half talk rubbish,” Kett said, and he looked up, surprised.
“No, I mean it!”
“You don’t have to flatter me.”
“It’s not flattery.” He kissed her lightly on the lips. “I like everything about you.”
“Now I know you’re lying.” Time to put his mouth to better uses. “Didn’t you say something about kissing me better?”
Bael didn’t argue with that. He dropped his head and obediently nuzzled her breast, licking the underside of it but not touching her nipple, and she closed her eyes. When he wasn’t talking bollocks, he had a great mouth.
His hand was lightly stroking her leg, lifting it gently to rest against his hip as he kissed the curve of her breast. Kett wanted to tell him to hurry up and get to the good stuff, but then it occurred to her that what he was doing was pretty good. Clearly it had been too long since she’d had sex with anyone who had the faintest clue what they were doing.