She pulled her legs up his body, resting her calves on his hips. At the same time she reached between them, took his cock in hand, and began to stroke. Carnal closed his eyes for a moment as he growled softly and rocked into her hand. He ran his tongue slowly over her nipples, fangs skimming lightly over her breasts, not hard enough to prick or sting, just hard enough to send a jolt of desire to her core.
She didn’t know if Carnal was making love to her more to distract him from his grief over Crave or because of desire for her. What was important was that Rosie knew instinctively that she was what he needed most in the world at that moment. She also knew that he was sharing far more than just his body.
He brought his mouth back to hers and kissed her deeply while his hand moved to caress her sex. When she moaned, he broke the kiss, gave a soft snarl, and nipped at her neck.
“Wet,” he said. “Wet for me. You want me, little demon.”
Nodding emphatically, she said, “Right now.”
His head came up. She couldn’t make out his expression in the dark, but could tell that his eyes were shining. He, on the other hand, seemed to be studying her face, searching for something. What, she didn’t know.
He adjusted his hips and let her guide his cockhead to her entrance. She released her hold on him at the exact same moment he entered her, crying out at the sensation of intrusion and the pleasure of being filled deep and wide. She hoped the sounds of the storm would mask the noise she was making. She didn’t want to seem disrespectful of the household, especially not on a night such as this.
Carnal’s thrusts eventually became a slow and steady rhythm, guided by Rosie’s responses. He seemed to be hyper attuned to every move, sound, and breath. Rosie was aroused by the physicality of the lovemaking almost to the point of pain, but also by the primal noises Carnal made. When he stiffened, signaling release, he lifted himself above her and found her clit with the softest part of his thumb. Within seconds he’d coaxed a climax from her body so that she finished right after, reveling in both the orgasm and the warmth of his semen spilling inside her womb.
She wasn’t worried about pregnancy because she could control whether she conceived or not. Likewise, disease wasn’t an issue. She hadn’t mentioned it to Carnal, but during her time at Newland, she’d learned that Exiled could always tell if they were sick. At that point she knew enough about Carnal to trust that he wouldn’t take risks with her.
He collapsed on top of her, but moved most of his body to the side so that she wasn’t taking his full weight. He buried his face in her neck and began nuzzling. And purring. Against her skin, she felt his lips pull into a smile.
“Rosie,” he rumbled. “Mine.”
Her body shook with laughter at the textbook caveman statement. “You’re purring,” she said.
He rolled to her side, but left his arm over her waist. He gave her a light squeeze. “Mine.”
“You sound like a caveman, Carnal.”
“I’m not a man, Rosie. I’m a beast.” He nuzzled her ear, which managed to tickle and arouse her at the same time. “A beast who loves you.”
Rosie turned away and scooted back so that they were spooning. She grew drowsy with the sound and sensation of Carnal’s deep purr at her back, coupled with the sound of the rain lashing the windowpane. She wished she could freeze the moment in time because she was sure she would never feel so perfectly content again. “Yours,” she whispered as she clutched the muscled arm around her middle a little tighter. And she knew she’d never leave him so long as he needed her.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sometime during the night, Carnal jerked awake so suddenly and violently that it shook Rosie instantly awake. She felt the unpleasant tingles from a spike of adrenaline, courtesy of the fraction of her genetic makeup that was human. “What’s wrong?” she asked, but he didn’t answer.
Carnal sprang from the bed and began pulling his pants on. Rosie sat up and looked around, trying to identify something that had caused the disturbance.
“Dad!” he screamed into the dark room.
“Carnal. What’s wrong?” she repeated. She fumbled for the oil lamp, but wasn’t good at lighting it in the dark. With building frustration, she said, “Damn thing!”
She could tell that Carnal stopped momentarily to look at her.
“We have to go now!” He sounded like he was part way to hysteria.
“Go where?”
He didn’t answer, but tore out of the room.
Rosie finally got the lamp to light, blew out the match, pulled her shift over her head, and went after Carnal.
By the time he’d opened the door of the room where he’d slept with Rosie and taken two steps toward the stairs, Free was there with Serene right behind. Charming had come down from the attic room and was standing on the bottom tread. Rosie stood at the threshold holding the lamp, taking in the scene of the strange nocturnal family meeting.
“We have to go now!” Carnal said to Free.
With a textbook inflection of déjà vu, Free’s brow crunched together as he said, “Go where?” It was clearly more than casual curiosity. Free looked seriously concerned about the wellbeing of his oldest son.
“To get Crave. We have to get everybody up and go now!”
Free’s shoulders slumped . “Carnal…”He started.
Carnal snarled. “Listen!”
Rosie watched the expression on Free’s face change from concerned to alert as understanding washed over him. Rosie had no idea what coded message had just passed between father and son. She looked at both Charming and Serene, but they looked every bit as clueless as she felt. Charming’s gaze flicked to Rosie’s questioning look and he shrugged to confirm that he had no idea either.
Free continued to stare at Carnal as they seemed to be conducting a wordless conversation with eyes alone. Abruptly Free ended the semi-mystical connection and turned to Serene.
“The rain,” he said, eyes darting around like he was processing a deluge of thoughts. Carnal nodded. “It’s raining over the wasteland.”
Serene cocked her head, still not grasping the implication any more than Rosie did.
“It’s impossible,” Free said. “If it was just us, then maybe. But we’re counting on the humans and their weapons. We don’t have a plan.” Free started shaking his head. “It can’t work.”
Carnal snarled loudly. “It will work. It has to.”
“I can’t stand it another minute. What are you talking about?” Rosie had taken two steps closer and held up the lamp.
Free and Carnal both turned toward her, but Carnal answered. “It’s raining on the wasteland. That hasn’t happened in decades. What it means for us is that we can surprise the Rautt. Wet sand means we won’t raise any dust.”
“By the time they know we’re coming, they won’t have time to prepare,” Charming offered.
“Exactly.” Carnal looked at his younger brother. “We get Crave out and then have the humans launch their missiles. We’ll raze the place to the ground.”
Serene’s eyes were wide and her hands had come up to cover her mouth.
“We haven’t prepared our people to fight with humans. More importantly, we haven’t prepared humans to fight with us,” Free said.
“No objection you can raise will equal the advantage we could gain from surprise.” Carnal stepped in to his father as if to emphasize his point. “And you know it.” A clap of thunder punctuated Carnal’s impassioned argument right on cue.
There was a tense silence while Free’s thoughts raced around in his head. When he looked at Serene, she nodded, her eyes bright with tears at the prospect of freeing Crave.
“Let’s do it, Dad,” Carnal said quietly.
Free looked at Charming. “Go wake the elders. Tell them I said to get every able-bodied fighter ready to go to Farsuitwail. We leave in an hour.”
Charming whirled around for the steps but Carnal pulled him to a stop. “Go to Dandy first. Tell her to look for Easy at the gate. She can ride wi
th him. My crew will look after her.”
Charming looked confused. “She’s not a fighter.”
Carnal’s expression softened. “She deserves to be first to know. There’s no point in debating whether or not she should go. I don’t think anything could keep her from going.” He looked at Rosie. “You’ll understand when you find your mate.”
When Carnal released Charming, he took the steps to the attic room four at a time and was gone in a flash.
Free had cringed and looked at Carnal apologetically. “Glad you thought of that. I would have felt bad later to know she’d heard at the same time, in the same way as everybody else. My thoughts must be scattered. I’m counting on you to keep me straight.” He reached out and squeezed Carnal’s shoulder.
Next Free turned his attention to Rosie and said, “Get dressed. You’re going to help us get the humans ready.” He looked at Carnal. “Make your crew responsible for getting everybody in rotation to the gate and ready to go in an hour. Trainees, too.”
“Trainees?” Carnal scowled.
“We’ll put them on patrol north of the city. It’ll be their job to make sure that, if there are any Rautt sympathizers, they don’t get a message out. After you get your crew ready, go to the city. Find out where the mayor lives. Get him up and let him know that we’re taking the fight to the Rautt today. Get him to come up with a plan for waking the humans who know how to use the weapons and getting them ready to go by early morning. With luck, the rain will continue and make the morning dark longer. Chances are, since the Rautt have never been attacked, they don’t even have guards posted.”
“Somebody in Farsuitwail is in contact with them.”
“But it’s apparently somebody who doesn’t know about the humans’ plan to attack or the Rautt would have already come to destroy the facilities and kill a new generation of educated humans.”
Carnal nodded, looking like he’d gained a valuable insight. “All the humans don’t know. They don’t even trust each other.”
“By the time you have a plan in place with the mayor, we’ll have the trainees watching the north of the city. Take the mayor to City Hall and wait for us there. We’ll meet at the park.”
“I’ll take Rosie with me. She can help manage the humans.”
Rosie looked at Serene. “Who’s going to watch the kids at the Weavers’ Barn?”
Serene was clearly touched at Rosie’s concern. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll be leaving more people behind this time because it’s a bigger risk. Mothers of the really young, the disabled, there will be people to take care of them.”
“Okay, then.” Rosie hurried to get ready. As Carnal passed his own room on the way to Crave’s room, where he’d been staying intermittently, he ducked in, and grabbed Rosie as she was hurriedly pulling on her riding clothes. He kissed her like his life depended on it, then said, “You’re riding with me, little demon. I’ll be back for you in fifteen minutes.”
“But…”
“Mine. Rosie.”
“Yeah. We established that last night, but…”
“Fifteen minutes.”
He let her go and moved so fast he practically vanished, taking his warmth with him.
“Bossy,” she yelled after him.
Carnal never said anything he didn’t mean. To him fifteen minutes meant exactly that, not a second more or less. Rosie barely had time to wash the sleep out of her eyes and brush her teeth before Carnal had returned to pull her downstairs.
“Mom!” he yelled on the way down. “She needs something to keep the rain off. She’s fragile.”
“I’m not fragile,” Rosie protested, but he ignored her. She supposed she needed to keep up pretenses and pretend that she was. After all, her cover was that she was human.
They stopped at the closed door to Free’s and Serene’s bedroom. Abruptly the door opened. “I have this. It hasn’t been worn since it was rewaxed.” Serene shoved a duster at Rosie. It was split in the back for riding. It was big on her, of course, but would do a fine job of keeping her covered. It also had a hood with a rope string she could tie under her chin.
“Yeah,” Carnal said. “It’ll do.”
“What about the rest of you?” Rosie asked. “It’s cold out there. And with the rain…”
“Don’t worry about us, lit…” He stopped himself just short of calling her demon, as she’d warned him he would. “We’re hardy.” He touched her nose in a playful way, which was so out of keeping with the monumental event at hand.
Pulling on the coat at the front door, she said, “You seem in a good mood.”
Carnal grinned as he took it on himself to personally tie the hood under her chin. “I am in a good mood. We’re going to get my brother back.”
When he opened the door, Rosie could see that, even in the dark, through the pouring rain, unbelievable as it was, the settlement was already bustling with people preparing to muster for the pre-battle journey to Farsuitwail.
The motorcycle shed wasn’t far. Rosie had never been there. Seeing it for the first time, she realized that, like the Weavers’ Barn, it was misnamed. A hundred and forty-three motorcycles looked like a sea of bikes when they were all together in one place. Carnal walked right to his, while Rosie noted that he was parked in a prestigious spot near the entrance. His crew member, Yellow, was there, waiting next to Carnal’s bike, already astride his own. There were three dozen Exiled in the shed fueling bikes with hoses running from huge wooden drums.
“Am I ready?” Carnal asked one of them.
“Good to go, Carnal.”
“Will we be ready at the top of the hour?”
Rosie recognized the other hybrid from the bar, but he’d never been chatty and she didn’t know his name.
Carnal turned to look down at Rosie. “You get on first so I can make sure you’re protected.”
Without argument, Rosie swung her leg over the rear of the bike and pulled the sides of the coat over her legs. When Carnal was satisfied that she was settled, he mounted in front of her with a warning glance toward Yellow, who, though silent, was making a show of smirking about the way Carnal was fussing over Rosie. He started the bike and led the way out of the shed and into the night.
Rosie knew the bikes had headlights, but Carnal and Yellow didn’t switch them on. They rode side by side even though the rain must have felt punishing, and she marveled at their ability to see in the dark and navigate the rough spots in the road that hadn’t been repaired in decades.
Farsuitwail was dark except for a couple of lamp lights that stood out like beacons against the surrounding blackness. Carnal stopped in front of City Hall.
“Take her inside to wait,” he said to Yellow. “I’ll get the mayor.”
Without being told, Rosie swung off the bike and started up the steps to City Hall.
Yellow didn’t dismount, but ascended the steps on his bike and parked under the portico, which gave temporary shelter because it faced north and the rain was driving from the south. He was waiting for Rosie when she reached the top.
Without a word he strode purposefully toward the big wooden door. It was locked. Yellow looked at Rosie before shoving his shoulder into the door where it latched. The thick solid wood door flew open and she was amazed all over again by the incredible brute strength of the hybrids. She looked at Yellow, who smiled in return and motioned for her to enter.
He withdrew a box of matches he’d kept dry inside a lined breast pocket and lit one. Looking around, he found an oil lamp sconce on a nearby wall. Two matches later the lamp was lit and Rosie could make out shapes well enough to keep from tripping over things. Her shiver was a reminder that she did have a small fraction of human DNA always creating comfort issues. She gave her body a mental instruction to be warm and the chill receded instantly.
The large foyer was getting brighter as Yellow went around lighting lamps.
“You want help with that?” she asked.
“Not unless you can find another box of matches somewhere
.”
Closing her eyes, she asked the question, and instantly knew where to find matches. She walked to a corner table, opened the left drawer and said, “Oh, look. Matches.”
Yellow stopped and eyed her curiously, but said nothing. She began to light the lamps on the other side of the room. When that was done, she said, “So what now? You want to play cards?”
He didn’t seem charmed by her effort at interjecting humor into a grim situation. His reply couldn’t possibly have been delivered with less feeling. “I know what that is. I don’t have cards. I don’t play cards.”
Rosie pressed her lips together and looked around the room. “Well, there you have it, sports fans.”
Concluding that Yellow wasn’t the talkative sort, she sat down on a padded leather chair that faced the door and leaned on one arm rest, prepared to wait in silence for Carnal and the mayor.
Carnal went to the nearest house that had a light burning. He figured he’d get better information faster if he found someone awake. After he began pounding on the door, he saw a shape move by the window.
“I’m coming in one way or another,” he shouted. “Open the door now.” A man opened the door a crack. “Where does the mayor live?”
When he realized the nocturnal visit had nothing to do with him, the man opened the door wider. “Two blocks down that way,” he pointed to Carnal’s right, “and one block east.”
“I’ll show you.”
Carnal looked around the man, searching for the owner of the young voice who had volunteered to be his guide. A human boy, perhaps fourteen, stood behind the man who was probably his father, looking sleepy, but up for an adventure.
“Thank you,” Carnal said. “I need to know now. Right now.”
“Let’s go,” the boy said.
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