hidden talents (13 page)

“It can"t feel bad to rub it. You"re doing it a bit now.”

For once, he didn"t blush - probably because she was. “It doesn"t feel bad to rub it. When I"m coming, getting more pressure there feels great.” His eyes darkened. “You were perfect, Ari. Your pussy was so tight on me you nearly sent me out of my mind.”

She remembered how he"d kept thrusting even as he shot. She clenched her hand on the washcloth she"d forgotten she was holding. “Can I kiss it?” she blurted.

The subtle tension in him eased. He smiled and sprawled back for her.

She crawled over him and licked him right where he"d been fingering

himself. It seemed natural to cup his balls while she did it, and even more natural to start giving him head when he hardened. She loved the way he moaned for her, the way his body heaved and both sets of fingers kneaded her scalp. He was as sensual as an animal would have been, and she found that incredibly erotic.

He was gentle too, and that just made her chest ache.

When his thighs began to quiver, she knew they"d soon be on to the next course.

“Man,” he said, shoving across her tongue one last time as far as he dared.

“Those enchanted condoms aren"t going to last long.”

∞

Ari sure knew how to help him regroup. Once she"d brought him up with her mouth, she"d let him take her doggy style, which - not surprisingly - was one of Adam"s favorite positions. His wolf instincts activated, he slammed into her so hard they both had to brace on the headboard. It was a struggle not to let his claws jut out, but he figured he"d given her enough to adjust to. Her responsiveness made him hot all over, her increasing surrender to pleasure. He saved one hand to rub up and down her front: from her sharp-tipped breasts to her rounded belly to the slippery button of her clit. Her cries got looser, her orgasms more intense. He didn"t want to come himself, because the spells on the rubbers were only good for one go. He held back until he shook, then shouted like a berserker as he let loose at last.

She reached under herself to rub him where his gland had swollen up like a crazy mother again. The extra pressure sent him through the roof. He came so hard he stopped breathing, absolute stabs of pleasure bolting up his spasming cock. When the cataclysm finally ended, he gasped for air and moaned.

This spelled the end to his consciousness. He fell asleep like a stone, barely waiting to go under until his face hit the bed. When he woke, hours later, he was curled so tightly around Ari you"d have thought she was trying to escape.

Alarmed by that, he returned to his own room.

Ari and Adam met up with his team early the next morning, gathering in the alley beside Nate"s loft. Nate had parked their unmarked black response van there.

Its double back doors were open as they walked up. Rick, Carmine, and Tony were setting up a listening post in the bay, the various desks and pieces unfolding from compartments inside the walls. Aloof from their bustle, Nate leaned cool as a cucumber on the back fender. He wore a tight black T-shirt, artfully faded blue jeans, and a tailored black leather jacket that filled Ari with envy. The fact that the jacket wasn"t overshadowed by the hotness of the man inside it really said something. As if he knew how fine he looked, he was smugly sipping the contents of a tall Starbucks cup.

Actually, make that
Star’s Brew
. The logos were so similar the resemblance must have been intentional. Ari guessed Starbucks couldn"t sue for infringement here.

“Got yours, boss,” Nate said, reaching behind him for another cup. “Yours too,” he added to her. “Since I was guessing, it"s a cinnamon cappuccino with two sugars.”

Flattered, which was probably what he"d intended, Ari accepted it. “I like any kind of coffee as long as it isn"t black.”

Nate smiled down at her lazily, clearly pleased with himself. The long black hair he"d combed into a ponytail shone as bright as glass. Ari wondered if his styling products were magical.

Beside her, Adam rumbled out a low growl.

“Sorry, boss,” Nate said cheerfully. “Couldn"t help admiring. I forgot how pretty some girlies look at the crack of dawn.”

Adam muttered something under his breath.

Ari smiled at the lid of her cappuccino. If she looked pretty, it was because Adam had worn her out enough to sleep well.

The memory of him bucking into her from behind tightened her pussy. The hoarse cries he"d made had been arousing and unforgettable - as was the feel of his thick organ. The skillful way he used it was enough to turn any woman into a size queen.

When her tongue went around her lips, it wasn"t only to lick off foam.

“Stop,” Adam said in an undertone, touching the back of her hand lightly.

Ari started. She"d forgotten he could feel her reactions. Before she could apologize, a shadow blocked the sky above them.

“Wait for me,” cried a soft voice from overhead.

They all looked up to see Grant the gargoyle gliding down from above.

Between the van and the dumpsters and the fact that Grant was nearly as wide as the alley, landing was a challenge. He did it neatly, tucking his wings so they didn"t scrape the brick walls.

“Grant,” Adam said warningly. “This is police business.”

“I know,” Grant said, his cute goblin"s head bobbing. “The Eunuch is my people"s enemy too.”

Tony had stepped out of the van and was gaping. “It has a name?”

“
He
,” Grant said, drawing his head higher. “I"m a person just like you.”

Tony looked embarrassed, but Adam believed in rules. “Person or not, you aren"t an RPD officer.”

“I can be useful,” Grant insisted. “No one notices my people. We"re as

ordinary as pigeons. I know you"re going undercover. I can be your eye in the sky.”

“He has a point,” Rick said, also stepping from the van. “Even with the wires, he might see things we can"t.”

“I won"t
do
anything,” Grant promised, sounding as if he were trying not to plead. “I"d just watch over you and report. You can"t deny my people have experience at that.”

Adam dragged one hand down his mouth - his thinking gesture, Ari was

learning. “You"ll wear an earpiece,” he said. “You"ll take orders from Rick and obey them to the letter.”

“Agreed,” said the gargoyle, bouncing a tiny bit on his giant paws.

As if already regretting the concession, Adam trailed out a sigh. He waved the other men ahead of him toward the van. Ari saw her presence wasn"t required yet.

“I like your hair painting,” Grant said in a polite aside to her. “That"s a powerful character.”

Ari"s hand went to her pointy platinum locks with their red dyed swirl. “A friend of mine drew this for me. A human friend from Outside. I"m pretty sure it"s just a design.”

“It"s an old rune,” Grant said firmly. “For concentration. It focuses mental powers. Perhaps your friend found it in a book?”

Perhaps he had, though Maxwell hadn"t mentioned it. She was about to ask Grant more when Adam leaned out of the van. “We"re ready for you,” he said.

Ari"s nerves abruptly coiled twice as tight. She hoped she was ready too.

∞

After they assured themselves the subdermal bugs were in working order, Nate drove them out to Poughkip where Adam could practice using his new skill.

He"d accidentally set his toothbrush on fire that morning, so he knew it was active. Although his cover didn"t require him to be a good firebug, the sanctity of his eyebrows would benefit from him learning to ignite objects on purpose.

They parked in an empty cornfield, out of sight of houses or paved roads.

Poughkip was still the Pocket, but it was rural. Rick expressed his faith in his alpha by forcing Adam to don a firesuit. He followed that by setting up a barrier for the others to crouch behind.

“The gargoyles gave me a
small
gift,” Adam reminded him. “They didn"t turn me into a character from a Stephen King novel.”

“Sure.” Rick handed him a fire-rated helmet. “But better safe than sorry.”

Grant put the icing on the annoyance cake by landing in the stubbled field to watch.

The next half hour was quite possibly the most embarrassing of his life. He tried to concentrate. Then he tried to relax. He visualized different types of fire so vividly his brow broke into a sweat. No matter what he did, he couldn"t raise so much as a spark.

Finally, he yanked off the helmet to take a break. “Crap,” he said. “Maybe I"m only good with toothbrushes.”

Seeing he"d stopped, Grant took two flapping four-footed hops toward him.

To Adam"s relief, the gargoyle had been a mute peanut gallery. The way he smiled down at Adam led him to believe Grant wasn"t as young as he"d thought.

Gargoyles had long life spans. Maybe youth was relative.

“You"re not entirely off track,” Grant observed pleasantly.

“Do you know what I"m doing wrong?” Adam was desperate enough to ask.

Grant closed his yellow eyes to consider this. “What were you thinking about when you set the toothbrush alight?”

A hint of heat crept into his cheeks. “Um, I was thinking about Ari.”

Grant"s mouth split into a giant grin. “Perhaps you should try thinking of her again.”

Adam had been trying not to think of her, so he could concentrate.

Thoroughly sick of the helmet, he tossed it to the ground. Right about now, he was willing to try anything.

“Your hands are your emitters,” Grant said. “The bracelets we put on your wrists are designed to channel your power through them. Stretch them out and, er, maybe thinking about touching Ari somewhere nice.”

Adam stretched out his hands and thought about caressing her pretty breasts.

The power whooshed through his palms like it had been storing up. A patch of dried cornstalks, maybe a foot across,
phoomed
alight a short distance in front of him. Adam watched the merry flames dance with his jaw hanging.

“Good,” Grant said. “Now slowly, gently, close your fingers again. You want to think
cool, cool, cool
, and imagine it going out.”

It took two tries, but the fire snuffed out as promised.

“Wow,” Adam said, doubly amazed for having tried and failed at first.

A chorus of cheers broke out from behind the fire barrier.

“Awesome, cuz!” Rick called. “Now do it again.”

∞

One he"d picked up the knack, Adam learned quickly. It wasn"t yet noon, and he could set most things he wanted ablaze on the first try. The fires weren"t big, but they"d be enough to catch Henry Blackwater"s eye.

Ari loved watching his face light up each time he succeeded. Alpha

responsibilities notwithstanding, Hot Cop had a boyish streak.

She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets to keep from clapping. That

morning Adam had returned her clothes. She had a feeling the mysterious Maria had been at them, and that Ethan"s mother was a clean freak. Ari"s oversized white T-shirt was now stain free, the worst rips in her black jeans had been mended, and all her mementos were once more securely fixed to her de-sleeved Yankees jacket. She looked a little too tidy, to be truthful, but was glad to have her own garments back. The way Adam tugged at her, she could use the reminder of who she was and where she came from.

He wasn"t her forever boyfriend. He was her partner for now.

With that in mind, she reminded herself not to take her Yankees jacket on their hunt for Blackwater. No matter what happened with the Eunuch, she wanted her favorite link to happier times to survive unscathed.

“You just need one more item for your disguise,” Tony said. He pulled a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses from the pocket of his gray hoodie.

Adam took them and put them on. Now he looked like a hot egghead.

“So,” he said, mugging for them, “would you mistake me for an Outsider?”

This was when Ari realized she hadn"t seen any people in glasses here.

“Hey,” she exclaimed. “How come none of you guys need them?”

Tony and Rick snickered.

“It"s a citywide school program,” Adam said. “Every kid gets his vision fixed by the elves for free.”

“That"s cool,” Ari said.

Rick and Tony laughed louder.

“There was a scandal some years back,” Nate explained. “A group of high school students were caught using enchanted eyeglasses to cheat on tests.”

“And to surf the net in class,” Tony added. “Even as a youth, I was scoping out guy candy.”

Rick"s laugh trailed off on a sigh. He clapped his brother on the shoulder, but his face was a little sad.

“One other thing,” Carmine said, sounding reluctant to bring it up. Adam"s only married team member was stocky but not fat, his brown curly hair almost as thick on his arms as it was up top. Ari concluded his wife must like bearlike guys.

“What other thing?” Adam asked.

“Uh, well, you marked her,” Carmine said, “and you"re supposed to be a

human Talent, not a werewolf. Maybe you ought to take away those bruises.”

“Oh,” Adam said, seeming startled that he"d forgotten.

“I can do it,” Ari offered. “You don"t have to bother.”

Adam"s men suddenly got quiet. Was this because their lieutenant had

marked her in the first place? Or because she"d volunteered to heal herself? Or maybe Adam"s team was staring at the ground because she hadn"t done it already.

Just how serious was this marking thing?

“That"s fine,” Adam said, nodding at her gravely.

Though he wasn"t acting like she"d insulted him, she still had the impression she"d put her foot in it.

∞

“Have you been Outside?” Ari asked Adam.

They sat together in a booth in the same crowded coffee shop where she"d found Donnie West. Because the gofer was currently in secure lockup, this seemed as good a place as any to dangle themselves as bait.

Adam leaned closer to her across the table. “I lived in New York for two months as part of my Academy training, so I"d understand the criminals who cross over. We shouldn"t talk about this here, though. It"s noisy, but some creatures have sharp ears.”

“Right,” she said and then couldn"t speak at all. She tried to picture Adam in Manhattan. Riding the subway. Running in his wolf form in Central Park. Could they have crossed paths without knowing it?