Loving Lucius (Werescape) (35 page)

Because when Augustus couldn't think of anything else to teach me in the lab, he sent me to the surface to sit with a group of teenagers and a pleasant Shifter more Augustus's age, pouring bullets in a dark portion of the stable's structure built from planking where lines of bright white light fussed about being barred from observation of our aloof activities hidden by the building's shadowy interior. Barred? Yes. Because the light bitched through the cracks between the boards used to construct the walls. But pouring bullets seemed important enough to shut out the annoyed sunlight and drive us into secrecy. I suppose. Everyone needs to know how to make ammo.

I suppose.

Joy. My life is so damned significant that Lucius' sire wants me to learn how to make my own ammunition. That's got to mean I'm of some value in the bigger picture. Who'd teach the enemy how to make weapons to use against the group? But did Augustus plan for the heat from the roaring fire that kept the coals molten orange to melt me into a pool of saltwater if I sat here for more than an hour? Surely that was the point of this torture. I choked down a snort.

Lab work, gardening, and pouring bullets. It won't be long before I became completely self-sufficient. Why the endless struggle to continue learning? To hone my survival skills? Now there dangles a sweet question. It can't be because I'm a hybrid. I am Lucius' mate. Plain and simple. Or if Augustus keeps me busy, I can't spy too much. Seriously, Augustus has to be helping me learn how to take care of myself or help the compound function. Yes. That's it. He's all about the compound.

Or Augustus just wanted me out of the lab so he can privately study Shifter genetics. Me, the potential spy. I'm in the way. I slid my gaze from the orange-hot flames lapping over black firewood to our teacher.

Tiberius. He watches the young man kneeling two feet away from me pour the last of the liquefied lead into the ceramic mold. "Good job, Gordian. Poured effortlessly like a Shifter of my thirty-eight years makes a bullet. Now," he swung his brown gaze around to eye the four of us waiting for him to announce our dismissal, "tomorrow I'll teach you how to choose the best fuel to maximize your fire's heat. See you then." He gave us the official nod of release.

Forget lingering and having Tiberius think of something to add. My body ached. Kneeling for an hour could really tear up a person's ankles. Somehow I rose and I leapt for the door.

The fourteen-year-old Claudius, Augustus' beanpole nephew that towered a good head above mine shoved the door open into late afternoon sunlight.

Who cared if I looked as desperate to be done with ammo production as the youths plowing through the lot of them to make good on my escape? I clung to the tall gawky form's shadow, stepping into the bitter sunlight where I squinted happily.

Not so much I couldn't see Lucius speaking to Augustus near the community shower.

Thank goodness. The four days of training would end now that I'd be focusing on the Mating Fever. Doing my share. But I can brag I know how to make penicillin and pour bullets.

Lucius caught our movement, met my gaze, and flashed me a killer grin.

My heart swooped.

He wants to see me. Can he tell I want to see him? I grinned.

I should run. Impossible the way my ankles fee. And if I ran to him and he didn't act equally excited, I'd look like an idiot. Time to just remain calm. I strode toward his direction.

Sire and son matched my move and approached me. Both tall. Their bloused camouflage pants and black combat boots snapping up the space between us so quickly my heart started drumming.

Lucius was so strong and confident. My Lucius. How did my terrifying situation with Langston turn into this convenient comfortable marriage? One that defied logic and sucked the air from the world to the point I couldn't gulp down a deep breath fast enough.

Three steps and I'd be there.

He reached for me.

Right in front of everyone. My uncontrollable smile had to be beaming.

He slid his hands beneath my arms and pulled me against his solid chest, leaning those lips down, to press them against my mouth. His fiery yellow Wolf gaze burned away his blue eyes.

My mate won't need to read me again. I raised up on my toes and met his lips, snaking my arms around his broad shoulders.

His mouth sucked mine into a pucker inside his firm lips then released his mouth's hold so I could stare up, losing myself in his blue eyes. "Missed you. And I'm home to save you from learning how to make bio-fuel."

No. I know my smile flat-lined. I flicked a slitted gaze to my somewhat grinning father-in-law while sliding my palms down the cotton sleeves barring my touch from the undulating iron musculature of my mate's arms.

Augustus shrugged. "I promised to keep you busy."

"You didn't tell me you were going to make her pour bullets," Lucius growled. "That's not healthy for women of child-bearing age. Have you lost your mind?"

Augustus smirked at Lucius. "She was worried. It kept her mind on other things."

"Come on, Elise," Lucius' voice dropped from snarl to a calm low note. "Let's go talk. We have some packing to do."

Packing? I couldn't read any hint of the reason for a trip. But he said we. Maybe that implied I would be going along? What about Violet? Augustus couldn't possibly be planning to send her away. He needs her in his game of cracking the aliens' covert operations through decoding alien DNA.

We descended underground to our personal suite and closed out the corridor.

He suddenly grabbed me off the floor, hefted me up at eye level, and whirled me around in the air like a child. "Gods-damn, I missed you." With a firm kiss on my lips, he sat my derriere on the bouncing edge of the mattress and began stripping off his camouflage shirt.

Baring all that warm succulent skin of his bulging muscular arms. "I missed you too." But who is going where?

"Violet will be staying with Drea and Augustus. He wants to keep her close and safe until we return."

Just what I thought. "We?"

He winked and dropped his shirt on the bed, grabbing the hem of his black short-sleeved t-shirt and tugging it from where he'd tucked it beneath his waistband, revealing the taut skin stretched across the lines of his ribcage. "Yes, we. You and I are traveling to the Oregon Territory for a meeting of the Elders."

Who cared about the elderly when something as perfect and supple as the skin on his belly was within arm's reach? I had to focus on his bright blue eyes, or I'd never get any answers. "Who are these old farts?"

Lucius's excitement faded into an almost pouty partial scowl. "They are not old farts." He suddenly threw his head back, laughing, and yanked his shirt over his head.

Strange laughter not the usual from the Shifter who had grown attached to me. Come to think of it, this is the first time I'd seen him with stubble peppering his scalp. He must have ignored shaving. Why? To return to me? And the laughter? Is he trying to change our plans? Make me stay here? I'm going with him to the Oregon Territory. What sane woman wouldn't go with that narrow waist and enthralling flesh calling her name? He couldn't catch me to tie me up and leave me behind, even if he wanted to.

"You're smiling," he cooed.

Of course he cooed with me staring at those chiseled abs. Better get the subject headed in the right direction or he'd have to leave me here when he departed for Oregon because we had chair sex instead of packing and ran out of time. I rolled my eyes up to his gaze, too quickly to make anything out of the touchable mounded muscles between ribs and blue eyes. "You must have missed me if you didn't stop long enough to shave your head."

He grinned and grabbed a chair.

The chair. Although, riding his stallion sounded like the perfect alternative to heading out for the Elders...Touching would have to wait so we could pack. There's always time to ride his stallion to the old-fart meeting and back. I choked down a chuckle. "When do we leave?"

He settled into the metal seat and began unlacing one of his combat boots. "Tomorrow morning. For now, we plan. You and I will ride to The Black Hills. That will take a few days. But if we leave tomorrow," his blue eyes were all lit with sparkling enthusiasm, "we won't be rushed."

Yes. No rushing. Didn't he just say ride? With all those addictive dips and bulges fighting against my touch...Alone. Him and I. Just us. No bloody garden, penicillin, or bullet molds.

"You do want to go?" he asked, leaning toward me, reaching for his other foot and boot, his arm muscles flexed like a braided loaf of golden bread.

"Of course." Lord, if he changed his mind.

"Don't worry about Violet. She'll be fine with my sire and Drea. Drea loves children. Even those hitting puberty." He winked again.

Probably because puberty led to sex and touching. All sorts of problems arose after that lovely point in life. "Yes. I want to go. And spend time alone with you. Just us, Lucius." And Violet can feed Augustus mind-boggling points. No problem.

Lucius' yellow eyebrows stretched into an almost perfect line. He studied me for the length of three breaths and turned his attention to his bootlace.

Had I said something wrong? Maybe he really no longer wants to take me along with him. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. You're still taking me with you. Aren't you?"

He moved so quickly I couldn't think to react. One second I was alone. The next, his muscles engulfed me in one warm all-consuming embrace.

There's nothing like being wrapped up in a cozy squeeze.

Skin. Everywhere.

"Of course I'm taking you with me." The rounded tip of his slightly-wider-than-narrow nose touched the end of mine.

Pressing the air extremely tight in the space between our lips.

He gently settled the firmness of his forehead against mine. "You didn't say anything wrong. I just had to fight with Wolf who wanted to mate. And, yes, he always wants to mate. But he's been disgusted with me since I forced him to go on errand for Augustus these past four days."

His warm breath caressed me into a heap of panting eagerness after that point. But I could still think. So Wolf wanted to mate that badly. This Mating Fever is pretty powerful. "It's a good thing the Mating Fever creates life instead of kills like the fever that wiped out Josie's kin."

His body slightly hugged me tighter, then those arms slipped away from me.

Why?

He rose.

No. I want to be all cozy. But the comfort might lead to sex. So, good thing if I'm leaving on a trip with him. Better to pack than be left behind.

Lucius grabbed a saddlebag from the wall locker and stuffed a few pieces of clothing inside the leather pouch's gaping interior. "You know the only reason you're not pregnant is because I refused to let Wolf at you when you ovulated."

What? "You did?" I ovulated? What does it matter when he's so adorable and serious talking about us? Us. Seeing him so emotional when it came to our relationship chased away any doubt about us that continually wormed into my thoughts. "How did you manage that? Wolf should have been crazed. I don't remember you acting crazed."

"A Wolf's senses are extremely strong and synchronized to its mate's biorhythms. My Wolf knows when you are fertile. " He winked smugly. "I held back until on the trail. Now, help me pack." He thrust a nose toward several small drawstring bags and tins he must have dropped on Violet's perfectly made bed. "Bring that food over. You can help load up our bags."

Anything to get him alone on the trail. The trail that apparently promised all sorts of excitement. For me. I stood at his side minutes later.

"Here," he handed me another saddlebag. "Check each container of food to decide if there's anything else you'd like to take along. Then pack the containers away." He towered, moving effortlessly, speaking with a soft yet firm voice.

Commanding but giving me options. My Lucius' façade could become so soft and sweet when I got him alone but remained solidly commanding when I needed him to be. Exactly how I liked him. So, just how long would we be traveling alone? "How long is the journey to the Oregon Territory ?"

He chuckled and stuffed an extra pair of socks in his bag. "Probably too long now that you've confessed you want to spend time alone with me." He winked. "We have a few extra days travel time if we leave tomorrow. And the sooner the better."