But he gripped her around the waist a little more and pumped his hips once to make his point. “I like this part of you. No, I love that you got so worked up. You can do this for me anytime.”
She just shook her head. “How am I supposed to do that and still remain a civilized part of our society?”
He shrugged then kissed her. When he drew back, he said, “Well, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s something we’ll just have to work on, set some boundaries, have a couple of signals.”
“Oh, you mean like when you see my fangs emerge, you’ll know I intend to run off into the forest?”
She was sarcastic, but he pumped his hips again, and she groaned against him. “And I’ll follow you every time.”
He began sucking on her neck. Then he had new idea. “I think turnabout’s fair play, don’t you?”
“We should get back,” she said, but her voice was little more than a whisper.
He licked her neck and what do you know, her vein rose for him. The thought of taking her down his throat brought his cock to attention once more and she groaned again. “Do it, Leto. Just do it.”
He bit her and sucked, then went to work on her, driving his hips hard once more.
A couple of hours later, Grace congratulated Brynna on her win. The warrior had a gold medal around her neck suspended on a purple silk ribbon. She was taller than Grace by at least two inches and couldn’t seem to stop smiling.
Grace took deep breaths as Leto slapped Brynna on her back and fawned over her. She could see the level of friendship they shared: best friends. Just terrific.
Grace wasn’t used to having a boyfriend but she really didn’t like that she was so ridiculously jealous.
Marguerite drew close and elbowed her softly. “Hey, do you want me to boil her in oil for you?”
Grace glanced down at her, startled. “I … uh … what do you mean? Why would you say that?” She tried to laugh, but the sound came out a little strangled.
“You look like you’re ready to kill her.”
Grace sighed and looked away. “I’m going out of my mind. I mean, he had a life while I was gone.”
“Leto wasn’t sleeping with her. I know that for a fact. Bryn and I are good friends. She’s good people. You can trust her.”
Grace looked down at Marguerite and turned a shoulder to the warm exchange five feet away that was driving her crazy. “I know and I wasn’t exactly a saint while I was gone. The whole thing is too ridiculous for words. I just can’t seem to control how I feel. It’s the breh-hedden.”
“You know, usually it’s the other way around. The men get horribly possessive, although I did see it once with Parisa when I hit on Medichi.”
“Wait, you hit on Antony? When? Oh, my God, Thorne must have gone ballistic.”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“And Parisa?”
“She wanted to tear my face off. She had just launched herself at me, and was ready to get into a serious catfight, when Endelle intervened and used her stasis skill to stop the action.” Marguerite sighed. “I admit I was behaving badly but in my defense, I didn’t quite understand at the time what the breh-hedden meant.”
“But you had been with Thorne all that time in the Convent.”
“Yeah, I know. But I was also intent on making my escape to Mortal Earth and living my own life.”
“You changed pretty soon after that.”
Marguerite glanced at Thorne, who was deep in conversation with Jean-Pierre and Fiona. “Everything changed. I did, my obsidian power emerged, and Thorne really changed. He’s spent the last five months building Endelle’s army. He’s done an amazing job.”
“He looks wonderful. Do you remember how red-rimmed his eyes used to be?”
“Too much Ketel One.”
“Yes.” She met Marguerite’s gaze once more. “I wanted to thank you again for being there for Thorne all those years. I was so grateful to you and I know I thanked you, but it never felt like enough. I think you saved his life.”
“Well, he saved mine, too. Maybe that’s why we were meant to be together—because we ended up saving each other, repeatedly.”
Grace looked at Leto, who was still praising Brynna and laughing with her. She thought about what Marguerite had said. Was she meant to be with Leto because they could save each other? And in her case, exactly what would that look like?
Leto glanced at Brynna. “Do you need to report somewhere?”
“Yeah, the coordinator wants all the participants to sign in then head to bed. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”
Leto nodded. “Good. I’ll see you then.”