Out of Body

Chapter 49

“Will this ever really be over?” Marley said. They had finally been allowed to leave Nat and his henchmen.

They had Gray’s Volvo and headed for Faubourg Marigny.

“In time,” Gray said. “But I think I’ve had it with Embran for one night.”

Marley grumbled to herself and finally said, “Yeah. Right.”

“Did you notice how Nat and company all avoided the big question?” Gray said. “How do you put nonhumans on trial?”

“Two of them are part human. Supposedly.” She had difficulty finding any humanity in Eric and Sidney. “What are they going to do when that comes out?”

“Not our problem,” Gray said.

Marley sighed. “For how long, I wonder? Bolivar said another like him would take his place. I wonder if Pascal knows who Judas is.”

“You don’t know?” Gray cleared his throat. “Judas was what they called him after he married the first one who came from Embran and the trouble started. His real name was Jude and he was the first dark-haired one. He’s the Mentor.”

Marley caught her breath. “You should have explained all this.”

“We haven’t had time for long chats,” he pointed out.

“No,” she muttered. “Where is he?”

“You’re asking me? Sykes talked about that book, too. But I don’t think I’m going to be the one to sort it all out, not that your Mentor is likely to come racing back now you Millets are okay. That’s my take, anyway. How many dark-haired Millets have there been?”

Marley’s throat dried out. “Sykes is the second one. That’s why he can’t take over as head of the family when the time comes. That’s why my parents are off looking for an answer to the curse.”

“One dark-haired man makes a mistake so it’s a curse forever?” Gray said.

“We can’t be sure. The Mentor broke the tradition and the bottom fell out. You can’t blame the family for being suspicious,” Marley said. “I’m going to be in the doghouse tomorrow. There are going to be more questions than I want to think about.”

“You told your family to go to bed. You told them you’re safe and you told them you need to recover before you talk to them about everything. They’ll understand.”

“No, they won’t. They don’t. But I can’t face them now.”

Marley looked at Gray. Streetlights highlighted the shadows in his face as they passed. Rain fell again and the windshield wipers squealed.

She turned toward him. “All I want is to be with you.”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “That can be arranged.”

She felt afraid, deep inside. Excited, aroused, but uncertain enough to struggle with tumbling thoughts.

“What is it?” Gray said, glancing at her.

“What will you do now?” she asked. “If you don’t think you can finish the article you started, you could write about the case—like Gus suggested.”

“No, I couldn’t. I’d have to lie or no one would believe it. Anyway, I’m part of it all now and I’m not into personal exposés.”

I’m part of it all now, she thought, concentrating on the nuance of each word he’d said.

How could I be anything else?

Hearing him connect with her, she looked at him sharply. Can you hear what I’m thinking?

Yes. Weird, huh. I tried when I was looking for you. I thought I heard you call out for me.

I did, Gray.

“I want to kiss you,” she told him aloud. “And I want us to be completely honest with each other.”

He groaned. “Always the serious one. Can’t we just kiss and all that stuff?”

“All that stuff?”

She got another mind-destroying grin. “All of that stuff,” he repeated.

“What will Gus think about us going back to your place?”

“He’s in bed and Gus is happier than he’s been in years. He thinks you’re too good for me, but he’s crazy glad you came along.”

They arrived in front of the cottage and Gray pulled in to park at the side.

Marley made a move to open her door, but Gray reached across to stop her. His hand landed over hers on the handle, and they both sucked in a breath.

“Do you think it will ever go away?” he said. “This private energy field of ours?”

“I don’t know.”

Gray laughed. “I hope not.”

She sat still, looked straight ahead in the darkness.

Gray put a hand on the back of her neck and she shivered. “Where do we go from here?” he asked. “Bonded. That’s what we are, right? So what will that mean?”

Her heart beat harder. “It means there can never be anyone else for me. I have no choice.”

“Do you wish you did?”

She gave a short laugh. “It doesn’t work like that. What I feel for you now I will always feel. Of course, you are different. You do have a choice.”

He reached across her again and released her seat belt so he could pull her into his arms. “I have no choice, Marley. I don’t want one. That’s not what I meant. What does your family expect from us—or from me? Will they make it difficult for us? I know how much they mean to you.”

She really laughed this time. “The main reason they’re probably chomping right now is because they want to get their hands on us. A Bonding doesn’t happen very often and it’s exciting for everyone. A new chance for life.” She blushed scarlet in the darkness and hid her face.

“Mmm,” Gray said. “I can understand them thinking about that. First I get you all to myself, though. Can we go away somewhere? Get married and go somewhere?”

Married?

Yes. I want that. It’s what people like me do.

I think you’re similar people to me. We Bond.

Any reason we can’t do both? If you won’t do it for me, will you do it for Gus?

“Listen to us,” she said and giggled.

“We should make sure it doesn’t become a habit, this nonverbal communication. We could make enemies.”

“I didn’t think men were very keen on getting married,” Marley said.

“Garbage. Propaganda.”

“Okay. But you get to arrange it. I wouldn’t know how.”

Gray snickered. “I think Gus will arrange it—with the help of Willow and her gang. What Willow doesn’t know, she’ll find someone who does for advice.”

They smiled, felt their smiles even though they couldn’t see them. And they fell silent.

Eventually Gray said, “You have to keep your word. You said you were going to kiss me.”

Marley bit her lip. She knelt on her seat, took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply.

When their lips finally parted, Gray said, “I love you so much.”

“Not as much as I love you.”

“A million times as much as you love me,” he said.

“Uh-uh, I love you—”

Gray kissed her again, shutting off the rest of what she was going to say.

They went into the house and upstairs to his bedroom as quietly as their breathing, kissing and muffled exclamations would allow.

“I want to undress you,” Marley said, surprising herself, but thrilling herself, too.

He held still, or he did most of the time, while she took off his clothes, lingering over each part she exposed. She found a few of the very pale, raggedly healed wounds he had suffered at the hands of strangers, kissed them and didn’t comment.

“My turn,” he told her when he was naked.

Gray had exquisite patience and stripped her so slowly her knees grew weak, and every place they touched shot an electric charge that clamped them together and eventually brought them into a tangled heap on the bed.

Under the covers, mouth to mouth, body to body, their hands roaming between gasps, they forgot about the past, didn’t think about the future, while they passed the night in sweet, hot lovemaking.

“Did you see that?” Gray asked once.

“Mmm, what?”

“Sparks,” Gray said, and they laughed while they came together again.

There were sharp bursts of color. “We make our own light show,” Marley said.

After that they didn’t talk much for a long time.