Page 24 of Beast

“Am I?” She cuddles close, breathing me in. She doesn’t seemat all self-conscious. I run my fingers through her hair, entwining ustogether. I love the dark brown softness. “I would not know. One cannot seeoneself.”

I chuckle. Her plane really is backward. “Wow. So no mirrorson your plane, then. I have no idea how I would survive without a mirror. Waithere.”

I force myself out of bed. There’s a handheld mirror in thedresser, and I bring it back to Kaja, who lies on the bed watching me. Theintimacy of the moment hits me. She’s watching her lover move. I know thefeeling. Now I need to show her how gorgeous she is. I sit down and hold themirror out. “This is you, Kaja.”

She gasps and sits up. Staring into the mirror, she leansforward. I can’t help but watch her breasts. They’re soft and round, withpretty pink and brown nipples that harden at the merest whisper. She touchesher face as though unsure of the image before her.

“Do you see how beautiful you are, consort?”

A slow smile parts her lips. I feel the air around mechange, like a puff of wind blowing through, and she’s a wolf once more. Shenoses the mirror playfully.

“Yes, you’re fucking amazing in this form, too,” I concede,wondering if I’m making a monster. Will I have to fight her for the mirror inthe morning? I stop that line of thinking. It isn’t like I’m going to live withher long-term or anything. We’re only having fun.

The flap to the tent opens, and Meg walks in.

“Good morning,” she says with her usual exuberance. “I cameto take Kaja to breakfast. Holy shit!” She backs up, never moving her eyes offthe wolf on the bed. “Dante, stay calm. I have the gun in my backpack. I’mgoing to back out, and I’ll go get it. Don’t make any sudden moves, okay?”

I laugh and pet my wolf-wife. Kaja’s head cocks as she looksat Meg, curiosity in her eyes. I wonder if Kaja sees Meg differently in herwolf form. There are a lot of questions I have for my wife. I put a hand on herfur and lean toward Kaja. “She thinks you want to eat me, love. Actually…” Mymind goes to all sorts of dirty places. “No, that borders on bestiality. You’regoing to have to do that as a human. There are levels even I won’t sink to.Though, not many.”

Meg’s eyes go wide. She stops in her tracks. “Are you tryingto tell me that’s Kaja?”

“I’m not trying to tell you anything,” I say with a frown.“I’m trying to enjoy being in bed with my consort, even if she is shedding. Ithink she’s trying to get rid of her winter coat.” I brush some stray fur offthe bed. I’m going to have to tell the housekeeper to upgrade the vacuumingrobots if Kaja runs around the penthouse in this form very often.

Meg ignores me. She approaches Kaja, who sits up regally.Kaja cocks her head as though asking a question.

“Wow,” Meg says softly. “That’s a werewolf. That is so cool.I can’t begin to describe it.”

“Werewolf?” I’ve never heard the term. “I don’t know if Ilike that. I was going to suggest shanimal. You know, shebecause Kaja’s a girl, and animal because, well, there she is.”

Both females turn my way. I know what they’re thinking. Iabsolutely know when someone thinks I’m a dumbass. I shrug it off. “Fine,werewolf it is then. But it’s not catchy like shanimal. Don’t expect it to seepinto our cultural lingo or anything.”

Kaja greets Meg with a heavy thump of her tail. The wolf’smouth opens, and her tongue pants out. She appears to be smiling. It’s a sweetexpression. Meg’s eyes fill with wonder. Kaja doesn’t need to worry about Megaccepting her. Meg loves all the strange creatures of the planes. With theexception of kelpies, for some reason. Vampires, on the other hand, might seeKaj as a lesser being. My people aren’t known for their easy acceptance of theodd and different. Especially in high society.

And that is why my plan will work. So why does my stomachturn at the thought of judgmental eyes on my Kaja?

“You’re an idiot, Dante. Werewolf is what she is. You don’thave werewolves on your plane?” Meg asks, though she never takes her eyes offKaja. Kaja nudges her hand, an invitation to pet. Meg runs her hands down thewolf’s strong back.

I wonder if I can get her to do that when Kaja is in humanform. It would be way hotter that way. My brain’s on sex. “No, we don’t havehot chicks who run around in fur. Well, not if they don’t want to get coatedwith blood. PETA. They should be arrested for wasting the blood.” I think for amoment about Meg’s statement. “Is she from the Earth plane?”

Meg’s hazel eyes are staring into Kaja’s blue ones. “No.They’re a legend where I come from. Though I thought about her a lot lastnight. When she was talking, before the translator took over, it sounded likeshe was speaking Swedish or maybe Finnish.”

I shake my head. “No idea. Everyone speaks English on myworld. You know, language of the conquerors and all.”

Meg’s hands work over Kaja’s fur. My wife seems to love it.“How does the whole door thing work? When I left from this plane, I ended up inFort Worth. The Vampire plane is very similar to the Earth plane. If we found adoor from your plane to mine in Dallas, would I end up in another Dallas?”

I laugh at the thought. “No, it’s far stranger than that.While the planes might look similar, they aren’t. Didn’t you notice that thetime of day shifted as we went from the Vampire plane to this one? It’s severalhours off. And there’s a door in upstate New York that leads right off a cliffinto an ocean. Some corporation managed to put in a slide. They sold ticketsfor a while. Then some plesiosaur ate a couple of kids. You know how it goes.”

“So Kaja is from someplace like Sweden, but not Sweden.”

I don’t care. All that matters is she’s here now.

Meg seems content to continue her intellectual exercise. “Ofcourse, it makes you wonder. Maybe they started out on the Earth plane and fledbecause humans can be real assholes, you know. And maybe there are stillwerewolves on the Earth plane. After all, there are vampires. Maybe they hidelike the vamps. Because again, humans can be assholes.”

“Yes,” I agree readily. I arch a single eyebrow. “They canalso really interrupt an interesting morning. Tell me something, Meg. Did Iinterrupt your opportunities for hot sex with your new spouse the morning afteryour wedding?”

Meg flushes, her cheeks going pink. “Oh, I’m sorry. Ithought that since… Cian told us what was going on. I thought you probablywouldn’t be doing that.”

Does she remember who I am? “You thought I wouldn’t have sexwith my consort? I have sex with everything that allows me to, but you thoughtI wouldn’t fuck my own wife?”