At last her partner’s red eyes shifted from the doorway down to her face.
“It’s going to be all right,” Cassie promised him. “I won’t be alone with him—you’ll be with us every minute. He’s never going to touch me—I promise.”
Stone took several deep breaths as though he was consciously trying to calm himself. Slowly, the red glint of Rage faded from his piercing blue eyes.
“All right,” he said at last. “All right. Forgive me, I just… I could not bear it if anyone tried to hurt you.”
He gathered Cassie into his arms in a sudden, bone-crushing hug that made her gasp.
“Stone!” she exclaimed, as her feet left the floor. “Can’t…breathe!”
“Sorry.” He loosened his grip but didn’t put her down. “Cassandra,” he murmured, burying his face in her hair. “I cannot lose you. Nothing must happen to you.”
“It won’t, Stone—nobody’s going to hurt me. Not with you nearby.” Hesitantly, she stroked his back and shoulders. She had never known her partner to be so possessive and she wondered uneasily if it had anything to do with the physical intimacy they had shared the night before. Hadn’t Stone said that it was difficult to give your body without also giving your heart? What if he had been talking about himself when he said that?
But no—he had specifically said he only wanted to be friends, Cassie reminded herself. She needed to be careful not to read things that weren’t there into her partner’s actions.
He’s just being extra protective because we’re in a strange place with a known murderer, she told herself. It’s just the Kindred in him coming out—they’re always protective of women.
She patted her partner’s broad shoulders again.
“Put me down now, Stone. We have to get ready to go—he won’t wait out there forever.”
“Very well.” With great reluctance, her partner at last put her back down. But he held her close for a minute more, searching her eyes with his own. “Promise me,” he growled softly. “Promise you’ll be safe. Swear you’ll never be alone with him even for a minute.”
“How could I be when you’re with me every minute?” Cassie asked him reasonably.
“All right.” This seemed to make Stone feel better because he at last released his hold on her.
Cassie stepped back, feeling a little like she’d been hugged by a grizzly bear. Stone was always so careful around her that she was often able to forget his immense physical size and strength. But just now she had felt it, in the panicky tightness of his hug—a vice-like grip that could have squeezed her in two if the big Kindred wasn’t careful.
It made her damn glad that Stone was on her side.
The Beast had better watch out if he wants to avoid being pulverized, she thought. If Stone has even the least provocation to pound him, he’s damn well going to annihilate that asshole!
But speaking of “that asshole,” he was waiting outside their door to give her a guided tour of the Palace. Hurriedly, Cassie ran to her carry-all cube and started pulling out an outfit to resize.
It was going to be an interesting day.
Thirty-Five
“So this is The Pit, where all the Slime-porn is filmed.” The Beast gestured to a large enclosure with clear plasti-glass walls almost like a huge aquarium. Inside was a knee-deep pool of green slime with numerous alien creatures writhing in it.
There were Slimerians like Gozeriam, Cassie saw, penetrating each other with their slime-shafts. There were also some small, mud-like people who looked more humanoid—well, except for the fact that they both had six arms. They appeared to be rubbing against each other and then pulling apart, leaving trails of slime in the air between them every time they did.
The oozing slime trails reminded Cassie in a weird way of the “cheese-pull” shots you saw on food videos when a grilled cheese sandwich was cut in half and pulled open to show how stringy the melted cheese was inside.
Only I guess instead of “cheese-pull” it’s slime-pull, she thought, feeling slightly ill.
There were other creatures writhing and cavorting in the slime as well, but it was hard to understand exactly what erotic activities they were engaged in, since they weren’t humanoid and Cassie couldn’t tell which body parts they were putting together. Small round camera drones hovered above each pair—or threesome or foursome or moresome, in some cases—recording their carnal activities from all angles.
“The Pit, huh?” she said, trying not to let the disgust show on her face. “Did you ever work in there?”
“Me? Only once.” The Beast made a face. “I had to fill in for a Lush-slump slug who had called in sick with a case of anal valve rot. Didn’t like it much though—that fucking slime gets everywhere.”
“I bet,” Cassie murmured, nodding. Behind her, she was very aware of her partner standing guard. Stone always ‘had her back’ in any given situation but this time she couldn’t help feeling he was taking that phrase a bit too literally. He was practically glued to her, so close she could feel the heat from his big body radiating against her skin.