Anita Blake 18 - Flirt by Laurell K. Hamilton Page B

face, and the look in his eyes was uncertain, as if he were listening to things I couldn’t hear. His lion was talking to him, too. Would it help me to force them to change?
    Jacob said, “Get out, Bennington, get out until we call you. She’s not safe.”
    The lioness screamed again, and the sound came out of my throat. It hurt, as if the sound needed a bigger throat, a different mouth, and it rubbed raw things that should never have held the sound.
    Jacob had a look on his face, a lost look. “Maybe you can bring our beasts, but if you do we’ll fall on each other and either fight over you, or both fuck you. Either way we might not hear the other phone calls. We might miss calling off our shooters on your other men. They might kill them not because we want them to, but because we missed the call.”
    Nicky breathed against my hair, “Put your beast in the deep freeze, Anita, please.” He was holding me tight enough that I knew his body was happy to be pressed against mine. He meant the please .
    My skin felt so hot, but it didn’t feel bad like a fever; it felt wonderful. Part of me wondered what it might be like to finally give in and shift, but not today. I couldn’t afford to think that today.
    Jacob’s phone started ringing as if on cue. He looked at me. “I have to get this, and you have to regain your control.” He kept his grip on my face, but used his other hand to get his phone out of his pocket.
    He watched my face like he’d memorize it, but spoke: “Stand down, just follow and observe.” He started to put the phone away, but it rang again. “Yeah, no, just observe, just follow. Stand down until further orders.”
    I realized that was three calls. All of them were safe unless Jacob called back and told them to shoot them. Him dead or unable to phone would fix that.
    “Chill,” Nicky said, “chill, damn it.” His words made sense, but he was starting to nuzzle my hair. The lioness had slowed and was sniffing the air. I ground my hips into Nicky just a little bit. He made a soft wordless sound.
    “Shit,” Jacob said. He moved his free hand along my neck until he found the hilt of the big knife under my hair and jacket. He got a handful of my hair, moving it out of the way as he drew the knife out. Nicky moved back enough for him to do it. The size of the blade put more of a damper on their amour than anything I could have done.
    Jacob held it up to the light. It gleamed, and the edge was as sharp as it looked. “This is as big as her forearm; how the fuck did you miss it?”
    Nicky blinked up at the blade. “I was searching her when the lioness did its thing. My bad.”
    Jacob sighed, and lowered the blade. I couldn’t read the look on his face. It was partly sad and partly something else. “It’s okay, Nicky. You’ve never been around a Regina when she’s in heat. A pride can tear itself apart before she picks a mate.”
    The lioness rolled onto her back, rolling on the ground like any cat. It made me writhe against Nicky, and he didn’t exactly fight the sensation. I was going to lose control, and sex would be the least of what we might do. I tried to think.
    “My first pride died that way, because the Regina wanted the strongest Rex, so she waited for the winner. I promised myself I would keep my men away from shit like that.”
    Nicky changed his grip, letting me have my arms, picking me up around the waist, lifting me off the ground. My hands went to his arm, holding on, but not fighting. I was out of weapons. What would help me? What would help me stop them? I mean, I was good at sex, or so the men in my life told me, but good enough to make them turn down a shitload of money and betray their other men? I wasn’t that good. No one was that good. If sex wouldn’t help me, I had to stop what was happening. Chill, he had said. I tried to call my necromancy, like I had in the restaurant, but the lion was too loud in my head. I could smell lion. I think it was Nicky, but it was as