Page 26 of Peacock Me Like a Hurricane

The kitty gives me a small smile, but there’s something behind it that I can’t put my finger on. Fear? Worry? Her eyes don’t agree with her words. Time for a subject change. “So… Should the kitty’s hot stuff lover play with the teeny fire? What do you think, mate?”

“Baby, you can do whatever you’d like.”

That wasn’t a ‘no’, but it wasn’t a ‘yes’, either. “I can, but I’d like to hear what you think. I plan on shagging you until you howl in a few and I don’t want to ruin the mood.”

“Awful full of ourselves, aren’t we?” she teases.

I look at her, lowering the wall behind my eyes so she can see my desire to please her. Just as quickly, I hide it again behind the smug arrogance that I give everyone else. “Not as full of you as I’m going to be.”

“If you want to go poke at her, go ahead.”

Again, her words and eyes don’t match, but I can’t seem to get off making Blondie miserable. My thirst for revenge is a character flaw, I know. Punishment for her sins outstrips every other thought in my head when I’m like this.

I kiss her and roll out of bed. Crossing to the hidden closet, I slide the panel open to reveal a vast array of styles and clothes. It hits me and I close the closet, walking over to pick up the towel I had on earlier. “Let’s hit her with the big guns.” I look over my shoulder, eyes gleaming, and tap my head. “I’ll keep in touch.”

The last thing that I see as I go out is my minx pulling out her notebook to work on her ritual, a furrow creasing her brow. That should worry me, but I can’t focus on it now. I apparate directly to Rhea’s home in the Cabal Quarter. I haven’t been there in along time and I’m hoping that she hasn’t added a dungeon given what the kitty’s told me.

Ringing the bell, I whisper into my mate’s mind.~I so enjoy torturing the meek and witless. ~

The minx sends the feel of a smile as she murmurs.~ I know, baby. ~

Once I get inside, I sigh internally. The moment she sees that I’m in a towel, it begins. Her overt, clumsy attempts at flirting make me want to get back to my mate, but I let her draw me onto her couch. She scoots as close as possible without climbing onto my lap and I run rings around her verbally.

~She’s willing to see me naked. She’s even sharing her comforter to keep me warm. ~I touch the minx mentally, trying to give her the sensation of a kiss.~Baiting her is so easy that it’s almost no fun. ~

~I heard she was all over Constantine last night. She’s aiming for him because Wilde and Rafe aren’t speaking to her. It makes me want to heave. ~The bite in her tone is obvious, but I don’t let it stop me.

~To be fair, she didn’t come looking for me, baby. ~I remind her. I know that it won’t change things, but making Rhea show her true colors was part of my twisted revenge plot. Our connection feels colder and I wonder if she’s trying to compose herself.

~Sorry. I reconstructed a timeline of her crazy recently, and it was rather revealing. I’ll try not to be so bitchy. ~

My hackles rise a little because I haven’t known the kitty to back away from a fair fight. She’s been righteously—and deservedly—angry at Blondie and my brother. Now it sounds like she’s blaming herself. Maybe if I distract her?

~I dreamed about you last night, love. ~I send her a properly debauched image that I know will make her squirm indelight. A little bonus for me is that I can feel her responses now, too.

Did I mention what a bloody amazing multi-tasker I am? I’m also busy giving the perfidious blonde one a ‘poor me’ story about being anachronistic in this new world. I tell her that it used to be that seeing me get naked would send chits into a frenzy so I must be old. She immediately coos and corrects me, batting her lashes like a fool.

Christ, she’s such easy bait that I can hardly pay attention to the fact that my minx is playing her own little torture game in my head and it’s having a stirring effect on me.

~You know, it’s always so itchy right after a shave. ~

I blink, almost losing the thread of my conversation with Blondie when I get her meaning.~ You did what? You’d better be sodding ready when I get home! ~

Her chuckle is husky as she sends me the image of her slipping off her nightie, and lolling on the bed with her hair spread out like a fan. I’m missing something bloody brilliant to be here messing with a treacherous bint. Am I sure I want to be here doing this rather than there? I let that war inside me, not paying attention to the phony fawning. Blondie’s still reassuring me that I’m not old and useless. Like I need HER to tell me that.

~When you get done, I’ll be waiting here—all smooth and soft and smelling like flowers. ~

~Evil woman. I’ll get this done fast. ~

I growl a bit, rolling my eyes inwardly as it makes the bint I’m baiting pretend to cower. When my minx does that, it’s adorable and endearing even though I know she’s not scared of me. When Rhea does it, it seems sickeningly contrived. I barely catch it when she says something vague about others chasing me. I’m not sure what she’s hinting at, so I ask my mate.~Are you SURE Blondie doesn’t know about us? ~

~If she does, I don’t know where she found out. I haven’t spoken to her in over a week, and neither has Rafe. ~

~Does ANYONE know I’m in love with you, baby? ~My brows furrow and I try to focus on whatever drivel Rhea is spouting. She just keeps giggling and coquetting every couple of minutes like a teenager and I’m going to get a sodding cavity soon.

~Sari figured it out. I didn’t want to share it with her, but she’s acted okay since. ~

~The gnome knows that I love you. She doesn’t know you love me, either, does she? ~I can feel her unease at that statement, and I file it away for later. I should question what she’s worried about that she won’t say.

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