Page 152 of Conner's Luna

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My hands are not meant for gentle things. Large and calloused, they are for beating on shit. I can tell how good of a loofah I am by the soft sounds of content versus the harsher snips of reprimand coming out of my girl's mouth. Apparently, it feels wonderful when I soap her back and legs. Her hair... shit... she moaned so good I got hard immediately even though I lost count of how many times we fucked last night. Her sore nipples and poor, abused pussy? Not so much.

"Ow," she grumbles. My bad. I just can't stay away from that sweet honeypot.

I try to lighten my touch. "Better?" I smile up at her as I very gently rinse my pussy with the handheld showerhead.

"No," she says petulantly. She's not upset about being thoroughly cleaned in the shower, not really. She's just pissed that I'm hesitant at sharing the details of this latest murder with her. I just don't want her to think about it, to be as upset as I am about how close it was to her.

"Go through it all again," she demands. "Stop leaving things out."

To give myself a moment, I duck my head under the spray and rinse the last of the soap off of my body. Closing my eyes, I can feel her gaze on me. When I open my eyes and see her gaze fixed on my semi, I groan, "we'll never leave this bedroom."

She smirks and steps out of the shower, fine ass swaying, honey skin dripping in water. My mouth waters, mating venom swells. The mark on her shoulder is framed with the light dusting of freckles. The one I left on her inner thigh this morning is hidden by those thick thighs. My wolf presses against my spine, wanting to inspect that particular Mark again. Just to make sure it's healing properly. Yeah.

"Fuck me. Look at you, honeygirl." I stroke myself a couple of times as she tosses me a smile. Then she pulls a move that makes me slap the wall with one hand for balance. With a little jiggle, she bends at the waist, tossing her hair over her head. I take a step forward, like a moth to a flame when her pussy lips peek at me and her tight asshole winks.

Then she straightens up, her hair wrapped on the top of her head with the towel. She wraps the other one around her body. "I need food and explanations," she tells me.

She took both towels. That's not fair, yeah? I should reclaim one. The one around her body, of course. Then, her words hit me. My wolf panics a little. She's hungry.

"Food first, yeah?" I offer. I use the hand towel to briskly dry off, leaving about half of my body wet and the other half damp. I wait in the nude, air-drying, as my girl gets ready, primping a little in the mirror with her hair.

When I can't justify letting her take peeks at my naked body anymore, I get dressed and grab her hand to lead her downstairs to the dining room.

"So, it was bad, babygirl. I told you everything I'm comfortable with," I say as we head downstairs. Being mated to this girl... I can literally feel how her mind is racing, putting pieces together and stringing questions and answers together faster than her mouth can form words.

"She was pregnant and the baby is missing. You said her sister and the rest of her family live here?" she muses thoughtfully.

"Yeah. I think the killer was female, or it was a group with a female, judging by the size of the shoeprints leading upstairs."

"Lydia or one of her minions? Who else would leave a message for me?" she asks me. My hand tenses in hers. She still has that niggling doubt about my loyalty.

"Possibly," I reply immediately. It doesn't hurt to accuse Lydia of murder. All my wolf and I care about is hearing Bailey's heart slow as my words literally ease her heart. "We've thought about anyone who has something against you. Unfortunately, the RedMoon are assholes, so... ah...."

"There are a lot of possibilities," she finishes for me matter-of-factly. I let go of her hand to wrap my arm around her.

"So there are similarities to the previous murders, but not entirely," she sums up. "We need to speak with the RedMoon people."

"I need to, you mean," I say in a clipped voice.

She opens her mouth to argue, but another voice cuts in, "first, we need to announce a mating and a future luna."

We both turn to see Uncle Alex, glowering at us from the giant table set with breakfast. I look around, only now realizing that we arrived at the dining room. The scent of ten types of meat sizzling along with eggs and homemade donuts fills the air. Bailey's vegetarian omelet option is sitting on the table, too, I notice with approval.

"Good morning, Uncle Alex," I greet him calmly. "I've Marked and Claimed Bailey."

"Under the Moon, no less," Papa points out. His face is solemn but his eyes are twinkling. He's not looked this happy and relaxed in a long time.

"It was supposed to beafterthe Challenge. Who raised you?" Dad adds. He doesn't bother to hide his self-satisfied smirk.

"I hope you plan on having a proper wedding for my girl?" Bailey's dad glares at me. Hank is missing his shotgun this morning, however, so I figure he's not that enraged.

Mom and Velia squeal with excitement. I repress the urge to roll my eyes at my family as a discussion about wedding plans and announcements break out.

"When did my dad get on board with this plan?" Bailey asks me. My eyes narrow at Dad as he casually chats with Hank. They do seem suspiciously chummy this morning.

"It was a little convenient that he went with your Papa last night, dude," Sean says quietly from behind us. "Sarj is waiting with a getaway vehicle, if you run now, you can make it."

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