She’d started to wail her sorrys then, all right, and he’d put a claw to her windpipe and snarled, “All I have to do is push a little, human, and you will never make another sound again. Watch your fucking words.”
But other than that, he was okay. He didn’t hit her for the fun of it. He didn’t hit her just because he was hot and pissed off, which he very clearly was. When he fucked her, he didn’t need to knock her around to get it up, although he was rough and didn’t hesitate to shove her off him when he was done. He was no Prince Charming, but he was no Dawg either.
And when he slept, he wanted her beside him. Her, not Raven. That had to count for something.
Above her, alone in the bed, Raven suddenly whimpered. Sue-Eye felt Kane tense up at once and she knew he was awake. When the bitch got up a minute later, he propped himself up on his elbow to watch her go. The bathroom door shut, but Kane stayed motionless, watchful in the dark.
“Want me to check on her?” Sue-Eye asked.
Kane growled, just like any big dog looking for a reason to bite. He didn’t even glance her way. Sue-Eye made herself be quiet.
Raven reappeared, one hand at her belly, and headed for bed. She stopped when she saw Kane staring at her. She smiled, but the effect was a trifle sickly. “I’m okay,” she said. “It’s normal.”
Kane lay back down, his claws flexing irregularly on Sue-Eye’s belly. He remained tense as Raven climbed back between the sheets and settled herself.
After a long stretch of heavy silence spent listening to him listen to Raven, Sue-Eye said, “What is it you like about her?”
He didn’t answer at first, but she knew he wasn’t sleeping. She didn’t intend to ask again and earn herself a smack, so she rolled onto her side and tried to be content.
Kane’s claws curled inward just a little. “Why?” he asked.
“I want to know what to do,” she said. “If I knew what you liked, I could be the same way.”
He grunted and thought that over for a while. He said, “I like her hair.”
She’d been expecting something more physical, like, ‘I like the way she sucks cock,’ or behavioral, like, ‘She knows when to shut up and when to fuck me.’ She’d never have imagined it was something as mundane as her hair.
“She dyes it, you know,” she said.
She thought she might have heard a hitch in Raven’s steady, sleeping breaths, but Kane’s slow rise onto his elbow masked the sound too much to be sure. He stared down at her, his eyes just a glitter in the dark mask of his face.
“What did you say?” he asked flatly.
“She dyes—” Maybe it was the word he didn’t know. “She colors it. It doesn’t grow in purple and white like that. She colors it.”
“That,” he said, his voice very calm and quiet, “is what I thought you meant. And now I’m curious. Why did you say it?”
“I just…” This wasn’t going well, she could sense it. Her whole body was tingling with alarms it sensed but she could not see. “I just thought you should know.”
“Because…?”
“Because it’s going to grow in different someday. You don’t seem to like surprises.”
She saw his head tilt.
“Are you actually going to lie there looking me in the face and tell me you did it for my sake?” he asked, enunciating very clearly.
This was going very badly. “No,” she said, thinking fast. “For hers.”
A long silence met that reply.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because you hit me today,” she told him.
“I’m going to hit you again if you keep lying to me.”
“You said you liked her hair. She colors her hair. I thought if you found out the hard way, you’d hurt her.”
He stared at her, faceless in the dark room, and finally shook his head and lay back down. “I know she colors her hair,” he said, drawing her a little closer against him. “I knew it the instant I saw her pussy hair wasn’t purple. You color your hair, too. Funny, you forgot to mention that.”
“You didn’t say you liked my hair or I would have.”
“You just keep lying to me and see what happens.”
It was probably a good idea to stop there. She’d averted disaster, but she had the lingering feeling that it had been a narrow thing. Still, she could not resist the urge to try and make up for lost ground. “Do you want me to color mine like hers?” she asked.
“I don’t care if you cut it all off and paint your whole head,” he replied. His hand slipped down over her stomach to squeeze her between her thighs. “This is what I care about, and even about that I don’t care too fucking much.”
“I want to make you happy.”
“Then shut up and let me sleep.”
Sue-Eye lay quiet, her heart pounding and heat in her face. His hand relaxed, but stayed where it was. His fingers were callused, rough against her newly-shaven skin. She could feel one claw pricking at her thigh.
Kane growled out a breath and moved his mouth a little closer to her ear. “Did you ever fuck your dead commander?” he asked, his breath tickling her hair. He sounded as if he were smiling.
Dawg, he meant. “Yes.”
“Did you cum for him?”
“No.” For Johnny Lobo, yes. In the beginning. When she thought he loved her. But not for Dawg, not for any of the Pack.
“You did for me. Twice. I could smell it.”
He was definitely smiling, and it wasn’t the pride of accomplishment that inspired him. Sue-Eye could feel the teeth of the trap, but she still didn’t know which leg to gnaw free. “Yes,” she said simply.
The hand between her thighs wedged in deeper, parting her. And she, God help her, felt that electric jump as the claw that had pulled Dawg’s skull open now slipped up inside her.
“I find that…suspicious.” Kane stroked slowly, perhaps just to feel the smoothness of her shaved sex. Every so often, his thick finger would penetrate her again, as though testing her rising temperature. She could feel his groin at her ass, still relaxed and unaroused, but his voice was teasing. “Flattering, but suspicious.”
She hummed, rocking her hips slightly with his movements. She was starting to tingle, just a little. The pain in her sides was excruciating; it would not allow her to feel true pleasure, but what there was was just enough to make her wish he’d keep doing what he was doing.
He moved over her, pressing his mouth right against her ear, and breathed, “I don’t like you, human.” His hand rubbed slowly, deliciously, at her below. The muscles of his arm flexed and uncoiled as he moved, exactly in time with the rise and fall of his breath. “And I don’t trust you. I don’t want you here and I know my Raven doesn’t want you here, either. But this, now, this is interesting.”
He took his hand from her pussy and waved it before her face, letting her smell the faint odor of herself, her arousal.
“This almost makes me think you mean it. But then, I had you five times today and you only came twice. I must not excite you after all.”
“Try me,” she said.
“Oh, I could make you scream all right.” His hand went unerringly to her side and pushed, startling a hoarse cry out of her and waking that dull pain to new heights. “I could do that just by getting on top of you. If I wanted to. I don’t have to ask if you want me to.” He nudged her in the other side, nuzzling at her throat as he did so, and brought her to an even keel of agony. “When I did this to you and then fucked you, you came, ichuta’a. You came hard.” He chuckled and then snuggled down for sleep, his hand coming to rest against at her waist, his game done for the night.