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Jean-Claude traced his finger across the upper part of the bite mark, and I winced. “Why is it things like this never hurt while you’re doing them?”

“The question is its own answer, ma petite.”

Strangely, I understood what he meant. “It’s almost a mirror of what I did to his chest.”

“Nathaniel is being cautious, I think.”

“What do you mean?”

“He did nothing to you that you had not done to him first.”

“I thought they were both carried away with the ardeur and Belle Morte.”

“The first time you feel the call of her power it is heady stuff. But the fact that Jason did something that he knew you would not allow, and Nathaniel did not, may mean that Nathaniel has more control of himself than Jason does.”

“I would have thought it was the other way around.”

“I know,” he said, and the way he said it made me look at him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means, ma petite, that you may know Nathaniel’s heart’s desire, but I do not think you truly know him.”

“He doesn’t know himself,” I said.

“In part that is true, but I think he will surprise you.”

“Are you hiding something from me?”

“About Nathaniel, no.”

I sighed. “You know on another day I’d make you tell me what that cryptic remark meant, but damn it, I want a little comfort from someone right now, and I guess you’re it.”

His eyebrows raised. “When you ask in so flattering a manner, how can I refuse?”

“No games, please, Jean-Claude, please, just hold me.”

He drew me back into the circle of his arms, and I moved so that the bite mark wasn’t hurting, or rather wasn’t hurting more than it already did. It had turned into a throbbing pain, sharp when touched. It did hurt, but a part of me found that satisfying. It was a comfirmation of what we’d done, a painful souvenir of something that had been amazing. If my morals hadn’t gotten in the way, I could have just marveled at the whole thing.

“Why am I pleased that Nathaniel marked me?” I asked it in a small voice, because I wasn’t a hundred percent sure Jean-Claude shouldn’t have been jealous about it.

He stroked my hair, as his other arm held me close. “I can think of many reasons.” His voice vibrated through his chest against my ear, mingling with the sound of his heartbeat.

“One that makes sense to me would be enough,” I said.

“Ah, one that makes sense to you, now that is a different question.”

I squeezed my arms around his waist. “No games, remember, just tell me.”

“It could be that you are truly becoming his Nimir-Ra.” His arm tightened around me. “I do feel something different in you, ma petite, some wildness that was not there before. It does not feel like Richard’s beast feels, but it is a difference. It may simply be that as Nathaniel’s Nimir-Ra you want closer contact with him.”

It made sense. It was hard to argue with the logic of it, but I wanted to. “What could be the other reasons?”

“Belle Morte treated you as a vampire of her line. If through the marks or your necromancy you have some of the powers of a vampire, you may have others. It could be that leopards will be your animal to call. I admit that the first is the more likely reason, but the second is also possible.”

I leaned back enough to see his face. “Are you attracted to the wolves?” I asked.

“I find it pleasant to have the wolves around me. It is comforting to touch them like a . . . pet, or lover.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about him using pet and lover in the same sentence, but I let it go. “So you want to have sex with the werewolves?”

“Do you want to have sex with Nathaniel?”

“No . . . not exactly.”

“But you want to touch him and be touched?”

I had to think about that for a few seconds. “I guess so.”

“In a true joining of animal and vampire, there is a desire in both to touch, for one to serve and the other to take care of them.”

“Padma, the Master of Beasts, treated his animals like shit.”

“One of the many reasons that Padma will always be a secondary power on the Council is his belief that all power must be taken, that all power must come through fear. True power comes when others