Serpentine by Laurell K. Hamilton

Author:Laurell K. Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2018-08-06T16:00:00+00:00

32

WE WOKE STILL spooned together in a warm nest of sheets and bodies. It felt so good that I just lay there listening to them breathe, feeling the rise and fall of their bodies against mine. Nathaniel was still deeply asleep, but Micah moved restlessly. If I wasn’t careful I’d wake him on one of the few mornings that we could all sleep in together. I slowed my breathing down, deepened it, and did my best to pretend to sleep while my eyes were still open, so I could see the line of sunlight from the crack in the drapes. We’d have to remember to close them better tonight, but this morning I liked watching the light play in Micah’s curls and along his naked back. If I could have figured out a way to turn over and see the light on Nathaniel, I would have, but I knew that would wake Micah.

I lay sandwiched between them, listening to their breathing, feeling the beat and pulse of their sleeping bodies. I memorized the feel of it all, so that later it could be one of my happy thoughts. I was kissing the back of Micah’s neck and waking us all up with more cuddling and maybe more sex, when there was a knock at the door so loud and authoritative that I knew it was a cop, or someone who had been a cop of some kind. They all had that loud, resounding knock that made your heart beat faster and your pulse jump to your throat for a second, even if you were innocent. The sound alone was sort of scary.

“What is that?” Nathaniel said, raising his head but hugging us tighter to him.

“I don’t know—maybe someone complained about the noise,” I said as I tried to get up.

“You are a screamer,” he said, but he was still holding me tight, his heart thudding against my back.

“The complaint should have come in last night, not this morning,” Micah said, lying very still in the bed, as if he were listening harder than I could. He was a wereanimal, so his hearing was better than mine.

I had to tell Nathaniel to let me go so I could check the door. I put on one of the robes that we’d used last night after we cleaned up. I tossed the other one to Micah in the bed. We were both more modest than Nathaniel. I belted the robe tight and put my Sig Sauer .380 in the right-hand pocket, got my badge in its little wallet cover out of the drawer beside the bed, and went for the door. I was pretty sure it was the police, and if I was answering the door armed, I wanted my badge with me.

I glanced back to find Micah standing by the bed with his robe tightened in place. Nathaniel was still in the bed with the sheets covering him.

The knock sounded again. I called out, “I’m coming. I’m coming.” I let myself sound as cranky as I felt about the interruption.

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