Archer rocked with laughter and held a handsome grin. “We suck.”
“We just need practice.”
“We need an intervention.”
I shook with laughter… until Archer’s artificial hand slid up my thigh, lifting my skirt.
When the door clicked open, I tensed.
Archer recoiled so fast that he looked like a reverse jack-in-the-box.
Lucian flicked a glance at us when he walked in. “Don’t mind me.” He got on all fours by the treadmill and pressed his cheek to the floor.
Meanwhile, I lay frozen with Archer between my legs.
“Got it.” Lucian stood and rolled a ring between his thumb and index finger.
“It’s not what it looks like,” Archer said.
“That remains to be seen.” His nostrils flared when he drew in a breath.
Realizing he could scent emotions, I jolted up and straightened my skirt. “Archer was showing me self-defense moves.”
Lucian abruptly stalked toward us and bent over, hands braced on his knees. After a soft inhale, he tipped his head to the side, his Chitah eyes boring through me. “If you’re going to lie to a Chitah, learn how to mask your emotions. The trick is to think of something else when you’re telling the lie. It doesn’t always work, but it creates a soupy mix that not all Chitahs can parse. Do you want to try lying to me again, female?”
“Will you cut that out?” Archer knocked him over the head with his prosthesis.
Lucian’s fangs punched out—all four of them—and it gave me a fright. Yet despite the threatening gesture, his expression seemed the contrary. “If she hasn’t spent time around other Breeds, it’s reasonable to assume she doesn’t know a damn thing about us.”
“My father told stories, and I’ve read a lot of books,” I countered. “Your name sounds like the animal’s name, but you spell it differently. I also read that you make vocalizations similar to a cheetah.”
While rubbing his head, Lucian straightened. “Books aren’t the same. Believe me.”
Archer rose to his feet and offered me his hand.
“Can I see them?” I asked, curious about Lucian’s fangs. He had two on top and two on the bottom, giving him an animalistic appearance.
His dark eyebrows slanted in the middle. Lucian opened his mouth, his eyes steering up to the ceiling as I leaned in close and touched one.
He caught my wrist.
“Is there really venom in there?”
His fangs punched back in. “Ducts carry the venom through the fang.”
“But only a Mage can die from a bite,” I said, remembering what I’d read.
Though he crossed his arms, Lucian seemed open to answering questions. “It depends on how much venom they receive. We can retract them individually, but if we only want to paralyze our victim, we just sink the top two in like a Vampire. You can always tell if a Mage has crossed a Chitah because the bites leave a scar.”
Having never spent time around a Chitah up close, I had a lotof questions.
“Can you make your skin change?” I gestured to his arms.
Shaking his head, he replied, “It’s an involuntary reaction triggered by emotions.”
“Can you healanythingwith your tongue?”
Archer gave a throaty chuckle. “I think show-and-tell is over.”
