Blue Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

nipple ring.
    Zane patted my knee, and I let him. He was always touching people, nothing personal. A lot of shapeshifters were touchy-feely, as if they were animals instead of people and had fewer physical boundaries, but Zane had turned the casual touch into an art form. I finally realized that he touched others as a sort of security blanket. He tried to play the dominant predator, but he wasn’t. Underneath the show of teasing confidence, he knew it. He got really tense if he was in a social situation where he had to stand alone, literally without the touch of other flesh. So I let him touch me when I’d have bitched at anyone else.
    â€œWe’ll be on the ground soon,” he said. The hand left my knee. He understood the rules. I let him touch me when he had no business doing it, but no long, lingering caresses. I was his touchstone when he was nervous, not his girlfriend.
    â€œI know,” I said.
    He smiled. “But you don’t believe me.”
    â€œLet’s just say I’ll relax when we actually land.”
    Cherry joined us. She was tall and slender, with straight, naturally blond hair cut very, very short and close to a strong, triangular face. The eye shadow was gray, the eyeliner so black it looked like crayon. The lipstick was black. The makeup wasn’t the colors I’d have chosen for her, but it did match her clothes. Black fishnet stockings, vinyl miniskirt, black go-go boots, and a black lace bra underneath a fishnet shirt. She’d added the bra for my benefit. Left to her own devices, when she wasn’t working as a nurse, she went pretty much topless. She’d been a nurse until they found out she was a wereleopard; then she’d been the victim of budget cuts. Maybe it was budget cuts, but then again, maybe it wasn’t. It was illegal to discriminate against someone because they had a disease, but no one wants a were-anything treating the sick. People seem to think lycanthropes can’t control themselves around freshly spilled blood. Some of the newer shapeshifters would be in trouble, but Cherry wasn’t new. She’d been a good nurse, and now she’d never be a nurse again. She was bitter about it and had turned herselfinto the slut bride from Planet X, as if even in human form, she wanted people to know what she was now: different, other. Trouble was, she looked like a thousand other teens and early twenties who also wanted to be different and stand out.
    â€œWhat happens once we land?” Cherry asked in a purring, contralto voice. I’d thought her voice had been the product of too much fur time, like Zane’s teeth, but nope, Cherry just had this wonderful, deep, sexy voice. She’d have done good phone sex. She sat on the ground at our feet, knees out, ankles crossed, making the short skirt ride up enough to show the hose were thigh high but still managing to cover the rest. Though in a skirt that short, I was hoping she was wearing undies. I’d have never have been able to wear something that short and not flash.
    â€œI contact Richard’s brother and go to the jail,” I said.
    â€œWhat do you want us to do?” Zane asked.
    â€œJean-Claude said that he made arrangements for rooms, so you guys go to the rooms.”
    They exchanged a glance. It was more than an ordinary glance.
    â€œWhat?” I asked.
    â€œOne of us will need to go with you,” Zane said.
    â€œNo, I’m going to go in there flashing my executioner’s license. I’m better off on my own.”
    â€œWhat if the master of this city has his people waiting for you in town?” Zane asked. “He’ll know you’re going to the jail today.”
    Cherry nodded. “It could be an ambush.”
    They had a point, but . . . “Look, nothing personal, guys, but you look like the top half of an S and M wedding cake. Cops don’t like people who look sort of . . .” I wasn’t sure how to