“I heard that,” Jack muttered absently.
I sighed. “As long as you two don’t mind riding in a truck, not a limo.” They didn’t actually ride in limos to school, but the implication was clear. My truck wasn’t a luxury vehicle.
Both quickly agreed, and then were making their own tunneling hole through the crowd, with me still stuck in the middle, swiftly and safely exiting into the outer area of the pulsating, crowded dance floor.
I breathed in fresh air as I lifted my hair off my neck, trying to get a breeze.
As we walked, Jack grinned. “Want me to wet you down?”
I glanced at my skin-tight red top. “I don’t think so, but thanks for nothing.”
Ezra held the door open as we exited the building.
I waved to Pearl and Gideon, seeing Pearl sliding onto the driver’s seat of her car, and Gideon, apparently staying behind, squatting next to the open door. Although, a few beats later, I wasn’t entirely sure when Pearl would actually be leaving since Gideon had his tongue down her throat.
I hopped into my truck, unlocked the passenger door, and hurriedly put my seatbelt on. It was my very own heavy-duty getaway car. Lifelong learning of self-preservation wouldn’t have me own anything else. Ezra and Jack both squeezed onto the bench seat, and because neither man was exactly small, it left me squashed between Ezra and my driver’s side door. “You two should cut down on the ’roids.” I wiggled a bit, but decided it wasn’t going to get any better. “Put your seatbelts on.”
Ezra chuckled as both of them maneuvered to do as told, then he put his arms on the back of the seat, giving Jack and me a smidge more space. “So says the mini-Mys.” He paused, and I turned the ignition on, rolling my eyes at him. “You know, you talk like a Com. Steroids don’t do anything for us and most Mysticals don’t even know what they are.”
I kept my mouth shut and turned out of the parking lot, shrugging.
What was I supposed to say? That I had broken the Law by doctoring my school papers, and had actually spent the majority of my life with Coms? Not really an option with the Prodigies.
“You guys live with the Kings?” I asked into the silence, rolling my window down for fresh air; with their magic trickling inside the cab, the air was stifling.
“Yep,” Jack answered, leaning over Ezra to turn on the radio. He pressed buttons. Again and again. A station-surfer. Every fifteen seconds, he pressed a different button, switching the station.
After two minutes of it, I swatted his hand. “Stop that. You’re giving me a headache.”
Jack gazed up from the radio. “Mysticals don’t get headaches. Not unless you have a germ?” Blue eyebrows rose.
I sighed. “It’s a figure of speech. What I really meant is it’s annoying me.”
“More Com talk,” Ezra murmured softly, even as he knocked Jack’s hand aside when he tried changing the station again. “She’s right. That’s annoying.”
More trees and blacktop drifted by under the midnight blue sky as I drove to King Venclaire’s house first, keeping my mouth firmly shut against the Vampire’s awareness.
Jack asked into the quiet, sounding curious, “Lily, can I ask you a personal question?”
“Depends on how personal.” Truth.
“About being mated?”
I shrugged. “Sure.”
He turned as much as he could on the seat, gazing around Ezra, and stared at my profile. “Is it true you aren’t sexually interested in anyone else?” He shuddered, his blue eyebrows together. “I can’t imagine how that would feel. One person. Forever.”
My chuckle was soft. “Yeah. It’s true. No one does it for me but Dominic.”
His gaze was perplexed. “No one even looks good?”
I laughed outright. “I’m not blind. I know when men are hot.” A simple shrug. “But, there’s just no real interest in,” I pointed at my head, and then my chest, “here.”
“They say being mated you can’t even get turned on by someone else.” Jack blinked extremely slowly, his tone morbidly serious. “Honestly, that freaks me out.”
For a man, I imagined it would. A woman’s bodily reaction wasn’t so obvious. “I can honestly say I’ve never been turned on by anyone else since Dominic and I mated.”
“Huh.” He stared.
“What?”
His lips twitched. “Mind if I test that theory?”
Silence.
This time I was left blinking and, eventually, I sputtered, “What?” I ignored the fact it came out a little high pitched. “Jack, when I offered you a ride, I didn’t mean a ride.”
He shrugged. “I won’t have to touch-you, touch you. Ezra and I both have the power to seduce with a single touch. All higher powers do.”
I stared out the windshield.
Jack clarified, “Call it a scientific experiment if you wish. I just can’t believe what everyone else says. It’s too much.”
“It’s the mate magic,” I explained slowly. “It won’t let me be turned on by anyone else.”
“It won’t hurt then,” Jack coaxed, wiggling restlessly on the seat. “I wouldn’t be so freaked if it proved the Elders, and the Kings, had been lying,” a jerking hand wave, “about not being able to get it up with someone else.”
I choked, trying not to laugh, my cheeks puffing with it. He was a “to be” King, but he was still just a man. I bit my lip, eventually shrugging. “It won’t work.” I glanced at him, my eyes narrowing. “You won’t do anything adulterous, will you?”
He shook his head, held up his index finger. “Just touch your hand with my finger.”
I stared at his seemingly innocent finger before sliding my attention back to the dark road. “Whatever, but you won’t like the results. It’ll probably give you an even larger complex than you already have.”
“Or, it’ll cure me,” he muttered quietly. In the dimness of my truck’s cab, his eyes glowed softly and his power flared just as gently. “Here’s to hoping.” Reaching across Ezra, Jack touched the back of my hand with the tip of his index finger.
An immediate wave of warm, sensual, dizzying water stroked over me leisurely, eliciting a gasp from my parted lips; the truck jerked to the right before I righted it back onto the blacktop. The surge continued, caressing me from head to toe. Everywhere between. It was stunning.