Free Mating Call by Martha Bourke Page B

keep erasing it from the series queue.”
    “Do I?”
    “Yes, you do.”
    All at once, it dawned on him. It wasn’t the show. It was the dancing. He let his head fall back against the headboard. His female couldn’t dance. No wonder she hated that show. Dancing was a major part of Mexican culture, but it wasn’t the kind of thing you’d tend to learn when your mother was psychotic bitch Victrixa Mata. He turned her face to him. “Do you know how to dance, Ihkweea ?”
    She looked down at her hands and shook her head.
    “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “I don’t know. Practically everyone in our country leaves the womb dancing corridos.”
    He touched her soft cheek and smiled. “Would you like me to teach you?”
    “Oh, I don’t know, my male. I don’t think I’d be very good at it.”
    “With the way you fight? I know you can’t see yourself, but it’s like it’s been choreographed. You’re incredible.”
    He raised her chin and looked into her bright green eyes. “Hey, it’s just me.”
    She nodded and he brought her lips to his. Her smell intoxicated him, like always, and within seconds he was totally lost in her. Then, suddenly, she broke off the kiss.
    “What is it?”
    She looked puzzled. “Can’t you sense it?”
    “Sense what?”
    “The k’ul . At least I think it’s k’ul . The vibration is…different.”
    SE felt for it, but there was nothing there, at least not that he could pick up on.
    “It’s gone. How strange. You couldn’t sense it?”
    “No. Nothing.”
    Ana sighed. “Okay. Maybe I’ve finally cracked up.”
    He kissed her forehead. “Maybe they were hunger pangs. It’s dinnertime. Let’s go feed you, Ihkweea .”
    “Yeah, okay.”
    As they walked to dinner, SE couldn’t help but wonder about the energy Ana felt. Between that and his crazy visions, he didn’t know what to think. It didn’t need to be October to be Halloween at the Ivanov mansion.
    Trick or fucking treat.
     
    The music at Anarchy was no louder than usual, but for some reason it was seriously grating on James’s nerves. He couldn’t seem to get the image of Seth stabbing that poor girl—correction, Troy’s human mate—out of his mind. Jesus Christ. There was a clusterfuck. He knew what he had to do about the Seth situation. The only question was whether or not he had the guts.
    “Yo! Earth to James!”
    “What? Oh, sorry, X.”
    “The nice lady here was wondering if you’d like another beer.”
    “Yeah, sure. I’ll go one more round.”
    Troy had gone home to his female and Pax had disappeared somewhere. One more beer and it was time to call it. At least there’d been a lot of fighting. That always helped him clear his head for a few hours. He looked across the table at Xavier. He was Troy’s best friend. He had to know about the mating. The question was whether or not anyone else did. Maybe Helen? She at least knew Evy was human. He shook his head. Goddamn. There was no way they were all gonna be hunky dory with the sitch. The whole fucking mansion was going to implode when this finally got out.
    He stood up and headed for the men’s room. Maybe he’d skip that last beer and just head back. He pushed the door open, rounded the corner, and stopped cold. Pax was leaning against the back wall, his head back, eyes closed. Another male had pushed up Pax’s shirt and was kissing the brother’s abs as he unbuckled his belt. All at once, Pax opened his eyes.
    James could not have exited that scene fast enough. It was a wonder his fucking eyes didn’t burn out of his head.
    “James, wait.”
    He looked up and down the back hallway, making sure no one was around. He gleamed back to his room at the mansion. Pax materialized right behind him.
    He didn’t know what went on from there. Everything happened so fast. He’d had the shittiest day and this was just the topper. He squinted at his camzah . “Don’t you knock?”
    “I could say the same thing.”
    “It was a public restroom,