Free Othermoon by Nina Berry Page B

even as his fingers trailed over my neck to grip the collar of my jacket and wrench
     it off me.
    Somehow we were in the backseat of the SUV, me lying half under him. He reached down
     and pulled my shirt off in one smooth move. Then, with one swift snap, he undid my
     bra.
    My turn. I yanked at his shirt, a bit clumsier, till he drew back and tugged it off with one
     hand, as if impatient to get back to touching me, mouth devouring the skin under my
     ear, at the base of my neck, at the top of my breast, his hands sliding down the back
     of my pants to deliciously scrape my skin with his nails ever so slightly. I pressed
     my body against his, but that wasn’t enough. I need more.
    With trembling fingers, breath coming fast, I undid the top button of his jeans. God,
     why had I ever waited? This was so right, so perfect. The world around me rocked.
     I unzipped Caleb’s jeans.
    “What is going on . . . ?” a familiar voice began, and then broke off.
    I reached for Caleb. What was he worried about?
    Then a girl gasped nearby, and it wasn’t me. And it wasn’t Caleb who had spoken. In
     fact, he was sitting up, twisting in the backseat of the SUV.
    I stared up at Lazar’s astonished face.
    “What the hell?” Caleb said, throwing my shirt over me to cover me up.
    Lazar was half in the driver’s side of the SUV, arm braced against the headrest, staring
     at us over the seats. He wore his objurer uniform of white shirt, white pants, gray
     jacket. On the passenger side, Amaris was standing by the car’s open door, hand over
     her mouth, brown eyes as round as a startled fawn’s.
    “Oh, my God!” I said. The change from supercharged lovemaking to being caught like
     a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car was dizzying. I froze.
    Lazar’s face withdrew from view. Amaris slammed her door shut without getting into
     the car, and Caleb, still shirtless, pants half undone, rocketed up and out even as
     I struggled into my clothes.
    “What are you doing here?” Caleb roared. Something slammed into a wall, and Lazar
     grunted in pain.
    I flung myself out of the car to see Caleb, one hand gripping Lazar’s shirtfront,
     holding him up against the wall of the garage. Lazar, as tall and strong as he, made
     a twisting move to the side as he slammed his forearm down onto Caleb’s wrist.
    The move forced Caleb to release him, but he followed up with a step and socked a
     right cross into Lazar’s face.
    Lazar’s head whipped to the side, but he didn’t stumble back. A line of blood trickled
     from his mouth as he turned and smiled at his brother, brown eyes intent. Then, swifter
     than I could follow, he punched Caleb, one-two with what looked like a left cross
     and a right uppercut.
    Caleb took the first punch full in the face, but he made a swift move with his left
     arm in time to deflect the uppercut. His black eyes sparked with furious gold, matching
     the dangerous flicker in Lazar’s, and something savage surged up in me, flooding me
     with excitement.
    I should be stopping this. But I was still thrumming from feverish near-lovemaking in the car. Now the skin
     that had been rubbing against mine was wrestling more violently with someone just
     as strong, just as determined. Seeing Caleb, bare chested, his jeans unbuttoned, use
     everything he had to defend me was darkly thrilling.
    Caleb’s fists loosened, his knees bent, pants riding very low on his hips. He slammed
     the heel of his hand into Lazar’s solar plexus.
    Lazar expelled all the air in his lungs with an “Oof!” But he still had enough presence
     of mind to raise his fists up to guard against the next blow, which I knew from our
     exercises with Morfael would be aimed right for his throat. If it landed just right,
     it could kill.
    But Amaris shoved herself between them. She screamed, “He’s here because of me! It’s
     my fault. Don’t hurt him!”
    At the last second, Caleb stopped himself from striking and stepped back, breath coming