“I don’t like the ‘allow’ part,” I said.

“Jean-Claude is the vampire king of the United States,” Envy said. “Jason is his pomme de sang, his apple of blood, and he’s your wolf to call; he has to have permission from both of you to move. Anyway, who is Freda?”

“Jean-Claude has enough wereanimals to donate blood now. It’s not like in the old days when him having this little werewolf to feed off of was important for his power base. And Freda is J.J.’s girlfriend.”

“So if you, J.J., and Freda can work this out, you’ll move to New York?”

“Maybe. I mean, she’s in one of the top dance troupes in the country; I can’t force her to give that up.”

“I love that you’re willing to relocate for your girlfriend,” Envy said. “Most men expect the woman to do the career compromising.”

“I’m an exotic dancer, it’s not a career.”

“You’re very good at your job,” I said, “and you manage the club most of the time.”

“J.J. is talking to the dance company she’s in about Jason maybe trying out for them,” Nathaniel said.

I looked from one to the other. “Wow, Jason, just wow, that’s awesome; would you be the first lycanthrope allowed in an all-human dance company?”

He nodded.

“That would really help lycanthropes be more accepted,” Envy said.

“It’s a great opportunity,” I said. “I’ll miss you like hell, but I’ve never seen you as happy as you are with J.J., so what can I do to help?”

He smiled at me, not his usual teasing smile, but the one that was just him, just our friendship. “First, we all think if you maybe had more experience with women, or could talk to someone about having female lovers, you might be able to help Jade feel more a part of things.”

I raised eyebrows and looked across the table at Envy. “Are you volunteering to mentor me?”

“Me, no,” Envy said, shaking her blond hair hard.

“Then why are you here today? Domino is the only other black tiger in our group, so he and Jade are pals, but you’re golden tiger, which makes you a totally different clan.”

“I’m a female weretiger, and the only one you have other than Jade, so she talks to me. I’m with Jean-Claude and Richard, so she sees our positions as similar: We’re lovers, but not the beloved of our lovers.”

I tried to roll that sentence around in my head, gave up, and said, “So you’re here as Jade’s friend?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Okay. But you aren’t volunteering to teach me? Honestly, I’m not offering either; nothing personal, but Jade is confusing me enough I don’t need to add more girls. Hell, I don’t even need to add more boys.”

“I’ve never actually been with another woman, so I’m not mad at you that you’re puzzled about having a female lover, but you do have sexual contact with Jade; we just thought another woman with more experience in the area might be helpful.”

I looked at Jason. “You’re not offering some fantasy where you just add me to you and J.J. for a threesome, are you? Because if that’s it . . .” I looked at him harder.

He grinned and then laughed. “No, I’m not, though if it’s on the table, I wouldn’t say no.”

“Nothing personal to J.J., she’s beautiful, but I can’t see being with her, just the two of us.”

“You went straight to sex, didn’t you? It never occurred to you to just talk to J.J. over coffee about it, did it?” Envy said.

I blushed, a little, and shrugged. “Am I supposed to have a little bisexual coffee klatch?”

“That might help, but that wouldn’t solve my problem,” Jason said.

“Which problem?” I asked.

“You can’t make Freda hate me less, or stop being jealous of J.J., but you could help me explain rough sex to my girlfriend.”

“How?” I asked, and the one word dripped with suspicion.

He grinned, and then his face sobered, happiness gone like a switch, on/off. It hurt me to see him like that.

“Is J.J. really thinking about breaking up with you over the issue?” I asked.

“I’m breaking up with Richard because of it,” Envy said.

“No, it’s not the same. I don’t try to fuck J.J. until it hurts her. She’s sort of my version of the human women Richard dates, the ones he wants the white picket fence with, but I need the rough stuff, too. I just know I’m not going to get it with J.J.”

“Explain it to her the way you told me, that you’ll die without it.” She sounded disdainful.

“You don’t believe us, why should she?” Jason asked.

Envy opened her mouth, started to say something, stopped, and then sipped her tea; again you could watch her thinking.

“So,” I said, “what would help explain it to J.J.?”

“Seeing it,” he said.

I glared at him with no chance he’d jolly me out of it. “I’m not that much of an exhibitionist.”

“I know, and that’s not what I’m asking.”

“What exactly are you asking?”

Nathaniel took my hand in both of his, which made me gaze up into those lavender eyes. I wondered if I’d ever look up into his eyes and not be startled by how pretty they were. “We were thinking that you and I would have sex in the room with Jason and J.J. and just let the differences speak for themselves.”

I gave him wide eyes.

“It wouldn’t be the first time we’d shared a bedroom with another couple, or several, Anita.”

“That’s for feeding the ardeur, or when things get out of hand and we can’t control it. I’ve never agreed to anything like this while sober from the ardeur.”

“Maybe it’s time that you did,” he said, softly.

I opened my mouth, closed it, and didn’t know what to say. Hell, I barely knew what to think. “Well, fuck,” I said, at last.

“That’s the hope,” Jason said.

Domino said, “Sorry to put a damper on the plan, but Nathaniel and Anita alone don’t really go that rough.”

The three of us looked at each other. “How rough do you need her to see, Jason?” I asked.

He thought about it for a moment, and then sighed. “Rougher than you and Nathaniel, probably.”

“I can do rougher,” Nathaniel said.

I patted him. “You can.”

“Anita and I are rougher together than you and she alone,” Jason said.

“Add Nicky and Nathaniel co-topping me and it’s rougher,” I said.

Jason laughed. “I want to introduce J.J. to rougher sex, not scare her to death.”

“Nicky makes love, too,” I said, feeling the need to defend one of my absent lovers.

“I believe you, but I’ve seen his rough, and something about how tall he is, those massive shoulders, and the edge-play bondage takes him out of the comfort zone for me, let alone for J.J.”

Nicky was as blond and blue-eyed as Jason and Envy, but he made everyone here today seem . . . frail. He wasn’t the tallest guard we had, but he did have one of the biggest shoulder spreads, and was just one of those big guys who seemed huge, maybe a combination of physical size and personality. He was also an admitted sociopath, which meant his reaction to situations was either socially perfect or so wrong you had no words for it. I loved him, meaning I was in love with him, and he me, which meant he wasn’t nearly the sociopath he thought he was, just someone with a childhood background so harsh only Nathaniel’s held a candle to it.