Best Friends (New Species Book 15) Read online

  His confession surprised her. “You slept in trees sometimes?” Her gaze went to the bed hanging near the roof. “Oh, is that why you like your bed so high?”

  “Leo built a platform in one of his trees but I just slept in the branches. Now I see why he wanted a flat surface. My bed is more comfortable than the thick limbs were to sleep on.”

  “Leo?”

  “He’s like me.”

  “A lion man?”

  He nodded. “He has a tail, though.”

  She wasn’t sure what to say about that. “Is he your friend?”

  “Yes. He visits sometimes. You’ll meet him. I thought about your cave suggestion. Leo has one of those. I’ll ask for one to be built but on a smaller scale.”

  “I didn’t know there were any caves in this area.”

  “It’s a house they built mostly underground for him. It resembles a cave from the outside. It helps us feel safer from humans. There are security doors he can activate to seal it off in case of attack.”

  It made her extremely sad that some New Species feared humans so much. She hadn’t noticed that about the ones who visited the diner. They’d all seemed at ease mingling with the townspeople. Maybe it was only a problem for the ones like Lash. It made her want to hold him a little tighter to make him forget all the horrible things he’d survived in the past. She hated Mercile.

  It wasn’t lost on her that he feared humans almost as much as she feared New Species.

  Mary slid her fingers into his hair and drew closer to his mouth. He immediately parted his lips as she kissed him. He growled, his chest rumbling against hers.

  They’d learned each other’s mouths on the mats across the room. She was shocked to discover he’d never kissed anyone before. But Lash had picked up kissing fast and was already a master at it. That didn’t surprise her. He was a very passionate man. The things he could do to her body had her urgently rubbing up against his even now. He always made her come, never leaving her high and dry like other men had in bed. He always got her off first to make certain she was wet enough to take him without pain. That was a good thing, since he was larger than a human in that department.

  A ringing sounded and Lash snarled, ending the kiss. “Someone is coming.” He turned in the water, lifted her, and set her on the edge of the pool. “Go into the bathroom now. Stay there until I come get you.”

  The phone near the door went silent, and she hesitated.

  “You’re naked. I refuse to let males see you this way.” Lash pulled himself out of the water next to her, hooked her around her waist, and slid down the fake moss-covered embankment with her.

  She gasped as he stood then tossed her over his shoulder. “I can walk. This is undignified. Put me down.”

  “I don’t know what that means and I don’t care. No other males get to see my mate bare.” He stormed into the bathroom, stopped near one of the sinks, and gently lowered her until her butt landed on the counter. “Stay in here.” He spun away, grabbed a towel, and came back to her. He threw it around her as if it were a blanket. “Be good. Listen to me.”

  He took the time to yank another towel off the wall before he stomped out of the bathroom. Curiosity had her sliding off the counter, wrapping the towel more firmly around her body, and tucking the corner of the material at the top to keep it in place.

  Part of her worried that the NSO had come to demand she leave. They couldn’t be happy about a random human being there. Lash would fight them. He could get hurt, and that scared her. She was already falling for him.

  That realization had her softly cursing and pausing by the bathroom door.

  She was falling in love with Lash.

  How could she not? He could be pushy, stubborn, and a bully. But she’d hardly been nice to him in return. And the way he looked at her, touched her, and some of the incredibly sweet things he said had broken through her resolve to not get emotionally involved.

  “I’m so fucking attached,” she admitted aloud. “Damn.”

  She took some deep breaths, checked how secure her towel was, and then silently slipped out of the bathroom. She hoped Lash wouldn’t notice since the door was located all the way across the large basement.

  It was a relief when the lights remained dim and no one had brightened them. But the sound of male voices arguing had her freezing in place.

  “No,” Lash snarled.

  “You need to listen to reason,” another voice yelled. “You can’t just keep a female because she accidently fell into your lair. The humans consider that kidnapping.”

  “Humans can’t come get her.” Lash sounded furious. “I’ll kill them if they try.”

  “Goddamn it, Lash.” The male’s voice softened and she couldn’t make out the rest of what he said, just that he kept talking.

  She tiptoed closer, wishing the waterfall wasn’t on to be able to hear their entire conversation.

  It was her chance to escape. All she’d have to do is yell for help. Someone from the NSO had obviously come to check on her wellbeing. She didn’t make a sound, though, trying to quietly creep close enough to overhear the conversation about her.

  “You need to leave, Jaded.” Lash almost roared the words.

  She flinched and peered around one of the artificial trees, trying to keep in the shadows. The sight of Lash facing off against four New Species had her worrying about his safety. He was the biggest of the bunch but they outnumbered him. What if they attacked him? He could get seriously hurt.

  Three of them wore uniforms but the sight of a New Species sporting a black tux surprised her—until she put the name Lash had said with the face. Jaded Wild was a celebrity. She’d seen him on television plenty of times when they covered the animal charity events he attended.

  “At least let me talk to her.” Jaded’s tone rose, a bit gruff. “Is she up in your nest?”

  “I don’t want other males near her.”

  “Lash, I came here to speak to you because I knew you’d remain calm with me. We’re friends. Torrent just wanted to bring in a team to take you down so we could access the female to see if she even wants to be here with you. Don’t make me look like an ass by having to turn this over to Torrent after I argued on your behalf. I just want to speak to the female, make certain she wants to stay with you, and avoid violence of any kind.”

  Lash said something low but she couldn’t hear it.

  “I know that,” Jaded replied. “Why in the hell do you think I wanted to keep this all calm and reasonable? I just need to speak to her and hear her say she’s willing to stay with you. That’s not too much to ask.”

  Lash snarled.

  Jaded sighed and put his hands on his hips. “Miss Muller?” He yelled. “Please talk to me.”

  Lash snarled louder and lunged. He tried to shove Jaded Wild but the New Species only stumbled slightly before shoving back.

  “Don’t make me take off my jacket, damn it. I’m not the enemy. I just want to talk to your female.”

  “You think I’d hurt my mate?” Lash snarled.

  “No,” Jaded snarled back. “I don’t. I trust you, Lash. She’s human, though, damn it! We try like hell to keep the peace with them. Her people don’t seem to know she’s missing yet but at some point, her family or friends will contact Sheriff Cooper about her disappearance. We’d like to fucking avoid having bad press. I want to have her call whoever she thinks might worry when they don’t hear from her to avoid a publicity nightmare. I can see the headlines now. New Species holding wedding guest hostage, or some such shit.”

  Lash growled.

  Jaded reached inside his pocket and withdrew something. “This is her phone. We were able to retrieve it from the vent. I’d like to give it to her and ask that she make whatever calls she needs to prevent humans from showing up at our gates. We’d also like to fix the air conditioning. Maybe you haven’t noticed because you’re still getting cool air down here, but that broken section she fell through means it’s no longer blowing it up into some parts of t