“The heat?” Lucy asked, tilting her head back to be able to see his face. “But it’s cold here.”
“Not the temperature,” he said, giving her a funny look. “The mating heat.”
Chapter Eighteen
The words echoed in her ears as her brain struggled to make sense of what he was saying.
“The what?” she squawked.
As he opened his mouth to answer, the door flew open with a loud bang.
“Step away from the goose!” Rue shouted, pointing an angry finger at Sparx, who’d placed himself protectively between Lucy and the door.
“Goose?” Sparx gave her such a startled look that she couldn’t stop the giggle that slipped out.
“These guys are crazy, Goose!” Rue announced somewhat hysterically, holding up her arms as if prepared to karate chop someone.
Colby ran into the room through the doors left wide-open from Rue’s explosive entry moment. Panting, he rubbed the side of his head and winced. “I’m so sorry, sir. We were just in the middle of explaining your mating when this volunteer hit me and ran from the room.”
“I hit you with a pillow!” Rue defended herself. “It’s not my fault you went down like a sack of potatoes.” Rue moved quickly around the bed, placing herself on the side that Lucy was laying on. “Let’s go.”
Sparx growled at Rue, before grimacing. “I know you’re her friend, but I’m her mate. You will not take her away from me.”
Lucy’s breath left her body as Sparx tightened his arm around her—partially from shock at what she was hearing and partially from the anaconda of an arm wrapped around her middle.
“Say what now?” she asked breathlessly. Surely, she thought, she was still somehow stuck in that dream from earlier.
“You’re my mate, Lucy.” He rolled her until she was facing him completely. Cupping her cheek, he helped her block out both Rue and Colby. “I thought I’d explained everything.”
“Noooooo,” she drawled, giving in to a hysterical giggle as she tried to slow her pounding heart.
She was sure she was dreaming. This was literally her fantasy as she’d slipped into her nap. Her version was a little more X-rated and without two voyeurs glaring at each other hovering over them, but other than that…
“Bunch of liars,” Rue snarled, holding out her hand to Lucy. Wiggling her fingers, she clicked her teeth together like she was calling a dog. “Come on, girl. We gotta get you some clothes and then get the fuck out of Dodge.”
“Wait…what?” Lucy held up her hands, giving a time-out sign. She was having trouble figuring out what she’d woken up in the middle of. “Everyone stop talking for a minute, while I try to understand what is happening.”
She stared up at Sparx where he was still plastered to her side. “Am I still dreaming or did you just say we’re mates?”
She held her breath, waiting for his answer, even though she already knew it… at least hoped she knew it.
“No. You’re not dreaming.” Raising a hand, he ran a finger down the curve of her cheek. The action created a shiver from her neck all the way down to her toes, zinging a few places in between. “And yes. Yes, I am.”
“Don’t fall for that line. Tabitha was bragging all the way back about how the big guy there was going to give her a private tour of his tunnel. He wants to show her his emeralds, if you know what I mean.” Rue gave Lucy an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle with matching hip thrust from where she was stationed on the opposing side. “C’mon, Goose. I know you think all of this is real, but it’s just a bunch of smoke and mirrors, right? This mating stuff is nothing more than a way to get women signed up. I mean, seriously. They can’t live without us? Pffft. It’s a bunch of romantic hooey that they know would be catnip.”
“Rue!” Lucy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I don’t understand. You were the one that suggested we sign up—”
“We’d just been robbed!” Rue sputtered, throwing her hands up in the air. “We were running out of options. When things went to shit…well, I knew this was something you would bring up again. I never thought all this stuff about mates was actually real. I mean, it can’t be, right? That’s romance novel stuff.”
“Well then why did you suggest it?” Lucy asked, exasperated.
“Ummm.” Rue looked away from her guiltily.
“Spit it out,” she snapped, angry at her best friend for still trying to hang onto secrets.
“I thought you’d get over the idea of living in an underground tunnel sooner rather than later and we’d go home,” Rue explained, pointing around her at the room they were in for emphasis. “I mean, you can’t even handle staying at a Super 8. This place is way more than just a little rustic, Goose. I figured we’d get here, you’d realize what a bad idea it was, we’d chisel a few stones away on our way out, and boom—easy-peasy. I mean…it’s a fucking cave, Lucy. You can’t handle using the bathroom at a rest stop.”
Rue finished with a strange smile that begged Lucy not to be mad or ask any more questions. Just to please let it go. How could she tell? Because she’d seen it plenty of times. Like the time Rue had accidently used laundry detergent in their dishwasher and flooded their basement apartment in two feet of suds.
Damnit. She couldn’t manage to ever stay mad at a face like that. Especially when that face was attached to someone who knew her well enough to know that the cave would have scared her off on any normal day.
A cave that didn’t include Sparx, that is.
“I get it, Rue. Well…” She frowned, trying to figure out if she got the entire gist of things. “I think. Well, kind of, at least,” Lucy said softly. She immediately felt the words having an instantaneous effect on the
