Edge of Humanity (Only Human Book 5) Page 6

  I hadn’t known Gavin had left for a while. I figured he was avoiding me, which worked fine for me because I hadn’t wanted to see him, either. I should’ve kept track.

  Nathan didn’t follow me upstairs or try to stop me, and I went to the kitchen to see what RaeLynn had left us to eat. Two casserole dishes were in his refrigerator — one marked venison lasagna and the other marked eggplant lasagna. Both needed to go into the oven for the same amount of time, at the same temperature. I got them started and went into the living room, where he stood with his back to me, looking out over the valley.

  “What are you keeping from me?”

  “I don’t think it’s wise to broadcast exactly where Lauren and I will be.”

  “I’m not just anyone. If you get into trouble, I’ll be leading the rescue party. I should know where you are.”

  “Can we please not fight tonight? I was looking forward to…” I sighed. “I’ll miss you. I was hoping for a grand send-off.”

  “Are you taking Lauren to your teacher?”

  I considered how to answer. My supernatural friends have taught me much about responding to a question without actually answering it.

  “I agreed I wouldn’t bring anyone to his door. If those were my plans, I couldn’t tell anyone. Not even you.”

  “And if Gavin’s already been there? What if you’re walking into a trap?”

  “I’ll go without Lauren the first time. She won’t be in danger.”

  “And you?”

  “I’ll figure it out as I go.”

  “I’ll never forgive you if you let something happen to you.” His eyes were fierce and I could see his worry. The lion wasn’t used to not being in control of the people he cares about.

  Before he started telling me how it was going to be, I needed to remind him of some boundaries. “You can’t send Tyson or Kane with us. This is Lauren’s journey, and I’ll help her get started, but you and I both know how these things work. She needs to find herself.”

  “One doesn’t usually go off on a vision quest with their mother.”

  “I’m aware, but you know the relationship we have. She hasn’t had a mother all her life like most kids her age, and she isn’t ready to break the apron strings just yet. We’re putting it off a few months. Both of us need just a little more time.” I shrugged. “Also, I’d like her to have some more self-defense skills before she moves so far away from me.” Surely he couldn’t argue with the last point.

  “You’ll get me your new phone number as soon as you have it?”

  They knew I’d be buying a phone from a Chinese telephone company once I arrived, but they didn’t know I intended to Skype them so they couldn’t trace me. I didn’t want to answer his question, so I pulled my shirt and bra off, stepped out of my jeans and panties, situated myself on his sofa, closed my eyes, and massaged all around my clit with the fingers of my left hand while I sank the fingers of my right hand inside me. I pulled up memories of Monday’s session with Master James, and was close to an orgasm within perhaps three or four minutes.

  “What the fuck are you doing?”

  I kept my eyes closed and didn’t slow. “You asked me not to have any orgasms the past few days. I assumed it was because you’d give me so many tonight. If you aren’t, I will.”

  The next thing I knew, I was over his lap, my hands held to the small of my back, and his hand impacted my bottom. Flesh on flesh. Hard. And then again. And again. He picked up speed until the spanks came one after another — fast, solid, and in a random pattern on my ass and thighs so I had no idea where to expect the next, and no time to deal with the effects of one slap before the next impact landed.

  Nathan doesn’t hit me as hard as he can, but I’d pissed him off and he was hitting me harder than when we’re just playing around. A lot harder — but it worked for me. This spanking was more ‘real’, and I lifted my bottom to give him better access.

  His growl was the only warning I had before he put even more muscle into it, and fire shot through my veins. A scream ripped from my chest, tears streamed from my eyes, and I still lifted my bottom — wanting more. I was going to miss Nathan. Leaving him was hard, but I had to go.

  I needed this from him as badly as he needed to give it to me.

  When he stopped, it was only to toss me over the arm of the sofa, rip his own jeans off, and bury himself inside me with one, vicious, brutal shove. I screamed at the invasion, and he groaned in pleasure.

  “Fuck, I love you. If you get yourself hurt on your little vacation, I’ll belt your ass until you cry — and I promise you won’t enjoy it.”

  “Gonna come! Please, Your Majesty, permission!?”

  “Granted.” It’s hard not to feel his energy and power during sex, and it’s the only time he doesn’t bitch about me using his royal titles.

  My hands held where they could — grabbing, helpless under the onslaught of all that is Nathan. He drove into me, suspending time, suspending reality. The King of Cats shattered my world over and over, plunging, wild, relentless, until he was no longer the Amakhosi. He was just my Nathan, and he gave me everything I needed. When I screamed my final release, the sound echoing back from the glass wall, Nathan’s half-human and half-feline roar joined my voice in a wild, feral harmony.

  Nathan’s oven has a setting so food stays warm after it cooks, otherwise our meal would’ve been charcoal by the time we got to it. He gave me more orgasms than I can count, brought out more emotions than I wanted to feel, and then fed me with his fingers while my hands were cuffed behind my back.

  It’s hard to shut down and put a wall up when you’re naked with your arms bound behind you. Not that I wanted to hide my feelings, but I felt so open and vulnerable.

  He sat on his sofa; I was on a cushion at his feet. He had two plates before him — his lasagna and mine, along with huge slabs of garlic bread.

  I hadn’t intended to tell him this until it was time to use it, but it seemed important to let him know sooner, to try to lessen his worry.

  “I’ve set up a failsafe,” I told him between bites. “If I go longer than twenty-eight hours without checking into a server, it will send you, Cora, and Aaron information about where I am and what I’m doing. I’m sure I’ll be okay, but it seemed a good idea to have a way to let ya’ll know where I am if things go to shit. We haven’t heard from Aquila or Griffin in too long.” Mordecai had worked with me until I hoped they couldn’t get back in my head, but I wasn’t certain, so I needed a plan in case they did.

  Aaron had negotiated with Rinaldo, and I’d have to meet him in person next year. It was assumed I was safe from him for the time being, but again — I wasn’t certain, so I needed to plan in case he went back on his word and tried to capture me. Again.

  Nathan’s eyes went hard a few seconds before he gave me an annoyed look. “You couldn’t have told me that to start with?”

  “It wasn’t my intention to tell any of you. Lauren and I should be safe. I have hotel reservations in Changsha, but it isn’t where we’re staying long-term. No one should be able to find us. I’ve thought it out.”

  “Unless Gavin put someone else in control where your teacher lives?” He shook his head. “Your Visa lists where you’ll be going.”

  “No, it doesn’t. We land in Changsha, and the paper trail will end the next day. I know how to move around in China without leaving traces.”

  I’d have preferred to hold this conversation with the use of my hands, but I let Nathan keep control over me. He needed reassurance I’d be okay, so I’d give it to him. The power exchange during the conversation would give him a feeling of control despite the fact he had zero authority to tell Lauren and I where in China we could or couldn’t travel.

  “Some snow-leopards stayed in the areas near Tibet during the Cultural Revolution,” he told me, and I got the impression this was information he rarely shared. “Other shapeshifters left the mainland before things got too bad, and only a handful are giving it a try now. A few wolfpacks hav
e moved to rural areas in recent years. They seem okay, so I allowed a Pride to move back from Taiwan, but they’re a few hours north of Beijing. Some tigers live in the west, near the borders of Vietnam, Burma, and Laos so they can make it to safety if necessary. We won’t have anyone who can get to you quickly.”

  “Not through traditional travel.” I really wanted my hands, but I suppressed the urge to shrug my shoulders. “Look, I’m not expecting a rescue, should the need arise. I’m aware I’ll need to save me and Lauren because help won’t be coming. I also know ya’ll will be worried if I go too long without contact. I don’t want you to feel helpless, so I made arrangements for you to know where I’ve been if something keeps me from checking in.”

  And now, the reason I really needed him to back off. “I need you to promise me you’ll give Lauren and me the privacy we’re asking for.”

  He didn’t say anything, so I broke it down for him. “No bugs in our luggage. No GPS chips you’ve programmed to phone home. I don’t want you tracking us. Nothing to put us or the people who give us shelter at risk.”

  “I can’t make that promise.”

  “Okay.”

  “That’s it? Okay?”

  “Yeah. You’re worried. I’m touched.”

  And we’d buy all new stuff in Changsha before we got on a train.

  7

  Flying to China is always a bitch. We went from Chattanooga to Detroit, to Beijing, to Changsha. With layovers, our entire travel time was twenty-nine hours from airport to airport, plus a two-hour taxi-ride-from-hell to get us from our destination airport to the Dolton Hotel in the middle of downtown Changsha.

  This was the hotel I’d brought Lauren back to when the judge had decreed she was my daughter, and I nearly burst into tears when we stepped into the fancy lobby with the same huge marble pillars.

  “Mom, I get it, but please don’t cry while you get us checked in!”

  Damn, that was asking a lot. I pulled my emotions in and blinked my eyes. “Just give me a sec. I’ll be okay.”

  We hugged, and I noted she had lots of moisture in her eyes, too. “We’re both exhausted. Let’s get our room and get some sleep.”

  It was the middle of the night in China and a good time to crash. I hadn’t reserved us a deluxe room since we’d only be here one night, but the receptionist upgraded us, and our room came with a heavenly shower.

  Lauren had been clear she didn’t want to land in China and go straight to her old orphanage. She wanted to keep the option open to possibly visit when we came back through in six or eight months, but she didn’t want to do it up front. So, the next day, we went shopping for a few changes of clothes, some good backpacks, new shoes, and makeup. We’d wait to buy our other toiletries once we made it to our final destination.

  Our first day out, it took me a few hours to adjust to the throngs of people, the noise, the activity all around, and the smells. I’ve never been able to put my finger on the difference in smells — whether it’s the food and the way bodies smell when they eat it, or just the fact there are so many people sharing the same oxygen — I have no idea. It isn’t a bad smell, but it’s different.

  We ate in a restaurant down the street from the hotel, and I closed my eyes in bliss at my first bite. The spices, the vegetables, all in perfect balance. So good. I knew I’d be tired of Chinese food long before it was time to go home, but for now, it was heavenly.

  We couldn’t leave our luggage in the room and check out, because hotels in China do an inventory of the room when you check out, so they can charge for missing towels, sheets, pillows, or anything available for purchase. They’d ask questions if we left our things.

  We prepared to leave and changed into all new clothes — even underwear and socks, and made sure only the new things we’d purchased were in our backpacks. Everything from home was in the rolling suitcase. Our passports were the only exception, and they were inside a signal blocking bag and sewn into the lining of my backpack. We wouldn’t need them again until time to go home.

  A few blocks from the hotel, we gave the rolling luggage — along with everything potentially bugged — to a homeless person. A few more blocks, and I led Lauren through alleyways and dark hallways to a black-market guy who’d make us temporary residence permits in another name.

  An hour later, we were on our way to the train station. I tried not to look nervous when I handed our fake IDs over to buy the tickets.

  We only used the first train to get us into the next province. From there, we’d take a bus into the next province, and then deluxe train tickets to carry us most of the rest of the way. The final leg would have to be on another bus, because the train didn’t go into our mountainous destination.

  No way would anyone follow us through all those changes.

  8

  I was exhausted when we finally made it to the village at the base of the mountain, but Lauren was full of energy. There are no hotels in the village, but the temple has rooms for rent.

  We walked from the bus station, happy to stretch our legs, and I pointed out places to shop on the way to the temple. The side door was open, but I didn’t recognize the monk at the reception desk.

  We were about to hand over our temporary residence cards to sign in when I heard someone say my Chinese name from behind us.

  “Kuàiyàn. Is it you?”

  I turned, and a smile lit my face. “Jūn Yí! It’s good to see you!” After so many days in China, the Mandarin rolled off my tongue without even thinking about it.

  I introduced Lauren with her original Chinese name instead of the one on her fake residence card. “This is my daughter, Lìlíng. I’ll be signing her up for classes once we get a room and can stow our things.”

  The temple at the base of the mountain houses a martial arts school. It isn’t particularly famous, but I did my research before I came the first time, and chose it because some of the teachers are legendary. I assumed at the time this was because they were tired of the limelight and wanted obscurity, but later found out the secret temple on the mountain was the real draw.

  “You must stay with my family,” said Jūn Yí. “We live a modest life, but we have a spare bedroom to offer, if you don’t mind sharing a bed with each other.”

  Jūn Yí isn’t the most revered teacher at the complex, but he’s widely respected. An offer to stay with him was unexpected, but appreciated. “Thank you for the offer. We plan to stay in the area four or five months, though I’ll be… exploring, while Lauren’s in class. I don’t know how long we’ll be here, specifically.”

  He glanced at Lauren, as if gauging what he could say. “I believe your explorations will be heartbreaking. Come, let’s get Lauren signed up before we go to my home. I live nearby, and I teach no more classes today.”

  He asked about Lauren’s experience on the way, and to my surprise, had the registrar sign Lauren up for two of his classes. Usually, you have to prove yourself in beginner classes before you’re taught by the likes of Jūn Yí.

  His home wasn’t as modest as he’d led us to believe. He lived with his parents, his brother, and his brother’s wife and elementary aged son. The architecture reminded me a little of the hutongs in Beijing, with the house in a U shape, and a courtyard nestled between. The main living areas were at the base of the U, with Jūn Yí occupying a ‘leg’, and his brother’s family occupying the other. Their parents lived in the main section, where everyone was welcome.

  Lauren and I put our things away in Jūn Yí’s guest room and helped his mother prepare dinner.

  I was curious about the family having two sons, at a time when the one-birth policy was rarely disregarded. Now, most families are allowed two children, but I estimated Jūn Yí to be close to forty and his brother to be younger than thirty. When his brother was born, the law was strictly enforced. I didn’t ask, but I later discovered Jūn Yí’s mother had died when he was young, and his father remarried. The woman he called mother was actually his stepmother, though I couldn’t see a difference
in how she treated the two men.

  Of course, Jūn Yí bought the house they lived in, and brought his family to this village when he’d moved here. He’d grown up near Beijing, and had his formal education in the capital city.

  Dinner consisted of a million questions about how I’d come to be Lìlíng’s mother, how she was being educated in America, and why we’d come here for her to take Kung Fu.

  Lauren and I turned in early, and awoke early. I dragged her sleepy butt to a nearby park, where we did Tai Chi with the locals.

  It’d been a week since we’d left Chattanooga — it took us two days to reach Changsha, where we spent the night, and then we’d taken another three days to travel partway across China via bus and train. I’d known getting here would be a big deal, and it was a relief to feel as if we could settle in and stop traveling.

  I took Lauren to the temple, made sure she understood where her classes were, and headed to a store to buy two burner cellphones. I’d lived in this village a long time. I knew my way around.

  I also knew how to hide my location while using a popular messaging service, because one of Aaron’s tech guys had taught me. I walked into the woods with my phone, so there’d be no landmarks or landforms behind me, and called Nathan. He wasn’t pleased I’d gone a week without contacting him, but he was happy to hear from me.

  I kept our conversation short, and asked him to let Aaron know I’d reached my destination and was safe. I called Cora to check in, and then enacted the failsafe with a thirty-two hour timer, and set my phone to remind me in twenty-four hours.

  Jūn Yí’s words about my being disappointed when I explored had me worried, so I hiked to the base of the mountain. It was nearly a mile of relatively flat trail before the two and a half miles up. We were taught to view it as a meditation, and in fact, if you aren’t in deep meditation about a third of the way up, you’ll reach the top without arriving at the temple.