Speed of Light by Amber Kizer Read Free Book Online

thecool breeze. Crickets filled the night air with fiddles and clicks. The occasional car putted by and owls told knock-knock jokes up in the trees.
    I wrapped my fingers around Tens’s silky hair, tucked my head deeper beneath his chin, and kissed the pulse at the base of his throat.
    He tightened his arms around my back, flexing. “Can’t sleep?” he asked me in a throaty rumble I felt everywhere.
    I shook my head. “Did we do the right thing telling them about us?”
    “Faye and Gus? I think so.” He smoothed my cotton tank top and tucked his fingers under the bottom hem, rubbing circles on my bare flesh. Goose bumps broke out along my arms. I held my breath, willing his hands to continue. We’d promised each other months ago we wouldn’t stop when we were both ready to make love. I was ready. He kept stopping.
    I leaned up, my lips touching his, melting indulgently together. He tasted of minty forest shadows. I shifted my position on his lap. He lifted his head; his lips placed a soft comma on our kiss.
    “What are you thinking about?” I asked when he frowned.
    “Juliet is unraveling. She’s keeping secrets and spending too much time on her own.”
    I nodded. “Where’s her Protector?”
    “I don’t know. I think if she has one, he’d have shown up by now, right? Especially in March for her transition?”
    That is the worry
. Sure, Fenestras through time madedo without Protectors. We didn’t always have a match. Charles and Auntie were a good case—he wasn’t a Protector but was simply a human who loved her and became her husband. They didn’t communicate telepathically and he didn’t know any of her feelings or experiences before they met. Auntie told us Tens and I were special. Us finding each other, sharing the destined bond we did—that was rare. Maybe it was selfish, but I wanted Juliet to have the same.
    “Let’s practice again,” I demanded.
You will read my thoughts this time
.
    “Again? I’m tired, if you’re not.”
    “Please?” We’d started practicing telepathy. There were several journal entries that spoke of Fenestras and Protectors who managed to share thoughts and feelings. Since being together, Tens could only occasionally pick up on my feelings, and the random thoughts he grabbed were total coincidence. In his mind, all of my childhood seemed to have happened to him as simultaneously as reality.
    I had to base my knowledge of him on the very human basics like words and body language. Even those I managed to muck up more often than not.
    “Now, what am I thinking?” I asked.
    He scrunched his eyes. “You’re picturing a pink hippopotamus doing pliés on top of a giant pumpkin pie.”
    “Gee,” I giggled. “How’d you guess?”
    “I’m good.”
    “Full of it anyway.” I ran my hand along his ribs,finding his Eureka tickle spot. He bucked at me as our laughter spilled out around us. He flipped me over and straddled me, trying to pin my hands above my head. The lead singer belted out an impossibly high note that made my ears ring.
    Ignoring us, Custos lay on the double bed, chewing on a piece of old tire she’d drug in from somewhere nasty. She insisted on gnawing the thing near my pillow.
    A pounding at the door could have been anything but had Custos leaping to her feet with a low growl. Tens reached for the stereo remote and clicked off the music. Eerie silence invaded spaces left by the fading notes.
    I rolled to my feet. “It’s probably Juliet.” I opened the door and glanced around before Tens had a chance to push me aside, to protect me from nothing. He’d stuffed his feet hurriedly into his boots, but I’d stayed barefoot.
    Custos threw out a nasty, rumbling growl and brushed past me to march outside. She laid her ears back, lifting her guard hairs like she’d stuck her paw in an electrical socket. Behind her, Tens stepped in front of me.
    My heart accelerated; my mouth cottoned. I huffed a breath. “I can’t see anything. Probably Minerva