"Yes. Maki is professional bath attendant and stress relief specialist. Purple Queen is Master’s woman for mating and territorial claims. Different jobs."

The silence that followed was the kind you hear right before lightning strikes. The air itself seemed to crystallize.

Natalia raised her hand. Ice spikes erupted from the floor around the tub like a forest of frozen spears. Each one was sharp enough to core an apple and positioned with surgical accuracy. They surrounded the bathtub in a perfect circle without actually touching it.

"Territorial claims?"

Maki examined the ice spikes with professional interest rather than fear.

"Very impressive ice work. Purple Queen has excellent control. But Maki is not threatened by frozen water."

Lightning crackled across Maki’s fingertips. Blue-white electricity danced between her knuckles with casual ease. The water in the tub began conducting the current, sending mild shocks through my nervous system that were more stimulating than painful.

"Maki has lightning. Ice melts."

The standoff stretched between them like a live wire. Two supernatural predators sizing each other up over territory they both considered theirs. Me being that territory.

This was exactly the kind of situation that ended with me explaining to investigators why my bathroom looked like a war zone and why there were scorch marks shaped like cat paws burned into expensive tile.

"Okay. Everyone just breathe for a second."

Neither of them looked at me. Their attention was locked on each other with the intensity of apex predators establishing dominance. Maki’s pupils were dilated to black coins. Natalia’s telekinetic aura rippled the air around her like heat waves.

"Natalia. Maki was just helping me with the muscle tension in my back. It wasn’t sexual."

"She was sitting on your lap. Naked."

"Maki is always naked."

"That’s not making this better, Maki."

"Master’s heartbeat suggests Master enjoyed Maki’s assistance."

I was going to murder my familiar. Slowly. With fire.

Natalia’s gaze flicked down to where Maki was still positioned across my thighs. The evidence of exactly how much I’d enjoyed Maki’s assistance was fairly obvious despite the cold water. Her expression shifted from murderous to something more complex and infinitely more dangerous.

"Did you enjoy it?"

The question hung in the steam like a trap. Answer wrong and I’d be explaining to my mother why her son was found frozen solid in his own bathtub. Answer right and I might survive long enough to regret surviving.

"I enjoy a lot of things that are bad for me. Like fighting A-Rank monsters and dating telekinetic royalty who can kill me with her thoughts."

"That’s not an answer."

"Yes, I enjoyed it. Maki has very talented hands and the day nearly killed me three separate times. Sue me for appreciating professional massage therapy."

Natalia stepped closer. The ice spikes retracted into the floor with grinding sounds. Her robe gaped open as she moved, revealing the inner curves of her breasts and the flat plane of her stomach. The fabric clung to her hips in ways that made my mouth go dry despite the supernatural climate control.

"Professional massage therapy."

"Very professional," Maki agreed. "Maki has certificates."

"You do not have certificates."

"Maki could get certificates."

Natalia reached the edge of the tub. She looked down at us with an expression I couldn’t read. The Covenant bond was sending mixed signals. Anger and possession and something that might have been curiosity.

"Move over."

Maki blinked. "Purple Queen wants to join?"

"I want my bath. With my boyfriend. Without interference from oversexed familiars."

"Maki is not oversexed. Maki is appropriately sexed for supernatural cat entity."

Natalia began untying her robe. The silk whispered as it slipped from her shoulders and pooled at her feet. Underneath she wore nothing but skin that glowed pearl-white in the bathroom lighting and curves that belonged in Renaissance paintings.

My brain short-circuited.

She was perfect. Not magazine perfect or digitally enhanced perfect. Perfect in the way that made me understand why men started wars over women. Her breasts were full and high with dusty pink nipples that tightened in the cool air. Her waist curved inward before flaring to hips that were built for gripping. The triangle of purple hair between her thighs matched the streaks in her hair.

She stepped into the tub with fluid grace. The hot water lapped around her ankles, then her calves, then her thighs as she descended. Steam rose from her skin like she was made of winter fire.

Maki watched this display with obvious appreciation.

"Purple Queen has very nice body. Maki approves of Master’s taste in women."

"Thank you, I think."

Natalia settled into the water across from me. The displacement sent warm waves against my chest. Her knees bumped mine beneath the surface, and the casual contact was somehow more intimate than everything Maki had been doing.

"So," she said, settling back against the stone rim, "what exactly were you doing to him?"

"Maki was providing muscle therapy for Master’s neck and shoulders. Master carries much tension from fighting and brooding."

"I don’t brood."

"Master broods constantly. Maki has observed extensive brooding behavior."

Natalia’s mouth twitched. Almost a smile. The murderous frost aura was fading, replaced by something warmer and infinitely more dangerous.

"Show me."

"What?"

"Show me what you were doing. I want to see these professional massage techniques."

Maki perked up with genuine enthusiasm. "Purple Queen wants demonstration?"

"I want to understand what my familiar considers therapeutic."

This was a trap. This had to be a trap. Women didn’t just invite other women to demonstrate intimate touching techniques on their boyfriends. Especially not women who could freeze your blood solid with a thought.

But Maki was already moving. She repositioned herself beside me instead of across my lap, which was marginally less compromising but still involved considerable skin contact. Her hands found my shoulders beneath the water and began working at the knotted muscles with professional competence.

"Master holds stress in trapezius and levator scapulae. Maki applies pressure here," she demonstrated, thumbs digging into the junction where my neck met my shoulders, "and tension releases."

The relief was immediate and profound. Whatever else Maki was, she genuinely knew what she was doing. The knots in my shoulders began dissolving under her touch.

Natalia watched with the focused attention of someone memorizing every detail. Her purple eyes tracked the movement of Maki’s hands with scientific interest.

"Like this?"