Chapter Seventeen

Dizzy, Gage couldn’t take his eyes from Daire, and jumped when one of the attendants came in. Or came over—they could have been there the entire time for all Gage knew, just as he’d been barely aware of the spectators beyond the viewing pane.

Although, having them there, knowing eyes watched him and Daire… His heart beat faster even now. Exhibitionism wasn’t the sort of thing Griffin Guardians indulged in. They didn’t indulge themselves in much, really. Not like pixies. Not like Daire.

“Of course,” he replied to whatever the assistant had said. Oh, Daire was being shown out. Gage would rather he stayed. He liked being with him, doing things together with him. And not just sex, although gods above and below, the pixie could fuck. Gage ached. He’d thought it a myth about griffin shifters possibly having a third, smaller and hidden prostate. No one he knew had ever said they had one, that anyone had found it. Well, fine, it wasn’t the sort of subject routinely brought up in conversation at the HQ.

“We’ll bring him back in a moment,” the assistant promised Daire, who seemed as reluctant to leave as Gage was to have him go.

Well, great sex created bonds. And that was what was between them, what they had. All they had. Because what more could there be? Yet still he tracked Daire’s exit and wished he’d gone with him when he saw what the room attendants were bringing over to him…to fit on him.

“Don’t say a word,” he warned Daire when he was led out to him a short while later. “Not about the outfit, or—”

“The cock cage?” Daire’s green eyes bulged from his head. He accepted the leather leash when the attendant passed it to him. “Because that’s what it is, isn’t it?”

“It is and I want it off,” Gage got out through gritted teeth.

“I don’t think we can, not right now,” Daire replied.

If that tricky pixie’s enjoying this—

“We have to play a part, remember?”

Because Gage suspected he was enjoying this. “I don’t like it!” he insisted.

“Well, just think yourself lucky I’m not making you crawl.” Daire nodded at another tall, broad sub…on his hands and knees, trailing after his elven-looking master.

Oh yeah, he was so enjoying this. “Let’s…” Gage took a breath. “Get on with the assignment, all right? Trying to find what information we can here? I didn’t get a chance to speak to anyone other than the attendants, who were useless—did you?”

Daire shook his head. “Not really. We’d better explore. The place. Not…anything else. Although…” He tugged on the leash.

“Come on.” Gage dragged in a breath. “So you think we’ll find something in one of these rooms? Maybe this first one? This Lightning Room?”

Lightning as in lightning fairies, he learned. A whole host of lightning fairies, gathered into a bright white ball that darted over the stretched-out body of a sub, zapping bolts through it. The sub writhed and arched, shrieking when the hits landed, his dick rock-hard and leaking.

“Fairy-fucked.” The sub’s Dom sighed, swiping his thumb over the head of his sub’s cock then licking it. “There’s nothing like it.”

It was obvious there was no group of kidnappers in that room, waiting to do business with those wanting the nappee back. Gage elbowed Daire. “Try a bigger room.”

Daire led him along the main area. “This one?” he asked. “It’s bigger.”

Ah. Because it housed a cockatrice. Gage had rarely seen the legendary beast, a two-legged dragon with a rooster’s head, before and never seen one that allowed itself to be ridden. Well, this one barely did, bucking and spinning when its—naked—rider was placed on its back.

“Shining stars and gleaming moons!” Daire covered his ears at the shrieks and screams. “What’s making the riders react like that? All they’re doing is getting bumped over its scales… Ah. I just answered my own question, didn’t I?”

“I knew cockatrice scales were highly prized.” Gage peered as hard at them as Daire was. “But I didn’t know why.” He did now—they aroused wherever they touched. The rider slipping to the floor just now was too horny to walk, humping the air.

“Highly prized, you say? How…highly?” Daire’s fingers twitched.

“Don’t even think about it,” Gage warned. “You don’t want to know what a cockatrice does if it feels someone plucking one out. Let’s just say you’d find it difficult to get aroused ever again, with what he’d pluck out of you, in turn.”

Daire winced. “Point taken. Or not taken. Ever, I hope. Come on. Let’s try another room.”

They did, and quickly backed out. “So that’s why unicorns are so hunted, and especially by virgins!” Gage gulped. “I don’t think I can ever unsee that.” Hadn’t he seen something like it earlier? Some of the toys at Grind and Grind seemed to have been modeled on the unicorn’s…horn. He sighed. “It’s clear what we’re looking for isn’t here. Let’s search the rest of this place.”

Checking they weren’t observed, they slipped out through a small side door into a service corridor. “That’s better.” Gage wasn’t a fan of loud music and flashing lights. “Get this thing off me now.” He flicked the cock cage.

“Me? I have no idea how it goes on or off!” Daire exclaimed. “Don’t you?”

“I’m a Griffin Guardian, trained in law enforcement—it might surprise you to hear this, but removing cock cages isn’t really part of those duties!” Gage yelped.

“I meant, because it has a padlock?” Daire indicated it. He lifted Gage’s dick to examine the contraption…and Gage howled.

“It’s to stop me getting erect, so don’t go groping me,” he commanded.

“You wish. You wish you were so tall and muscular and had such a bubble butt I couldn’t keep my hands off it!” Daire accused. “That you were so sexy, with those blue eyes, that blond hair and chiseled features that all I wanted to do was throw you down and eat you out!”

“Just like you wish you were so irresistible, with those gleaming green eyes and pert, turned-up nose and gods-in-the-sky pointed ears and that trim little body that all I wanted was to suck your cock!” Gage raged.

In the silence that fell after that, they just looked at each other. “So,” Daire said eventually, “where’s the key?”

“Ah.” The attendant had said something about it, but Gage’s head had been too fuzzy after his orgasm to take it in. It still felt fuzzy now.

“Never mind. Let me try something. Unlock,” Daire demanded.

The padlock fell to the floor, the leather cage dropped off and Gage’s dick sprang free.

“That’s better,” Gage sighed, then rubbed his stomach where it churned a little. Wait. What—?

“Let’s see what’s in here.” Daire’s voice was flat as he pushed open the door to a closet. “Look, staff uniforms.” He tried to pull the hotel pants and tunic over his clothes and there were tears in his eyes when it became apparent there was no way he could conceal his long leather coat and he had to leave it off.

Gage was glad to get out of what he…wasn’t wearing, even if it meant donning the kind of suit the doormen had worn and that was on the short and tight side, especially over his corps uniform. Daire had gone quiet, and Gage wondered if it was the sight of him in these unflattering pants and tunic causing it. No, it wouldn’t be. Oh gods, was he regretting what they’d just done?

If anyone should be, it should be me! As a Guardian, he should be focused on the assignment, not taking a detour into…that. This whole thing with Daire is a detour. But he was enjoying the side trip and the partner he was making it with. Partner. He stumbled on the word. The concept. He’d never had one, outside his Guardian duties. He hadn’t had much, outside his Guardian duties. And he couldn’t really have this, could he? Whatever this was.

It was something that had made him want to do things with Daire he’d never done with anyone else. Never even thought of doing. But the exploration, the give and take, all seemed so natural, so much a part of his feelings.

Feelings.

He glanced at Daire in the gloom of the corridor. A beam of light from some small window above fell across him, showing the green of his eyes and the red of his lips. The colors…and Daire had no magic about him. Hadn’t for a while, the receptionist had said.

“Daire.” He hadn’t known he was going to speak until he did, but there were things he had to ask. To know.

“Gage.” Daire’s tone matched his, but not in a mocking way. “I know. We…have to talk.” He looked furious about it. “But not here. Not now.”

Well, yes, the back corridor in what was possibly the enemy stronghold wasn’t the best place for a griffin-pixie heart-to-heart.

“When this is over,” Daire said, still looking angry.

Gage nodded. His hand brushed Daire’s, and Daire clasped it, twining his fingers with Gage’s, who instinctively tightened his around Daire’s. Such a simple act, but Gage’s heart stuttered a little at it. A crooked little laugh escaped from him. “I’ve never held hands while on an assignment before,” he commented.

 

“Assignment,” Daire repeated. “Mission.” That was what this was. He’d been given this ability to siphon off Gage’s griffin power in his role as assistant for the task they were charged with, because this job called for different skills than Gage had. His species didn’t have the affinity with magic that this case called for, so the powers that be had…seen that and made provisions and…

Daire shook his head. For a pixie who prided himself on his lying and invention, he wasn’t even fooling himself. Pixies didn’t really bond nowadays. They found partners, yes, but once upon a time, or so old stories said, pixies had bonded heart, mind and soul with their mates. The ancient words, about the union of all three elements that made up a person, were still part of the handfasting ritual, for those who bothered with such ceremonies. That was mainly the rich, using it as an occasion to show off.

Daire was part of Gage’s soul, now. Being able to access his strength and power was proof. Would they be able to see into each other’s minds at some point, like old legends said? But that would mean he was in Gage’s heart. Had Gage fallen for him? If he had, did he know? Griffins weren’t traditionally given to self-reflection.

Well, Daire wasn’t gonna be the sappy pixie, pining for the impervious big bold griffin shifter or, even worse, the indifferent big bold griffin shifter. As if there could be anything more than some convenient quickies on their shared mission! That made sense. Soul, heart and mind indeed. No, just convenient…soul-shaking, heart-stopping, mind-melting sex they indulged in every chance they got. Every chance they made.

“Grrr!” Daire stamped a foot. “Are griffins honest, as a species?”

“Oh yes.” Gage straightened and stood tall. Well, as tall as he could without splitting his too-small uniform. “We’re known for it.”

“Typical.” Daire stamped his other foot. “Typical!”

Gage dropped his hand, and that left Daire’s empty and cold. Daire didn’t like it, so he took it back again and for some reason brought it to his lips and kissed the back. “I like you,” he ground out.

Gage looked down at him, his blue eyes bright. “I like you,” he replied, sounding puzzled by that as much as by the conversation they were not having.

“Good!” Daire snapped.

“Good?” Gage sounded confused.

“Yes!” Daire snapped, louder. “Come on. That door there leads back into the hotel section, and I can get it open. Just don’t…talk about how. Or anything, really.”

He focused on accessing Gage’s strength as softly as he could, gently, easily, and this time Gage didn’t react. No rubbing of his stomach, no bewildered look or turn of his head as though he sensed something but couldn’t figure out what it was.

The corridor beyond the easily opened door led to the hotel, and they hurried to read the signage there.

“Holding Suites! Look, that arrow’s pointing to them!” Gage exclaimed. “This must be where the kidnap victims are kept!”

“They probably call them subjects or even guests,” Daire replied. “Not victims. Yeah, dank cellars or high towers wouldn’t really fit here, would they? Right, let’s go do the rescue thing.”

And get the assignment over.

And with it, him and Gage.