| |
I fumed as we walked back home. I wanted to go out and find a murderer, but it was getting dark and we needed to think about this some more before I ran off half-cocked like always and fucked something up. I was used to hunting down low-level creeps. Not murderers. This was more serious and probably more dangerous. If nothing else, I couldn't drag Oisin into it without a plan. If he got hurt....
"I can't believe that ass didn't figure this out on his own," I muttered for the millionth time.
Oisin's voice was calm as ever, smooth and lilting, like water over rocks. "My kind created his, you know?" he said, his arms folded behind his head as he tried to look up at the emerging stars past the glow of the city. "It was spun as a gift, to be able to know death was coming for your family so you could prevent it. But really it was a curse. The fae who laid it had an agenda against the human families involved." He shifted his emerald eyes back down to take in the humanity around us, all busily rushing about their business. "Imagine," he said softly, "knowing someone was going to die, but being unable to really do anything about it."
I glanced at him, worried. "Oisin," I said, my voice rough in contrast to his beautiful sadness. "Why is your clan looking for you?"
He dropped his arms from behind his head and smirked at me. "They lost all this sexiness and they want it back."
I frowned at him. "What did you do?"
He laughed, and the sound gave me chills. "Oh, sweet Gesa, what didn't I do? My father is...insane would be a very, very watered down and polite description. I've done things you would damn me for, just to keep the insanity from getting worse. And now...he has plans for me I would rather not be part of."
I sighed. He was never going to tell me the whole of it. "If I knew someone in my family was going to die," I said slowly, trying to figure out how to make him understand what I meant, "I would stop it. No matter what."
He slowed and turned to look at me, finally meeting my eyes. "I know, darling. So would I. But...sometimes death is preferable to the alternatives."
He started walking again. "If my father ever comes for me, and it seems I won't escape," he said without looking back at me. "Do me a favor, love? Kill me right then and there. Don't hesitate."
I followed along, my longer strides eating up the distance between us. "Why do I feel like things are about to go to shit?"
He laughed, his usual veneer sliding back into place as he tucked an arm through mine. "Because you are all doom and gloom, bounty hunter. Too serious. You need to have more fun."
I gaped at him as he dragged me into the book shop and up the stairs, only pausing to lock up behind us and whisper something to his wards. "You can't be serious. We have shit to do. There's a murderer out there somewhere offing shifters!"
He pulled me along behind him. "I am always serious, Gesa. Especially about pleasure."
I slipped my boots off and followed his willowy form into the kitchen. "Con!" he called out. "Oh, sweet, lovely, patient, amazing Con. Where are you?"
Con poked his head in from the hallway. His hair was damp—he'd probably been at the gym again—and his reading glasses were pushed up onto his head. He wore loose sweats and a thin, worn t-shirt that gave hints of a toned chest. I tore my eyes away. Dead shifters, I reminded myself.
"Con!" Oisin said with a smile, opening his arms like he was greeting a long-lost friend, not someone he had just seen this morning. "We need help. Desperate help. Gesa is being too serious and there must be stupid movies and snacks. Now."
I crossed my arms and glared at him, but it was hard to keep the corner of my lip from twitching. "Ignore him, Con," I said flatly. "He's losing his little fae mind. We have work to do. Those animals that were killed. They weren't just animals. They were shifters."
Con came into the kitchen, his face sorrowful. "I'm sorry, Gesa. I knew there was something more going on...but I'm just not used to thinking things like maybe animals aren't just animals...."
I dropped my arms and my scowl. "It's not your fault. Jesus, Buddha and Odin, Oisin and I didn't figure it out until just now, and we should know better."
Oisin clapped his hands sharply to get our attention. "Stupid movies. And that sticky popcorn you make."
I shook my head. "See," I said, gesturing at Oisin. "He's lost his fucking mind."
Con laughed and went to pull a big pot out of the cupboard. "He's just trying to get you to calm down and take your mind off things for a bit so you can think clearly later."
I glowered at them both. "Murderer. To. Hunt."
Oisin crossed the room and reached up to tap me on the end of my nose with a slender finger. "Police. Do. That."
I growled.
He raised an eyebrow. "Really, Gesa? Foreplay right here in the kitchen? And in front of Con, no less. And you think I'm the scandalous one."
I could feel my face getting red. Which was fucking ridiculous, since I do not get embarrassed. Gryphons are far too proud for things like blushing.
Con just laughed and poured popcorn kernels into the heated oil he was tending while we were being stupid. "As if I don't know every time you two go at it," he muttered. "I think the whole neighborhood knows."
"It's good advertisement," Oisin said, leaning against the center island and waggling his red eyebrows, "for Gesa's pride. Lets the gents know what they're in for."
I rolled my eyes and headed out of the room to find more comfortable clothes. "I don't have a pride," I grumbled.
"Yet," Oisin called after me. I ignored him as he explained to Con, loudly, that male gryphons often kept harems and it was perfectly acceptable in my clan to have multiple lovers.
For male gryphons.
Not pathetic outcast females.
Whoa. Pathetic? Maybe Oisin was right. I did need to chill out. I was not pathetic. I was kick-ass. And tough, and... shit.
When I got back to the living room wearing sweats and an old tank reminiscent of Con's ensemble, I was surprised how much I liked what I found. Oisin had also changed his clothes and let his long hair down. It was still a shock to me to see him out of the designer clothing he wore like armor. His t-shirt was shaped and fitted, and his skinny-legged yoga pants left nothing to the imagination, but still, it was casual for him. He was pointing the remote at the screen, skipping ahead to the menu screen of some dumb comedy I'd never seen.
It was surreal to watch the fae, who was probably older than dirt, operate the DVD player.
Con joined us as I plopped down in the middle of the sectional next to Oisin. The human handed me a huge, steaming bowl of popcorn he'd coated in some sort of homemade caramel drizzle that tasted like heaven. Then he sat beside me, crossing his legs and tugging an afghan off the back of the couch.
I ate popcorn and snorted at the stupid movie comedy and cheesy fight scenes while Oisin stroked my hair. It was...nice. I hadn't done anything so mundane in... well, forever really.
When the popcorn was gone, Con jumped up and started the sequel, this movie even worse than the first. Oisin moved to lean his back against the armrest of the sofa and dragged me up so I sat between his legs, my back to his chest. His hand wrapped around my waist and gently stroked my belly through my thin t-shirt. "You ate all my popcorn," he whispered.
I laughed. "My popcorn, you mean."
Con glanced at us and away. "I cooked the damned stuff. My popcorn."
"Thank you!" Oisin and I chorused together as if we had rehearsed it.
We all laughed. As the humor fizzled out and the movie approached the end, Oisin's hands started roving a little more. I shivered as he slipped his fingers under the hem of my shirt to stroke the bare skin of my hip and trail across my abs, up my ribs and back. He leaned forward and kissed my shoulder, then nibbled my ear with his sharp teeth.
I closed my eyes and tried not to...purr.
A shush of fabric sliding and I opened my eyes. Con was folding up his afghan, while the movie credits rolled, his eyes flicking to us and away.
Oisin chuckled against my neck, his warm breath making me break out in goosebumps. "Leaving already, Con?"
I looked at Con, wanting to smack Oisin for once again making him uncomfortable. Liquid brown eyes met mine, flicked to Oisin, then returned to the afghan he held in his hands. "I thought you might want some privacy."
I started to sit up, but Oisin pulled me back against him. "Oh, I don't know," he said lightly, nipping at my neck and making me squirm. "Maybe you should stay."
I drew in a deep breath and got up the courage to look at Con again, to tell him to ignore Oisin's stupidity. Con clutched the blanket in his hands, his knuckles white. His cheeks were turning a dusky color under that delicious brown skin. His eyes met mine and the lust there was a physical thing. It burned right through me.
Oisin vibrated with laughter. "I thought so." He slid his hands farther up under my shirt, slipping it up to reveal my breasts—and my lack of a bra. His hands stroked and cupped, as he presented me like some sort of offering. "Come here and help me, Con?"
I licked my lips, not knowing what to say or do. My body had its own ideas. But Con was human. And nice. Normal.
He dropped the blanket he was holding and came to kneel on the floor next to us. He lifted his hands, then hesitated, his chocolate eyes meeting mine. "Gesa?"
I lifted my hands and slipped them behind his head to pull him to me. His lips were hesitant against mine for a second, but then he met me, gentle, but insistent. I teased his tongue into my mouth and sucked, getting a breathless chuckle in return. He tasted like caramel popcorn and home. His hands stroked my hips, and he trailed kisses over the other side of my neck, his soft touch a flaring contrast to Oisin scraping teeth over my flesh on the other side.
I shuddered. "Too many clothes," I ground out, trying not to lose my mind.