As Camry roused, he shifted, rubbing his head against the fabric beneath him. The sheets were cool against his cheek, and the mattress felt so much better than his own lumpy thing. He couldn’t place where he was, as he didn’t have any friends he would spend the night with.
Then it all came rushing back—the supposed dancing gig, paranormals, and gargoyles.
Camry snapped his eyes open to discover that he lay on a sofa—an extremely comfortable leather sofa. Mitch and Aaden sat on a sofa across from him, a coffee table between them. The guys that appeared to be their partners stood behind them, their hands resting proprietarily on their shoulders. The man who’d introduced himself as Maelgwn sat in a chair to the left with the man who’d entered a moment before Camry’s freak-out standing nearby with his shoulder leaning against the wall.
Finally, sitting to Camry’s other side... was the gargoyle.
Except, Camry had never seen a picture of a gargoyle that looked like this one. While the creature did indeed have wings, fangs, and claws, he was also extremely humanoid-looking. He was obviously bipedal with muscular limbs. His brow ridges were a little more pronounced, making them appear as eyebrows. His only hair appeared to be on his head, and that was white, like his wings and claws.
The biggest difference was the mottled-looking hide... which was a light blue.
“Oh god,” Camry whispered, unable to tear his gaze from the... gargoyle. “You’re real.”
The male—and it was obviously a male, with a fit body and six-pack abdominals—nodded his head. “I’m real. Gargoyles are real.” His smile appeared a little uncertain when he curved up his full blue lips. “My name’s Tasker. And I’m—”
“Let’s wait on that reveal just yet, Tasker,” Maelgwn cut in, stopping the male from saying whatever he’d intended. “So, I’m certain you have questions.” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. “Let’s start with, would you like anything to eat or drink?” Maelgwn pointed at a nearby wall and the bar there. “It’s fully stocked.”
Do I want a drink?
Something alcoholic sounded pretty good right about then. Except, just like while he was at work, he figured he might need to keep his wits about him. That meant playing it safe.
“Um, a-a bottle of water, please,” Camry requested.
Maelgwn smiled while the guy near him began to move.
“Playing it safe,” Maelgwn commented, obviously knowing exactly what he’d been thinking. “Not a bad idea, under the circumstances.” He turned his attention to the man who was now behind the bar. “I’ll have a whiskey, Tobias.”
Tobias nodded. “You got it, Chieftain.” Then he smirked. “As if you even had to ask, after all these years.”
Maelgwn chuckled as he turned his attention to those on the sofa. “We didn’t really introduce everyone.” He pointed toward the opposite sofa. “You know Mitch. The man behind him is Kardamon, his mate and also a gargoyle. And Aaden’s partner is Grigoris. And, yes, a gargoyle, as am I and Tobias.” Then Maelgwn pointed at Tasker. “Just as Tasker is.”
Camry nodded slowly, glancing around at everyone. He noticed everyone else had left the room, probably while he slept. As Camry took the bottle of water from Tobias, he stared into the man’s lightly bronzed features, trying to see any hint of anything... gargoyleish. He didn’t see it.
Tobias smirked, but he didn’t comment. Instead, he handed off one of the tumblers he’d been carrying to Maelgwn, keeping a second one for himself.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Camry blurted out as he twisted the cap off the bottle, pleased to find that it was sealed. Then he took a deep swallow of his drink, enjoying the way the chill of the water cooled his throat.
“I was lucky,” Mitch claimed. “I learned about these guys with Aziel and Andre, so we sort of had a support system with each other.” With a laugh, he admitted, “We didn’t have to freak out alone.”
“I suppose I was lucky, too,” Aaden spoke next. “When I found out, these guys already knew”—he used his thumb to indicate Mitch—”and they helped me through the freak-out.” Tipping his chin up, Aaden peered at Grigoris behind him. “It helped that my mate was pushing for us to be together, and he was extremely persistent.”
“You are worth it, my mate,” Grigoris rumbled before bending at the waist and capturing Aaden’s mouth in a deep, claiming kiss.
Maelgwn chuckled. Turning his attention to Tobias, he murmured, “Makes me want Bobby in the room.”
Before he could stop himself, Camry asked, “Who’s Bobby?”
“My own mate,” Maelgwn told him, a sweet smile curving his lips, his love for the man on display for all to see. “He’s in the playroom with our son and a few others with their young ones.”
“You have a son?” Camry once again spoke without thinking. Evidently, finding out gargoyles existed had broken his brain-to-mouth filter. Waving his hand, Camry quickly shook his head. “Um, sorry. This is really none of my business.”
“It will be,” Tasker murmured, his gaze intense upon Camry.
Camry had seen that type of hunger in the eyes of plenty of men and women over the past several months. The gargoyle wanted him... sexually. He did his best to ignore his own burgeoning desire, thinking it was completely inappropriate.
Instead, Camry cleared his throat and returned his attention to Maelgwn, since he seemed to be the one who could give him the best answers. “Um, so... what am I doing here?” He glanced at Mitch for an instant before asking, “Why did I get invited here? Why would you tell me all this?”
Surely it was a secret, right?
Camry had certainly never heard one whisper about how these beings were more than just myth and legend.
“Well, you see,” Maelgwn began, obviously choosing his words carefully. “Most paranormals live a lot longer than a human, which can lead to a very lonely existence. To counter that, Fate grants us a mate. Someone who completes us, in a way, as that person is the other half of our soul.” Smiling, Maelgwn pointed at the couples across from him. “That’s what these guys mean when they call each other mate. It’s not just a term of endearment. It’s a... connection.”
Even as Camry nodded, he didn’t think that answered his question at all. “O-Okay.”
“Paranormals search for that special someone.” Kardamon picked up the explanation. “And it doesn’t matter if we find that person in a man, woman, human, or another paranormal species, we recognize them by scent, and we crave them above all others.” The hand he had on Mitch’s shoulder rubbed against him, seeming to pet him. “Our instinct is not just to care for the other half of our soul, but to please them and keep them safe, too. It’s... almost a physical ache when we’re kept apart for too long.”
“Um, so... you gargoyles have a soul mate, and a human form, and you live here together in a”—Camry racked his brain for a second, trying to recall the word Maelgwn had used—”a clutch.” That was it. “Um, what does this have to do with me, again?”
While Camry found the information dump interesting, he still didn’t understand why they would invite him here.
Mitch chuckled, shaking his head. “Ya’ll are taking the scenic route.” Pointing at Tasker, he told him, “We snuck Tasker into the strip club Friday night. He scented you. You’re his mate. The other half of his soul.” As Camry’s jaw sagged open, shock filling him, Mitch added, “So, that’s why I convinced you to come here. So he’d have a safe place to meet you, and for you two to get to know each other.” Mitch waggled his brows, and his insinuation was more than clear.
“Only when you’re ready,” Tasker quickly claimed. Resting his forearm on the arm of the chair closer to Camry, he assured, “We don’t have to bond right away or anything. I know this is a lot to take in.” Then he grimaced. His blue brow ridges furrowing as he muttered, “Of course, don’t take that to mean I don’t want you. I do. I really, really do. I just don’t want you to feel pressured. I mean, working in a place like that, you must feel pressured to—”
During Tasker’s verbal diarrhea, Tobias had moved. He clamped his hand over Tasker’s mouth, ceasing his ramblings. With a sigh, he rubbed Tasker’s shoulder soothingly.
Smiling at Camry, Tobias stated, “We can get a little excitable when we meet our mate.”
Rubbing his forehead, Camry stared at the floor for a few seconds. He tried to process everything he’d just been told. There was a lot, and he wasn’t totally certain where to begin.
Paranormals. Gargoyles. Mates. They think I am one.
The strip club.
Camry cocked his head, casting a side-eyed glance Tasker’s way. The male was good-looking, in his own way. He wouldn’t lie to himself and say he didn’t find him attractive.
Deciding to start at the beginning, Camry mused, “So they snuck you into the strip club, and you somehow smelled me amidst all those people.” He recalled Maelgwn saying they recognized their mate by scent. “How is that possible?”
Maelgwn answered. “While most paranormals have a much better sense of smell than a human, gargoyles surpass even them.” He flicked out his tongue, revealing an appendage that appeared longer and narrower than any Camry had ever seen. Maelgwn continued to explain. “A gargoyle has sensory receptors on our tongue, not just in our nostrils. We can read the air currents in a room, which allows most of us to be excellent trackers.”
Accepting that, as weird as Camry found it, he asked, “Why’d you have to sneak him in?” He focused on Mitch. “Why didn’t he just change into his human form like the others?”
Tobias had returned to leaning against the wall where he explained, “A gargoyle doesn’t have a human form until they bond with their mate.”
Camry opened his mouth, then closed it again. He just didn’t know what else to ask without sounding ignorant. Then he realized, he was indeed ignorant. He never would have suspected any of this.
“This is a lot to take in,” Maelgwn rumbled kindly. “We understand that it is.” Indicating Tasker, he explained, “Most paranormals dream of the day they find their mate. Tasker is the same. He just wants the opportunity to get to know you, to learn about you.” Maelgwn grinned while chuckling softly. “Tasker’s a good man, although he can be a bit impetuous at times.”
“Like wanting to be snuck into the strip club,” Aaden said, teasing in his tone. His dark eyes twinkled as he eyed Tasker. “Getting him out was harder than getting him in.”
Tasker muttered, “I didn’t want to leave Camry, especially with that asshole trying to paw at him.”
“Yeah.” Mitch jumped in. “Why’d you go sit with him after your last set? I thought you said he gave you the creeps.”
Realizing they must have stuck around to watch him most of the evening, Camry felt an embarrassed flush rise up his neck. At times like this, he sure appreciated his dark complexion. After that disastrous date, Camry had stopped hanging out with people who knew what he did for a living.
Well, I don’t hang out with people at all, really. No time.
“He does give me the creeps,” Camry admitted, cringing as he recalled the feel of the man’s hand on his thigh... way too far up his thigh due to the short-shorts he was forced to wear. “His name is Morgan Clarence, and he’s rich, and I was there on my boss’s orders.”
“Dick,” Mitch grumbled, scowling.
After that experience, Camry had begun worrying a little bit about what else his boss would order him to do in the name of keeping the clients happy.
“Shall I text Vane to look into him?” Tobias asked.
Maelgwn nodded.
Camry didn’t know who that was, but Tobias seemed to be doing just that as he pulled his phone from his pocket and began tapping on the screen.
Falling silent, Camry couldn’t help glancing toward Tasker a few times. Quiet filled the room. Shifting restlessly, Camry took another sip of his water.
“Okay, then,” Maelgwn began, almost making Camry start. “Are you comfortable sitting and talking with Tasker, Camry?”
Am I?
Camry opened his mouth, then closed it again. A spike of anxiety surged through him, and it took every bit of self-control to keep from crunching his nearly empty bottle of water. After a second, he murmured, “A-Alone?”
After all, Camry knew that Tasker wanted him. He wasn’t sure he believed the story about the whole mate thing. What if the gargoyle had seen him on the stage and decided he wanted him, and this was all an elaborate ruse put on by his friends to help him get the stripper into bed?
“If you want a chaperone, one of us can stay,” Maelgwn assured. “Or all of us.”
Camry watched Tasker’s features turn almost stricken.
“You don’t trust me,” Tasker whispered. “You’re afraid.”
Having thought he had been doing a pretty good job of keeping his features straight, Camry blurted, “How could you tell?”
Maelgwn sighed and flicked his tongue out again. “Scent, Camry,” he reminded him. “Our sense of smell is so well developed, we can read another person’s emotions from the scents they put off.” With a small smile, Maelgwn added, “We don’t normally call attention to it unless it’s important or necessary, but Tasker is correct. You’ve been pretty anxious all evening, which is completely understandable considering the big paranormal reveal.” The big male waved his hand in a circle, as if to encompass everyone. “But the second we offered to give you a little privacy, that anxiety spiked into fear. So... want to tell us why?”
Camry clenched his jaw and breathed through his nose, taking one slow breath, then another. He tried to marshal his thoughts, but they were swirling inside his head. Black spots began to form across his vision.
“Okay, breathe, man.” Mitch’s hazy form bounced from his seat across from him, and he bounded over the coffee table. A second later, Mitch gripped the back of Camry’s neck and forced his head between his knees. “Get your ass over here and trill, Tasker.”
A second later, Camry felt a pair of strong arms wrap around him, wrapping his torso in a loose hold. That was followed up by something white.
Camry would have asked what it was if he could have even gotten enough air into his lungs.
Then... something happened. A strange vibrating noise came from the gargoyle holding him. It seemed to seep into his body, then into his bones, and it even felt as if it warmed him from the inside out.
Suddenly, Camry could breathe again.
“Oh, wow,” Camry whispered. “What’s that?”