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I padded down to the lower level of the apartment, toward the smell of something spicy and savory. It seemed asinine, but losing a lover hadn't dampened my appetite any. In fact, I was even more ravenous than before. I think the gryphon in me was bulking up in preparation for war.
I wiped my face with the towel I carried and tossed it into the hamper in my room. It looked like a bomb had gone off in there, since most of the remaining pride was camped out in my space like a bunch of clingy cowards.
I huffed at the mess and shut the door, refusing to acknowledge how much I actually needed them close like that. I beat back my nagging suspicions about my alpha status. I was enough of a freak among my kind without adding that mess to it. Only males could be alphas. It was in their DNA. Besides, I had enough to weigh me down right now.
I glanced across the hall at the room that had once been Oisin's. He hadn't actually slept in his own bedroom in ages. But his plants were still in there. And on the roof. And in the hall. I trailed a finger over some crazy vine with flame-colored leaves that was crawling up the wall outside his door. The color reminded me of the fae's bright red hair.
The poor plants looked a little wilted. I'd been watering them, but I think I overdid it. They would never really thrive without his fae magic. I knew the feeling.
I followed the scent of spices and the low sound of masculine voices to the kitchen. Con was cooking. He'd been cooking constantly since Oisin was taken. I think it was his way of coping. And he had thrown himself into learning all he could about his supposed hedge witch heritage. He hadn't said anything—quiet and undemanding as always—but I suspected he was desperate to feel like he was contributing.
My sweet human was standing in front of the stove, shoulder to shoulder with a demon, stirring something in a pot, his shoulders tense.
"That's it," Derek fucking White soothed, patting Con on the back. "Just relax, man. You don't want your tension affecting the magic."
I crossed my arms over my chest and watched them from the doorway. My lover was getting fucking cooking lessons from a demon. My life was ridiculous.
Con let out a sigh and the tension left his shoulders. He used the wooden spoon to scoop out some of the concoction, then blew on it and took a bite. "It needs something." He turned those honey-brown eyes on the tall, dark-haired man at his side.
White stepped back and leaned against the counter, watching Con with a lifted brow. He had taken off his suit jacket, but he still looked weird standing in my kitchen in his business attire and shiny dress shoes. "Well, don't look at me, witch." He waved a hand at the little piles of various vegetation laying on the countertop. "I can show you how to channel your innate magic. But herbs aren't exactly my area of expertise."
Con put the spoon down and cast me a shy look before returning to his task. He pinched a bit of some chopped up herb between his thumb and finger and brought it up to sniff it. Then he put it back, dusting off his fingers.
White cleared his throat.
Con sighed and held out a hand, hovering over each herb as if feeling for something.
"I think...this one?" He pointed at a pile of grayish leaves.
White didn't confirm or deny his choice, so Con sighed and picked up a few leaves, tossing them into the pot as if he expected it to explode.
He gave it a stir, then closed his eyes and just...stood there. I had no idea what he was doing. Communing with the chili or some shit. Finally, he shrugged and turned off the stove. "Let's just...let it sit for a while."
White grinned at him. "That's good. If your intuition is telling you to wait, you need to listen. This sort of thing is...finicky compared to more tangible magic."
"Is there anything to actually eat in here?" I asked as I went to get a bottled water from the fridge. White was looking me over, but I ignored the asshole.
Con came over and gently hip-checked me out of the way to get to the fridge. He turned, handing me big storage containers full of food. "Sorry there's nothing hot right now. But I made these earlier in case I blew up the stove or something."
I carried the pile of containers to the table and cracked them open, finding salad, some kind of chilled noodle dish, and chocolate cream pie. "Have I told you I love you today?" I purred, hurrying to get a plate.
Con laughed. "Not since breakfast."
I pulled him close and leaned down to kiss him, purposefully over-dramatic. "How do you feel about interspecies marriage?"
He chuckled against my lips, and I thought my attempt at humor might be helping. The way he held me, just a little tighter and just a little longer than a normal hug, told me he was just as unsettled as the rest of the pride. There was a gaping, bloody hole we were all trying to ignore.
I pulled back and started dishing up a plate of food. I was getting ready to dig in when Kai drifted in and snagged my plate out from under my nose. She settled in on the other side of the table, smirking at me as she ate my noodles.
"Con," I said sweetly. "Can we have calamari for dinner tonight?"
Kai snorted at my threat and continued to eat.
Sighing, I dished out another plate of food. Kai caught my eyes and spoke around a mouthful of salad. "Have you seen Hisashi today? I didn't see him come out for breakfast."
I clenched my teeth together. I had been pretty awful to the poor kid the day Oisin was taken. And I hadn't quite figured out how to undo the gaping chasm of pain and blame that was forming between us.
Plus, it was kind of hard to get his attention long enough to chat these days. "He's probably holed up with the magical douche canoe," I grumbled.
Kai raised a black eyebrow at me. I growled and stood, taking my plate with me. "Fine."
Stomping down the hall, I stopped at the door to Hisashi's room. Sure enough, chill air was seeping from under the threshold, and the tingling touch of magic made all the hairs on my arms stand up. I pounded on the door. "Lunch!"
There was a muffled curse and a pulse in the magic, then heavy footsteps approached, and the door was flung open. "The fuck do you want?" Vanhelsing demanded. He glowered at me from behind his steampunk goggles. His dishwater blond hair stood up in unruly swirls and the blue scars on his hands were glowing.
I pushed past the short, burly roadblock and into Hisashi's room. The fox was in half-shift—he was barely ever in full human form the last few days. He sat cross-legged on the floor, his eyes silver and his silky robe and snow-white hair gently fluttering with a breeze that I couldn't feel.
"Subtle as ever, Gesa," he said, his deep voice soft and full of strain.
I snorted. "Since you refuse to leave your damned room, I brought you food."
He blinked at me, making a visible effort to come back from wherever the hell he had just been. "Thanks."
His voice was flat. Dead. I had no idea how to bring the life back to it. Even looking at him reminded me of my own pain. His bleeding heart made mine ache in sympathy.
I dropped the plate into his lap. "Enjoy."
Turning, I strode toward the door. The mage—whose name was Halstad, of all the stupid, uptight names I could imagine—leaned against the door frame. He was without his typical leather duster. But he was still dressed in all black, his leather pants and his utility belt of charms firmly I place. "Where's mine?" he drawled.
I glared at him. "Creepy uninvited squatters can forage for themselves."
He rolled his eyes. "Y'all need me here, and you know it. Don't get your big 'ol lady parts in a tizzy."
I arched a brow at him. Did we really need his help so bad? Maybe I could gut him just a little.
He sighed and glanced at Hisashi, who was staring at his food like he didn't know what it was. "Take a break and eat something, pup," the mage ground out. His voice was so gravelly it was hard to tell if there was any sympathy there or not.
He followed me into the hall, leaving Hisashi to pick at his food. "Whatever beef you've got with that kid, you need to knock it off," he said quietly.
I didn't look at him as I continued down the hall. "There's no ‘beef.’"
Halstad snorted. "Right. Sure. Look, I'm doing the best I can to get him in a place where he can actually use that shit ton of power he's sittin' on without going off like a bomb. I'm hard on him, because I have to be, when we have so little time. And I'm only going to go harder on him the deeper into this we get."
I clenched my teeth. "Swell."
He heaved a sigh. "Just...let me be the one to be the hardass, yeah? Maybe you can do the whole...girly nurturing thing."
I turned to stare at him. "What part of me did you mistake for girly or nurturing?"
He chuffed a gruff laugh. "Poor word choice. What I meant was, he needs you to be nice. But since that's obviously not even possible for you...maybe a good fuck. Or, here's a thought—just don't be such a bitch."
I rounded on him. "You know what? No one asked you for your fucking opinion. White sent you here. I didn't ask for the live-in shrink service. You are not one of my pride. You don't know a single fucking thing about us. So butt the fuck out!"
I spun and stomped off to the kitchen. Fucking know-it-all. Like I was about to take life and relationship advice from some sicko who stole body parts from other people to grow his own power.
When I reached the kitchen, White’s secretary was sitting at the table beside Kai, smiling as he nibbled at a slice of pie while Kai regaled them all with some story about her time on an Alaskan fishing boat.
I got another plate of food and sat down across from them. The mage eyed my plate and I growled at him. "Don't even fucking think about it."
He shrugged and got his own damned food. "Did you come to get your employer back?" I asked Orion. "Please say you need him back at the office for some crime lord stuff so I can get him out of my house."
The incubus glanced at his employer with a wry smile on his face. "Ah...not quite."
I shoveled food into my mouth. It was good, but I wasn't really enjoying it. Were they feeding Oisin wherever he was? Was he still alive? I forced the delicious food down my gullet. Had to keep myself strong. Always strong.
"I asked Mr. Black to come out and oversee Halstad's work today," White said casually, helping himself to the rest of the pie and eating it right out of the pan.
I scowled at him. "Why would an incubus need to oversee Hisashi learning to use his magic?"
Orion cleared his throat and refused to meet my eyes, studying his pie like it was the most interesting thing in the room. He nervously tucked the hair on the good side of his face behind his ear and flexed his gloved hands.
I smelled a rat.
"He's not here to help train your dog," White said in a bored tone of voice. "He's here to help make sure the tracking runes Halstad will be installing are properly applied to you and your harem."
I stared at him for a beat. "I'm sorry, I don't speak arrogant, delusional asshole. Can you repeat that?"
He sighed. "Really, Miss Lionheart, do listen when someone speaks. I will say it slowly so you can follow. Orion is here to help Halstad put tracking runes on you and your mates."
I laughed. "No. He's not."
White rolled his eyes and scraped the pie pan clean with his spoon, pausing to savor the last bite of chocolate bliss. "Con, my lad, your cooking is much improved when you don't infuse it with the desire for my death."
Con narrowed his eyes at the demon. "I might be reconsidering my gratitude right now."
Kai stood and put herself between me and White. "No one is marking Gesa without her permission. She doesn't belong to you, demon." Her freckles were turning purple, and her eyes had changed to the vertical-slit pupil that said she was about to shift.
I grabbed her arm and tugged her back down into her chair. "Down, kraken."
Glancing between White and Orion, I decided I was more likely to get a straight answer from the incubus. "What is he babbling about, Black?"
He flicked his one visible blue eye up to meet mine. "Nothing to harm you, I swear."
The mage finished his food and took his plate to the sink, as if we were all just hanging out, having a normal lunch. "Don't get your panties in a twist, gryphon," he said as he rummaged around in my fridge and came up with a beer. I hadn't bought any beer. He was just making himself at home. Classying the place right the fuck up. "It's just a little tracking marker. Not a soul binding," he scoffed.
"And what the fuck makes you think I want some creepy-assed demon to be able to keep track of me and my pride like a bunch of fucking cattle with ear tags?"
He shook his head and chugged his beer, letting out a soft belch. "I just work here,” he said, holding up a hand. "Ask the boss man."
I rolled my eyes. "White. You are not marking me and my pride so you can continue your little fantasy of owning us."
He came to plant his hands on the table and leaned over it, getting in my space with his red-ringed black eyes. "If you want my help getting your pretty little fucktoy back, you will do what I say. I'm not letting any of you out of this town and into enemy territory until I have a reliable way to find you. End of discussion."
I stood and got in his space right back, forcing him to stand, not backing down even when his dark magic made my skin crawl and my gryphon cower. "Disrespect Oisin again motherfucker and I will end you. We don't belong to you. You don't let us do anything, asshole. We make our own choices."
White's eyes flashed to pure red. "First that arrogant fucking fae king traipsing into my territory after I warned him away, now this. I will not tolerate it. Lesser beings than you have been put to their death for disobeying me, Miss Lionheart."
I stood my ground, losing sight of the fact that we needed this asshole to get us to Oisin, and that we needed White's mage to fight magical attacks. All I wanted at that moment was someone to murder. Someone to take all of the rage, and pain, and anger I had to deal out.
A soft touch on my shoulder stopped me from lunging at the demon. "Please, Miss Lionheart," Black's soft, melodic voice said in my ear, accompanied by a soft brush of his weird incubus magic. "If the fae capture you, technology will not help us find you." I turned to find his one visible eye staring at me, pleading. "I want to help keep you safe. That's all. The tracking runes can be removed when you return."
I grumbled. "How does this work? Why can't the mage just do it himself?"
Orion squeezed my shoulder then let his hand drop, his gaze drifting away. "I have...the taste of your energies, the essence of you and your pride, from my time here." He shrugged one elegant shoulder. "I can help attune the runes. And act as the...receiver on this end."
Where White's demands ruffled all my feathers, Black's quiet request calmed the whirlwind. The incubus just didn't have it in him to willfully harm anyone. Even to the point of starving himself rather than exposing a potential lover to his "inferiority." He wouldn't plead with me like this if he knew he was going to cause harm.
"Fine,” I grumbled. "But it's only temporary." I glared at the mage. "You take that shit off the minute we're back home."
He nodded. "Sure, whatever."
I still thought this was a terrible idea. But honestly, what the fuck choice did we have?