Kiaan heard the heavy steps enter the bar, but ignored them as he continued to study the energy signature of the daemon.
It’d been pestering him, teasing him, playing with him all morning.
And Kiaan was coming to realize that he was going to need some help to dissipate this thing.
And some of the rarer supplies he didn’t keep in his go bag.
With a sigh, Kiaan started packing up. He’d have to come back.
“Done?” asked a deep voice behind him. A very growly voice that made Kiaan smile as his cock perked up.
Kiaan turned, already shaking his head. “I’ve got to go get some things I hadn’t known I’d need.”
And then he froze, looking up at the huge man. Well, damn. If that wasn’t the sexiest wolf Kiaan ever did see. Even better than his cock had imagined based on his voice alone.
“Help?” the mountain asked.
“Um, no,” Kiaan shook his head and tried again. “I mean, yes. I’ve got to get help. But I don’t need help. Right now. Here. I’ve got to…”
The man whose picture should be in the dictionary next to “ruggedly handsome” raised an eyebrow at Kiaan. Yeah, he was babbling. But this man seemed to have obliterated his brain.
“Hex?”
When the man didn’t say anything more, Kiaan blinked. Ah! The strong silent type. Got it.
“No, actually.” Kiaan shook his head. “I told Mason that first thing this morning. It’s a daemon. And I can definitely get rid of it. I’m just having issues locking onto its energy signature. Pretty sure I can banish it. But I need to go pick up some unicorn horn and a dragon scale. Damn. I’m already running low on those. I probably need some of that hoserwarten to ground him to our dimension…”
When the man just stared at Kiaan, he realized he’d been babbling again.
“So, uh. Yes. I need to pick up some supplies. And my cousin.” Kiaan pulled out his phone. “Pretty sure he’ll be able to help me. Oh! Not Kaeden, of course. All of his magic is in shifting. I mean Keaton. Another mage. He’ll know what to… never mind. I’ve got to go now if I’m going to get this dissipated by tonight.”
Kiaan brought up Keaton’s number and pushed the button while finishing packing the gear he’d already tried using.
“Are you seriously calling me right now?” Keaton’s voice rang through the bar. Kiaan must have put it on speaker. Oops.
“Yes. I’ve got a daemon I need to kill. Having trouble with its signature.”
“Kiaan. You forgot, didn’t you?”
Kiaan paused and just stared at his phone on the table for a moment. “Um… No, of course not! How could I forget?”
“You forgot.” Keaton’s voice sounded resigned. “I’m in Guatemala, idiot. I can’t help you with a daemon. Call my dad.”
“Oh! That’s right!” Kiaan could feel heat on his face. “Sorry. Have fun!”
“Uh. Yeah. Right. Fun. Digging up remains at Topoxte. Because I don’t have enough bad karma already?”
“Why?” That deep voice again. Mr. Strong and Silent had spoken!
“He’s doing research into the Mayans and why it was that their mages were so much stronger than most mages today. I think it has to do with the blood sacrifices, but Keaton thinks it has something to do with the way the Mayans kept their calendar. You see, the whole reason the gods created man was to keep the calendar…”
Kiaan stopped when he saw the eyebrow raising again.
Great. Yeah. Just shut your trap, Kiaan. Before you completely embarrass yourself in front of the most handsome man you’ve ever seen.
“I’ll help,” he said. With a very decisive nod.
“Um, thanks… man. But…” Kiaan looked around for a way out, not wanting to offend the muscle god, but also really not wanting a novice to magic tagging along with him. “I’ll just go get those supplies, yeah? Maybe call my uncle.”
“You do that! Have fun fighting your daemon!” Keaton’s voice called out before Kiaan’s phone went back to the home screen.
Great. Thanks, cuz. So helpful.
“I’ll help.” Mr. Rugged said again. “Need my bar clean.”
And then it hit Kiaan who this was.
“You’re Anders?” He nearly screamed it. But he managed to keep it to a mere shout. “You’re the asshole who handed out ultimatums to my cousin?” Kiaan shook his head. “Before I come downstairs,” he mocked in as deep a voice as he could manage.
Anders just blinked, but otherwise didn’t move. Yeah. Okay. Definitely an asshole.
“Well, yeah. Thanks for the offer, Anders,” Kiaan shook his head as he zipped up his bag and grabbed his phone. “But no thanks. I’d rather do this alone than have to put up with your attitude all day long. You go on and be Mr. Grumpy, and I’ll just work on this alone.”
“I’ll help.”
Kiaan shook his head. “No.” He turned and headed through the back of the bar toward the parking deck.
Why was it that the sexy ones were always pricks? Was it some law of the universe that the more gorgeous your outside, the more repulsive your inside? Wasn’t there a magic law about that? Surely Kiaan had read that…
When Kiaan unlocked his car and threw his bag into the trunk, he found Anders standing at his passenger door. Waiting.
“Nope! Not going to happen, Gigantor.” Kiaan shook his head. “You’re not coming with me to get supplies.”
“I’ll help.”
Great. It didn’t matter how sexy he was if he had a vocabulary of two single words.
Even Groot had three.