Chapter 8
L ily fussed over the candles on display, pushing her half-mask up into her slicked back brown hair, causing a small tuft to stick out at an odd angle.
"For crying out loud," she muttered as she shoved the wisps away, starting her count again.
"We're good, Lily," Isa said. The teen swayed gently in her black and gold silk dress. Her mama, Maria, made the gorgeous thing. She made all of Isa's dresses for such occasions. The silk flowed like water, spilling over the girl, gathering at one side in a small circlet on her waist, the intermixed strips of gold and black dripping down to the floor. It was a thing of beauty, but for not the first time Lily wondered how she wasn't cold. There were sleeves, but silk wasn't exactly the warmest of fabrics. She chalked it up to the universal truth that teens never seemed to get cold and didn’t think too much more on it.
Isa's mama made Lily's Christmas Masquerade dress, too. Much different in design, but no less gorgeous. It was deep maroon wool, tight from the neck down, along her sleeves, and to her waist where it flared in a shape that reminded her of the top of a heart. From there, pleated maroon wool created a voluminous skirt that flitted about her legs whenever she moved. She’d taken a swatch of the same fabric and covered her eye mask with it, dotting clusters of gold and pearl beads at the corners of the eyes for a simple but elegant look. However, it currently sat on her head so it was out of her way, making her hair all wonky.
"I'm just checking," Lily muttered as Isa ignored her worrying and hummed along to the bluegrass quartet playing on the small makeshift stage in the middle of the street. She not only checked. She also fretted. Candles were something she could fuss over, unlike her increasing worry about the fate of her and a certain god.
"You wanna go dance?" Lily asked after noticing Isa’s sway. The town used her candles to light the night at the Christmas Masquerade, just like they used the Booth’s cookies and the coffee shop's roast for the snack table. It started as a purely local event, and even as it expanded for tourists to come in, they liked to keep the products local. They also allowed the shops to put out small displays of goods for sale. A good chance for the money from around Lexington to buy while they danced.
"Nah. Ain't no one here to dance with," Isa said before she took a seat at her stool behind the table. Lily looked over the crowd, catching several teen boys stealing glances at Isa, but said nothing. Wasn't her place to pry.
"Fair enough," Lily said before a woman in a white gown and rabbit-fur hat strolled up and distracted her.
As she put the woman's purchase in her bag and thanked her, Lily heard Isa say, "Maybe I was wrong," in a breathy whisper.
Lily glanced up and froze, a chilly wind pushing through the wall of her skirts as she locked eyes with Boreas, who stood about ten feet away, staring back.
Isa noticed the stare, too, and Lily's freeze. Immediately sitting up straight, she asked "Who is that, Lily?"
The candlemaker couldn't answer her. She was transfixed by the way the god glided toward her, his legs strong and his gait steady, but somehow still looking as if helped along by a self-created wind at his heels. She'd never seen him in anything other than the toga. Made sense to her, he was an old Greek god after all. Just then, however, he wore a navy suit, shirt, and tie all the same color of winter sky. It molded to his body, highlighting his delicious muscles with every movement. A small navy eye mask with golden stars scattered across it sparkled on his face and made his brilliant blue eyes pop. His bronze skin nearly glowed in the candlelight and his snow-white hair glinted and twinkled like spun silver, even pulled back in a thick ponytail as it was.
After taking in all the deliciousness, something hit her a second too late. His hands. No claws. She flipped her gaze down to see his feet, claws usually on full display, clad in shiny dark brown dress shoes. Her gaze moved to his mouth; the shape smoothed as if his fangs were gone. A frown creased her brow as he stepped fully up to the table.
"Lily," he said, his growl firmly in place yet somehow questioning in tone.
"Boreas," she said with a nod, not able to get out much more with the relief she felt at the sight of him.
A loud clearing of a throat sounded at her side and she jumped in surprise. "Oh, yeah. Isa, this is Boreas. Boreas, this is Isa."
"A pleasure," the god said, giving the teen a bow and smile but turning his attention back to Lily without a second glance.
"Same," Isa said, and despite not looking at her, Lily could hear the sly smile in her voice.
"Music's good, ain’t it?" Isa asked. Boreas gave another nod her way. Lily felt Isa's elbow clip her side and she turned to look at the girl, breaking her gaze with the god with reluctance. Isa didn't say anything, but she didn't need to. She wasn't being subtle. Instead, she waggled her perfectly manicured eyebrows at Lily and flicked her head at the god in the universal symbol of "Go on, then."
Before Lily could, Boreas spoke. "Lily, it would please me a great deal if you would give me your hand." He looked oddly flushed. "For this next dance."
Isa giggled a teen girl giggle and Lily hesitated. She looked to her table, but before she could deny him, despite what she wished, Isa piped up. "I have this, Lily." She looked to her phone and said, "We should be packing up anyway."
"If we're packing up..."
"I got this," Isa repeated slowly for emphasis, practically shoving Lily around the side of the table to stand beside Boreas. He looked her up and down, a shiver of wind trailing where his icy eyes landed. His nostrils flared and he closed those eyes, visibly taking in a long, deep breath. Holding out his hand to her, he waited. She frowned down at it once again but placed her human hand in his usually not-so-human one.
They walked to the small dance floor, people staring as they did. Lily wasn't one to date around, but it wasn't odd to see her out on the occasional date. This was different, and everyone sensed it. Madison, clad in a shimmery, slinky dress, stared openly, slack jawed. Ryan, who'd been chatting in a group of his old high school friends, the big man back in town, had kept his distance but watched her all evening. Now, his face went red and his eyes went hard before he slammed down the mulled wine in his hand and stalked off somewhere beyond the warm glow of lights and candles surrounding the Christmas festivities.
Lily didn't mind any of it. She focused on Boreas. The heat of his hand, the feel of his skin on hers. The tingle down her spine when he gently spun her so she landed in his outstretched arms, fitting just right against his chest as they began to dance.
Absurdly, the first thing she blurted out was "You know how to two-step?"
Boreas smiled down at her, his mask moving up slightly at the rise of his cheeks. "Yes, Lily. I know many dances. It's one of the things I love about..."
He trailed off so Lily didn't know if he meant humans or life in general, but the idea brought her back to another question. "What's up with your hands?"
Said hand flexed in her own, gripping her tight. "The thing I went off to find allows me to mask my form. I knew such trinkets once existed, but did not know if they still did, or if I could acquire one."
"Why didn't you just tell me that instead of leaving me worrying over you?” Lily felt happy to see him, but also annoyed that all he needed was some simple thing he went to fetch.
“I am sorry I did not clarify, but there was more. I needed to discuss effectiveness and life as a god in human form with someone who knew more than me. How long, how well, it might work for one such as me.” His words were hushed so no one else could hear, meaning he whispered them with hot breath across her cold ear, warming her in many ways.
Lily wasn’t exactly appeased, but they could work on better communication. Now, having him with her in public, holding her tight, whispering in her ear seemed enough. Still, a few more answers wouldn’t hurt. “Another–” she almost said god but stopped herself as another couple twirled close. “A relative?”
He smiled at her coded language. “Of a sort. Someone I have known all my life but one who spent a great deal of time amongst people such as you.”
“Not all of you hide away?”
He laughed. “No, and this particular someone lives a very ostentatious life, when they are out in the world. They do tend to flit in and out on a whim.”
Lilylingered on the feel of his non-clawed hand. She thought it off, unnatural. “How does this work?” she asked on a squeeze of the hand.
“A magic amulet renders me like this as long as I wear it,” he explained before he slowed a step. "Do you prefer it?"
She shook her head violently. "No. I find this... odd. I like the real you."
He didn't reply, but a small smile stretched across his face. Lily stared at it, the way it transformed his grumpy demeanor and caused a twinge of something in her chest.
"Thank you," she whispered. He nodded, again not replying but acknowledging what he'd done for her.
The twang of the fiddle faded all too soon, and on the last note, Boreas dipped her low. His face came in close, so close she thought he'd kiss her. Instead, he put his warm nose against her cold cheek, smelled deep, and ran it down the line of her jaw. "Sweet, sweet Lily," he muttered before he brought her back upright.
Her heart stomped out its own rapid dance in her chest, but she pushed through to whisper. "Uh, would you like some mulled wine? Coffee? Cookies?"
At the word "cookies," Betty suddenly appeared at her side, shoving one of her Christmas treats right in Boreas face. "I'm Mrs. Betty Booth. Seems you know my girl Lily, so it's nice to meet you, young man."
Lily giggled like Isa at the young man comment, amused by her friend and giddy on dancing with the god. Of course, Boreas, despite the white hair, looked younger than Betty. Still, he had millennia on her.
He blinked down at the stooped older woman then gave a firm, knowing nod. The serious look on his face transferred to the cookie she'd somehow slipped in his hand without either of them noticing. "Thank you," he said after a few beats. "A pleasure to meet you as well, ma'am."
Betty beamed at his words and gave an ogling look between Lily and Boreas. She didn't know the god, obviously, but she caught something about him she liked, giving Lily her own waggling eyebrow version of "Go on, then."
"I'll leave you young’uns to it," she said with a clap of her hands. "Nights are for lovers and such. Not for old women with weary bones. Me and mine are off for the evening." Betty gestured toward Ralph, who already had their table cleared and looked more than ready to go. Lily looked to her own spot, seeing it cleared away. "That Isa is a good girl, she is. Already has your stuff carted back to the store. Nothing more for you to do here."
Lily was about to say she should check on everything when Betty said, "It's all taken care of, dear. Now get." She literally shooed them off, like stray cats asking for extra dinner after she gave out her scraps.
Lily huffed out a laugh and felt Boreas take her hand once again. "May I walk you to your car?" She smiled, bright as the stars, and said, "Sure." The word may have been a little breathy, but no one would blame her when she had a god holding her hand and being so chivalrous.
She'd parked behind her store, so they only had a few blocks to stroll. When they were out of earshot of most people, she asked, "I assume, since you are here, you found the answers you needed to be with me, here and now."
He paused, her arms snagging, as she'd kept on moving, so she had to step back and face him.
"Yes. Plutus helped, but more so you. You were right, Lily. If I’m being true to myself and what we have, I should not question it. I should be here, fully and completely, in the life you have in this town. Now, I know for certain I can.” His voice was light on the wind but hard in tone as he cupped her head in his massive hand. She wished his claws were on her cheek in that moment.
"I don’t want you changing for me," she countered. "That wasn't what I meant at all." She wanted him, yes, but not at his expense.
"No, Lily. I have not changed. Not exactly. I… just have a new perspective. A new purpose. You give me reason to be of this world instead of apart from it.”
“I don’t care much about purpose right now. Only that you’re here, with me, showing you want to be here. With me.” Lily whispered as she moved closer, leaning into his broad, warm chest as she reached up to cling to his shoulders.
"Lily, you and I... there's more to this than you know."
"I don't give a shit, Boreas. All I care about right now is you kissing me."
A rumble ripped up his chest, so strong she felt it where she leaned against him. His head dipped low, and the sweet scent of pine filled her nose as a quick breeze whipped around them, raising her hair as it did. Boreas paused, groaned as if he lost something, then took her lips with his own.
It was an owning, a claiming, that much Lily knew. Down to her toes. An arc of energy rippled through her in a line straight from her lips to her core, causing her to melt into him even more. He moved his lips expertly, with lethal precision. Nibbling, licking, he worked his lips over hers, warming her heart and body in equal measure. When he gave a particularly quick nip, Lily gasped at the sensation, opening up more for him. Boreas took full advantage, his tongue moving in to caress her own.
He pressed into her and pulled her to him at the same time, bending her back as he'd done in their dance. Lily clung to him, wanting more. Wanting whatever he would give her. Thinking only of want, actually, as he kissed her silly.
His mouth moved away from her own and she groaned in disappointment. The groan turned to a moan, however, when his lips and tongue didn't move away but instead moved down, trailing fire from her lips to her cheek to her neck.
"You taste exquisite, my Lily," he muttered, his words slightly slurred as if he were drunk. Lily thought he might be a bit tipsy on lust if he felt anything like she did.
She gave a hiss when she felt a sharp tooth snag against the skin of her neck, wanting more, unable to contain the surge of desire it brought out in her.
Boreas, however, righted them both, and stepped a good five feet away from her.
"What? Why?"
"Did I hurt you?" Pain sliced across his face, and Lily ached for him.
"Oh, honey. No. Not at all. It felt good. So, so good."
She didn’t wait for him to come back to her. Instead, she moved as swiftly as her human feet allowed, practically jumping back into his arms. He caught her with ease, bringing her body up his own so she stared down into his face. She bent, kissed him again, and felt warm in the cold winter night.
He eased her back down, moving them step by step until they were in the darker shadows of an alley. Only then did his hands roam in slow slides up and down her sides, teasing the edges of her hips and breasts. Boreas paused high up her bodice, his hands hovering in silent question at her breasts. “Yes,” she moaned out as she peppered his face with kisses.
Those strong, sure hands skimmed her breasts over her dress, but it still felt like a hot iron blazing across her chest. She bucked at the sensation, bringing her hips tight in line with his, then moaning at the hard length pressing back against her.
He cursed in some language she didn’t know and moved his mouth to her ear, sucking as his hands moved to her ass, forced it up, so she instinctively wrapped her legs around him. Not an easy task in a winter dress, but the voluminous skirt gave her a little more wiggle room than most. And thank all the gods out there, because when he pinned her to the ice-cold brick of the alley wall with his hips, grinding into her already soaking core, she nearly let out a scream of ecstasy.
Lily’d never felt this riled, this turned on, in her entire life. She was no virgin or prude, but something in the twang of feeling between her and Boreas made the lust ride strong and hard through her veins. It heightened everything. So much so she might orgasm in the cold night from him simply grinding against her for a few minutes. She didn’t care one bit about where they kissed or how quickly it all had come on. She only cared about feeling him, tasting him, getting as close to the god as she physically could.
Sadly, for her, he stopped abruptly. He dropped her hips so she had to uncurl her legs from his waist and right herself.
She gave out a clear huff of protest, but something had snagged his attention to their left. He growled in a not-so-sexy way, and, with a quick side-step, put her at his back as he faced the darker recesses of the alley. She peeked around his big-even-in-human form and looked for clues in the small, dark space.
After several tense beats, Ryan strolled out, hands in his pockets, as if he had not a care in the world. "You okay, Lil?" His voice dripped with fake worry, but a hard glint of anger shone clear in his eyes.
"Damnit, Ryan. Why are you skulking about in the dark?"
"Just making sure you're okay, Lil," he said again, not sparing a look her way. Instead, he stared at Boreas. His ego made him do it, but the barely leashed power and violence under the surface of the god meant the stare down didn't last long. Ryan lost, looking away first. Boreas never took his hawkish eyes off him, even after he looked away.
"I'm fine. More importantly, it's none of your damn business, Ryan. I told you before: leave me alone."
Boreas growled again at her words. Ryan did his good-old-boy head shake. "I'm keeping an eye out is all. You need anything, anything at all, you know where to find me."
The man strolled away, and Lily had to give it to him. To be able to look so nonchalant when a god breathed down your neck was a feat. Except Ryan knew nothing about Boreas's godhood. He might whistle a different tune if he knew.
"I'm so sorry about that," she said, ready to explain Ryan, but Boreas once again surprised her.
"He's following you. Harassing you. And you don't like it."
"How do you know?"
"His scent, and the way yours changed when he appeared."
Not much she could hide from him with that godly nose. "He's an ex. Newly back in town. He wants another chance and I don't want to give it to him."
"He's more dangerous than he looks," Boreas said.
"Aren't most men?"
He stared at her a moment, sad understanding flashing on his face, and he nodded. Taking her hand, Boreas brought it up to his lips and kissed the back. "Come, sweet Lily. Let's get you home."
Ryan had messed with the mood, for sure, but it still saddened her that the god didn't want to pick back up with their make out session. Like a damned perfect gentleman, he walked her back to her car, tucked her securely inside, and waved as she drove away. She couldn't be sure, because of the deep darkness of winter nights and the speed she maintained, but she could've sworn she saw flashes of navy blue and white now and then, following along beside her car in the sparse wooded areas at the sides of the roads. All the way home.