Chapter 17 – Farrah
It's been a few days since Rorik read my thoughts, and I agreed to be a spy for the monsters. It’s now Friday, and I’m joining Locheran and his team of hunter trackers to discuss plans for my infiltration.
It’s been stressing me out all week. Everything is so overwhelming, and my energy has been sucked dry from packing up my apartment. I’ve also been sleeping like shit.
When I get home, I’m too tired to do anything.
Locheran says it’s because we haven’t satisfied the bond.
It’s why we didn’t move me into his apartment right away.
It would be too hard not to give in to each other.
It would have meant fucking all night, and I wasn’t going to put my career on hold because of a man.
Er, gargoyle. I already had to take time off for my brother’s funeral.
I’m not going to use sick days or vacation days just to fuck my mate and sleep all day.
Locheran assures me it will get better after this weekend when I officially move in. It’s when we’ll have time to be together with no interruptions to finally solidify the bond.
Despite not physically seeing each other, we still hung out virtually.
We’d video call each other to eat dinner together.
After our meals, I’d curl up on the couch, and we’d watch the same movie or a TV show from our respective apartments.
Our nights would end with me falling asleep about ten minutes into whatever we were watching.
Somehow, I’d always end up in my bed the next morning, and I have no doubt Locheran was sneaking in to carry me to my bedroom and tuck me in. How he got inside without a key, I don’t know, but I bet it has something to do with a meddling bestie named Evangeline.
I also wonder if I’m drained of energy because my hunter DNA is fighting with the mating bond.
Growing up, I was taught that my urge to capture and kill monsters would grow the more I captured and killed.
I’ve never taken a life, monster or otherwise, so I can’t understand why I’m suddenly on edge.
Maybe because of all the monsters I’ve been around lately?
As if my hunter side is in fight mode despite me not wanting to fight anyone?
Locheran knocks on my door ten minutes after the sun has set. A huge smile plastered on his handsome face greets me upon opening.
“Hello, my mate,” he says causing my heart to flutter and the butterflies in my stomach to take flight.
“Hi… my mate.”
It’s still strange to think my soul is now tethered to another being. Especially a monster.
Evangeline was destined to be Xander's mate. Life found a way to make it happen by creating a magical dating app to pair them together. It’s clear fate had more plans because I’m sure it’s no coincidence that the gargoyle king’s best friend and the best friend of the human/witch he matched with are also destined to be together.
Could my role in taking the hunters down be why I was chosen?
I shake off the consuming thoughts and offer Locheran a smile in return. He’s masked, as he always is when walking through my apartment building. He could have a modeling career with how gorgeous he is in his human form.
Perfectly messy dark hair, blue eyes, and sun-kissed skin. Muscles. For. Days.
And still six foot three—way taller than me.
“Ready to go?” he asks.
I nod and take his offered hand, weaving my fingers with his. An energy crackles between our skin upon making contact and his human form flickers in and out.
Before Locheran and I completed the bond, the glitches allowed me to see the true forms of gargoyles. I asked Mira if it was because of me being a hunter or me being Locheran‘s mate. She wasn’t sure. Maybe a little of both.
We head to my building’s roof and Locheran drops his human form and implements a shield to keep us hidden from anyone looking out of the window of nearby, taller buildings. I’ve learned these shields are pure magic, an ability given to gargoyles by the same witch who cursed them to the night.
I stand back and watch his massive wings spread out and flap a few times. He says it’s like stretching your legs after sitting on them too long.
They’re magnificent—at least ten feet from end to end. Not as long as the gargoyle king’s twenty-foot spread, according to Evangeline. I asked because I was curious.
I hope Locheran will let me touch his wings tomorrow night when we spend time together. Or maybe later tonight after the meeting.
I wonder what else is considered an erogenous zone for gargoyles. Their horns maybe?
“It is for some gargoyles,” Locheran answers my thoughts out loud. “I guess you’ll have to find out if I’m one of them.”
I’ve touched them before when we were fooling around, but I wasn’t sure if it did anything for him since he was already turned on and feral.
He winks and waves me to him. When I get close enough, he lifts me—forcing a yelp from my lips—and places me onto his hip like a fucking toddler.
He leans in, nuzzling his nose against mine before brushing his lips in a teasing non-kiss.
“Hang on,” he whispers, then shoots up into the air.
I scream and tighten my hold around his neck because I will never get used to being catapulted into the sky. My legs squeeze around his thick torso, then I bury my head in his neck.
We fly down from the Upper East Side to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown where tonight’s meeting is being held. The night air is cool despite the hot summer season.
“You’ll need to get over this fear of flying with me, you know?” Locheran says, raising his voice over the whoosh of air around us.
“Why?” I ask, braving to remove my face from his body to look at him.
I can barely hear myself over the wind, but he heard me just fine, giving me a mischievous smile.
“Sky sex.”
Wait. What? Certainly, I didn’t hear him correctly. “Umm… sky sex?”
“When I fly us above the clouds and fuck you.”
My eyes widen, and I quickly shake my head. “Not happening.”
Locheran shrugs. “We’ll see.”
His tail slips between my legs and presses against my cloth-covered pussy. I inhale sharply and dig my nails into Locheran’s beefy shoulders. He rubs the tip back and forth, and the friction feels amazing. But my fear of being dropped to my death outweighs my lust.
He must sense that and stops, letting out a soft chuckle and kissing the top of my head.
He likes kissing the top of my head and to be honest, I do too. It's sweet and intimate but not intimate like having his face between my legs. It’s the type of intimacy most people yearn for. To feel wanted and cared for. To be loved.
Locheran and I barely know each other, but I have no doubt I can love him. I’m certainly falling for him faster than I expected.
It’s exhilarating… yet terrifying.
We land on a flat roof near the back of the cathedral. It’s one of two small buildings along Madison Avenue that isn’t as popular with tourists compared to the magnificent front on 5th Avenue. We slip through the roof’s access door and take steep steps down one floor.
Locheran grabs my hand and leads me through hallways that rush by in a blur. I notice he’s not back in his human form, so I wonder if that means the building’s empty at this time of night. Or maybe the humans that work here know about monsters.
“They do. We’re safe here,” Locheran says, answering my silent inquiries.
He’s walking fast enough that my short legs struggle to keep up. I’m seconds from asking him to slow down before he stops in front of a beautifully crafted wooden door. Flowers and religious figures that I couldn’t begin to name decorate the sides, leading to a massive cross in the middle.
Locheran lifts our embraced hands to his lips and kisses my knuckles.
Something else he likes to do.
He’s such a gentleman when he wants to be.
Gentlegoyle. Gargoman?
“Ready?” he asks, smiling.
“Ready,” I say with a firm nod.
He opens the door and all conversations pause; heads turn our way.
My heart responds to the sudden attention by drumming frantically inside my chest. Everyone here being a monster doesn’t help my anxiety because now they can hear just how nervous I am.
Locheran squeezes my hand, which offers some comfort. He pulls us inside the room and closes the door behind me.
“Hello everyone,” he says. His arm snakes around my waist and tugs me to his side. “This is Farrah, my mate.”
I recognize Rorik. Evangeline and Xander are here.
There’s Thorne, the massive gargoyle with a scar slashed diagonally across his face.
I met him briefly at Evangeline’s wedding before he had to leave.
He stands on the other side of a long conference table where stacks of paper and other materials pile up.
His muscular dark purple arms are crossed over his chest and instead of appearing intimidating, he smirks.
It’s a bit unnerving because I have no doubt he could kill me with his pinky, but his smile says he’s kind and happy we’re here.
Two women approach me. A stunning creature with golden fur and wings of golden feathers.
Her blonde hair is styled in loose curls around her head.
The other woman has light brown skin, despite the deathly pallor of a vampire, and auburn hair that she has styled up in an elegant bun.
She’s short and thick, but not as short and thick as me.
The sphinx and the vampire queen—Thorne’s two mates.
They were both at the supernatural conference, but Locheran literally kidnapped me before we could properly meet and when we returned from the rooftop, they were gone.
And even though they’re not technically on the team to track down the hunters, Locheran said they’d be here tonight because they wanted to meet me.
“I’m Vara,” the sphinx says, noticing me gawking at her beauty. She waves her hand in front of the vampire queen. “This is Layla.”
I have the urge to curtsy, and I’m on my way to doing so before Layla reaches out to stop me. Her cold hand lands on my forearm.