Chapter 7
A man came around the corner dressed in nothing but a towel.
He was built like a bear, tall and thick, and nearly as hairy, but ginger with a wallop of freckles all over.
He was handsome in a blunt way, his hair a bright red that made me wonder if he had Irish blood too.
The band on his arm glowed yellow-orange, but his skin was unmarred by tattoos like Angel’s.
He paused, his gaze flicking from Angel back to me.
“Angel,” he said.
“Wade,” Angel replied. “This is the new SV, Jude Holt.”
His gaze glided over me for a few seconds in what I thought might be a careful but appreciative way. Maybe I wasn’t the only queer in this crazy wonderland of paranormal chaos.
“Small.”
“Uh, yeah. Not everyone comes in jumbo lumberjack size. You can call me Jude,” I said, trying to keep my gaze up.
The towel was straining, and I didn’t normally go for gingers, but who knew they came in triple extra-large?
Nikki would be screaming how right she was about SED men being hot enough for a calendar. “Are you Irish?”
“Swedish.” He pointed to his hair, which was pulled back into a long ponytail.
“Really?” I perked up. “Do you know the chef?” I pretended to fling cooking tools around. He stared at me a minute, then burst into a huge belly laugh that had his towel nearly falling off.
“What’s so funny?” Angel asked.
“The Swedish Chef?” I asked him. “Didn’t you watch any PBS growing up?” I stared at him, but his expression was blank. “The Muppets?”
Wade recovered, clutching his towel tight and breathing hard. “You’re funny, smallz.”
I bowed and did the little wave with my hand. “I’ll be here all week.”
“Great, a comedy act,” Angel sighed.
“Up, down, touch the ground,” I started to sing, repeating the line and smacking my lips. “Did I guess your shifter right? Or was it just wishful thinking?”
Wade nodded, smile huge. “I’m a bear.”
“And Angel here is prickly, so I’m guessing cat of some kind?”
Angel tipped his head my way, gaze narrowed. “I’m sure you read that somewhere.”
“Pegged you,” Wade said.
“I’d love to peg him,” I murmured without thinking, then felt my cheeks heat up. Both guys looked at me, neither missing the comment, though I’d barely spoken it out loud. “Sorry, sorry. Dunno what’s wrong with me. Normally, my filter is better.”
“You have one?” Angel asked.
“Usually the dead people I’m investigating don’t care. Anyway, nice to meet you, Wade.” I shrugged. This day was going to hell fast. Would they fire me for saying dumb shit?
Angel sighed and spoke to Wade. “Since you’re here, maybe we can bring the team down and see where you need to start with his defense training. I’d like to know if I need to requisition some hellhounds to be permanently attached to his side before we get our first callout.”
“No offense, but I’m not sure I can learn to intimidate by sheer size,” I said. “I’m way beyond the growth stage. And did you say hellhounds?”
“Any training at all?” Wade asked.
“Sure.” More than most cops, since I was used to being one of the smallest guys in the room at five-eight. “I regularly take yoga and Pilates classes.”
Angel groaned. “They gave us a mommy vlogger.”
“Seriously, though,” I said, “after I got kicked out by my parents, I ended up at a gym owned by an ex-pro boxer who is a friend of my grandpa. They were all worried, ‘cause I was the weird, queer kid, that I’d get the shit kicked out of me. I’ve had some MMA training.
” I tapped my stomach. “Great for core strength. And my best friend Nikki and I regularly teach a self-defense class for women at the Y. I know I’m small and a little femme.
..” I’d had more than my fair share of fellow gays tell me I was too femme for them, which always flared up my depression.
“I’ve never competed or anything, but I hold my own just fine.
I won’t ever shoot first, but I’m really good at getting the fuck out of the way. ”
Wade blinked at me in surprise and yanked me against him in a giant hug.
A rush of cool air flowed through me, and he shivered where we touched but didn’t let go.
My face was pressed to his left pec—holy shit, the guy was huge.
His body projected heat like a furnace. I blinked in shock as I couldn’t recall being hugged by anyone other than Nikki or my grandparents, ever.
His touch, and the swirl of whatever our magic was, turned brittle and cold, like a sudden frost. I flinched, but fought not to pull away.
Thankfully, it wasn’t the polarizing need Angel’s had been, which I thought odd.
At least I wouldn’t pop a boner at the touch of every shifter I met. Good to know.
Angel cleared his throat.
Wade let me go. “Sorry,” he said. He pointed toward the lockers. “I’ll get changed and meet you in the gym.” He wandered away, still gripping his towel, with me blinking after him in shock.
“Bears are sort of…” Angel began, looking up as if trying to find the word.
“Snuggly?” I asked.
“Protective,” Angel amended. “Do you need gear, or do you have something in that cat-banana bag of yours for workouts?”
“Sweatpants and a tank.” Preparedness was something I was used to. I always had extra clothes, snacks, meds, and even a first aid kit.
“Get changed, then I’ll show you where we regularly kick rookie ass.”
“Super. Sounds like a great time,” I grumbled as I dug through my pack.
Wade walked by us in jogging shorts and a tight tee, but I barely glanced at him as I hurried to change.
My eyes were locked on Angel, three lockers down, as he stripped down to a jockstrap and tugged on a pair of sweats and a tank top.
The amount of ink covering the man in black swirls caught my breath—and that gorgeous ass.
I gulped, reminding myself that staring in a locker room was a surefire way to get my ass kicked.
Then again, he was going to do that regardless.
“Are they all spells?” I asked, unable to help myself.
“What?” Angel asked as he tugged the shirt over his head and down a very finely sculpted chest.
“The tattoos. I mean, they are very pretty. I mean, cool looking. Sad to think they were all used for bad things.” Shut up, Jude, I lectured myself. How about we go poke the bear with a stick instead of rubbing the cat the wrong way?
“No. They aren’t all spells. I covered them up with art and some counter-spells, to keep them from being reactivated.”
“Oh,” I said, staring at the swirls over his bicep that ran right through the glow of his mark. “That’s good, then.” He closed his locker and I followed suit, waiting for him to show me the way to the gym.
“And no, I didn’t watch PBS. I got thrown into the military at thirteen when they knew the change wouldn’t kill me.”
“What the hell? You were a kid.”
“Easy to control. That’s what they wanted. The war was raging and they needed bodies to throw at the enemy.”
“Holy fuck. I’m sorry, man. No one should have to live through that.”
“We all have shit in our past.” He shrugged as if it no longer mattered. But trauma was the bitch that rose up to bite you when you thought you’d been healed a decade.
“And sorry about the pegging comment, and the toys. I understand if you need to report me to HR for a SH violation.”
“You get a lot of those?”
“Never.”
“Right, dead people don’t talk,” he snorted. “We don’t have an HR. I could tell Hanna and she’d likely ask me why I was bothering her with mundane matters.”
“Seriously?”
“Didn’t you know? Once you start SED, there’s no way out but a body bag. Though, I suppose you could get drafted to the military, since you’re a SV.”
“Are you for real? I’m working for the supernatural mob now?” I gaped.
“Pretty much.” Angel put his finger on my chin and snapped my mouth closed. “Best not give anyone ideas, pretty boy.” He headed for the elevator bay.
“You’re not straight, are you?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Straight men find me very threatening. I suspect they think my dick is delicious and can’t stop wondering, so they get mad at me for just being me.” I held out my arms as we arrived at the elevator to exhibit my greatness. “And they aren’t wrong. I’m sure my dick is delicious.”
He snorted. “You’re full of yourself, too.”
Rather be full of you, I thought to myself as he hit the button and one of the elevators opened. We stepped in, and he hit the B. Was there a gym in the basement? “So, not straight?” I asked.
“I’m equal opportunity. You’ll find most anyone touched by the Veil’s split will be.
Life is too short for those sorts of boundaries.
” He gave me the side-eye as the door opened to a huge gym area.
“Might want to start slow though. There’re plenty here who’d love a taste of that perky little ass of yours. ”
I bit my tongue to keep from asking if he was one of them and followed him into the room.
Angel led the way into the gym—a sprawling space filled with equipment, a giant section in the middle with sparring mats, and a lot of folks in the middle of workouts.
Everyone looked human. Some had glowing armbands. Others didn’t.
Wade waved us over to a large woman with a very butch haircut who was loading a bench press with over five hundred pounds on each side of the bar. Could anyone lift that? She was only slightly smaller than Wade, with more defined muscles.
“This is Kerry,” Wade said.
“You want me to spar with her? Are you trying to kill me on my first day?”
Kerry gave me a wide smile that looked more than a little feral. She didn’t have an arm band. “It’s okay, smallz. I got you.” An aura of color shifted around her for a half second and suddenly she was my size. Same haircut and face, slimmer body, but just as well-muscled for her smaller form.
“Holy fuck,” I said, glancing at Wade. “Maybe you can teach me to magic my size.” I flushed, realizing how that sounded and glanced down. “That doesn’t need help with size.”