Chapter 7 Distraction #2
“Well, I’m sorry if I said something that upset you, but I don’t think anything is wrong with him.” She turned toward the refrigerator again. “He’s funny.”
Zeke preened. “Hear that? I’m funny. These jerks think I’m annoying.”
Cyn looked up at him, eye twitching. “I’ve never said you’re annoying.”
“You’re excluded from the jerk category. Your pizza’s getting cold.”
I wondered what Raelynn thought of the dynamic between Cyn and Zeke. If she thought them related or something more. If it weren’t for the council, I wondered if they’d ever admit what both Ezra and I already knew.
Raelynn sighed. “Did you want something to drink with that?”
I tilted my head, studying her as she pulled a couple of cans of soda from the refrigerator.
From her speech, I gathered we were somewhere in the southeastern United States. I wasn’t sure. I’d need to ask Ezra. Of my brothers, I was the only one who hadn’t visited the human plane before.
From my studies of Earth’s cultures, the people in this region were hospitable—would give the shirt off their back even to an enemy in genuine need. It made sense she’d offer sustenance, even to an infernal.
Quite a different reaction than I expected after Cyn revealed himself. I anticipated screams, fear, fleeing… not what she gave us. Not her feeding us in her kitchen as if we were neighbors.
Even if I understood nothing else about our predicament, something was different about Raelynn. Something more than what sparked between us.
I pressed my lips together as the faint perfume of her blood reached me, mingling with black raspberry, rose, and mirabelle plum in the air. “You should sit down before your foot bleeds again without a bandage.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Cyn’s hand curled into a fist next to the book.
We spent the next hour in the living room after Cyn and Zeke finished eating. Well, everyone except Ezra. He took Cyn’s place, studying the book.
Both Cyn and Ezra combed through the book page by page, but nothing useful surfaced.
As we sat around the living room, Zeke asked where we were, what Raelynn did for a living, and if she liked grilled or fried fish—grilled. Anytime he asked something too personal, I redirected the conversation. Zeke wasn’t always good with boundaries.
Aside from details about the area—and learning that her only relatives were a grandmother, aunt, and uncle hours away—we learned nothing about her.
I struggled with the desire to know more about her while realizing I needed to squash that desire to focus on my duties. I swore to protect my brothers. All I wanted was to figure out a way to get them home before time ran out and Ezra’s father summoned us himself.
Raelynn yawned, lifted her leg, and set her ankle on her knee to inspect the bottom of her foot, grimacing.
“Something wrong?”
She peered up at me. “Hurts. How did you get the small ones out without tweezers? I hope there aren’t any bits left.” She leaned down to get a closer look. “I don’t think I need stitches, but I need to wrap it.”
“I doubt it. I used the tips of my claws to pull them out when you were focused on Cyn coming downstairs.”
Raising her head, she darted her gaze between Cyn and me. “I-no. What? I wasn’t focused on him. I wanted to know who else was in my house. Jesus, you make it sound so—”
Zeke laughed. “Dirty?”
She looked at her foot again. “You’re both ridiculous.”
“And you’re cute when you blush,” Zeke fired back, grabbing her ankle and pulling her foot into his lap. “Let me look.”
“Don’t make her bleed again,” Cyn muttered, flexing his hands.
She collapsed back against the cushions with an agitated, mirthless laugh.
“I can’t believe I’m sitting here talking with demons in the middle of the night.
I’ve finally lost it. My aunt was right.
” Her voice cracked. “Shit. They’re gonna lock me up.
” She flung her arms over her eyes, and my chest tightened.
“Fuck. I didn’t want to end up like them. ”
When she sniffed, Zeke froze, still holding her foot as he glanced at Cyn and me.
“What are you talking about, Little Blackbird?”
“Nothing.” She pulled her foot from Zeke’s grasp and stood. “I’m going to bed.” She laughed. “What am I saying? You’re not even real. This is all a dream. You’ll be gone tomorrow when I’m sober.” She muttered to herself as she stepped away from the sofa. “I didn’t drink that much, did I?”
Ezra lifted his head from the book, watching her hobble toward the stairs.
Zeke went to stand, but Cyn grasped his arm and whispered, “No. Let her go.”
The same thought troubling me all night struck again. Something wasn’t right.
When she disappeared upstairs, I turned to Ezra. “What do you think she meant about someone locking her up?”
Ezra shook his head, looking at the book again. “I don’t know or care. I want to figure this out and go home. What the human does outside of that doesn’t concern me.”
“But she’s nice,” Zeke said, lowering his head. “She gave me pizza.”
“You can’t keep her,” Cyn said.
“Who said anything about keeping her?”
“Because you haven’t acted like this around anyone other than us in a long time.”
The skin between Zeke’s dark brows knotted. “I’m not any different.”
“You’re different from how you are around strangers. Carefree,” I said. “Why do you think that is?”
“I dunno. Something’s different about her.” Zeke’s gaze lifted to the wall that hid the stairs from view. “I can’t put my finger on it, but something’s different. I feel like I’ve known her forever.”
Sitting back against the sofa, I closed my eyes.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one who sensed something strange around the raven-haired human. Not only did her blood hold a unique scent that beguiled me, but her familiarity drew me to her beyond the instinctive pull to bond.
I glanced at Ezra. Did he feel it too? He seemed unfazed by her presence, but cold indifference was his modus operandi. He needed to keep a hard front to avoid appearing weak before his father, believing calculated apathy paved his path to ruling Elyrdin.
“I already said something’s different,” Cyn said, voice low.
He sat up, planted his elbows on his thighs, grabbed the television remote from the coffee table, and spun it in his hands.
“I almost couldn’t control myself around her.
I’ve never scented blood like that, and I’ve smelled human blood before. ”
“We all have,” Zeke said. “I didn’t smell hers, though.”
“That’s because I’d already taken care of her foot when you came down,” I said, glancing at Ezra. “What about you?”
Sighing, Ezra closed the book. “It smelled different, but that means nothing. It doesn’t make her unique. Just something we’re not used to.”
Zeke shook his head. “But she brought us here. She smells different. She—”
Ezra dropped the book onto the coffee table with a loud smack.
“She’s a human who got her hands on a book she shouldn’t have and did stupid human things that summoned us here.
All we need to do is find out where she got the book and go home.
That’s it.” His tone carried finality as his eyes locked with Zeke’s.
“Don’t disturb things on Earth while we’re here. None of us wants to face Father.”
Even if I wanted to object, I knew I shouldn’t.
The human—Raelynn—would be a distraction we didn’t need if Zeke acted on his curiosity. Cyn already struggled to maintain control around her.
And me? I wasn’t sure what I felt.
Raelynn intrigued me.
I wouldn’t lie—the scent of her blood made my cock twitch. She was attractive. With an oval face, a small nose, and a cupid’s bow above full lips, she looked young. But her gray eyes told a different story… one that mirrored the weariness I carried at only twenty-six.
What made a human so young so weary?
I shook the thoughts away.
We couldn’t disturb things on Earth unless ordered by Ezra’s father. That included playing with one human female who messed with forces she had no business toying with.
If the others felt drawn to her, dark magic must be involved. Although bonding multiple Nyriths was rare, anything above a second pairing was unheard of.