Chapter 35 #2
She reached up to run two fingers against his raven stubble, drawing them along the underside of his chin.
“Yes, close your eyes,” she whispered.
He drank her in for another moment, giving her his entire focus, before doing as she said.
She trailed her fingers to the other side of his jaw before applying pressure. His face turned slightly and then he bent as she reached up for him. Their lips touched softly at first, electricity running between them, and then more firmly, moving together.
A wave of dizziness overcame her, forcing her to pull back. “I am really hungover.” She kissed him softly one more time before letting him straighten so she could lean against him again. “I don’t remember the last time I was this hungover.”
“It’s the cheap booze. Mass quantities certainly don’t help, but the quality makes everything ten times worse.”
He took a sip of her drink—his drink now.
“I can’t not know—did I slap you last night?” she blurted.
His lips curled even more. “Twice. Don’t talk about it, though, or I’ll get hard again—too late.”
“Are you super mad and just too nice to say anything?”
“I am super turned on, just like you were when you slapped me. Twice. And when you kissed me soundly.” He took another sip of his drink, watching the people in the bar. “Probably not so much when you passed out on me.”
She slouched even more. “It really wasn’t my finest hour.”
He chuckled. “I don’t know, I was pretty entertained.”
“That’s what Phil said.” She paused. “And crying. Did I cry?”
“Yes, and you had good reason.”
“Which was?”
“Ulric’s singing. He sounds like a bullfrog getting choked.”
She barked out a laugh before covering her mouth. “That’s mean.”
“But it’s true.”
“Yes, it is true, but it is still mean.” She slipped an arm around his waist.
He stepped more toward the side of the chair so she could turn toward him and lay her head fully on his chest. His fingers curled a strand of her hair.
She liked this, pretending. There were no strings, no fears, no worry that he’d turn into the monster he claimed to be and hurt her or leave her.
She got all the benefits without any of the drawbacks.
If only she felt even a tiny bit better, she’d use the mate excuse and let him take her to his room.
She’d finally relent and give in to her desires.
As it was, she’d perform horribly, probably throw up, and that was not how she wanted to be remembered.
“My timing has always been incredibly bad, did you know that?” she asked as Aurora walked toward them with zero giddy-up in her step.
“I did not know that. And what should I do with that fascinating information?”
“Put it in your pipe and smoke it.”
“Hey.” Aurora’s attempt at a smile didn’t work. She looked like she’d just seen something horrific. “How are you faring?”
“Probably about how I look.” Nessa grimaced at her.
Aurora’s brows pinched together. “You look amazing, like you’re just about to let Tristan fly you out of here. Why do you look so amazing when you feel like I do?”
“Firstly, you also look amazing—“
“Except for the dark circles under your eyes,” Tristan said, “and the violence you’re promising whenever someone says something you don’t like. Like I just did. Didn’t you get Jessie to heal you?”
“Jessie had important things to do earlier today, and I was supposed to just stand around and watch. I was prepared to handle it. I did not know that we’d have to run through the city and act menacing, nor did I know I would throw up in my beast form.
I learned a lot of things this morning. None of them were pleasant.
By the time it was over, Jessie was too tired to ask, and Indigo had stuff to do. ”
“We thank you for your service,” Tristan said. “As messy as it sometimes is. Someone needs to call your dad and tell him you’re having too much fun.”
Aurora rolled her eyes, turning to face the bar. She did a bad job of hiding the smirk.
“Second, if I look amazing, it is because of Mr. Tom,” Nessa finished. “He was in charge of makeup and picking out the dress. When I tried to take over and do my own makeup, he told me that my time would be better spent taking notes.”
“Note to self, Mr. Tom will make you look great but feel rotten.” Aurora laughed, so rare that she should do so. “Anyway, I was going to—ah crap.” She turned back to us, her eyes squeezed tightly. “Damn it.”
Gerard walked toward the newcomer with his arms outstretched. “Unbreakable Sue, you made it!”
Nessa felt laughter bubble up. “Unbreakable Sue—good one.”
Sue stopped walking to chat with Gerard.
John, seated beside Nessa, had been silent and minding his own business all this time. “What’s the problem?” he finally asked.
Aurora didn’t get a chance to answer, and then she didn’t need to. Sue walked up to their cluster. Stopping beside Aurora, he looked down at her.
“Susan,” she said by way of greeting, straightening. She lifted her drink to her lips but didn’t take a sip, lowering it again. In a flat voice, she said, “Nice to see you.”
“I see you’ve crawled out of your hidey-hole,” he replied evenly.
Her lips tightened.
“What’s this now?” Tristan asked.
Sue looked at her expectantly.
Her chest barely rose with her inhale. “After the third time I threw up, I figured it would be better for the pack image if I just crawled into a hedge and stayed there until it was over.”
Tristan laughed, and John looked away to hide his grin. Sue’s stare did not waver, but Nessa didn’t miss the twinkle of mirth in his eyes. He’d loosened up a lot in her absence, no longer needing Nessa as a lifeguard. No longer needing her at all, really.
And strangely, for how much she’d wanted him at one time, she hadn’t thought about him like that since she’d left.
Not in any real way. They were too different, and they both knew it.
She was only a sunny day to make him smile.
That wasn’t the real her. She existed in the shadows by trade and the darkness by necessity. And maybe also by choice.
A hazy memory drifted to the surface from last night. Of Tristan’s heartfelt speech, splashes and chops of words cobbled together.
You have always had a choice. You chose to be a hero.
To do the dirty work. Not everyone has the courage.
The darkness doesn’t define us. It doesn’t erase the good parts of us.
We are the best heroes because we don’t need to walk in the light to enact justice.
Jessie needs people who aren’t afraid of the night.
Who else will battle the creatures that exist there but us?
She looked up at Tristan, drawing his notice, her eyes shining with feeling. How much of that was an actual memory and how much she’d implanted because she’d needed to hear it, she couldn’t say. But the root, the sentiment, had been his, said to her. That she remembered.
“Did I cry because you called me a hero?” she whispered.
His eyes softened. “You are a hero, little deathwatch angel. You’ve proven it many times over.”
“And so has Edgar,” Aurora cut in, raising her brows. “Edgar is a hero, and I crawl into bushes to throw up in peace. Okay? Now we all know where we stand.”
John started chuckling helplessly, his face still turned away to hide his smile.
Sue didn’t join in, though. He was looking at Nessa, his eyes intense.
His gaze zipped to Tristan’s thumb, roaming over her bare shoulder, and took in her position, snugged against Tristan’s chest. When they connected eyes again, she barely caught his subtle, approving nod.
They’d always been best as friends, and despite not trusting Tristan in the beginning, now he approved of the big gargoyle-monster.
Another little piece of her resistance melted away.
“Yes, it is good to be a hero, some of the time.”
Everyone jumped, and John damn near fell off his stool.
Edgar stepped from the shadows nearby. Not one person had realized he was there. He held a little blue pouch in his spindly fingers, tucked in at his stomach. His suit was made for a shorter lady, judging by the ample room in the breast and lack of room in the groin.
“And sometimes, to be a hero, you should start by throwing up in a bush.” He smiled at Aurora. “So, you see? You’re on your way.”
“Somehow that doesn’t help at all,” Aurora murmured.
“Here you go, Al-Joe.” He held out the little blue pouch. There was a picture of a crocheted whale on the front. “You sit there with your mind working and your hands idle. Many hands make a devil’s playground, as they say.”
“Almost got that one.” Nessa giggled. “Where’d you get the suit?”
Edgar looked down at himself, still holding the pouch.
“Oh, Cyra let me borrow it on account of her creating the problem that ruined mine. Mine had holes cut into it with garden shears. Gnome accident, you know. She tried to hogtie them with the clothesline to keep them put while she rounded up the others, and one got free. It freed the others, as they do. My suit, which was hanging on the clothesline, was collated drainage, she said.”
“Collateral damage,” Nessa supplied for the others.
All of them were staring at Edgar with bewildered expressions.
“And this was on Ivy House soil, I hope?” Nessa lifted an eyebrow.
“Oh, yes, don’t worry. I sometimes know better than to bring gnomes in my luggage. Before I left, I put a flower next to one of the gnome nests. With any luck, the flower will greatly reduce the population.”
“And if our luck runs out?” she asked.
“The gnomes might befriend the flower and convince it to turn on us.” Edgar smiled with crimson-stained canines. “I have high hopes the flowers don’t fall for their tricks.”
“Well.” Nessa beamed. “That explains that. What’ve you got there?”
Edgar held the pouch a little higher. “I thought Al-Joe might like to hone his craft.”
“Al-Joe?” Nessa prompted.
“Yes.” He passed the pouch to a very unimpressed former alpha shifter. “If you get good enough, I might let you in on the secret of the doily.”
He skulked back into the shadows.
“What is it?” Aurora asked, turning to make sure Edgar was really gone.
“It’s a crochet kit for beginners. It’s a little whale.” John put it under his chair. “I have nieces. I thought one of them might like it.”
“Practice makes perfect,” Edgar said, his voice drifting out of the shadows.
“He’s going to give me nightmares.” John shivered. “I saw it in a store and thought I might try it to pass the time. I regret that now.”
Phil would probably be fine with that use of regret.
“Al-Joe?” John asked.
Aurora snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it.
I—and Susan, too, who really should know better given he is a beta—keep catching ourselves when we address you as alpha.
Then we say your name. Edgar didn’t grab the right name.
” Her face lost color. She put two fingers to her temple.
“I’m understanding that vampire. That can’t be good.
It’s time for bed. I’m going to sneak out the back. ”
Nessa straightened and climbed off the chair with Tristan’s help. “Thank God. I thought I’d be the first to duck out.”
“I’d go out the front.” Sue took a sip of his drink. “Gerard just went to sit with Niamh at the back.”
“Good point.” Nessa turned to say goodbye to Tristan, but he was finishing the drink.
He stepped forward. “Natasha, I’ll fly you home. Sue, I’ll be back. There’s a couple things we should go over for tomorrow. They might try to play hard ball, and I have some ideas on subtle ways to counter.”
Sue nodded and said goodnight to Aurora and Nessa.
Once outside in the refreshing chill, Aurora stopped Nessa and Tristan. “Can you guys take my clothes? I want to shift and run home.”
They did and stepped away from the door so Tristan could undress. The moonlight bathed his broad chest and defined muscles. He folded everything and handed them to Nessa.
He shifted and towered over her before he scooped her up. Pressure dragged at her as he blasted into the sky, power and might.
She snuggled closer to him as the frigid wind rushed by. It was pleasant, playing his mate. She liked the dangerous security of it. She wondered if she’d ever come around to someone who didn’t like playing games and wanted something for real.
Meanwhile, she needed to come up with more new names for the-shifter-formally-known-as-Brochan.