Chapter 7
Mason pulled on last night’s clothes, glad that they’d come off early in the evening even though they were crumpled from being on the floor all night.
Vlash was wrapped in the dark blue towel, looking like the most gorgeous man who ever existed.
The points of his ears peeked out from his wet hair while the muscles of his abs drew Mason’s gaze down to the towel around his slim hips.
It was the scars and the muscles that were the reminder he was a soldier. An archer. Is that what he’d said?
“Thank you. I had a good time.” Both last night and this morning. This morning had been unexpected. He hadn’t planned on sleeping in Vlash’s bed all night. And while they’d lingered in the shower, it had done nothing for his headache.
“Same,” Vlash said. “I’ll see you out there and give you something for the headache.”
“That’d be great.” Did he lean in for a kiss, or was the putting of clothes on an indication of the end?
Vlash pressed his lips together, and the grim expression reformed. “Go before I change my mind about letting you leave,” he growled.
They’d had this discussion in the shower. Neither of them wanted to slink out once everyone else was up, but neither was willing to say why.
Mason suspected the reason Vlash didn’t want to be seen with him was because he had a reputation to maintain, and it didn’t include out-of-shape humans. And Mason didn’t want his friends ribbing him about getting lucky at the wedding. Or teasing him about Vlash.
He gave a nod and let himself out of Vlash’s room.
The corridor was empty. He shut the door behind him and drew in a breath, needing a moment to gather himself before facing other people and fighting the urge to open the door and kiss Vlash again.
He forced himself to take a step away from the door, putting last night and this morning behind him.
Even though he had no idea where he was, he heard talking and smelled breakfast, so he headed in that direction. They’d dawdled a bit too long, and everyone was up, but he wouldn’t change anything about this morning.
He walked into the main hall. Some were still rolled up in blankets on the floor, snoring or awake and unwilling to get up.
On the other side of the room, the tables had been brought together, and food had been laid out.
It was simple fair. Platters of fruit and what looked like sweet pastries.
Nothing that might turn delicate stomachs.
He poured himself a glass of juice and grabbed a pastry. He should be eating the fruit.
He was already moving ‘go to the gym three times a week’ to the top of his New Year’s resolutions. That way, when he was ready to date, he’d be more comfortable getting naked.
Not that he’d been uncomfortable last night, far from it. And even this morning in daylight, without the bloody magic candle, Vlash had made him feel sexy and wanted. There hadn’t been a single criticism. They’d been on the same page the entire time, or at least what he remembered of the night.
Ugh, he had not been that drunk in a long time.
He sat next to Xan, the werewolf, and his girlfriend, both of whom looked as rough as Mason felt.
He didn’t look as bad as he felt, and he was sure that was because he’d slept in a bed.
And possibly because of all the sex. He hadn’t had a night like that since he was twenty-two.
And he wasn’t sure he could handle another night like that, not right away, anyway.
He licked pastry off his thumb. He’d contemplated asking Vlash for his number, even though he was sure that was the wrong thing to do. It had been one night that they both needed. And that was all it could be.
Besides, he wasn’t ready to date. He needed to figure out who he was on his own because he wasn’t the same person he was before he dated Bud.
He wasn’t the same person who’d accepted the engagement ring or the one who’d taken it off.
Sean and Troy walked into the hall hand-in-hand as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Where the hell had they spent the night? They grabbed some food before coming to sit on the other side of him.
“Did you sleep okay?” Sean lifted his eyebrows, asking the silent question.
Mason was silent for a heartbeat. “Yeah.” The sleep he’d gotten had been great. There hadn’t been enough of it, though. “Where did you sleep?”
“We found a spare room.”
Xan glanced at Mason as if he knew Mason hadn’t slept in the hall.
“Lucky you.” Mason smiled. And lucky everyone else because he had no doubt they’d have gotten busy beneath their blanket. There’d probably been a lot of that going on.
Vlash walked into the hall, and Mason forgot to breathe.
He was fucking gorgeous with his long hair tied back in a simple braid.
And while he wasn’t wearing a uniform, he wasn’t wearing human clothes, either.
He wore the long tunic and tight pants many mythos seemed to favor.
The elves in the room immediately deferred to him as if waiting for orders.
Mason turned to Xan. “Who is he?”
“He is the head archer, leader of the elvish army. He is second only to the king.” The werewolf sniffed, then smirked.
Mason’s cheeks heated. The werewolf knew. He took a drink of juice and pretended as though he didn’t care that he’d spent the night with the second most powerful elf there.
“You’re braver than many to have played with those knives,” Xan murmured.
Vlash spoke to a few people as he ate the food that was handed to him and checked on a few others before making his way around to the humans.
His blue eyes were once again cold, and there was no flicker of recognition that he knew Mason at all. “It is customary to leave the palace by noon.”
Mason nodded as if he knew what time it was, even though his phone was flat. What was going to happen if they didn’t leave? Would the king unleash the griffins on them?
“The staff are placing painkillers on the table. I recommend taking only one.” Vlash’s voice remained cool, but his gaze remained on Mason.
He wanted to squirm away under the scrutiny.
Mason would rather take none, but he needed to drive back to the city, and he didn’t think he could manage driving while his head pounded. How Vlash managed to appear so cool, calm, and unaffected, Mason didn’t know.
Yeah, he did. As head archer and second to the king, Vlash didn’t want word of last night getting out.
“Thank you,” Mason said. And he meant for everything because that one night meant something to him. Maybe it meant more now he could pick up the hottest man in the room, as well as one of the most powerful. His lips curved and, for a moment, he was sure Vlash almost smiled.
Mason was expecting more questions as soon as he got in the car.
Even though he’d taken the magical aspirin, he felt like shit.
His body ached as if he’d put it through a brutal workout, and he had the kind of headache that could only be attributed to too much alcohol and not enough sleep.
When he got home, he planned on falling into bed.
“You’re in yesterday’s clothes, so I’m guessing you didn’t sleep in the hall?” Sean asked.
Mason glanced at Sean in the rearview mirror. He sat in the back with Troy, which meant the passenger seat was pushed all the way forward to make room for the ogre’s legs.
“Did you resist elves in uniform?” Troy added.
He did not need to be teased by Sean’s oversized ogre boyfriend, but he couldn’t lie either. He didn’t know what he should do about Vlash. Nothing was the smart answer. It was best to leave it as one perfect night.
“I did not,” he confessed.
“And?” Sean leaned forward.
“And it was a perfectly lovely night.” And morning after. And there was no blaming that on the wedding, magic, or candle.
Vlash glanced at him as though he wanted to fuck him or kill him, and either was fine. He’d never thought he’d enjoy someone gripping his hair like that, but apparently, when Vlash did it, he was into it.
Lovely probably wasn’t the right word to describe the night. Intense? Consuming?
“That’s it?” Sean pressed.
“I’m not ready to date. I have shit I need to sort out.” And Vlash had more. For a man who hadn’t had sex in ten years, he hadn’t forgotten any tricks. What had he said about being married for eighty-three years before that?
Half of what they’d talked about was kind of fuzzy.
Sean grinned. “I wasn’t expecting you to find a boyfriend. Do you feel better?”
He took a few seconds to answer that because he wasn’t sure if he was in the post-hookup afterglow coupled with a hangover or if he felt better about ending it with Bud. It was the right thing to do, but it still hurt. Today, it didn’t hurt as much.
If Vlash could want him, and Vlash was burn-his-fingers-hot, then other men would, too. “I think I do. Or will, once I’ve gotten some sleep.”
He didn’t know how long the good feeling would last. Just because it was he who’d made the wound didn’t make it any better.
It only reinforced how stupid he was for not doing it sooner.
Bud hadn’t seemed upset on the phone, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t.
Mason would’ve preferred an emotional reaction so it seemed as though he mattered.
Instead, Bud had stared at him through the screen and demanded the ring back.
He'd wished Mason luck in finding someone who’d tolerate his mytho-hugging friends.
Bud only tolerated them in public; Mason couldn’t imagine bringing him to the wedding.
He'd have said something inappropriate and started a fight.
So they were spending Christmas apart. Bud was going to see his family, and Mason was seeing his mother and sister.
In the New Year, Bud planned to collect his things and the ring.
It was all very cold. He’d once liked the way Bud had been levelheaded and calm about all things except for mythos.
And if he hadn’t become more anti-mytho over the years, it would’ve been fine, wouldn’t it?
On the surface, maybe. But beneath, Mason saw how he hadn’t been happy for years. Being single wasn’t as terrifying as he expected.
“Did you at least get the elf’s number in case you want to repeat?” Sean asked.
Mason laughed. “There will be no repeat, and no, I didn’t ask for his number.”
“Why wouldn’t you repeat it if you both enjoyed it?” Troy asked.
“Because some things are best left as one perfect event.” And he didn’t want to spoil it by asking for more.