Home #2
Not to mention, Laura and Aleksei were staying for a few days. He, so he could take some meetings tomorrow, she, so she could show up on set personally for a few days. They weren’t scheduled to return to Berg until Thursday.
Further, Uly and Estra were staying a bit longer and taking a commercial craft back to the Edge later, so Estra could do some shopping.
And last, Mangold and Zyra were staying for a few days so they could do the things I’d planned for them to do during their defunct visit, but Mom and Dad were going to be taking over as tour guides.
Thus, it was only me, Tanyn and Nayden heading back on the jet.
I couldn’t say I was super comfortable with everyone scattered to the winds.
I could say, we all had lives, and I understood they needed to sort theirs before we could effectively hunker down and concentrate on discovering what we were dealing with.
“I’ve got a couple of cases that will be delivered to Aleksei’s penthouse, though,” Gayle continued. “If you could take them up to the Edge for me?”
We were taking up things for Laura and Aleece too. Aleece hilariously called them “go bags, the female kind,” because they were packed in order to cover them for wherever we were all going to be, but they weren’t packed light.
“Not a problem,” I said. Then took her pulse. “Are you okay?”
“Peachy,” she replied, sounding like she was.
Damn, whatever witch she found could sure craft a potion.
“Okay, well, keep in touch.”
“Will do.”
“Gayle?” I called before we could sign off.
“Right here.”
“Love you, babe.”
“Bad friend alert, I should be asking if you are okay. Last night was Laura and Lex’s, but it was still a big night for you too.”
“I will only confess this to you, but I’m not peachy. I’m rosy.”
I heard her laugh and it sounded genuine, so I was smiling as we said our goodbyes.
Case two whirred out of the minder, and case three floated in while I sat on the bench and hit the social tapes.
No, I hadn’t lied. I wasn’t going to become obsessed.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t curious.
My dress was getting a lot of positive buzz. Not more than Laura’s, but it was clear I was in the burgeoning stages of being set up as a style icon, with a lot of fashion vids discussing last night’s dress, along with the one I wore to the Masque.
I could deliver on fashion, so that wasn’t a problem.
Once I saw one snap, I went down a rabbit hole of inspecting every picture of Tanyn and me, though.
There were many of them taken outside as we walked in. But Laura and Calisa had some society photogs milling about during the first hour of the party (it was requested they leave after the first dance), so there were plenty of pics of us during the party too.
As I scrolled through them, I saw there was another way we were perfect together.
He was so tall, broad, lean, powerful, with his tan skin, that thick, dark hair and those dazzlingly luminous blue eyes.
He was regal.
He had gravitas.
I was not short, but I was nowhere near as tall as Tanyn, even in heels.
My long coppery tresses were the perfect foil for his dark.
My curves the same for his lean. My silvery eyes looked like mirrors while I wore a dress that looked the same.
My alabaster skin was in stark contrast with the color of his.
We were opposites in many ways.
Looks.
Temperament.
And we fit together beautifully.
Every pic of us was a gem. A gift. A treasure.
“Hecate, female,” I muttered to myself with disgust. “You need to rein in the rosy.”
Even saying that to myself, I couldn’t smooth out what I knew was a goofy smile on my face. I was just happy no one could see it.
I was about to move out of the tapes when something on a picture of Tanyn and I caught my eye.
I squinted at it, not sure what I was seeing or why it piqued my interest.
I tried to enlarge the pic on my display, but it was too small to see much of anything, except it seemed something in the background was out of focus.
Seeing as Tanyn and I were the focus, of course the background would be out of it.
But that wasn’t it.
Since my tablet was in my travel tote, and that was downstairs, I waited until case three hovered out, case four hovered in and finished my packing, before I headed downstairs so I could have a look at that snap on a bigger display.
As I had the beacon for the cases on me, they followed.
Tanyn was sitting on the sofa, hunched over his lapcomp that was resting on the coffee table.
Definitely, a king’s duties never ceased.
I wanted Sigil fully up and running. When it was, there would be plenty of room for everyone, and I could drag them all there so Tanyn could have some peace and relax because he would be in his true home.
Nayden was also downstairs, standing at the windows, scanning the skies, as per his wont.
Tanyn’s gaze turned my way when I showed at the top of the stairs.
“Nearly ready?” Tanyn called.
“Yes,” I told him. “And Gayle commed. She said she and Cormac aren’t coming. So when we get to Aleksei’s, we’re good to go.”
“Yes. Mac got in touch and told me the same thing,” Tanyn replied.
Nayden was now watching me, or more to the point, watching the four cases that were following me. I took the beacon out of my pocket and motioned with it, sending the cases to hover by the lift.
“Never pegged you as going for high maintenance, my male,” Nayden ribbed Tanyn.
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” Tanyn retorted. “Once you’ve had high mai, you’ll never go another way.”
Nayden pretended to gag.
I smiled smugly due to more evidence my male was totally into me and went to the kitchen island, where my tote was.
Pulling my tablet out, I asked Nayden, “You met Monique last night, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” he answered.
I sent him a calculating smile. “And?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Nayden said irritably. “I will tell you what I’ve told Estra, too many times. No, I am not open to you matchmaking me with one of your friends.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
“Allow me to pick my own female,” Nayden demanded.
“Why on earth would I do that?” I demanded right back. And before he could speak, I stated, “I know her. I know she’s mega. I know she’s loyal. I know she’s funny. I know she’s a straight talker, which I do believe you would appreciate, but also, in my estimation, you need a female like that.”
Nayden huffed out an annoyed breath.
I kept at him.
“And I know you. You descend into bro alarmingly often, but you’re a good guy besides. And she’s hot, you’re also hot.”
I set my tablet aside, lifted both hands with fingers splayed and brought them together with fingers knit.
Nayden cast his gaze to the ceiling.
Tanyn grinned indulgently at me.
“It’s not like I haven’t put thought into it, and you’re Tanyn’s bestie,” I continued. “I wouldn’t risk our relationships just to score my friend a date.”
“Tan and I are not besties,” Nayden groused.
“You are too,” I refuted.
“We’re best buds,” Nayden returned.
“Same thing,” I fired back.
“There are lines you don’t cross if you have a dick. Calling a friend a ‘bestie’ is one of them,” Nayden educated me.
“Gods, you are so male,” I retorted.
“Precisely,” he said.
I rolled my eyes.
However, I did this because I had to concede the point.
Tanyn chuckled.
Hurley wandered in from wherever he’d been sharpening his teeth.
I knew this had been his mission because he had a sloppy, damp rawhide hanging out of his mouth.
Mm-hmm, as previously mentioned, before we came down, I’d prepared for Hurley to be with us there too. My mom had seen to it that he had a whole crate of new toys to play with when we were in Hurley’s new mommy’s flat.
Before I could turn my attention to my tablet, Tanyn slapped his lapcomp closed, and sliding it in his bag, he asked, “Are we ready to roll?”
Since we were, I decided to peruse that picture I saw on the bigger display of my tablet when we were in the jet.
However, I got distracted by getting to the jet, seeing to it we had Aleece, Laura and Gayle’s cases stored in the hold, settling in with Tanyn, Nayden and Hurley and taking off.
It wasn’t until after we broke the sound barrier that I remembered.
I pulled out my tablet and Palm, which was still on the account that had posted the pic.
I found the pic on the tablet and studied it.
“My beautiful Catla,” Tanyn murmured from beside me.
I turned to him.
“Don’t you get lost in that shit too,” he advised gently.
“I’m not lost in it. I was admiring how great we look together.”
Tanyn’s attention shifted to my tablet, and his humming approval of “Mm…” avoided all the other usual places—scalp, nipples, heart—and dragged right over my clit.
I allowed myself to enjoy that for brief moment, then stayed on target.
“But, do you know what this is?” I asked.
Because, yes, on the bigger display, I could see what caught my eye.
The background of the pic of us was indeed out of focus.
But there was a space that was something else.
It was like a shimmer.
Tanyn studied the display. “What am I looking at?”
“This,” I pointed. Then I enlarged the pic so that weird stationary flicker was even bigger. “Do you see it?”
“A glitch in the pixels?” he asked, still studying the image.
“Maybe,” I mumbled. “But I’ve never seen anything like it.”
When Tanyn moved his attention to me, I explained.