Chapter 10 Simon
SIMON
“You don’t have to help me.” He glanced down at my hand on his arm, so I let go and went back to my chair at the other end of the table.
I held in my exasperated sigh. Prickly didn’t even begin to describe my mate.
And then he went and did things like move my blood to the kitchen refrigerator while ranting about how I was an equal member of the household.
Good thing I could handle a challenge, because the more time I spent with him, the more I wanted him, mate bond or not.
“I can’t search for Marcas and Roibeart until we get a clue to their location.
And I don’t want any Wonders trafficked, so if I can help, I will. ”
He looked like he might object again, but he focused back on the laptop instead. “Okay, thanks. I’m going to finish my report so I can get it off my to-do list. Do you... you said you can hack?” He blinked at me over the top of his reading glasses, which was cuter than it probably should have been.
I smiled. “I can. And I’m pretty good at research. Would you like me to find out the name of the person who lives in the apartment?”
“Yeah, that’d be really helpful.” He picked up his phone and texted me the address before he started typing again. I had been assigned my task and dismissed.
It wasn’t a rule that your mate would be as excited about you as you were about them, I reminded myself for the thousandth time since last night.
I was trying to avoid remembering how elated Reno had been at the park when he thought I could sever our mating connection, but the memory bled through every so often.
I put my knitting in its storage box and carried it into the guest bedroom, where I retrieved my laptop and brought it back to the kitchen table.
We worked together for several minutes, and then I heard, under the sound of the television, Nicky saying something to Jackson in an insistent tone of voice.
I turned around, and he was on his feet and walking, sort of.
He was facing away from us, leaning half his weight on the back of the sectional sofa, and mostly sliding his feet along the floor.
But he was doing it on his own. Jackson, hovering a few feet away, saw me looking and put their finger over their lips, so I didn’t say anything.
I did lean toward Reno and tap my finger on the table to get his attention.
When he glanced up, I mimicked Jackson’s finger over the lips and pointed.
Seeing Nicky, Reno grinned and silently raised both fists in the air. Fuck, he was beautiful when he smiled.
We both went back to our respective laptops.
For all of Reno’s defensiveness and rejection of our mating, I enjoyed working alongside him.
Companionship wasn’t something I’d had much of since the portal closed.
I’d only been with Davi for a few months, and my memories of working with the other Guards were tainted by how evil so many of them had turned out to be.
I’d already determined who owned the apartment building, and now I was identifying their corporate server so I could hack into it to get the tenant information. By the time Reno sent off his report and closed his laptop, I had what we needed.
“Emiliano Duran, age twenty-six. Works as a machine operator at a steel pipe manufacturer. He has an Instagram account, but he hasn’t posted anything in a couple of months. Before that it was occasional pictures of himself at rock concerts.”
Reno pulled off his reading glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Doesn’t sound like someone who’d know how to make a gargoyle costume.”
“No. Which means it was given to him, or he paid to have it made. I’m not quite good enough to hack into his bank accounts, but tomorrow I can break into his apartment while he’s at work.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it. “Let’s discuss it in the morning.” He raised his voice loud enough to be heard over the television. “Nicky and Jackson? Are you ready for dinner?”
Both were sitting on the sofa again, and they replied in the affirmative.
Reno and I stood up. I took my laptop back to the guest room before returning to the kitchen. “What can I do to help?”
Grudgingly, he allowed me to make a salad while he heated up the remainder of the food Esperanza had left for us.
When dinner was ready, Nicky demanded to be allowed to walk to the table.
“I won’t get any better unless I keep moving my muscles!
” Jackson and I put our arms around his back for support.
Since Nicky was a good foot shorter than I was, that meant he was mostly leaning on my forearm, but we made it work.
After he reached the table, everyone heaped a ton of praise on him.
Even better, he was able to eat a little more than he had last night.
After dinner we all settled on the sofa to watch a movie.
Reno had arranged us so he and I flanked Nicky and Jackson.
He was still blocking our connection, so I couldn’t tell what his mood was.
About an hour into the movie, which honestly I wasn’t paying attention to at all, Nicky and Reno were both asleep, their seats reclined back with their feet up.
Jackson had changed to their panther form, but their eyes were still on the TV.
During a quiet scene, I heard Reno’s phone buzz on the kitchen table.
It was almost 10pm. How late did the Wonders think it was appropriate to text him?
I got up and collected the phone so it wouldn’t disturb him. I’d exchanged numbers with Tucker earlier, so I sent him a text.
Me:
What’s the passcode to Reno’s phone?
Tucker:
I feel like that’s something you should be asking him
Me:
He’s asleep and he probably wouldn’t agree. I want to respond to all the Wonders who keep texting him.
Tucker:
Well, if it’s for a good cause. 2345
Me:
[eye roll emoji] I’ll get him to change it to something more secure.
Tucker:
Yeah, good luck with that
Reno had fifty-four text messages, so I dealt with those first. I did tell everyone I responded to who I was, so Reno would know I wasn’t pretending to be him.
The messages were mostly wanting reassurances regarding the escaped vampires, but there were a few others.
One person’s child needed to learn to drive but they didn’t own a car, one woman wanted to tell her boyfriend about the campaign, and a wolverine shifter couple were planning to move to Corpus Christi and wanted to know where the Wonder-friendly neighborhoods were.
For each of those I created a group chat with my own phone, muted the notifications for it on Reno’s, and responded that I would ask Reno and get back to them as soon as the danger from the escaped vampires had passed.
Once that was done, I opened his Discord app. From my own phone I requested to join the South Texas District server, and on Reno’s app I gave myself admin rights. Then I started with his direct messages. He had well over a hundred. This would take a while.
When the movie was over, I carried Nicky to the bathroom and then settled him on the sofa again with a pillow and a blanket.
Jackson curled up next to him in their panther form.
Reno had woken up during this process, so I didn’t have an excuse to touch him and see his sleepy eyes open.
On his way to bed he picked his phone up off the kitchen table where I’d left it.
The next morning I was awake before everyone else.
I did a brief yoga session in the backyard, pretending I didn’t see the Hunter camouflaged in the corner.
They’d been switching teams out every four hours or so, which, if they had the people to do it, was an optimal amount of time to make sure everyone was fresh and alert.
Nicky was awake when I went back inside. He held onto me as I helped him to the bathroom, but he was able to lift his feet off the floor as he walked. His magic was replenishing itself and healing his body a tiny bit at a time.
When we came back out, Reno was standing next to the coffee maker. He glared at me as I got Nicky to the table. Would he yell at me in front of Nicky or not?
I was calculating the odds when he spoke. His tone was stiff but calm. “Simon, you went into my phone last night without permission.”
“Yep.” I threw him a wink. “Nicky, do you want coffee?” Jackson’s furry head popped up from the sofa. They loved coffee.
Nicky, tired from his trek from the sofa to the bathroom and then the table, brightened. “Yes, please. I’ve never had it before, but everyone on TV is always drinking it.”
This had the intended effect. “What? You can’t—coffee isn’t nutritious, Nicky. It’s not good for you while you’re still recovering.” Reno waved his mug around while he sputtered.
I patted his shoulder as I nudged him aside to get a mug for Nicky and a bowl for Jackson. “I’ll put a lot of milk and sugar in it. It’ll be fine. If he doesn’t like it, I’ll make hot chocolate.”
Nicky beamed. “I like almost anything, but hot chocolate is the best.”
Grumbling, Reno bent down to get a pan from a lower cabinet.
I stopped with my hand on the handle of the coffee pot.
How had I not remembered to admire Reno’s ass until now?
This was a tragedy I needed to spend the next hundred years rectifying.
He was wearing shiny black basketball shorts, and they draped lovingly over his buttocks.
I couldn’t see any outline of briefs, so he was either wearing something like boxer briefs, or he was commando.
That was not an image I needed in my mind while I was standing in the middle of the kitchen.
I got my eyes back under control and finished making the coffee.
Reno made pancakes, which Nicky adored, particularly because he’d seen characters on TV eating them. He liked the bacon but wasn’t sold on scrambled eggs. “When I was a child we had them all in one piece? Can I have them that way?” Reno promised to try that tomorrow.