Chapter Twenty
I’M THE ONE TO brEAKthe silence.
“So...what now?” I say.
“What now,” Rob says, “is three fingers of bourbon, a cigar, and a skinny dip.”
Will snorts. “Speak for yourself, Locksley. I’ll stick with the first two.”
“Oh really?” Rob says. “You’d prefer to go in fully dressed, then?”
“I—hey!”
Splash.
With a shove from Rob, Will tumbles back and hits the water.
Will plunges under the surface and pushes off from the bottom, breaking through into the air with a sputter.
“Funny,” he says, panting as he treads water. “Very funny. Not at all childish.”
Cracking up, both Rob and Tuck get to their feet, and I do too, letting out a giggle.
“You too, Maren?” Will groans. He pivots to Rob. “You owe me a suit, Locksley.”
“Like you don’t have a whole wardrobe full,” Rob retorts.
“Still. It’s the—pant, pant—principle of the thing.” Will shakes water out of his eyes. Then his face lights up. “Or, even better...quid pro quo.”
“Hm?” Rob says, but Will’s already gesturing for Tuck.
“If you don’t mind, Tuck?”
“Gladly,” Tuck says—and pushes Rob.
Splash.
Now it’s Will’s turn to laugh as Rob pushes to the surface.
“Goddammit,” Rob mutters. “Guess I asked for it.”
“That just leaves me and Maren,” Tuck says, shooting me a grin, which I return.
“Yep. Safe and sound on dry land,” I say.
“Well,” Rob says. “Not for long.”
“Huh?”
I barely catch him and Will exchange a look before they’ve both sprung out of the water. Each one takes an arm, pulls me forward, and together we fall into the pool.
I buck up towards the surface, gasping as I breach into the night air.
“What,” I pant, swooping wet hair out of my eyes, “the hell!”
The water churns around me as Tuck smashes in next to me, and then we’re all in the pool together, a mess of formalwear and flying limbs and laughter. I scream, in delight as much as shock, and try to dog-paddle my way away from them.
“Jack’ll be furious,” I say.
“He’ll live,” Rob says, shaking water from his ear. “Just means more business for him.”
“This thing’s a death trap all wet,” Tuck says, tugging at his tuxedo jacket. “Weighs a ton.”
“No kidding,” Will agrees. He sidestrokes to the lip of the pool, pushes himself up and out, and shucks his own jacket.
Then his pants.
Then his shirt.
I can’t help it: I’m mesmerized. And speechless. Under that tuxedo, his body is sculpted, lithe. I find myself lingering on small, tantalizing areas: the slight flex of his neck, the V in the center of his collarbone, the muscled curve of his hip.
My mouth goes dry. I feel something like...like hunger. Something I barely know how to explain.
With a final flick of his silver hair, sending droplets everywhere, Will strides back to the table and takes a slug of his bourbon.
“Phew,” he says. “That’ll wake you up.”
Tuck clambers out of the pool, too, water cascading off of him in waves. “No kidding,” he agrees, and shakes his head, too, before just as easily shedding his jacket and shirt. With a grin, he unbuckles his belt and drops his pants.
So now there are two of them, two hot, wet, fit-as-hell guys in their underwear (boxer-briefs for Will, boxers for Tuck).
Scratch that—three. Because when I turn around, Rob’s stripped down too.
“Hate wet clothes,” he says, brushing off his shoulder. “Awful uncomfortable.”
“Sorry,” Tuck blurts out—as if he needs to apologize. “It’s actually just easier if we take off most of our clothes first.”
“Easier?” I blink. Wait. What? “What’s easier?”
The three of them—almost naked, dripping wet—share a look.
“Maren,” Rob says, “it’s high time we give you something valuable.”
“What, like that diamond necklace is worthless?” I nod at where it’s resting next to the rest of the loot. Rob smirks.
“Better than that,” he says. “The truth.”
“O...kay,” I say. I peer from guy to guy expectantly, waiting for it all to come pouring out...and yet, nothing does.
“Come on, guys,” I say. “Whatever it is, lay it on me. You’re...what, wizards or something? Telepaths? Superheroes? Elves? Just...literally nothing will surprise me anymore. I just want the truth.”
The other two look at Rob, who considers me for a moment, then laughs.
“You really do have a wonderful imagination, pretty lady,” he says. “But no, not quite.”
“So what are you, then?”
Rob’s smile broadens. “It’s probably easier to...show you than tell you.” He sucks in a breath, and looks around at the other two. “Ready?”
Will and Tuck nod.
“Let’s go.”
I wince, brace myself for some boom of thunder or flash of lightning, but nothing like that comes.
Instead, I watch as the three of them...change. Right in front of my eyes, the three men’s bodies shift and morph, limbs and muscles lengthening, warping, reshaping into new and different forms:
A red fox, lithe and muscular.
A pale wolf, broad and alert.
And a silver dragon, sleek and hulking.
“Holy...” I breathe. My legs won’t hold me up, and I all but crash to the ground, gracelessly, wonderstruck.
And suddenly it all makes sense.
The wolf I saw at the Fox Hunt Club.
The bear I saw running across the grounds late at night.
The fox that I almost hit my very first night on the run.
Those weren’t just random animals.
Those were...them.
And then, swiftly as they’d shifted, they shift back.
Only when they take their human forms again, they’re...
My eyes go wide.
Naked. Completely.
“Yeah,” Will says, shrugging. “About that.”
“Clothes don’t come with,” Tuck says, grinning. “It’s not like the comics where the Hulk keeps his pants on.”
I blink a few times. “Um...of course,” I say, after a minute. “Because that would be ridiculous.” Even though they’re acting casual as all get out, it’s still hard to not feel overwhelmed when surrounded by three naked, inarguably dead sexy men on the grounds of a luxury mansion.
“All right, all right,” Rob says, stooping to pick up his tuxedo trousers. “Pants on for the serious discussion, okay?”
Will grumbles something, but obeys, as does Tuck. I swallow hard and only pretend to avert my eyes.
“Okay,” I say, once they’re decent again. “So let me get this straight. You’re not only thieves who steal from the rich and give to the poor, but you’re...”
“Shifters.” Rob’s the one to say it.
“Shifters,” I repeat. “And you don’t need...I don’t know, a full moon, or anything?”
Will snorts. “We’re not werewolves, Maren,” he says, as if that were obvious.
“How am I supposed to know?” I snap back. “Tuck’s a wolf, anyway. And I saw that bear under a full moon—”
“LJ,” Rob sighs. “Should’ve been more careful.”
“Point is, this is all incredibly new to me, remember?” I bite my lip, drum my fingers on my knee. “So the shifting...”
“Helps us out,” Rob says. “A huge advantage for sneaking around, as you can imagine.”
I consider, think through a couple things. “That’s why you weren’t worried about escaping the Fox Hunt Club,” I say. “And,” I add, “why you thought it was so hilarious that I wanted to know your favorite animals.”
Will cough-laughs. “Yes.”
Tuck beams. “God, I would have paid good money to see LJ in a bear mask. But you made him do it for free. Amazing.”
Rob nods, too. “Except it was a little more complicated with you around. Not wanting to reveal ourselves, and all. Even though most of us thought it was high time you found out.”
“LJ,” I say.
A few feet away, Tuck sighs, nodding. “LJ,” he agrees, “doesn’t want anyone getting mixed up with us. Not just you personally, but anybody. He never trusts anyone—no offense.”
“None taken,” I say. “More or less.”
“But then the other day, after you passed out and we realized what you were—”
Wait. “What I was?” I ask. “What I...am?” I look around at them. “What do you mean? That I have epilepsy? I mean, yeah, I got a little dizzy. But it’s fine. I mean, I’m used to this. You all know that now. I have seizures.”
“That’s the thing, though,” Will says. “You don’t.”
I frown. “What do you mean, I don’t?”
“You don’t have seizures,” Rob says. “You have powers.”