Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ilyas
I almost made it across the parking lot and to freedom, but unfortunately, the grating voice of my flight’s key stopped me in my tracks.
I knew the French delegation was arriving this weekend, but I’d intended to hide out at Syke’s place until they left again. Regrettably, I didn’t move fast enough.
“This is one of our flight’s most eligible bachelors. He is the son of Greta Nightson and Alan Tepig, old and distinguished lines, as you well know. Ilyas, come and meet our counterparts from Paris.”
Grimacing, I wondered if I could get on my bike and speed away. I mean, I could, the key wouldn’t stop me, but the fallout would be… uncomfortable to say the least. Turning, I gave the group a bored look.
“Welcome to Central Valley,” I mumbled. They were an interesting mixture of men and women, about a dozen all in all.
Some were older, and some were obviously the sacrificial lambs for the delegation.
One girl at the back had her arms crossed over her chest, and despite wearing tailored, designer clothing, she managed to look disheveled. It had to be on purpose.
“Walk with us, Ilyas?” The key raised a brow. Despite the fact that it was phrased as a question, it was an order. Unfortunately, he had never been more dominant than me, and he couldn’t really order me to do anything—something I was going to take advantage of as I smiled charmingly at the group.
“Unfortunately, I’ll have to decline. I have a meeting with the Central Valley Pack alpha.” I’d apologize to Puck for name-dropping him to get out of my obligations later. “I hope you enjoy your tour of our home.”
I climbed onto my bike, kicked it, and roared away as fast as I could. I didn’t really have any intention of taking Louis up on his invitation to the pack cookout, but now that I’d told Adrik that was where I was heading to, I better make good on the declaration.
At least, that’s what I told myself. It had nothing to do with the human or the orc.
I loved the ride out to pack land. It was nice leaving behind the bullshit of the city, my flight, and their politics. It was even better to replace the smell of car exhaust and the noisy hum of so many people in one place with the scent of cypress trees and the gentle camaraderie of the pack.
Pulling into the parking area, I stopped my bike beside Otis’s SUV. It was giant, but so was he.
I removed my phone from the inner pocket of my jacket and messaged Syke.
Me: Raincheck on Mario Kart. Ran into the key and told him I was visiting Puck to get out of a shotgun marriage.
Syke loved Mario Kart. I was supposed to take that fact to the grave, but he always liked playing Princess Peach, because of the “stats.”
“That’s fine. I was thinking of taking Louis up on his offer anyway. Obviously.”
I jumped slightly at the sound of Syke’s voice behind me. “Fucking asshole.”
Very few creatures could sneak up on a gargoyle, but demons were definitely one of them, which Syke liked to flex all the goddamned time.
He grinned at me. The ominous curl of his lips that would look threatening on any other creature was a real smile. He loved to get the jump on me.
I gave him a stony expression. “Not like you to come to pack land.” I stretched my wings wide, and it was such a relief to feel the sun on the thick membrane, I almost moaned.
I needed to spend less time indoors, but even in my own home, the opportunities to sit in solitude and soak up the sun’s rays were infrequent.
I could hear children screeching, and it took Syke’s huffing chuckle for me to tune into their words. “Ilyas is here!”
Swallowing down a groan, I smiled at the small werewolves barreling up the embankment. Children were rare in the gargoyle world, and nonexistent in the demon world, so being out here always felt special. There was so much new, innocent life.
The kids stopped a respectable distance away, because despite the fact that we were known people, respecting creature personal space was a lesson they were taught early.
Not all creatures enjoyed being touched.
One wrong move could end in the death of a small life, so personal boundaries were an integral lesson for all young.
Connor, a little alpha in the making if I’d ever seen one, grinned up at me. “Hey, Ilyas!” His smile was wide, and he dipped his head respectfully, making all the other young ones follow suit. “Hello, Syke.”
Syke’s amusement was wafting off him. “Young werewolf. Ilyas was just telling me that he felt like stretching his wings. I bet that means he’d be up for some flying.”
The cacophony of tiny voices screaming to be picked had me wincing, and I shot Syke an annoyed expression. “Fine, but go ask your parents and Puck first.”
There was a mass exodus of children, and we continued down the hill toward the large gathering of adult werewolves and the human.
She was easy to spot, even in the crowd.
It was like she lit up the space around her.
I could admit she was beautiful. I was stubborn, not blind.
Beside her was the orc, and he looked at her like she was the greatest work of art to ever grace the world.
“Are you mooning over the pretty human?” Syke teased.
Reaching over, I shoved him down the hill, and he laughed, disappearing and reappearing at the bottom. He flipped me the bird behind his back, and then he was up, talking respectfully to the Central Valley Pack alpha.
While everyone easily accepted Syke, there was always a coiled way to which the pack alpha held himself when Syke was here, ready to defend his people against an unbeatable threat.
Syke was more likely to send himself back to the pits of hell than harm the innocent pack members of Louis’s family, but Puck was a good alpha, so while he shook Syke’s hand, and I was fairly sure he liked the demon, he’d remain ready.
I couldn’t fault him for that, but it made me sad for my teammate and friend.
Louis nudged me with his shoulder when I made it to the adults. “You came.” His eyes were laughing at me, filled with shit-eating taunts that I was choosing to ignore.
“Yeah, I told my key I had a meeting with Puck to get out of some backwards mating ritual. Sorry, Alpha,” I said apologetically to the scapegoat in question.
Puck just laughed. “Consider this meeting of the utmost importance.” A small hand pulled at his sleeve, and when he leaned down, the child with big brown eyes mumbled something at him in that cute, little kid voice.
I looked over at the other group of kids waiting on the sidelines and had to respect their hustle.
Send the cute little ones to ask the big, bad alpha if they could fly with the gargoyle, because she’d be harder to say no to. Tricky.
Puck’s eyes danced with mirth, but when he looked back at the child, he was all solemn alpha.
“If it is okay with Ilyas and your parents, it is okay with me, but you will listen to everything Ilyas says, and act responsibly and safely while in the air. You are done when Ilyas says you’re done.
No whining if you haven’t had a turn yet. ”
They all agreed, and then the tiny girl had a tight grip on my hand and dragged me down the gentle hill to a clearing.
I didn’t realize Hailey had followed us down until I caught her sweet scent in the air. She smiled up at me prettily. “Hello, Ilyas. I see you’ve been roped into cookout games as well. I hope you don’t mind if I come and watch. I’ve never seen a gargoyle in flight before.”
Connor, the werewolf pup, looked up at her with wide, surprised eyes. “Really? His wings are so huge, they basically block out the sun, and when he lifts, the wind knocks the smaller kids over,” he exclaimed in one long sentence.
Hailey smiled at his excited words. “That does sound impressive.” Looking up at me, she grinned. “You know what they say about a big wingspan,” she quipped with a wink, and I flushed.
Connor frowned. “No. What?”
Hailey blushed, and I smirked back. “Yeah, what do they say?” I taunted as a werewolf pup climbed me like a tree.
“Uh, that they can fly really high and really fast. Who’s going first?” she shouted, redirecting the kids.
I schooled my features into something more authoritative as the little girl already in my arms looked up at me with wide eyes. “Okay. You have to hold on very tight and don’t let go. If you want to come back down, you just have to say so. Got it?”
“Yes!” she squealed. “I want to go really high!”
Shaking my head, I couldn’t hold back my chuckle.
“Okay, kid.” I spread my wings, and the small crowd of children oohed and aahed.
I looked at Hailey out of the corner of my eye and tried not to preen at how impressed she seemed by my wings.
Beating them once, twice, I jumped into the air and took off, the wind from my wings knocking over a few kids like Connor said, the little girl’s squeal of joy threatening to deafen me.
Coming out here was exactly what I needed. The appreciative gaze of the woman below me just made it that much better.