by Kaye Draper
Theo was surrounded by people all the time. But maybe he was just as alone as the rest of us.
Chapter 14
Thank any God who was listening, we made it back to Westhold in one piece. I pulled the old, dusty, dented RV up to the guard station at the gates of Theo's ridiculous fucking mansion, grinning at the expression on the faces of the guards as we approached. This was probably the first time in history they'd let a monstrosity like this through the gates.
Scratch that. The second time. But ol' Bertha was a bit worse for wear this time compared to when we first picked Theo up. And she certainly wasn't a sleek electric hybrid sports car or a stately sedan with tinted windows—nothing fitting a sovereign and his extended family.
I fucking loved it.
Theo sat beside me in the passenger's seat and waved at the guards like he was having a grand old time. The guards looked nonplussed, like they’d never seen the uptight sovereign behave this way.
The creepy-assed butler met us at the door, waiting patiently on the steps with no expression on his professional self while we chugged to a halt. Then he calmly came to the door and assisted a very pregnant Ada and her fiend mate into the house.
"Miss Ada," he said with a slight smile. "Your cousin will be thrilled to have your assistance once more. Though," he cocked a blond brow at her excessively bulging stomach. "I take it we may have to do without your help again before too long."
His eyes met Theo's then shifted to stare at me, calculating.
I frowned at them. I didn't even want to know what the fuck they were plotting. I was tired of people and I needed the sanctuary of my cannery. Now.
I glanced in the rearview at the others, who were lounging in the back with the sort of bored fatality of people who were ready for a long trip to end days ago. "Stay here. I'll be right back." I got out, then leaned back in through the window to glare at Ahura. "Don't touch my shit."
She removed her hand from the locker where I kept my favorite machete. "Spoilsport."
I turned and followed Theo and his creepy butler into the house. It said a lot about the horrific turn my life had taken the last couple months that I was comfortable just waltzing by a bunch of hostile human guards, and into the home of a stuck-up human politician. I needed some sleep when I got home. Then I was going to take a nice, solitary hunt for the association. Something nasty and awful enough to wipe away the stress of helping people.
Theo knew what I wanted. He didn't stop to mess around with anything stupid. He led me right to his study and plopped into his desk chair, pulling his small laptop close and firing it up. Jules left, only to return with a tray of little finger sandwiches and fresh fruit. He handed me a tall glass of something red and fizzy, then set another glass in front of his boss before leaving again.
I sniffed the drink, recoiling at the harsh bite of at least three different kinds of booze and a bunch of fruity herbs.
Theo picked up his own drink, pausing to glance at me before he took a sip. "It's restorative. I don't ask Jules what's in it. Sometimes it's better that way." Then he chugged his drink, wheezed, and set the cup aside.
I sniffed it again, getting a hint of the butler's weird water magic. Oh, what the hell. "Bottom's up," I muttered. Then I pounded the drink like a shot. It fizzed and burned all the way down, leaving a faint aftertaste of cranberries behind. I instantly felt a little lighter on my feet. "How much do you pay him?" I asked reverently.
Theo laughed, his eyes on his keyboard as he transferred money to my account. "More than you can afford, hunter. Hands off my staff."
He leaned back and closed the computer, his usual calm, in-charge persona falling firmly back in place. "Though," he said, his light brown eyes full of something devious. "I've been thinking…. If you agree to work for me, you'd have access to Jules all the time. He could whip you up a cocktail whenever you want." He tilted his head and smirked. "Though, really, it's a waste of his rather unique skills."
I just stared at the whack-job politician. "We've been over this," I said tiredly. "I let you talk me into doing this little transport job. But I think I've about had my fill of working for you. Things never go smoothly when people are involved. I'll stick to shooting beasts and dragging their hides back to the hunter's association for pennies. It's better for my sanity."
Theo leaned back and laced his fingers over his stomach, his poise only slightly ruined by the fact that he was covered in dust and his slacks and button-up were wrinkled. "I don't mean just occasional jobs, Sam. I mean permanently. I want to make you my viceroy."
I shook my head, hoping that would clear the marbles that were rattling around in there. Because clearly, I'd heard wrong. "Viceroy? It was funny when you told your guards that to get me away from the police, human. But the humor wore off a long time ago."
He sighed and stood, pacing over to stand closer, leaning a hip on his desk. "I'm not joking, Sam. You see Ada and you think she's just a silly, ditzy human. But that's just window dressing. She's sharp. She watches my back, politically, while I make nice with all my peers and constitutes. She's my eyes and ears. And quite often, my voice of reason. That’s why I needed her here now. Or at least, most of the reason."
I arched a brow at him and snagged one of the ridiculous sandwiches and a handful of fresh fruit. We'd been mostly living on non-perishables the last week. "That trip across the wastes must have killed your last functional brain cell," I told him dryly. "Because you're talking gibberish." I nodded at the laptop. "Is the payment good, then?"
He rolled his eyes and opened his computer again to show me the confirmation screen. Then he snapped it closed and tossed it on the desk. Rising, he blocked my escape from the room.
"I trust you, Sam," he said seriously, those light brown eyes boring into mine. "I don't think you understand how rare that is."
I rolled my eyes. "If you trust me, then you're stupid. I'm just the paid help, dude."
He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed, a tingle of the magic from his protection charms washing over my skin. "You're more than that, Sam. You don't care about my position. You tell me no when I need to hear it. You've proven yourself twice now. The first time, you showed your loyalty and dedication to what matters. You did your best to do the job I hired you for, but you didn't hesitate to abandon that mission to save your mates when things went south." He shook his head. "Not everyone understands what a gift that is—knowing when to blindly follow orders and when to follow your intuition." His hand slipped to grip my wrist, as if he was going to try to hold me here if I tried to run. "Then you risked your life to protect me and my family. And even after I put you in the middle of that mess, you agreed to help me learn to defend myself, rather than just dismissing me as a spoiled rich boy."
I huffed. "So I'm a fucking bleeding heart. What does that have to do with this whole crackpot viceroy plot you're hatching?"
He smiled, slow and confident. "This world needs shaking up, Sam. And it needs people who are willing to fight to protect and serve others, even if those others don't appreciate the help." He squeezed the hand that wasn't full of food. "That's the type of person I want by my side as I build my empire."
He stepped back, and his expression was sharp. It promised pain, even as he spoke about building a better city—no, an empire. "I've got a fight on my hands, hunter. And I have exactly three people I trust not to betray me. Ada, Jules…and now, you. Think about it." His evil grin deepened. "You would be my advisor behind the scenes. Your unique perspective would be invaluable to the curs and humans. And of course I'd send you out on special missions, so we keep your hunter side happy. You can even keep hunting fiends, if you like." He shrugged. "I know you take pride in protecting the city, and you're damned good at what you do."
Seeing that I wasn't even remotely interested, he tried again. "I could take very good care of your Josie, so you won't have to depend on the pack that has made your life miserable for so many years. You'd be free of them. And…you could take the siren with you
on missions. His skills would, of course, be at your disposal. He's proven to be quite useful."
Fucking Angel. I barked out a short laugh and choked down the urge to ask if Theo was indeed fucking Angel, since they were so damned chummy lately. I stuffed a whole finger sandwich into my mouth in one bite and scooped up some more fruit, shaking my head at his stupidity and giving him a wave with my full hand as I got the hell out of that loony bin.
The look he gave me was wounded. Like he just didn't understand why I wasn't leaping at the chance to be his right-hand man and raise myself out of the slums and into the political arena.
Really. Humans had no sense. And politicians were in the negative numbers on that scale.
I stuffed two more sandwiches into my mouth and yanked the camper door open. Fin glared at me. "We're sittin' in here sweating our balls off, and you're in there stuffing your face?"
I handed him a fistful of big, crisp-skinned grapes. "Put those in your pie hole." I tossed an apple to Emerson and winked. Then I tossed Ahura an orange.
Fin laughed and popped a grape into his mouth. "This has been fun and all, Saber. But please, for the love of all the Gods, tell me we're done working for stupid-assed human politicians."
I awkwardly circled the camper around the fancy driveway and headed out to drop Ahura off and go the fuck home. "Don't worry," I said grimly. "Theo can suck my dick if he thinks I'm getting roped into working for his crazy ass ever again." Especially if he thought he could use Josie—or fucking Angel, for fuck's sake—to force me into it.
Chapter 15
We didn't have to go far to drop Ahura off. I had no clue where the fiend actually lived, but I didn't think she'd be going back to the shady unsanctioned district where she'd once spent so much time. Not after she worked with a hunter to bring down her old gang. I should probably ask where she was headed when I dropped her off at the working-class suburb in a part of town that was pretty evenly mixed between poor humans and lucky curs. But I was kind of over everything. And besides, we'd fucked, out of desperation and animal instinct. That didn't mean we suddenly had some sort of deep, meaningful relationship.
I pulled the camper up by a seldom-used public transport stop and Ahura hopped out, her bag of stuff slung over her shoulder. Her red eyes met mine and she looked like she might say something else, but in the end she just winked. "Thanks for the job. See you around, hunter." She waved a leisurely hand and turned away, headed down the street into suburbia.
I stared after her until Fin cleared his throat. "So…are we going home now, or did you want to stare at her ass a while longer?"
I coughed and pulled back onto the street. "Fuck off."
Fin shrugged. "What? It's a nice ass. I don't want any of that crazy. But you help yourself."
Emerson leaned around the seat to look at my face. "Did you really sleep with her, Sam?"
I rolled my eyes and groaned. Did we really have to do this now?
"Of course he did," Fin said helpfully. "She's been eye-fucking Sam the entire way home hoping for a repeat performance."
I glared at the leprechaun. "I hate you."
Emerson glanced between us and frowned. "You don't care?" he asked Fin, his big, innocent red-brown eyes wide.
It was Fin's turn to roll his eyes. "For fuck's sake, Emerson. Are you deaf? Or did you really inherit some of that fabled ogre stupidity?"
I grimaced. That was harsh, even for Fin. Emerson was stupidly sensitive about the stereotypes. I watched the half-ogre hunch in on himself, while Fin continued glaring at him. "Moron," Fin muttered under his breath.
I reached out and punched the little asshole in the shoulder. "Leave him alone."
My eyes met Emerson's in the rearview and I dredged up a wry smile. "Fin's people and mine are both pretty open about that kind of thing, Em." In fact, for a lot of fiend variants and their cur counterparts, polygamy was the norm. Humans had this weird societal idea of possession in relationships, but very few other races did. Except a few—like ogres. Emerson's people didn't exactly believe in monogamy—they were way too primitive for that. But they did tend to be possessive and territorial. So, they didn't usually share mates as openly. What you stole and bludgeoned into submission was yours until someone else stole it.
Emerson looked down at his hands. "Right. Sorry."
I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering just what was going through that big head of his.
When we got to the cannery, I pulled the camper in and we unpacked the most important stuff before locking up and heading upstairs to the apartment. Emerson hesitated on the stairs, looking uncomfortable. Fin pushed his way past the big guy and made his way to the upper floor, muttering something under his breath that made Emerson flinch.
I stopped behind the big hulk and nudged him with an elbow, my hands busy holding duffel bags of clothes and weapons. "What's up, big guy?"
Emerson ran a hand through his thick black hair and turned sideways to make room for me on the less-than-ogre-sized metal staircase. "Nothing. I just…maybe I should go home?"
I tilted my head, huffing when a black and white streaked strand of hair fell in my face. "Do what you want," I said calmly. Emerson was so confusing sometimes. But he seemed extra weird at the moment. "If you stick around, I'll drive you home in a bit. Or you can just stay the night here and go home in the morning." Emerson lived in a shit hole. Plus, it was starting to get dark out, and I know he had to be as tired and ready to relax as I was. "I promise," I said with a smirk, "no fairy moonshine tonight."
He turned bright pink under his greenish skin, and I realized I'd just hit really close to the heart of the problem. "Oh," I said, deflating. I leaned my butt against the stair railing and looked up at him. Really, I was so dense sometimes. But I hated talking about feelings. And I'd been putting this conversation off for so long now, it was just second nature. Time to put on my adult pants.
Emerson pressed his lips together and looked at his feet, and I could tell he was fighting with himself. "Sorry," he said, his deep voice barely a whisper. "I didn't mean…."
I rolled my eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. Dropping the duffel bags at my feet, I stepped up three stairs, so I could look the big idiot in the eyes. "Hey," I said, reaching out and cupping his square jaw, tilting his head up to make him look at me as I ran a thumb over his thick black stubble. "What do you want, Em? Do you want me to take you home? Do you want to just pretend nothing happened between us and go back to being just guild buddies? Or…?"
His kind, red-brown eyes bore into mine, full of so much that I didn't understand. Tenderness. Longing. Love, maybe. It was overwhelming and terrifying. But I knew I needed to just let him say what he needed to say, or we'd both be miserable. The big guy deserved a break from my crippling refusal to face my feelings. I hated it. But he was worth it.
Giant, warm hands hesitantly encircled my waist, like he was afraid I'd stab him for touching me. Which, okay, to be fair, I might have given that impression in the past. Poor guy. Why the hell he put up with me, I'd never understand. He licked his lips and took a deep breath, as if bracing himself for something he knew was going to hurt. "I want you, Sam," he said, his voice filled with more confidence and absolute certainty than I'd ever heard him express.
My stomach actually fluttered, and my heart swelled with excitement. Fucking shifter genes and their fucking insistence on forming needlessly deep mate bonds. Gods.
"You said…," he started, clearly still afraid of pushing me too far, "back when the wyrm attacked, you told Theo to get your mates out of there. Plural." He lifted a hand to rub the spot just above his solar plexus. "Ogres don't really talk about mate bonds. Is that what this is? This tug I get whenever you're around?"
I stared at him, my face flaming. He felt it too. Even though he wasn't a shifter. And here I thought it was my own dirty little secret. Hell.
I realized Emerson was just watching me, waiting for me to stop arguing with myself about my feelings. Huffing a short laugh, I moved forward,
letting him support my weight as I went on tiptoes to press my lips to his. His touch went from hesitant to crushing in an instant, as he curled one massive arm around my back and lifted me off my feet, pressing me to him, his other hand gripping the back of my head so I couldn't pull away.
Even though his embrace was rough, his lips on mine were gentle, questioning. I drew back with a laugh, nipping sharply at his full bottom lip. "Now I get that whole 'swept me off my feet' saying," I muttered breathlessly, feeling like a weak female. I wriggled in his grip, exerting a bit of my own strength. "Put me down. I'm not fucking you on a metal staircase. I want a shower and a bed."
The pink color on his cheeks deepened to a dusky red and he carefully set me on my feet. "Sorry."
I reached out and flicked him in the center of his forehead. "Stop it. Stop apologizing for every damned thing. You're amazing, ogre. You deserve whatever it is you want—even if it's my scrawny freak ass—so just take it already."
He laughed, shaking his head. "I love you so much, Sam."
I snorted and turned to pick up my discarded bags. "No. I did the whole feelings thing. We aren't going to start throwing the "L” word around. Disgusting."
I heard Emerson's soft laugh as I turned and headed up the stairs and I couldn't quite suppress my smile. As usual with romance, I didn't understand anything. But I was determined to enjoy it while it lasted.
When we reached the apartment, Fin had already let himself in, and he was working on a stack of grilled sandwiches. Food first, then we'd worry about getting cleaned up. He was a man after my own heart. I grinned at him and he waved his spatula at me and Emerson. "So? Did Emerson find his balls yet?"
Em narrowed his eyes at Fin. I barked a laugh. So that was what they'd been arguing about. "I helped him find 'em," I said, tossing my duffel bag of clothes toward the laundry room, then setting the bag of weapons on the table with a thump.
