by Kaye Draper
He smirked and met Kai half-way, pressing a lingering kiss to her full lips. That was just too much trouble, right there. The two of them were dangerous.
When Kai left the room, I ruffled Oisin's hair, then traced my finger over the tracking rune on Hisashi's forearm. "You guys okay?" I asked, still feeling that little flutter of worry in my chest. I rubbed my sternum to get it to go away.
Hisashi grabbed my hand to still my motions, kissing the soft underside of my wrist before he stood. "Better than I have been in a long time," he said softly.
Oisin sipped his wine and glanced at me. "Oh, stop your worrying, gryphon. We're all where we should be. Right here. The rest will sort itself out in time." He handed me the bottle. "Or with the right application of revelry."
I set the wine aside and followed the two men into the kitchen.
Con handed me coffee as soon as I got past the threshold. He was still wearing his pajamas, and his brown curls were just as tumbled and messy as Oisin's hair. Only on Con it looked adorable. I sipped my coffee, sighed in appreciation, then stole a sweet kiss from my human. Or hedge witch. Whatever.
Con gestured at the stove. "Watch the bacon. I'm going to go get changed and see if Halstad wants breakfast."
Oisin sniffed, his nose in the air. We all ignored him. "Will do," I said, lingering over my heavenly mug of creamy goodness.
Kai took over the cooking, while Hisashi got out plate and silverware. Oisin sat at the table and studied us. "My memories are trickling back in every day," he said curiously. "But for some reason, I still feel like something's missing. Just here."
He rubbed the center of his chest, right where mine had been aching earlier. I sighed. If I was having sympathy pains, so help me, I was done being an alpha.
"Maybe you're just trying too hard to remember," I said handing him his own coffee mug.
He shrugged. "Perhaps."
Con wandered in a few minutes later, frowning. "Did Halstad say he was going to take the first shift this morning on White's job?"
I shrugged. "I don't remember him saying anything, but we didn't really talk about it—everyone was so tired last night we all just passed out when we got home."
"Huh." Con shrugged and went to take his food duties back from Kai. "He's not in his room and his car's gone. It was nice of him to let us sleep."
Oisin rolled his eyes like a child, as if to say that the words "Halstad" and "nice" didn't go together in the same sentence.
"I'll call him in a little bit," I said. "Right after I call the guild. Hopefully if I schedule something today that still meets their stupid guidelines."
No one commented one way or the other on my plans to acquire a mage. My pride was smarter than people gave them credit for. Because Halstad was one of us, whether they liked it or not, damn it.
We were all eating when the bells on the shop door jingled, echoing faintly up the stairs. I finished my bacon, wondering what Halstad was up to. It wasn't a customer, since the front door was locked and warded. But if Halstad had went off to take first shift on White's stupid job, then why was he back already?
Light steps on the stairs. I frowned. That wasn't Halstad's clomping. The mage walked like a man two times his size.
A hint of dark magic touched my senses and I grimaced.
Derek fucking White paused in the hall, crossing his arms over his designer suit and leaning against the doorframe. "Ah, I was hoping there would be breakfast." He glanced at his watch. "Since it's long past the time any normal, functional member of society would be up and about, I figured I'd find you just rolled out of bed, Miss Lionheart."
I growled. "How the fuck did you get in here?"
He just smiled fondly at me. "Good morning to you too, my dear, dear friend."
Uh-oh, he was playing the friend game. "What do you want?"
He shrugged. "I was contacted by the mage guild this morning. They wanted to call in Mr. Halstad's contract a day early. Seems they found out I had…loaned out his services. Which I'm not allowed to do, by law. They want him returned to them immediately, or I have to pay fines, etcetera, etcetera." He waved one perfectly manicured hand as if the thought of heavy fines and pissing off a powerful magic guild was nothing but an annoyance. "But Gesa, dear. Where is that mage of yours?"
I stood. "He left to work on your stupid job. They can't do that though, can they? Just take him back? I planned to petition today."
White sauntered in and got a plate out of the cupboard, then proceeded to fill it from the pans on the stove. I had planned to eat the rest of those eggs, the fucker. "Strange," White said, eyes still on the bacon. "I checked when I saw his vehicle was gone. He's not there."
I sat back down. I had a bad feeling. "Oh, just spit it the fuck out already, White."
He turned to me, eyes sparking red around the edges as he eyed my coffee before he deigned to answer me. I huffed and went to get the demon some java. Thrusting the cup under his nose, I demanded. "Talk."
He sighed, as if my stupidity was just sad and pathetic. "My dear friend, it seems your mage has skipped out on the last few days of his contract." He sat down next to Kai and the kraken reached out and took his bacon, moving fast to avoid the fork he stabbed at her hand. "It appears as if he's trying to pull one over on the mage guild. And they are going to make their…displeasure known."
I just stared at his face, at his black eyes. Halstad had…left? He had been pissed, when he first realized I was trying to buy him. Maybe all this time he had just been biding his time until he was free. But then, why not leave while we were all off at the fox clan? Why wait until now? And why the fuck did I care so much. So, the fucker didn't want to be part of my pride. So what? How many assholes did I plan on collecting around here anyway? Dumbass gryphon.
And now White was in deep shit with the mages for allowing this to happen. I blinked, gaze still focused on White's deceptively perfect face as he chewed his food and waited patiently for me to figure it out.
He was in deep shit and he was going to blame me.
Mother fucker.
Epilogue
Hisashi lifted his glass to take a drink of his orange juice, waiting for the threats to start flying as Gesa and her demon bestie found some new way to offend each other while simultaneously helping each other out. He would try to tell Gesa what he'd seen about White through his psychometry, but it was pointless. She'd never believe him.
He froze when his vision shifted.
The rest of the room seemed to recede, like he was hearing chatter from far away, muted. Things went misty around the edges with that unreal feeling that he got when he had a vision.
Or when he saw a ghost.
A pair of fae were standing at the end of the table, staring at him. He stared back. Maybe they'd just leave. Sometimes, a spirit came to him out of curiosity, as if they could feel his presence and saw him for what he was—someone who could actually see them. They didn't want anything. They were just looking. And then they would pass on, go back to doing whatever it was ghosts did all day.
But these fae made no move to leave. As he watched, their eyes lost the gray, colorless look of spirits. The male fae's eyes glowed a pretty, liquid gold, while the female at his side had eyes of amethyst purple.
"Fuck you, White!" Gesa slammed a fist down on the table, rattling the dishes, knocking over a coffee cup, and jolting Hisashi out of his trance.
He blinked and the ghosts were gone.
*****
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