by E A Price
He curled his lip. “I thought that was all humans did – talk.”
Tilly shook her head, not certain she wanted to explain this to anyone – never mind a gargoyle! But, there was something about this gargoyle. She wouldn’t go so far as to say she wasn’t still a little scared of him, but he was almost mesmerizing. When she looked into those dark eyes, she wanted to bare her soul to him.
“We, umm…”
Her phone started ringing, and she was glad of the escape. Glad that he released her from his intense gaze to glare at her phone.
She snatched up the receiver. “Hello?”
“It’s Paul.”
Her eyes immediately sought Castor, and a blush spread across her cheeks. Not that he would hear anything he shouldn’t – there were no sweet nothings from Paul. He was actually a little on the boring side.
“Oh, umm, hi, Paul.”
Castor’s eyes narrowed.
They exchanged pleasantries over the phone.
“I tried calling you earlier…”
“Oh, umm, yeah, I uh, had a small car accident. I’m fine, but my car – not so much.”
She started chewing on her thumbnail, as she always did when she was nervous.
“Oh, okay then. What are you doing this weekend?” asked Paul.
“I’m not sure,” she replied honestly, casting a nervous glance at Castor.
“I thought maybe we could go out for dinner.”
Castor’s tail started thumping the floor aggressively.
“Ummm, yes, that would be nice.”
“Great, I’ll call you. I have to go; I’m having dinner with a client. Talk to you soon.”
He hung up before she could say goodbye.
“Your male is a goblin herder.”
Tilly frowned. “I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or not.”
“It is not. He was lying to you.”
“What about?”
Castor glowered. “He is carousing with another woman as we speak.”
She shook her head dismissively. “You can’t possibly know that.”
“I could hear it.”
Tilly looked at him and then her phone. “What could you hear?” she asked, baffled.
“It was in his tone of voice. He is not a good male. He will not make you a good mate.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said as heat coursed through her body.
She was forgetting her own ambivalence towards Paul as her hackles rose at Castor’s audacity.
“It’s really none of your business.”
Castor scowled but thankfully didn’t say anything else.
She grabbed her camera and shook her head. Really? Was a gargoyle assessing her boyfriend? What in the world was going on?
*
Castor scowled as she started photographing cake. The woman was insane. She had to be. He knew humans had strange ways, but why would she waste her time in photographing food?
He didn’t know why he said that. He could hear the voice on the end of the phone, could hear the bored tone and automatically knew he didn’t like the male. Okay, so he wasn’t exactly keen on humans in general, but this male, in particular, was obviously a waste of space.
What kind of male was not concerned to hear that their female had been involved in an automobile accident? The human males he knew would be furious and worried for their mates. He could not imagine for one second that on hearing of Annis being involved in a crash that Chris would respond with a desultory, ‘Oh, okay then.’ As if the matter were nothing. Nor Andrew for that matter if it was Maggie in the car.
Her body was tense and unhappy, but she continued with a strange determination. He watched as she finished snapping pictures, and put away her cakes. She picked up her camera and laptop and turned to him awkwardly.
“I ah, I’m going to go to bed.”
Castor’s body tightened at the thought of Tilly laying in bed... “I will check your bedroom is safe,” he muttered, lumbering to his feet.
Tilly’s eyes widened. “I really don’t think…”
“I am here to protect you.”
He looked at her expectantly, and she sagged and pointed to her bedroom door. Her house was small, only one level with barely a handful of rooms.
He ambled into the bedroom, careful not to hit anything with his wings. He held his breath as he entered, and then inhaled deeply. Her scent, that flowery sweetness was somehow intensified in here – her inner sanctum. It was even pinker than the rest of the house, from the flowery wallpaper to the bed that had a large pink, heart headboard.
Humans did so favor beds for sleeping. Grudgingly, he supposed that comfort was important if you did not turn to stone when sleeping. Though, judging from his clan mates with human mates, the bed was designed for something else entirely.
Tilly had such a large bed, one that could easily accommodate a gargoyle… His wings twitched. He didn’t mean him, just, some other gargoyle… Then he scowled as he imagined Grey filling her bed. As if she would allow such a boorish male to touch her.
No, she had the creature called Paul. His scowl deepened. How often had she entertained the unworthy male in her soft, pretty bed?
“Um, is everything okay?” she asked hesitantly from somewhere behind him.
“Fine,” he replied shortly. “Just…”
He was going to say to shout if she needed him, but what did he expect to happen? She would shout, and he would run into her bedroom, where she would be lying in bed, possibly half-naked… No, there was no need. If Ophelia tried anything, he would hear even without her shout. Though, hopefully, Ophelia would try and get into the house through a different window, other than her bedroom.
He huffed and turned. She flinched, and he rolled his eyes, while trying to squeeze past her in the narrow hallway. Her soft curves brushed against his arm, and his body automatically quivered. He grunted in annoyance at his own reaction and stomped back to her couch.
“Ummm…”
He froze and turned back to look at her. Her small face was creased as half a dozen emotions vied for top billing.
“Do, you, ummm, need anything? If you’re hungry, there’s food in the kitchen… or you could even have some of the cupcakes I made…”
Several dismissive retorts danced over his tongue before he just nodded. He didn’t need to see her dismay.
“I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”
Castor stiffened. She would not know. The fact that gargoyles turned to stone every day was their most vulnerable trait. He did not really want to disclose it to a stranger, but he did not see that he had any other choice.
“In the morning, I will be stone. My kind is only awake during the night.”
“Oh, ah… I see.”
He was quite impressed by how she was handling the news of the existence of gargoyles. She was not trying to attack him or call her human authorities.
She tried to smile, but it was a grimace, and he gave her a hard look in return.
“Well, good night.”
With that, she darted into her room. A few moments later, he heard distinct scraping noises that could only mean one thing – she was moving furniture in front of her door to keep him out.
He smiled slightly. Skittish creature. Perhaps she was worried he would burst into her room in the middle of the night and ravish her senseless. Ridiculous. Which it was – he would never take a female without her permission. He would burst into her room, ask if she wanted him to take her to heaven and then he would ravish her senseless.
Humans tended to be much more reticent when it came to matters of a lustful nature. There seemed to be some kind of strange dance, some rituals that humans had to go through before they decided to bed one another. Human females were unlikely to walk up to males they barely knew and demand sex from them. Trying to get a female human into bed sounded rather exhausting.
No, not that he would try with that female. Nope. She was too small, too bashful and far too
delicate. Just because she smelled nice and had a pleasant body that was nice to the touch did not mean anything. It had been a long time since he coupled with a female, and given that he spent most of his time with mated females, it was to be expected that he would react this way when finally confronted with a female. Except, he never had any reaction to Twenty-Six, and certainly not with Ryia. He shuddered as he thought of her.
He did want to mate one day, though it was starting to seem unlikely that he would ever find a gargoyle mate. Unless he and Ryia…
He shuddered again.
Perhaps he should get past his aversion to humans and seek his own human mate. He did not find the human mates as objectionable as he once did. Indeed, he would say Chris had the courage of a gargoyle. Well, all the mates did in their own way.
He looked at Tilly’s bedroom door. But this human certainly was not for him. Even if he did like it that she needed him. Even if her skin was an attractive shade of brown and her eyes did things to him that no female gargoyle’s ever had.
He snorted and scratched at his wound. It itched as it knitted itself together, but he was sure after his sleep, he would be well on the road to recovery.
For now, perhaps he would try one of her cupcakes, just to see what the fuss was about.
Ten
“Ummm, hello?”
Tilly blinked as she opened the door. Martha and Joely stood on her doorstep smiling, and Tilly cringed as she realized she was in her sleeping beauty pajamas and hadn’t bothered with a stitch of makeup. Martha and Joely looked gorgeous as always. Martha was tall, blonde and looked like a Valkyrie, while Joely was shorter, curvier and had flaming red hair that always appeared naturally big and bouncy. Tilly usually spent hours taming her black mop.
Martha stepped forward. “May we come in?”
Tilly froze as she considered the giant statue currently taking up nearly all of her living room floor – in her sleepy daze she managed to stub her toe on it.
“Umm, I don’t ah…”
Joely rolled her eyes and bustled past a protesting Tilly.
“Oh, no, you can’t go in there!”
Joely strode into the living room with an agitated Tilly following and Martha close behind. Joely stopped on seeing Castor. He was standing with his arms folded over his chest and a grim expression on his face.
“He’s a big one, isn’t he?” said Joely.
Martha edged around him, and her cheeks flushed. “Well…”
“Okay, not as big as some,” amended Joely with a snicker.
Tilly gaped at them. “You… know?”
They were looking at Castor like it was the most normal thing in the world to have a stone gargoyle in your living room. Tilly had spent all night awake and fretting about it, wondering about what else in the world she didn’t know about. Vampires? Unicorns? Werewolves?! Of course, part of her not being able to sleep was knowing that Castor was just outside the door. She wanted to say it was because she was terrified of him, but no, she wasn’t really. Still nervous, but not scared. It was odd to have a strange man spending the night in her house. Yes, she’d been married, and since her divorce, a couple of boyfriends had slept over, but this was different. He was different. Her insides fluttered at just the thought of him.
Martha gave her a kindly smile and was about to say something when Joely chuckled and said,
“Sure, we’re both dating gargoyles.”
“You’re dating gargoyles?!” cried Tilly in shock.
Okay, so she had wondered a little if humans and gargoyles were compatible in that way… the boy parts and girl parts way. But thinking about that and knowing that two friends of hers were actually dating gargoyles were very different things.
Martha bunched her mouth in annoyance. “I was going to lead up to it slowly.”
“But, but, how… what… how…” spluttered Tilly.
Martha placed a hand on her arm. “It’s a long story.”
Tilly flicked her eyes over the enormous Castor. “You’re really dating two… two men like him?”
“Yeah, you get used to the size,” smirked Joely.
Martha let out a groan. “I knew I should have brought Gwen with me.”
“Gwen as well?” gasped Tilly.
Was there a woman in town not dating a gargoyle? Was she about to find out that Miss Tidy – the retired eighty-seven-year-old librarian was hiding a gargoyle toy boy in her chicken hutch?
“Why don’t we explain…”
*
Castor awoke with a roar. He flexed his wings and stretched, snarling at the pull of pain from his chest. For a moment he was disoriented, but as his eyes adjusted to the many shades of pink, he remembered where he was. Remembered being wounded by Ophelia. Remembered Tilly.
He inhaled deeply. Her gentle scent lingered, but she was not there. Panic mixed with anger flared for a moment. She was out there alone – she could be in danger. But no, he was sure Luc and Chris would account for that. They would not leave her unattended, at the potential mercy of Ophelia. They better not have he thought grimly.
He hissed at the sudden pain in his leg and glared down at the giant cat using his leg as a scratching post. Judging by the marks on his leg, the damnable beast had been putting her claws on him all day long. He was glad he didn’t feel it in his stone state. The fluffy white animal almost seemed to smirk at him.
He snarled, flexing his wings and made a fearsome pose. The beast planted her prodigious rear on the ground and proceeded to lick her paws.
Castor huffed and found himself some breakfast in Tilly’s kitchen. In spite of his sneers, he had devoured all of her cakes – they were delicious and infused with their maker’s gentle scent. He had enjoyed them perhaps a little too much.
He found some cereal and settled for that. He would have preferred meat, but Tilly didn’t seem to have any in her refrigerator. Perhaps she stored it frozen. He could stand cold meat, but he could not eat frozen meat. Not after last time – he was sick for a week last time.
While impatiently waiting for Tilly to return, he studied her bookshelf. Not usually a fan of books, he considered it was the best way to pass the time. He wished he could stretch his wings in flight, or his claws in a hunt, but he was still injured. Ophelia had injured him badly – she almost ripped his organs out. He would survive and heal, but he grudgingly did have to take it easy for a few days.
He spied a thick volume at the bottom of a pile of books entitled ‘Our Wedding.’ He grunted and pulled it out. On the front of it was a photograph of Tilly looking radiant in a huge white dress and standing next to a weak-chinned male in an ill-fitting suit.
Castor flicked through it with increasing annoyance.
Eleven
Chris gently slipped out of Annis’s embrace. He got out of bed and padded over to his pants.
“Where are you going?” asked Annis. She raised herself on her elbow and folded her wings behind her.
Chris gave her lovely body a regretful gaze. “I have to collect Tilly from work.”
He would much rather stay there with Annis, in bed. But he didn’t want any harm to come to Tilly, and if he didn’t go, Luc might be tempted to send another gargoyle, or even go himself. The last thing they needed right now was footage of a gargoyle splashed all over the news.
Annis patted the bed beside her invitingly. “I wish you would stay here where you are safe.”
“Temptress,” he teased. He really was tempted too, and as he stared at her, he could feel his arousal mounting again. It would be so easy to tear off his jeans and take his lovely mate.
She blushed at his frank perusal, and he forced himself to look away.
“I’ll be okay,” he said and dragged his shirt on.
“I hope so. I cannot imagine what I would do if I lost you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Chris walked over to the bed and pulled Annis into his arms. “Right back at you, sweetheart.”
*
Tilly turned off he
r computer and grabbed her purse. She was keen to get away but also nervous about going home. All day as people came in for their doctor appointments she had been looking at them differently, wondering which ones were aware of the gargoyles. Wondering which ones had gargoyle boyfriends – or even girlfriends. When she went to read to the Mrs. Downie during lunch she kept throwing the lady speculative looks in between chapters of The Heart Laid Bare. Mrs. Downie was ninety and blind but still…
Her talk with Martha and Joely answered some questions but raised a lot of others. They were sketchy on the details of where the gargoyles came from, but Tilly could only think about one aspect of their conversation. Were they really… intimate with gargoyles? They certainly suggested as much – Tilly had been too embarrassed to ask outright, but Joely dropped a lot of not very subtle hints about that.
Martha insisted she drive her to work, and Chris arranged to have her car towed. She was telling everyone that she had hit a deer. Rather than an enormous gargoyle. Much more believable.
“Good night, Tilly,” trilled Dr. White as she strode through the reception area.
“Oh, crumbs!” Tilly balked and then blushed as if Dr. White could see her thoughts. “Good night!” she squeaked.
The lovely doctor winked and sashayed out the door. Tilly pressed her hand against her heart as it sped. She was not built for subterfuge. When Chris came through the door a few moments later, she almost shot up the wall.
The whole ride home she chewed her thumbnail, worrying about seeing Castor again. She half expected him to be gone, but sure enough, he was on her couch flipping through her… was that her wedding album?
He looked up and pinned her to the spot with a piercing look. She almost wished she had asked Chris to come in with her, but he seemed keen to be somewhere else.
“You were once mated,” he said, almost accusingly.
