by Jane Kindred
“It’s not freedom. I’m not going to cut the other one. I just wanted to finish this damned tattoo.”
“Fair enough.” He laid his arm across the armrest, and Rhea sat once more and went to work on the sections she hadn’t been able to get to, switching out to do the rest of the black lines first so she’d have more control to fill in the red. Images tugged at her once more, but Rhea tuned them out.
He watched her quietly until she’d finished the rest of the black and started to switch out the ink for the final time. “I suppose Leo has filled your head with cautionary tales of horror about me turning into a giant snake or something if you were ever to set me free.” His eyes were teasing, but the question seemed genuine enough.
“Actually, he said he thought it would unleash the destructive energy of Jörmungandr. It hadn’t occurred to him that you might change form and make that energy literal until I suggested it.”
Leo laughed. “But it’s absurd. No one can change form. The physical selves, the líkamr and hamr, are just as distinct as the formless selves. They’re governed by the laws of physics.”
“What would you say if I told you I’d seen more than one person transform into something similar?”
“I’d say you’d been smoking too much cannabis.”
She was sworn to secrecy about Rafe and Dev, but he would remember none of this tomorrow. Which was depressing. She tried not to think about that and started working on the red fill. Both of them relaxed into the peculiar “rightness” from before.
“No weed necessary. I know a man who regularly sprouts wings and can take various animal forms temporarily.”
“Do you, now? Who’s this magical fellow?”
“He’s called a quetzal. He’s the human embodiment of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. He also happens to be my sister Phoebe’s boyfriend.”
Leo leaned back against the headrest. “You’re serious.”
“As a heart attack.”
“So this is the new relationship she’s in, the one you mentioned before.”
“The very same.”
“You said there was more than one person you’d seen transform.”
“Ione’s boyfriend. He shares physical form with a dragon demon. Not simultaneously. Only one of them occupies the skin at the same time. Kind of like you and Leo. I mean you and your hugr.”
He was regarding her dubiously. “How is it that two of your sisters happen to be involved with these shape-shifters?”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to get into the whole Lilith connection. If she mentioned it, he’d use it as an argument for her to free him, that it was fated. And she wasn’t ready to accept that fate controlled her.
“I told you, we’re a magical family.”
“The demon blood.”
Damn. She’d forgotten she’d already mentioned the connection. She wiped away some of his blood as she pondered it.
“So you think I might actually shift if you released me.”
“Not necessarily.”
What she was thinking was that if she had sex with him, there would be no escaping fate. This guy had literal Fates messing with his life. She’d have to be crazy to do anything more with him. Not that she was going to. She’d promised Leo she wouldn’t. She was going to be the responsible one. Even if she had torn up one of Leo’s expensive leather restraints. And she sure as hell wasn’t setting him loose.
“But you’re not taking any chances.”
Rhea shrugged. “I also made a promise.”
Leo jerked his arm away as she was about to press the needles to it, his eyes dark with anger. “Fuck your promises. Fuck both of you.”
“If you want to screw up this tattoo permanently, just keep doing stupid shit like that while I have a bunch of needles full of ink poised over your skin.” She set the machine aside. Maybe it was time to wrap it up for tonight. She’d done just about everything she wanted to. Any sharpening she’d missed could be addressed during touch-up. Rhea peeled off the gloves and rose to wash up, but Leo grabbed her hand before she could step away.
“I’m sorry. I think. I mean, I don’t have a soul, but I’m experiencing a general sense of displeasure and discomfort with myself right now thinking about the way I snapped at you, so I’m pretty sure this would be categorized as regret.”
Rhea looked down, not wanting him to see her smile, but he had the advantage of being seated.
“So this is you forgiving me, right? Because now I have a pleasant, relieved feeling.”
She couldn’t keep from laughing. “Yes, dammit. I forgive you. I wasn’t all that upset with you in the first place. You have a right to be pissed about the situation you’re in, and I know I’m not making it any easier.”
“That’s not true. You’ve made it quite a bit easier.” He pulled her closer to the chair. “Come make it easier some more and I’ll forgive you, too. I mean, if that’s a thing I can do—”
“Shut up, Leo.” As Rhea straddled him and kissed him to silence him once more, her conscience nagged at her. She’d promised Leo nothing untoward would happen. But it wasn’t as if she was going to do anything she hadn’t already done.
With his arm free, however, that wasn’t entirely up to her. Leo slid his hand up her side, letting his fingers brush lightly against the underside of her breast. It was very middle-school, over-the-bra kind of contact, but it sent a delicious shiver through her.
He moved his fingers higher, stroking her nipple with his thumb as he cupped her breast. The nipple was already hard, but the motion tightened the flesh. Without meaning to, she was rocking into his lap.
Rhea disengaged her mouth, though he leaned forward to pursue her. “We can’t get too carried away here.”
Leo made a dismissive noise. “Why not? What’s he going to do about it? Nothing. Just like he’s been doing. Is that really what you want? Me gone and Leo the Dull being excessively cautious and polite until he bores you into frigidity?”
“Okay, that was a little harsh. And you’re forgetting you won’t, in fact, be gone at all. You’ll be sharing the skin with him.”
“How do you know? Are you an expert on Norn curses? If I can’t remember ever being him, how is he me? Maybe the real curse is that he has no will except for these stolen hours once a year? No desire at all—that’s me, the munr, absent entirely. Are you willing to take that chance? What if he’s worse than dull by tomorrow morning?”
Rhea frowned. She hadn’t thought of that. But he would say anything to be free, which she couldn’t even blame him for. Who wouldn’t?
“Leo, I—” She paused. She’d become gradually aware of a familiar scent, like someone had set a fire in the fireplace. But the shop didn’t have a fireplace. It also apparently didn’t have a functioning smoke alarm, because as soon as she’d made the realization, her eyes began to water. “Shit.”
Chapter 16
Leo tensed beneath her. “Is that smoke?”
“I think the building’s on fire.” She swung off his lap, and Leo grabbed her arm.
“You can’t leave me in here.”
“Leave you? Are you insane?” She pulled away from him and grabbed the fish-scaling knife.
The smoke was getting thick as she sawed frantically at the leather. Rhea coughed into her sleeve, eyes watering.
“Let me do it.” Leo took the knife from her hand. “You go. Get out. I’ll be right behind you.”
“No, I’m not—” A coughing fit swallowed the rest of her protest.
“Get out, goddammit! Get the fuck out!” He’d switched on the rage as suddenly as before, though this time it was designed to anger her into leaving. She started to object once more, but he’d yanked the knife upward and severed the restraint. Leo grabbed her hand and ran with her for the exit.
The fire had started
on the stairs. They could feel the heat through the door.
“There’s no back way out?”
Rhea shook her head, coughing. “We’ll have to go out the window.”
Leo grabbed the stool behind the counter and threw it through the window, shattering the pane, before she could tell him it opened easily from the inside. That was going to be expensive. The absurdity of the thought hit her. The whole building was going to be gone, if not the entire shopping center.
Leo kicked out the jagged pieces and took off his shirt, folding it up and placing it over the sharp edges still clinging to the frame, and held out his hand. “Come on, you first.”
Rhea peered out dubiously. They were only one flight up, but she was going to break her shins—if she even landed on her feet, which was doubtful.
“What are you waiting for?”
“It’s a little far down. I’m trying to gather my nerve.” The last word was a strangled cough.
“You don’t have time to gather your nerve.” Leo moved her aside. “If I go first and promise to catch you, will you jump when I tell you to?”
Rhea nodded, and he climbed through the window and leaped before she could even catch her breath. “Leo?” She hurried to the edge and looked down, expecting to see him digging himself off the sidewalk covered in scrapes and cuts, but he was standing there holding up his arms. Something crashed behind her.
“Jump, Rhea. Now.”
She climbed onto the shirt-covered frame and flung herself out, closing her eyes in her panic, and barreled into Leo like a wrecking ball. He broke her fall, catching her firmly in his shirtless arms without even stumbling back.
Sirens were blaring when she looked up at him, fire trucks already coming up the hill.
“You must be freezing,” was all she could think of to say.
“Not really.” Leo shrugged. “Feeling the cold must be a thought-self kind of thing.”
And he didn’t have his thought-self—and if they understood the curse correctly, he never would again. Rhea looked up at the flames engulfing her shop, the Demoness Ink sign singed around the edges. She almost wished she were missing her own thought-self so she wouldn’t feel this crushing heartache at realizing her dream had gone up in smoke.
* * *
After talking to the firefighters and the officers who’d arrived on the scene while the crew put out the blaze, Rhea discovered a note tucked under her windshield wiper. “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,” it informed her in a cheery font. And to make sure she got the message, they’d added, “You’re all going to burn. Keep Sedona pure.” A couple of swastikas were thrown in for good measure.
“I’m not even a witch,” she muttered, sinking against the car door.
Leo stroked her arm. “I’ll drive you home.”
“You don’t have your glasses.”
“Those were his. I don’t need them.” He held out his hand expectantly. “Do you have the keys?”
Rhea started to laugh, and it turned into crying. Of course she didn’t have the keys. Had her brain been even partly functional, she might have grabbed her bag and her tablet before jumping out the window. Even her phone was inside.
“I don’t even have that damn fifty,” she whimpered against him as he gathered her in his arms.
“It’s okay. The important thing is that you’re safe. Things can be replaced.”
Rhea choked in a breath in a strangled laugh against his bare chest. “Is that sympathy? Do munrs have that?”
“I don’t know. Is sympathy when you want to kick someone to death for hurting your girl?”
“Your girl?” Rhea wiped her eyes. “I don’t know if I like that. And no, that sounds more like vengeance.”
“Okay, well, I’ve got that, anyway.” He reached into his back pocket as she straightened. “I’ve also got Leo’s phone.”
At least one of them had been thinking. Which was ironic, since he was missing his thought-self. Rhea accepted the phone, staring at the screen. She couldn’t get into her apartment, and it was way too late to be calling the landlord. She didn’t even have the landlord’s number, for that matter.
Phoebe was her first choice, but Ione’s number was the only one she remembered since Ione had only recently gotten her first cell phone. Everyone else had been available at the click of an icon for ages. Rhea hadn’t realized how much she depended on one little metal-and-glass box.
Ione came immediately, her dark ombré hair natural instead of ironed straight, as if she’d just crawled out of bed, and she was in full mother hen mode. “Are you okay?” She looked Rhea over, still standing in the parking lot. “What’s this?” She held up Rhea’s right palm, caked with dried blood. A piece of glass was embedded in it that Rhea hadn’t even noticed. Leo watched them with interest, leaning back against Rhea’s MINI with his arms folded, dwarfing the little car.
Rhea introduced him while Ione picked out the glass. “This is Leo Ström.”
Ione looked up, her eyes narrowed at the shirtless Viking beside her little sister. “And who is ‘Leo Ström’?”
“He’s my...” Rhea felt her face go hot. “Goddammit. I don’t know.” She was too tired for long-winded explanations.
Leo chuckled and stepped forward, holding out his hand. “Rhea was tattooing me when the fire broke out.”
“Ione Carlisle.” She shook his hand, her expression still dubious, eyes taking in the Norse tattoos and pendant. “Can I drop you somewhere?”
“He’s with me,” Rhea said before Leo could answer.
Ione’s expression was more mistrust than dubiousness at this point, but she nodded. “Let’s get you guys warmed up. You’ll catch your death.”
Maybe Rhea would, but she was beginning to doubt whether Leo even could die.
* * *
Ione’s place was toasty warm despite the giant glass wall along one side, and it smelled like cinnamon. Rhea paused in the entryway to take off her boots before stepping on Ione’s carpet, but Leo had taken his off before strapping in for the night.
Dev, looking like he’d stepped off the cover of GQ, as usual, greeted them in the kitchen with hot cocoa.
Leo looked dubiously at the mug Dev offered him. “Got anything stronger?”
Dev’s golden-brown eyes twinkled. “Give it a taste.”
Rhea took a sip and grinned. “Wow. Now that’s what I call hot cocoa.”
Dev was pleased. “I got the recipe from Rafe. It’s Mexican cocoa with tequila. And a dash of cayenne pepper.”
Leo drank his experimentally and looked up with a surprised nod. “I wouldn’t have thought to put that together, but it’s not bad.” He turned with another look of surprise when Ione draped one of Dev’s shirts over his shoulders.
“Let’s get that hand cleaned up.” Ione steered Rhea to the bathroom as if she were still in grade school.
Rhea sighed as she submitted. “Yes, Mom.”
“Don’t ‘mom’ me, young lady.” She took the mug out of Rhea’s other hand and set it on the counter before examining her palm. “So are you going to tell me why a half-naked man was there with you? And why you didn’t tell me you’d rented a place to hang out your shingle? I could have helped you with that.”
“I didn’t want anyone to help me. Everyone’s always trying to help me, dammit.” Rhea grimaced at the sting of the rubbing alcohol and the look from Ione. “Let me rephrase that. It’s wonderful having sisters who believe in me and want to help me succeed, and I adore you, but I needed to do this on my own. Of course, now everything is gone, so I guess it’s Universe one, Rhea zero.”
“You didn’t have insurance?”
Rhea tried to set fire to Ione with her eyes, and Ione dropped the subject.
“And the naked guy?”
“He was not naked, for God’s
sake. He used his shirt to keep me from cutting myself on the broken glass when I jumped out the window.”
“You jumped out a window?” The adhesive bandage Ione was trying to peel the backing from snapped in half.
“Can I have my cocoa back now?”
Finally managing to get a bandage in place, Ione picked up the cocoa but held it out of Rhea’s reach. “First, tell me about Leo.”
“I already told you. I was touching up his tattoo. There’s nothing more to tell.”
Ione shook her head and drank Rhea’s cocoa.
“Oh, come on.” She’d never been able to pull one over on Ione. It was ridiculous to try. “Fine. I hired him to help get the place ready before opening, and I’m paying him in ink. Or I was.”
“And?”
“And...we kind of have...a thing...something. I don’t really know. He called me his ‘girl.’” Rhea stomped her foot in a mock tantrum since Ione was treating her like a child. “Give me my cocoa.”
Ione passed it back, half-empty, licking whipped cream off her upper lip. “He has a snake tattoo.”
Rhea drank the rest of the cocoa without stopping until it was empty. “Yep. Yes, he does. And he’s...” She wasn’t sure she was ready to share everything about Leo with anyone yet. Leo was hers. Well, not hers hers. But she finally had something all her own to keep secret and she didn’t feel like giving it to the entire family just yet. “He’s maybe under some kind of curse. We don’t know yet.” He hadn’t turned into a serpent, anyway, and he’d been free for a couple of hours, so there was that.
“Okay. But you’re in love with him.”
“Oh my God. Stop leaping to conclusions. I just met him a week ago.”
“And you are also a Carlisle who has Madeleine Marchant’s Lilith blood in her veins, and he’s got something serpentine going on. And...he looks like Thor, for crying out loud. If you don’t want him, maybe I’ll see if Dev minds if I get a little something on the side.”
Rhea put her hands over her ears. “Please stop. You’re creeping me out.”
