by Kaye Draper
Con sat up and held out his hands. "I'm up, I'm up!"
I laughed harder as he scrambled out of bed and started looking for his clothes, almost tripping and killing himself in the process, since he still wasn't quite recovered.
"Oh Gods," I wheezed. "Con, your face."
He glared at me from under his mop of brown curls. "We'll see if you're still laughing when she puts a tentacle up your ass."
I wheezed.
"Gesa," Kai said, shaking with silent laughter of her own, "unless you're planning on feeding our guest, you might want to get dressed too."
I slid off the bed and padded over to tug on jeans and a t-shirt. Feeding our guest? "Orion's here?"
She nodded. "At least he's alone this time. I know how you love it when Derek just drops in."
I glared at her. "Oh, it's Derek, now is it?" Gross.
She shook her head. "Don't growl at me, gryphon. You're the one who said he's your best friend. I'm just trying to be nice."
I rolled my eyes. No one was ever going to let me live that one down. Even though I hadn't fucking meant it as a real, literal thing. Jesus, Buddha, and Odin.
"White's not that bad," Con said, voice muffled as he pulled on his shirt.
Kai and I both stared at him.
"What?" the human said when he got a look at our faces. "He's never really done anything to hurt any of us. And he helped me with my magic."
I shook my head. "Just because you're happy about the hedge witch thing, doesn't mean that fucker isn't a demon. Did you forget how he executed those humans? And the old guy in the junk shop?"
Kai leaned against the doorframe to watch me get dressed, and I didn't miss the leer on her face. "Well, regardless, it's just Orion today. And I actually enjoy visiting with him."
Then she narrowed her eyes. "Just keep him away from Hisashi."
Con's brown eyes twinkled as he passed Kai, pausing to kiss her cheek. "Uh, oh. Someone's being all possessive and clingy again."
She swatted him on the ass as he walked away. "You better watch it yourself, hetero boy. I saw how you reacted when Orion pulled us out of the otherworld."
Con walked faster, not dignifying that with an answer.
I shook my head and followed after him, ignoring Kai's commentary on whether our new pride member was straight, or whether he might swing both ways. We had to fucking find his ass and haul him back here first.
We found Orion Black in the kitchen, eying a plate of muffins Con had covered in plastic wrap and warned us all not to touch. The pretty guy was frowning at the plate like it held some sort of puzzle, instead of some amazing-looking orange muffins. He turned to us, his expression morphing into a soft smile that tugged on the lopsided part of his scarred face. He reached up a gloved hand to brush his silky caramel colored hair to one side, so it covered the damaged side of his face. As usual, he was immaculately dressed in subdued colors, his back ramrod straight, poised like a butler.
"Hello," he said softly.
I nodded to him and went to the fridge to find snacks. I was fucking starving. Con patted Orion on the shoulder and waved him toward the table. "Sit down. I'll make us some cocoa."
Orion nodded, but his blue eyes darted toward that plate of muffins again before he sat. White had commissioned some sort of witchy baked goods from Con, and I still hadn't gotten around to badgering Con into telling me what the fuck that was all about. Black market muffins? I mean, Con's cooking was so good it should be illegal, but that seemed a bit far-fetched even to me. Besides, I was pretty sure Derek fucking White could employ his own top-tier baker if he wanted to. Why did he need Con to do his baking?
Kai slid into the seat across from the incubus and gave him a sultry smile. "What brings you by? Hoping to see someone in particular?"
He flicked his eyes up to meet hers, then coughed and looked away. "Just a social call," he said in his silky voice. He gave the fae a run for their money in the beauty department, and his subtle magic didn't hurt. Even all battered as he was, he was damned alluring.
"Mr. White didn't send me, if that's what you're worried about." He smirked, as if the thought of us all hating on his employer was hilarious. "But he did ask me to bring back a package for him if I was coming by." His eyes darted to those damned muffins again.
Con was busy at the stove, but he pointed at the plate. "That would be those." He glanced at the incubus. "Did…uh…it seemed like he liked the sample I made for him?"
I watched them. Con was trying to be tactful. And Orion, who was way too modest and soft spoken to be a fucking sex demon, looked at the floor and blushed. "Yes. I believe it was…good."
Con nodded and set a mug of steaming homemade cocoa in front of the demon. "Good." His voice was soft and full of understanding.
I opened my mouth to ask what the hell was going on, but Kai squeezed my knee under the table. Geesh. She really did have a soft spot for the incubus and his damned feelings. "Can I have marshmallows in mine?" she said to Con, like a little kid.
Con set her mug and the entire tin of mini marshmallows in front of her. Then he rattled around in the cupboards for a bit before coming to join us. He set a cup in front of me and the scent of butterscotch wafted up. Oh, my Gods, the man had laced my cocoa with liquor. I was going to propose to him after Orion left.
I sank back in my chair and regarded Orion. My pride didn't generally get up to anything kinky when I wasn't involved—not that I minded, but it was just kind of an unspoken thing, I guess—but with Oisin and Hisashi conspicuously missing, the incubus might get to suck up some ambient sex energy.
It was creepy. But the guy hated himself so much he wouldn't feed like a normal incubus. Something about his scars and not being dominant enough to be an incubus. I didn't know all the details, and I really didn't want to. But maybe that's why he was here. He did occasionally stop by on his boss's errands, and we were all happy to see him, but usually he came by for some big reason and the socializing was just a side bonus. He didn't just show up for muffins and social hour. Maybe he needed a top-off on his energy levels. If so, I wasn't going to begrudge him a little lingering energy that we wouldn't even miss.
"I was going to call you in a little bit," I said as I sipped my cup of heaven. "So I'm glad you stopped by."
He regarded me evenly. "Oh? Good timing then."
I narrowed my eyes. He did work for White. And that asshole took scheming to a whole new level. "Yeah. It is. You know I lost my mage."
He smiled at me. "How terrible for you. I know you were wanting to claim him." He winked. "Again, Mr. White did not send me here. I came here all on my own to see my friends. And if we just happened to talk about something that I could help with. Well…of course I would help my friends in any way I could. Without being ordered to. Because Mr. White has nothing to do with this."
I rubbed my forehead. Con snorted and Kai laughed into her mug.
"Okay," I said slowly. "So…if you came here—all on your own of course, because Derek fucking White is afraid of pissing off the mage guild—would you be able to help me out and find Halstad?"
He sipped his cocoa and smiled like…well, a devil. "I might be able to use my link to your pride's tracking runes. If the mage guild hasn't removed his. Which of course they probably can't because Halstad made them permanent by weaving his fae blood and our demon magic."
I choked, spitting cocoa on myself. Mopping at my t-shirt with a napkin, I glared at the incubus traitor. "What the fuck do you mean, they're fucking permanent. He said he'd take them off when we got back from the fae lands. We were just busy and didn't get around to it yet." And fae blood? Halstad had fae blood?
Orion's single visible blue eye met mine. "A mage has to follow his employer's orders to the letter, Miss Lionheart. And at the time he set the tracking runes…."
He was "employed" by Derek fucking White, not me. So, if White had said to make them permanent, that overrode anything I had to say on the matter.
Motherfucker.
&nb
sp; Kai squeezed my hand. Probably so I wouldn't punch the stupid demon in his pretty face. "The important thing is, you can still track Halstad, right?" she said, bringing us back on track.
I took in a calming breath and waited for his answer.
Orion smiled. "Of course. And here in the human realm, I don't even need to lean on Mr. White's power to do it. The tracking rune is strong, and I'm well acquainted with Mr. Halstad's energy signature. It should be easy."
I arched a brow at that. "Wait. How 'well acquainted' are you with his energy?"
Orion's visible cheek went pink and he gave me an innocent look. "We were employed by the same office, Miss Lionheart. I simply meant that I was around him quite a lot during the course of the day."
I drowned my growl in my cocoa. I wasn't buying that load of bullshit.
"Do you need anything…like, spells or something to track him?" Con asked, bringing us all back to the important stuff. Again.
Orion smiled and set his cup aside. "No. I already know where he is."
"Orion," I growled. "Why are you just now saying this?"
He laughed, low and melodious. "You didn't ask."
When I shifted toward him, he held up his gloved hands in supplication. "Teasing. Sorry. That's why I'm here. We're going to go get your mage back. On our own. Without any help from Mr. White."
I rolled my eyes. "I fucking get it already. Gods. No White. White didn't send you. White's too much of a pussy to stand up to the mages. Message received."
"Where is Halstad?" Con said over my outburst.
Orion sighed. "Really, really far away. I can barely feel his energy signature. Which could mean he is gravely injured…but it feels more like distance to me. I'm guessing it's the latter."
I scowled. "Hisashi can take us there, through the otherworld like he did when we went to the fox clan."
Orion sighed. "No. We have to take a boat."
"What?" I said, dumbly. "Why the fuck do we need to take a boat when we can just skip through ghost town?"
Orion lifted one shoulder in an elegant shrug. "We have to take a boat." He smiled. "Oh! And I just happen to have purchased a boat earlier this week. Isn't that lucky?"
I was this fucking close to banging someone's head on the table—mine or his, it didn't matter at that point.
Orion frowned at my lack of joy at his news. "I would have purchased a jet," he said softly. "But someone let that get destroyed on a trip to Montana not too long ago."
"White must pay you a shit-ton, if you have enough money to buy his old stuff off him," I huffed.
Orion shrugged and drank his cocoa. "I got a great deal. He's up-sizing. You know how those rich types are."
Kai patted my back in sympathy. We were being manipulated. Again. I didn't even have the will to fight it this time.
"Who's going to stay and watch White's little girl?" The kraken said, as if this all made perfect sense and we couldn't just hop on a commercial jet like normal people.
Right. White's fucking job. Technically, one of us should be there right now. But she was at school, so I figured she was safe enough among the masses.
"Oisin can stay behind, I suppose," I muttered. "Gods know the little shit will just refuse to help anyway."
"Actually," the asshole in question said, breezing into the kitchen with Hisashi trailing behind. "The little shit needs to go with you."
I rolled my eyes. "Why? So you can throw the mage overboard the first chance you get?"
He looked down his long nose at me, his bright green eyes hard as steel. "No. So I can help give him his freedom."
I let my head thunk onto the table. Hard. Maybe I was still asleep, and this was some sort of post-sex nonsense dream.
Because no way did I just hear that. Oisin wanted to help Halstad?
My heartburn flared up again and I shoved my mug of cocoa away. For once, alcohol seemed like a bad idea.
Chapter 6
In the end, we were allowed to fly as far as Africa using a commercial airline. Which, let me tell you, was almost more hassle than the month-and-a-half-long boat ride would have been. Any other time, I would have loved the chance to prowl with lions. But as it was, I was too keyed up to care about my surroundings. We landed in a dry, hot, crowded city and went straight to the docks.
White's—no, I'm sorry Orion's—boat was too fucking big to be called a "boat." It was also way too fucking small to travel the ocean like we were planning to do.
I stared at the thing, my feet firmly planted on the dock while the others followed Orion up the plank…thingy…to get on the floating house we were calling a boat. I liked water okay, generally. But I was a beast of air and land, for fuck's sake.
I did not want to get on this damned boat.
To make matters worse, Orion had apparently used some sort of demonic spell to home in a bit more on Halstad's location and "really, really far away" became "somewhere between Madagascar and Australia."
We were going to be on this motherfucking boat for a long, long time. Orion had estimated about a week's travel. One way.
"Earth to gryphon," Oisin called down to me from the deck above. "Are we going to go find your new magical fuck buddy or not?"
I glared up at him. Nothing fazed the fucker. Not even being way up there where he could see how far the water stretched out on the horizon. His shoulder-length red hair whipped about him like a fiery halo and his long navy peacoat made him look like some sort of way too pretty naval officer from a bygone era.
"Don't you hate mages?" I said with what little calm I could muster. "Maybe he's better off wherever he's at now. Sounds tropical. Probably less fae around to stab him."
I gripped the chain guardrail as a stiff breeze hit me and the ship rocked above me. "How long do you think it would take to fly in gryphon form? I could probably make it in a few years, right? His contract would be up by then and I could just bring him back home all nice and legal."
Oisin smirked at me. Hisashi came to stand at his side and stare down at me. "What are you doing down there, Gesa?" the fox said with a confused smile. "We're leaving any minute."
The fae leaned against the railing and adjusted his collar against the cold wind. It was still winter, even in Virginia.
"Are we far enough south?" I asked, still gripping the chain. "I mean. What about icebergs? It doesn't take too long in cold water for hypothermia to set in." My stomach roiled and the acid reflux chose that moment to burn its way up my throat.
Oisin ignored me and answered Hisashi instead. "Didn't you know?" the fae asshole said in a conversational tone. "Cats hate water."
"Some of the big cats swim," Hisashi said, tilting his head as if considering. "Jaguars. That kind of thing."
"Lions don't," I snapped. "And my wings would get wet. And I wouldn't be able to take off and fly if I was in the water with no way to launch. Plus, I'm heavy. I'd sink like a rock."
Taking a deep breath, I took a step up onto the gangplank or whatever the fuck the thing was called. I was a big, strong, alpha gryphon. What the fuck was I afraid of? The wood swayed under my feet. I made a strangled noise and swallowed back vomit.
I took another step. Fucking stupid-assed demons and their stupid-assed games. Couldn't just take a stupid-assed jet. Nooo White had fucking plans. I hurried up the walkway to the top of the ship before I tossed my cookies.
"There,” Oisin said with a smile on his wicked mouth. "That wasn't so bad, now was it?"
I glared at him and spun to puke over the railing.
Hisashi patted my back while I heaved. Oisin snorted with laughter. "Really, gryphon? Seasick? You?"
Hisashi rubbed comforting circles over my back as I stared down at the water below. At least one of my mates wasn't an asshole. I guess if it had to be one of them…. I straightened, cutting that thought short. Nope. Not going there. No pity party for this gryphon.
"Gesa," Orion called. "Ready to go?"
I waved at him to cast off. Because apparently the damned incubus knew
how to sail…or drive a boat? What did you call it when there weren't actual sails involved?
Kai came and took my hand, dragging me below deck to show me our room. I dropped my bag and looked at the small space where we'd be spending fucking weeks away from dry land. My stomach roiled again and I put a hand over my guts.
The kraken turned from her explanation of how she planned to use the bed and couches to make one huge sleeping area "so we can all fit." She seemed excited to be on the water, and I couldn't blame her. This was her element.
"Are you okay?" she said, pacing closer to touch my cheek with her long, slender fingers. "You look so pale, Gesa. Do you really get seasick that bad?"
I brushed her hand away. "Seems that way, doesn't it?"
She huffed. "That's the saddest thing I've ever heard. But don't worry, it passes fairly quickly, in my experience. I've seen green humans turn into hardened sailors plenty of times."
I seriously fucking doubted it was going to work out that way for me.
I plopped down on the bed as she launched into a tale about the time she'd spent a year aboard a Spanish pirate ship chasing mermaids.
Gods. My pride was really something. Kai would make a terrifying pirate. And those poor mermaids. I shook my head in sympathy.
"Those were the days," she said wistfully as she plopped down beside me. "You would have loved it, Gesa. Being human in those days was so dreadful and boring. But on a ship? Especially your own ship? That was a world all on its own. You could dance and curse and fight and fuck and no one to judge you for it. Humans are too tame these days. There's hardly any adventure left in them."
I flopped back and stared at the low ceiling. "What was your favorite part?" I asked.
She laughed. "Just that—the freedom. I could go where I wanted, when I wanted. And when I grew bored of life on the ship I'd just jump overboard and go terrorize the other ships for a while. No one was shocked that I existed."
I reached out and brushed a strand of her long, black hair out of her face. "Why the hell would you ever hang around a bunch of boring people like us?" I said in wonder. Kai was a total mystery to me. I never wanted her to feel obligated to stay just because we rescued her from that creepy old man. And I never really understood why she chose to. She was ancient, powerful—and Gods, she'd seen so much in her life. Why the fuck was she even here?
