by Lia Cooper
She woke up with the taste of Sabira’s mouth lingering on her tongue and the softness of her skin fresh in her memory.
Despite her grumbling stomach, she didn’t want to go downstairs and face the rest of her family. She felt as though the kiss were written bold across her face. That they’d know something had happened even if she didn’t breathe a word about it.
Instead she rolled to the side of the mattress and reached down for her jeans, pulled out her phone, and tried to distract herself with the newest deluge of work emails. She’d taken the day after the full moon off as well; the upside to working in the digital age meant that she could make up the hours on the weekend, but the petty squabbling between her assistant and the guy in charge of designing the new dungeon armor sets did a piss pour job of actually distracting her thoughts. She couldn’t stop feeling the phantom touch of Sabira’s lips and wondering what would have happened if she hadn’t freaked out, if instead of pushing the human away, she’d grabbed her with both hands and held on.
Inexplicably, Grace felt her eyes growing hot and itchy entirely without her permission. She sniffed and followed a link to a couple of pictures her assistant had reblogged on tumblr of possible landscape inspirations: they were trying to figure out if it was worth writing in a new open air dungeon to go along with the next story quest. Grace was for it conceptually, but open air always brought with it it’s own series of exploit issues.
She scrolled through the images and then clicked onto her dashboard, finger swiping the endless scroll without really seeing anything until her eye snagged on a post and she hesitated.
Any other gays have a hard time differentiating romantic and platonic feels because you spent years subconsciously convincing yourself every romantic crush was just a really intense friendship? #Haroldtheyrelesbians
For a couple of heartbeats her entire body seemed frozen in shock, cold and then hot, chilled and then flushed as her brain scrambled to hold onto the edge of an idea, haunted by the lingering traces of Sabira’s scent that had worked its way into her clothes. While her wolf took sleepy interest finally in her existential crisis, murmuring deep in her chest.
Grace took a shower and hesitated over her clothes, finally forced herself to pick a clean set from the closet, and then went downstairs to face the music. Only, no one seemed to notice anything was amiss with her. The little kids shouted hellos and Mal gave her a distracted smile in between wrangling plates of steaming french toast and bacon.
Only her mother looked up, the distracted expression slipping from her eyes as they narrowed on Grace. Teagan Clanahan’s pale eyes bored into Grace’s, making her feel stripped and flayed open, her heart and wolf on display, and then her mother smirked and gestured her over. She wrapped an arm around her daughter and squeezed her against her side, tucked her nose against Grace’s throat in a motion that was both dominance and comfort, scenting her and then steering her over to the dining table.
“You should eat something.”
“Maybe just some coffee,” Grace said numbly.
“Hmm, maybe. If you’re sure.”
Grace blinked and shook herself. She glanced up at her mom and said, “Actually, I think I have to go.”
Teagan ran her hand over her hair, smoothing down the fluffy red-blonde mass and nodded. “We’ll see you later.”
Grace drove over to Sabira’s apartment without ever breaking the speed limit, her palms sweating where she had her hands wrapped around the steering wheel. She didn’t know what kind of reception she could expect from the other woman, guilt warring in her chest with embarrassment. And she knocked on Sabira’s door with some trepidation churning in her stomach.
She waited and then knocked a second time. She could hear the human’s heartbeat pick up, like she’d been woken up by the knocking, and then footsteps stumbled to the door and Sabira was there, wearing a tank top and skimpy shorts, long brown limbs on full display and eyes cloudy with sleep. Grace swallowed convulsively, her wolf taking the sight in with interest, and she wondered just who the hell she’d been fooling these past couple weeks?
“Hey, hi,” she blurted out, brandishing a tray of coffees and pastries.
But instead of stepping back to invite her inside, Sabira frowned and propped herself on the door. She stared at Grace for a minute with a blank expression.
“I have work today.”
Grace bit her lip as she felt those nerves in her stomach transform into an anxious flutter. What if Sabira wouldn’t let her apologize? What if she’d blown her chance before she’d ever had it? Fuck.
“Can I come in?” she asked, shoving down on that hot, wet feeling threatening to make her cry again. She didn’t have time for tears; she had to make Sabira understand.
Sabira’s mouth turned down into a small frowned, and she glanced at the time on her phone. Grace waited with what felt like her heart in her gods damned throat for the other woman to nod and step aside. Sabira disappeared into her bedroom and came back out wearing an SPD hoodie and black socks. She crossed her arms and didn’t offer Grace a seat, but she did nod at the coffees.
“Is one of those for me?”
Grace handed over one of the cups as well as the bag of scones. Sabira sipped her coffee and then made a surprised noise.
“Dirty chai. Lovely.”
She sorted through the sweets, selecting a sticky toffee bun and offered the rest to Grace. She waved it away, hands wrapped around her own coffee in a strangle-hold. Her stomach felt too nervous for food.
“I feel like I should apologize,” Sabira said after an awkward beat.
Grace shot her an incredulous look. “What do you have to be sorry for?”
Sabira grimaced, her blank mask cracking. “I shouldn’t have kissed you like that. I should have asked if it were all right for… It wasn’t appropriate to do without your permission.”
Grace’s mouth flopped open. She scrambled for words. “I mean—yes, maybe, consent is always a good thing I won’t argue with you there, but… oh, hell.” She set her coffee down on the bar counter so that her hands were free to gesticulate. “Maybe you should have asked, but I shouldn’t have just run away.”
“I upset you. I hope you can accept my apology.”
Grace held up her hands, taking a step forward and then freezing when Sabira tensed. Dark eyes flicked up and pinned Grace in place. She swallowed around the lump in her throat and said, “You startled me and I reacted badly. And while I was upset, it’s not for the reasons you think. I mean, it was, at first, but…”
She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and let out a shuddering sigh. She could feel the words backing up in her throat but it felt like pushing a rock uphill to get them off her tongue.
“Have you ever had this moment where you had to stop and reevaluate your entire life? I’ve never thought about girls like that before.”
Around her fingers she saw Sabira nod.
“It’s fine,” the other woman said in that carefully terse way she had of speaking when she was uncertain When she was uncomfortable. Grace hated that she’d made Sabira sound like that.
“No, it’s not. It’s not what you think. It’s not because I’ve never…felt that way about a girl before, it’s because… Oh, moon, I just never let myself think about it. I liked boys, so why should I think I was a lesbian? Does that—do you…?” she ran out of steam, dropped her hands, and stared beseechingly at the other woman.
Sabira’s brows drew together and she gave Grace a look. “You know, bi people are real. They do exist, despite what you maybe have heard.”
Grace laughed, a loud awkward noise that made her feel self-conscious, but this time when she took a step forward, Sabira didn’t pull away. Instead, she reached up and caught Grace as she pushed in close to feel the warmth of their bodies. Her eyes felt hot and this time she didn’t fight it, letting a little bit of her anxiety leak out between her lashes as she felt Sabira’s arms come up to wrap around her back. She dug her fingers into the other
woman’s hoodie and laughed breathlessly into her neck. Sabira smelled fucking delicious, she always had, a scent that Grace couldn’t get enough of.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since I saw you. I know I’ve been…clingy,” Grace stuttered.
“I noticed.”
“But you—you didn’t stop me.”
Sabira’s chest rose and fell in a sigh. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first time I saw you too. Even after you introduced yourself as Patrick’s sister.”
“Is that a problem?”
The arms around her tightened.
“Is it for you?”
“I thought I was in love with his last partner.”
Sabira pulled back to meet her eyes. “Is that a problem?”
“No. Things…change. I really like spending time with you. I spent all last night trying to run the kiss out of my head, but…”
“Yes?”
“I really just want you to kiss me again.”
A very small, private smile bloomed in the corner of Sabira’s mouth.
“You must promise not to run away again,” she said in a low voice, brushing their mouths together.
Grace tilted her head up and sank into the other woman’s arm, trusting Sabira to hold her up as she opened her mouth for another kiss, a real one, deep and wet and plundering. She pushed her fingers through Sabira’s long, black hair, and hung on.
Epilogue
Late October - Grace Clanahan
Grace picked up the stack of case files to make room to sit in the Jeep’s passenger seat. Her eyes skimmed over the names printed in three different handwritings across the front plates.
“Whatever happened to those people?”
“Which people?” Sabira asked, sliding into the driver’s seat next to her. The human lifted the edge of her sweatshirt and wiped sweat off her brow.
“Death by blood loss but not vampires?” Grace held up the files.
Sabira took them and tucked them under the center arm rest. “Stalled. Four victims who might be linked or might just be a coincidence. A young, twenty-something woman who chatted up one of the victims. Blond, pink, and blue hair, described as pretty. Might be connected, might not.”
“Described by who?” Grace asked, half-teasing as they pulled out into traffic.
Sabira rolled her eyes. “That’s not the pertinent part. Do you have any idea how many twenty-something women in Seattle fit that description?”
“A couple thousand?”
“At least. And I don’t even know for sure she’s connected. It’s just a bad feeling. And the fact she was using a dead’s woman name on a fake ID. Even that might just be coincidence, buying a stolen identity.”
“But you’re carrying the files around with you in your car?”
They merged smoothly into the light traffic; they’d purposefully left Grace’s apartment before the crack of dawn to avoid the 8 am southbound rush.
“She’s using the name of Detective Ellison’s dead mother. I just have a bad feeling about the whole thing.”
“Pat’s Detective Ellison?” Grace turned to her girlfriend, incredulous. Sabira nodded. “Weird.”
“Precisely.”
“Well, Mom thinks they’ll be home soon so maybe you can ask Ethan.”
“Really?”
“She said they’re in Canada.”
Grace tuned the radio of the local indie station and they drove in companionable silence. She felt calm, for all she’d decided to append her life and unceremoniously move in with Sabira. It was drastic; they’d only been seeing each other for six weeks, but in that time she’d slept more nights with Sabira than away from her, and with her lease coming up soon it had…well, it had still seemed pretty extreme, but the butterflies in her stomach felt more excited than nervous about the move. It was probably just wolf instincts at work, desperate to make every square inch of her mate’s—
In the solitude of her own thoughts, Grace stumbled over the word mate, disturbed at how easy it was to think it in context with Sabira.
She rolled her window down a couple of inches and let the soft rain splatter against her hot skin.
Mates. Well.
Grace grinned to herself.
“There’s going to be hell to pay when they get back,” Sabira said.
“Probably,” Grace agreed, idly curious if this was how her brother had felt about his magician. All of a sudden, she could understand his last minute decision to follow Ethan Ellison out of town if it was.
Couldn’t blame him at all.
#
Mid-December - Sabira Mallory
Sent from Grace >> pack dinner 2nite, you working late?
Sent to Grace >> 5? 6?
Sent from Grace >> 6—i think patty and his boy might be coming too.
Sent to Grace >> need me to pick you up first?
Sent from Grace >> pls? [ Kissing emoji ]
Sent to Grace >> just be dressed.
Sent from Grace >> no promises. [ Winking emoji ]
Sabira kept her face neutral as she slipped her phone back in her pocket and shot Clanahan a surreptitious look, but he was scowling at his computer monitor like it had personally offended him.
“I’m going to get coffee. Would you like some as well?” she asked, rising.
Her partner growled under his breath and shoved away from his desk. “Fine. I have an address I want to check out.”
“All right,” she replied, falling into step with him. She hoped Grace was right; she was desperately curious to see Patrick and Ethan in the same room when the magician hadn’t just burned down their living. But that curiosity could wait for a couple of hours, they had two dead girls and a potential vampire problem to deal with in the interim.
Sent to Grace >> tease. [ Heart emoji ]
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x.o.x.o,
Lia
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About the Author
Lia Cooper is a twentysomething native of the Pacific Northwest, a voracious reader and an enthusiastic writer. She wrote her first short story when she was seven. THE DUALITY PARADIGM is her first published full length novel.
She enjoys binge watching shows on Netflix, all-but-living in her local coffee shop, and drinking americanos. Lia cheers for the Chicago Blackhawks, rereads Pride & Prejudice every year, and is still bitterly disappointed over the cancellation of Stargate Atlantis (shhh).
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Other Works by Lia Cooper
Blood & Bone Trilogy
The Duality Paradigm (Book One)
The Convergence Theory (Book Two)
The Symbiotic Law (Book Three)
A Sanguine Solution (Coming 2017)
The Profane Series
Medium Rare (Book One)
Vapor Trail (Book Two)
The Kingdom of Pacchia Series
The Omega Prince (Book One)
All the King's Men (Book Two)
The Honorable Beta (Book Three)
The Line of Allora (Book Four)
Stand Alone Titles
Hotspot (M/M Soulbonding Contemporary Magical Realism)
Cold Press (Palouse County #1 M/M Contemporary Holiday Novella)
Coy Trick (Palouse County #2 M/M Contemporary Holiday Novella)
Http://liacooper.com/books-2/
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