With Pride

by Kaye Draper

  We reached the shop in one piece. I was feeling a bit jumpy now, just waiting for someone to attack us and start lobbing balls of lightning or something. But the day remained anticlimactically boring. Con opened the shop door and held it for the rest of us as we entered. There was only one other customer milling about—a middle-aged woman who was clearly trying to decide if the resin seagull figure she was eyeing was worth the price.

  The mute woman was behind the counter, drawing swirls in the sand of a silly desk-sized Zen garden with her finger. Her deep blue eyes widened when they landed on me and the guys and she jumped to her feet. The lady with the seagull approached the counter and I waited impatiently for her to leave the shop. Then I braced myself as the shop worker flung herself at me, squeezing my hands, patting my cheek, and engulfing me in a hug that nearly squeezed the life out of me. I hugged her back this time, holding her plush curves to my body for a moment before stepping back. She smelled like...the ocean. But better.

  "I think we can figure out how to help you now," I said with a smile. Her happiness was infectious.

  Chapter 8

  The guys grouped around us, Hisashi hanging back a bit, as if he wasn't sure he would be welcome. "I'm sorry it's taking so damned long to figure out how to help you," I told the beautiful woman, who was still clinging to my hand, her grip so tight my fingers were losing circulation.

  She tilted her head and gave me an understanding look. Turning to Con, she slowly signed something with her right hand. He frowned. "I'm sorry, but your signing is a little...unusual. Can you say that again?"

  She tapped a foot impatiently, pointed to the clock, then the door. Then she made the sign again. Con put his hands up, chuckling at her impatience. "Okay, okay. I think I get it. The guy who owns the place will be back soon?"

  She nodded emphatically, then patted her throat.

  I squeezed her hand, which was still wrapped around mine. Then I gestured at Hisashi, waving him forward. "This is Hisashi. We think he can help us understand what we need to do to get you away from here."

  She let go of me to put both hands on her hips as she looked up at Hisashi, studying him so closely the poor fox's cheeks turned pink. One corner of her mouth slowly slid into a smirk, her eyes twinkling. She looked at me and winked, then nodded as if giving her approval of my choice in companions. I rolled my eyes.

  I did not have a fucking pride. And even if I did, why did she think I needed her approval?

  Hisashi let out a deep chuckle. "Thanks." He held out his hands. "I just need to touch you, okay? I will try not to pry, but I need to look inside your thoughts to see what you want."

  She smiled and placed her hands in his without even a second of hesitation. Her deep blue eyes slid to me and back to Hisashi, who had closed his eyes as he worked. The fox started laughing. "Okay that is awesome, but not very helpful. Can you please think more about why you are trapped here, and less about how hot Gesa is?"

  I coughed and ran a hand through my hair. For the love of fuck.

  Oisin smirked at me, an "I told you so" plastered all over his face. Con just grinned.

  Bastards. Every last one of them.

  "Focus," I growled. "Before the old man gets back."

  Hisashi closed his eyes again. His whole body went rigid and he stopped breathing. I stepped closer and lifted a hand, concerned, but afraid to touch him in case I messed something up. "Hisashi? Are you okay?"

  The woman looked back and forth between us in concern, her forehead wrinkled. She tried to pull her hands back from Hisashi's grip, but he held tight. "Wait," he breathed. "A little more."

  Then his eyes flew open, the liquid silver color bright under a sheen of unshed tears. "Gods, what a bastard." He pulled the woman in and wrapped his arms around her, enfolding her in his lanky frame. "We've got you, babe. It's okay." The woman shuddered in his arms, then let out a silent sob, her whole body heaving with it.

  I stepped closer and rubbed her back. "Whatever it is, he's right. We're here now. We'll make it right."

  Con was at her other side, and he reached out to rub her arm. "It's okay. Gesa can fix anything. She's amazing."

  Oisin stepped up beside me and took my other hand, giving it a squeeze. "And our big, strong amazing Gryphon isn't alone, love. You've got enough magic in this room to blow the place apart. Give us the signal and it's ashes."

  Her body heaved against Hisashi's chest again, but this time when she turned and stepped out of his embrace, she was laughing through her tears. She swiped the back of her hand across her cheeks, as if she was irritated by her emotional outburst. A girl after my own heart. I fucking hate crying. It only ever makes me feel weak.

  "So?" I said, looking to Hisashi. "What did you learn?"

  He smiled. The guy was so easygoing it shocked me to see such a wicked, sly, vulpine look on his face. "She's a collector's item. The old man loves the sea so much he wanted a memento to take back home with him. Couldn't pick up a fucking seashell like a normal person. He hired someone to make a soul-bind to our lovely friend here. One moment she's living in the ocean somewhere, chasing pretty schools of fish. The next, she's dragged out of the water to dry land and forced to follow that dude around like a dog."

  Oisin made a tsk noise and crossed his arms over his chest, clearly pissed off. Con and I shared a look. I was with the human on this. My magic studies class back in high school hadn't covered spells to trap sea creatures.

  Oisin sighed at my obvious lack of response. "It's a spell that binds a person's soul to an object, Gesa. He literally holds a part of her, and she can't leave without it." He frowned. "And if he was smart, he had it spelled so she can't take it from him by force."

  I growled, suddenly wanting to shift and tear something—or someone—apart.

  The bell above the shop door jangled and the old man who owned the place shuffled in. His wrinkled cheeks were red from the cold wind, and his thin white hair stuck out in greasy wisps from under a plaid hunting hat. He froze when he saw us all clumped around his shop girl. "What's all this?" he muttered.

  Then his watery brown eyes took in the strangeness of me and my companions. If he knew enough to hire someone to make a soul-stealing spell to trap a mermaid, then he sure as shit could tell we weren't exactly human.

  "Get out," he demanded, pointing to the door. "Leave my employee alone."

  The woman put her hands on her luscious hips and tapped a foot in irritation as she glared blue daggers at him. Employee my ass.

  I stepped in front of the fuming woman and crossed my arms, flexing to make myself look bigger, letting my eyes slip into eagle gold for emphasis. "Look, you asshole. We know what you've done. Just hand over what you took from her and we'll all be on our way. And all you'll have is a few bruises to remember us by."

  The man shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about. Leave or I'm calling the police." He edged around us, toward the counter, and the phone.

  Oisin stepped in front of him, his motions fluid. He looked up at the guy. Even the wrinkled, stooped old dude was taller than my fae. I smothered a laugh. It must be fun, having everyone underestimate you and then proving to them you have more deadly power in your pinkie than they do in their whole body.

  The fae flicked his long hair back over his shoulder and gave the man a green-eyed glare. He held out a graceful hand. "The object you've bound her to. Give it to me. Now."

  I wasn't surprised at all when the man scrambled to obey. Oisin's mind control worked on supes. Using it on humans was just overkill. The old man unbuttoned his jacket and put a hand down the front of his shirt, extracting a necklace with a pendant made of frosty blue sea glass. It didn't look like anything special. But I could feel the wrongness of it. He pulled the chain off over his head, knocking his plaid Yooper hat askew in the process, and placed the necklace in Oisin's hand.

  "Thank you," the fae said sweetly. "Was that so hard?" He turned to the woman and held out the necklace. "I believe this belongs to you?"

&nb
sp; She took the necklace and engulfed Oisin in one of her whirlwind, lung-crushing hugs. He patted her on the back, and his silky voice was a purr. "Yes, yes. Thank me later."

  I shook my head at him. The walking cock. Putting a hand on the woman's shoulder, I turned her away from the horny fae. "This is what you needed, right? You can leave now?"

  She nodded, her eyes shining as she clutched the stone in a white-knuckled grip, her wavy black hair spilling about her like a wild living thing. She looked different somehow, less human, though there was no physical change.

  "Some of your magic is coming back to you, now that you're touching the necklace, isn't it?" Hisashi's deep voice was full of happiness for this woman he'd only met a few minutes ago. Whatever he had seen in his reading had shaken him.

  She nodded, bouncing on her toes and spinning in a twirl of fluffy hippie skirts. Her face turned serious and she stalked over to the old man. I flinched when she slapped him across the face so hard it split his lip and left an angry red-purple handprint behind. He barely reacted, still recovering from Oisin's mind manipulation. The woman headed to the door with firm, determined steps.

  She had pulled the door open and stepped across the threshold when the old guy went berserk.

  "Stop!" He lunged after her, but Oisin stuck out a foot and the man tripped and went down.

  I winced. "Jesus Oisin, he could break a hip."

  The fae gave me a feral grin. "One can only hope."

  "She's mine!" The old bastard shouted from the ground, grunting as he pushed himself back to his feet and scrambled toward the door. Con grabbed the man's arm, halting him in his tracks, but it was like the guy was possessed. He thrashed in Con's grasp, managing to scratch my human's face and get an elbow in.

  Con swore but hung on. "Just let her go, man."

  Hisashi slipped around us to usher the woman out the door, following her onto the street, and I breathed a sigh of relief. She was out of the shop, and Hisashi could protect her from whatever they might run into out there. Oisin was hot on his heels. If there was any magical fallout from her leaving, I was confident the two men could handle it.

  I stepped in front of the struggling human. "You don't get to keep people like pets, you fuckhead," I said, planting my feet and crossing my arms. He was going to have to go through me to get to that door. "So shut the fuck up already."

  The dude ripped his arm out of Con's grasp. Old guy was practically foaming at the mouth. "That thing is mine. I spent my whole retirement on that little tart. You can't just—"

  I sighed. He was not going to let this go. I met Con's eyes and my human gave me a resigned look. He knew what was coming.

  Uncrossing my arms, I punched the crazy old human in the jaw.

  I held back. Gods, it's not like I wanted to kill the old fart. But still, he went down like a sack of potatoes. Con grimaced when the guy's head bounced off the hardwood floor. I gave him a shrug. "Karma."

  Con was clearly getting used to my shenanigans. He nudged the guy with the toe of his sneaker. "He's still alive, right?"

  I rolled my eyes. "Yes, he's still alive, Con. For fuck's sake, I'm not that ruthless. I'm not Oisin."

  I said that last part as we stepped out onto the sidewalk. The fae lifted an eyebrow at me. "Well, not everyone can be this stunning."

  "Yeah," I muttered sarcastically. "Stunning. That's the word I was thinking of."

  Oisin gestured down the street, toward a bench set under a frail-looking flowering tree that had lost all its leaves. Hisashi and the woman were huddled together, and she was wearing Oisin's coat like a little cape. "You've got another stray to sort out, gryphon."

  I gave him a pained look. "We've still got the two rooms up on the third floor, right?"

  He shook his head in exasperation. "Go on then," he said, waving me away. "Far be it from me to deny you anything, my beautiful beast."

  I paused to pull him in close and steal a kiss from those wicked lips. I knew he really didn't mind my save-the-world ways nearly as much as he pretended to. "Go on," he whispered as he pulled away. "She's got to be freezing. And I want my coat back."

  I turned and made my way over to the fox and the unknown, leaving Con and Oisin to argue over what Con should make for dinner. "Hey," I said awkwardly, coming to a halt in front of my newest problems. "Are you okay? No big magical whip-lash or anything?"

  The woman shook her head. Hisashi patted her on the shoulder. "Nah. She seems okay. A bit in shock, I think."

  I nodded. It had to be a lot to process, going from slave to free. I ran a hand through my hair. "So, um...I don't suppose you have any place to go right now? I mean, until you can get back home...wherever that is."

  The woman looked up at me with wide blue eyes the color of deep water. She stood and grabbed my hand, squeezing insistently. Then she tapped her chest, over her heart and reached out to pat me in the same place. I frowned and turned to Hisashi. "Is she saying what I think she's saying?"

  He grinned. "She wants to go where you go. I saw that before we even got her soul stone back. I think she made up her mind about that the first time she saw you." He gave me an apologetic look and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. "I got this feeling...a sense that she's, uh...a little bit possessive."

  The woman leveled an unimpressed look at the fox, then one corner of her lip twitched, and she winked at him. Oh, for the love of the Gods. Just what I needed. One more deranged weirdo in my life.

  "Fine," I said on an exhale. "You can come stay with us for a while, until you get back on your feet. Gods know we've already got one freeloader kicking around, what's one more?"

  "Hey!" Hisashi protested. "I'm earning my keep." He stood and we went to join Con and Oisin, headed back toward the bookstore a few blocks away. "I helped you figure this whole puzzle out, didn't I?"

  I shrugged. "I guess," I said, as if he hadn't just waltzed in there and gotten all the answers for us. "We might keep you around."

  Oisin shot me a look over his shoulder as he walked in front of us. "You know, hiring decision should be discussed with your partner," he said in a condescending tone.

  I gave him the finger. "You are not a partner. You're my assistant. Fuck off."

  Hisashi threw an arm around my shoulder. "I don't think she was talking about keeping me at the office anyway, fae."

  I growled. "Don't get ahead of yourself, kid."

  He smirked. "I'm not a kid. But if you need me to demonstrate that to you, just say the word."

  Just what I needed, two smug assholes in my life. "Raincheck," I said, shrugging him off. Even if I did kind of want to take him up on the challenge.

  I turned to the mystery woman who paced at my side. "I'm sorry, I don't even know your name."

  She stopped walking and reached out to pull Con to a halt. He watched as she slowly signed letters at him.

  "Okay, just a second," he said, plunging his hands into his pockets and emerging with a small notebook and pen.

  "Wow," Hisashi commented. "Who just carries a notebook around like that?"

  Oisin smirked. "Our Con's a professor. He always thinks of things us mere supes miss."

  Con grinned at him, flashing brilliant white teeth and twinkling honey-brown eyes. "Damned right, I do."

  Oisin put a hand to his mouth and loudly stage whispered. "Don't get your hopes up though. He's straight as a post."

  That got him a glare from Con. "Oh shut the fuck up. I'm not sucking your dick, fairy."

  I laughed at his language. Our sweet little human was learning to give as good as he got. Con turned away to write down what the woman was trying to spell out for him.

  Hisashi shrugged. "I like my men a bit more petite anyway." His frost blue eyes landed on Oisin and I watched the fae struggle with two opposing forces—his ingrained need to flirt and his stubborn insistence on driving the poor fox away. It was fascinating. Like watching a horror movie, right before the sex scene turned into a murder.

  Emerald green eyes bored into mine.
"Don't even think about it, gryphon."

  I just smiled and turned away to see how Con and the mystery woman were coming along. Gods, I hoped I was there the day Oisin finally snapped. I needed to see that.

  Con shook his head. "Is that an M or an N? Oh. Okay. Is this right?" The woman bent her head to read his notes, then nodded, clenching her hands together in an outpouring of joy that was way more adorable than it had any right to be. She turned to me and tugged at Con's sleeve. He chuckled. "Okay, okay. Her name is Kaimana. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it right...but I think it's Hawaiian?"

  She nodded and patted him on the head like he was a good pupil. I laughed at his expression. Con didn't want this woman—Kaimana—to think of him as a child. Between Oisin and Hisashi, Con and Kaimana...my life was becoming a Gods damned soap opera.

  "Okay folks," I said loudly. "Round up. Let's go the fuck home." I needed dinner and a bottle of whiskey.

  Chapter 9

  We were almost home when a black limo with darkly tinted windows pulled up to the curb. I heaved a sigh and kept walking. I heard the hum of a window being rolled down, but I didn't bother to look. "Keep driving, Jeeves. Nothing to see here," I called.

  I expected it to be Bobby, White's little bodyguard-slash-errand boy, who answered. But the smoky, dangerous voice that greeted me had all the fine hairs on the back of my neck standing up. "Get in, Miss Lionheart. We need to chat."

  Derek fucking White himself.

  The Gods really do hate me.

  The limo pulled up to the curb and I stopped, hands on my hips as I glared at him through the open window in the back of the monstrosity of a car. "There's this thing called a phone."

  He scoffed. His black eyes were covered by reflective designer sunglasses today, so I couldn't tell if they were doing that red around the edges thing. For some reason that was freakier than if I could actually see it. "Phones have a nasty little tendency to be...unreliable," he purred.