All but Human

by Kris Austen Radcliffe

  “Dragon says everything is okay,” Ladon whispered.

  Rysa nodded. Dragon sauntered toward the hallway and the front steps, leaving the four humans alone in the kitchen.

  “Get some sleep.” Daisy nodded toward the front of the house. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

  Rysa gripped Ladon’s hand so tight she was sure her knuckles turned white. “Thank you.”

  Gavin made one of his it’s all right grins, the ones she’d seen from him many times over the years. The exasperated big brother look. But he was still here, and he was still her friend.

  Ladon nodded once, silent, and pulled Rysa toward the stairs.

  Dragon’s hide grew darker again, and this time shifted toward the blue-violet tones of the second floor hallway. He walked along the hardwood floor, his talons completely retracted so he wouldn’t cause damage, and opened the door to the attic space.

  Like all the hallways in the house, the passage up into the attic constricted the beast. His sides rubbed along the walls unless he twisted and contorted. Rysa suspected his ultra-fine coat had something to do with his silent movements and managed to give him a friction-free surface, but she didn’t know for sure.

  Dragon corkscrewed through the attic door. He extended himself upward more than climbed the stairs, and flowed over the half-wall at the top of the landing.

  Ladon waved her forward. He’d come up behind. Like always, they kept her between them.

  She’d seen the same behavior with AnnaBelinda and Sister-Dragon. Everywhere they went, Derek walked between them and it didn’t seem to matter that Rysa had upgraded her brother-in-law to full Dracae. At this point, he was as strong and fast as Ladon, and he could hear both dragons, an ability Rysa only partially exhibited.

  But Ladon and AnnaBelinda had seen too much shit in their lives and had lost too many people important to them. So both Rysa and Derek fell into the posture and took up their strategic positions.

  The last of the evening sun streaked gold along the attic’s floorboards. The space had been insulated and finished, but still felt rustic. Exposed brick surrounded several chimney stacks and support columns. Beams crisscrossed the roof peak. The warm off-white paint looked as if someone had rubbed honey on the walls.

  Up here, they had room to move. No walls pressed on Dragon. Daisy had provided two massive mattresses resting on the floor dead center of the most open part of the space, not far from the one wide window and the long work table set up next to it. On the other side, across from the landing, Daisy had also provided a set of dressers, a mirror, a refrigerator and pantry, and a couple of big comfy chairs.

  But the trapeze bar and rings hanging from the ceiling held Rysa’s attention. She’d never been good at gymnastics. But her body had grown stronger since her activation and learning balance—any kind of balance—would be a welcome change.

  Rysa flopped onto the edge of one of the mattresses. Golden light from the window hit the corner of her eye and her face squinted up, pulling in on itself, to shut out the glare—and everything else with it.

  But wasn’t that the story of her life? She’d hyper-focus on one thing and something worse would sneak on by. When she’d met Ladon and Dragon she’d been so caught up in her activation she’d completely missed how deeply they felt until Ladon kissed her. And how many times in her life had she been mean to her best friend and ended up apologizing to him the next day?

  She’d been so focused on the social aspects of moving back to Minnesota she’d completely missed the Vivicus ick-factor that, frankly, shouldn’t be here. And she was having a hard time remembering all the problems she needed to fix now: Smoothing over the ill-will she must have generated with Daisy. And Gavin. Again. Making sure she did her Draki Prime job and checked what needed checking. Offering a healing to Ladon, because his ghosts surfaced tonight. Because his ghosts always surfaced.

  What if he became super-protective? What if he followed her onto campus even though she told him not to, and sat on the roof of her classroom buildings every single day? Would that be creepy? Even if it wasn’t creepy creepy it sure wouldn’t be good.

  Rysa dropped her forehead to her knees and did her best to breathe through the hiccups.

  Ladon lowered himself to the mattress next to her. “Do you see anything now?” He rubbed her back with his soulful fingers in slow, gentle sweeps, the way he always did when she needed calm.

  And when he needed it, too.

  Now that she thought about it, Ladon used the gesture to make her feel warm, relaxed, and wanted when he felt upset.

  “I can’t see anything, Ladon.” She didn’t move closer, nor did she pull away. His touch really was magic, even if it was more for him than for her.

  Or maybe it was for both of them.

  Her life was way too confusing.

  Ladon nuzzled her side. His beard brushed against her skin right where her neck met her shoulder and he gently breathed on the spot just under and behind her ear. “Need a little focused hugging and kissing? To calm your attention?”

  Rysa snorted. How could he be so utterly charming when asking about threats and for sex at the same time? All while wearing barbarian hair and a body posture that screamed stay away?

  But she was tired. “Are you okay?” She didn’t want to spend the entire night worried about his mood.

  Ladon pulled away. He frowned and arched only one eyebrow, his lips pursed, like some sort of disapproving super-villain. “Why?”

  He looked ridiculous with the squint and the old-world mohawk, no matter how sexy it might normally be.

  “Because, Ladon.” She didn’t want to fight. She never wanted to fight—it added too much chaos to her already too chaotic life—and tonight it just felt… heavy. The air, the vanishing sunlight, everyone’s overreactions, felt like a heavy, smothering wool blanket. Her temperature rose. She couldn’t breathe.

  Maybe coming back to Minnesota hadn’t been a good idea.

  She really was a shitty Fate.

  Outside, the sun vanished behind the neighboring houses. Dragon ambled over and dropped onto the other mattress. He snort-grumbled and stretched out, and his hide brightened enough she could clearly see Ladon’s face.

  “He says we need to rest.” Ladon stroked the beast’s snout.

  Rysa also stroked Dragon’s snout. His warm breath flowed around her, and for the first time this evening, calm reached out its hand to her.

  Maybe she should just let their issues go, and sleep between her man and her beast and face a new day tomorrow. She had a late class tomorrow morning, so she could sleep in.

  As she rested her head on her pillow, Ladon cuddled against her back, one of his big arms pressed against her shoulder blades and the other draped over her hip. He’d sleep against her the entire night, touching in some way, even if he rolled over and flopped onto his belly. He’d have at least one finger or toe in contact with her skin.

  Maybe he did it for her. Maybe he did it because he needed to know she breathed. But right now, as she huddled in between her warm man and her glimmering Dragon, Rysa didn’t care.

  Chapter Eleven

  Daisy watched Gavin lean against the kitchen island. He’d stayed close enough he could easily wrap an arm around her waist. Or gently kiss her lips or up the side of her neck to her earlobe.

  Her desire probably wafted off her as strongly as his wafted off him.

  Every time he looked in her direction, his natural male scent of attraction crested. It hadn’t lessened either, over the past five months. If anything, his desire for her had grown stronger.

  She smelled attraction from guys all the time. It rolled off old men and young boys. Guys who she knew were in serious relationships and guys she knew were serious assholes. Sometimes strong, sometimes weak. Mostly fleeting but sometimes sustained. As long as the guy liked girls, she usually got a whiff of want that coming off them at one time or another.

  So it meant nothing. It carried no real information about intent and was, like so much
else in the world, just background noise.

  Gavin’s attraction had been clear and present from the moment they’d met, but she didn’t need a relationship right now. In three months, when she finished her veterinary residency and moved home, she’d break his heart.

  The possibility of losing his friendship outweighed the draw of a few months’ worth of intimacy.

  So why did she immediately fall into his arms when Rysa’s freak-out over Vivicus filled the kitchen with the sharp, vibrating stink of terror? The entire world switched over to a crinkled brightness that, to Daisy, smelled as if she walked in a cloud of glass dust. It shimmered, but it cut her insides to shreds.

  Gavin touched her elbow. “So, this Vivicus person used to run the Seraphim?”

  “His daughter set up the so-called sting that was meant to expose a particularly nasty Fate family.” Daisy wiped off the counter before setting down the towel. Gavin knew most of the story, but not all of it.

  “In the locker room at Mount Rushmore, I couldn’t understand what anyone said, but I read lips,” he said. He dropped his hand from her elbow. Wheels turned behind his pale blue eyes. He’d already figured it out.

  At the time, Praesagio had “upgraded” his hearing aid software and her handsome normal friend spent a few days hearing voice enthrallers but not a lot else. If it wasn’t for him, Vivicus probably would have killed her.

  “Vivicus said he’d leave us as a ‘gift to those three scary fucks.’”

  “Yes, he did.”

  Anger flashed across Gavin’s face and he stood tall. “I remember how you reacted.”

  What if they showed up? What if they went after Gavin just because they could? Aiden was enough of a fucker he’d string up Gavin “on principle” just like Ladon suggested Vivicus would have done if he’d had the chance.

  “I don’t need a bloodhound enthraller’s nose to recognize terror,” Gavin whispered.

  She stopped, her hand poised over the light switch.

  “You were as terrified as Rysa. You just hold it in better.” He slapped his thigh and the dogs fell in line next to his legs. “Have you told your father?” He pointed toward the hall. “Did you tell Ladon?”

  “You saw how he reacted when Rysa said ‘Vivicus.’ He would have gone into full Roman warrior smiting mode if I had said I think the Fates who were after Rysa were the same assholes who attacked me nine years ago.”

  Gavin closed his eyes and tipped his head back.

  His ever-present scent of attraction took on a new edge, but one she’d sensed from him before: overwhelmed. This new information, like the flood of information that threatened to drown him in the first days when he initially learned about the world of Shifters, Fates, and dragons, seemed like something that would pull him under.

  He grunted and rolled his eyes. “Well, maybe we need a contingency plan.”

  She couldn’t help but snicker. Leave it to Gavin to be pragmatic and even-keeled about the whole situation.

  He grinned and tapped the side of his head. “Hey, do you think I can get new super-hearing out of this? Something that works this time.” He waved his hand in the air. “I feel left out.”

  The snicker turned into a laugh. “Most guys would have run for the hills by now.”

  Seriousness dropped over Gavin’s face—and his scent. “Guess I’m not most guys.”

  “No, you are not.”

  He tucked his hands into his pockets and leaned against the island again. “Does that mean you’ll finally go out with me?”

  Daisy frowned. “I’m leaving in January.” Getting attached didn’t seem like a good idea, no matter how wonderful a guy he was. Though she already felt attached.

  As was Radar, from the way he leaned against Gavin.

  “Want to stream a movie while we hand out candy to the stragglers?” He scratched Radar’s ear just the way her dog liked to be scratched. “At least give me that.” He wouldn’t look at her.

  Daisy shook her head. “I’m afraid that if we become more than friends we’ll stop being friends.”

  Now Gavin frowned. “You worry more than Rysa.” Sadness mingled with his ever-present scent of attraction.

  He often carried more sadness than she liked, and it often ramped up when he was around her. If they were friends, how could she do this to him? He was the best person she knew and one of the few people she trusted.

  And he really was quite handsome with his bright blue eyes and his tight, lean body.

  “I’ll make popcorn and fill the bowl for the trick-or-treaters.” Gavin looked resigned. “Want me to open a bottle of wine?”

  Daisy nodded. Looks like they’d be snacking and drinking away their woes, as good friends did.

  Gavin pulled a bowl out of a lower cabinet. “Everything will be fine, Daisy.”

  He grinned when he said it, but she couldn’t shake the feeling he meant it more for himself than for her.

  Chapter Twelve

  I hear noises, Human.

  More kids? Carefully, Ladon unwound from Rysa’s sleeping body. She sighed in her sleep, calmer now than she had been earlier, and cuddled against a pillow.

  Daisy stopped handing out candy an hour ago. The beast moved away from the window. This sound came from the back of the house.

  Ladon’s cresting vigilance made him roll off the mattress and pull on his jeans. It also made him snatch his t-shirt off the floor and wait as Dragon lowered himself over the railing and to the second floor door.

  Daisy and Gavin had been watching a movie but the sound had cut out about fifteen minutes ago. But a still, small noise filtered up to the attic’s open window. Something large enough to rattle leaves moved outside, in the yard.

  Dragon dropped into invisibility as he crept down the hall, partially to keep from disturbing Daisy but mostly because they always crept invisible around houses. Manor homes, village huts, castles, suburban dwellings like this one, it didn’t matter. The art of surprise served Ladon and Dragon well and now was not a time to cast it aside.

  A tactile flash pulsed from the beast—the third step from the top creaked. Ladon was to move along the banister.

  A bang rose from the kitchen. Someone slammed a cabinet.

  The invisible Dragon corkscrewed himself through the hallway and between the person and the doorway. Gavin, the beast pushed. He washes a bowl. A pause. I smell wine, popped corn, and rosemary salt.

  Ladon held a chuckle. Silently, he walked into the kitchen and took up a place behind Dragon. We probably shouldn’t frighten him.

  Bursting into existence by suddenly becoming visible from behind an invisible dragon always scared the wits out of normals. The practice had long ago lost its charm for Ladon. Now it simply felt mean.

  He sniffed and crumpled the shirt he held in his hand. Make sure he’s not holding a knife before you appear. A bloody Gavin would not win Ladon points with either woman.

  A low purr-rumble washed from Dragon and he shifted his forelimbs as he brightened his hide.

  “What the…!” The plastic bowl that had been in Gavin’s hand bounced across the floor. “Dragon!”

  I am sorry, Gavin, the beast signed. We did not mean to frighten you.

  Ladon pulled his shirt over his head as he stepped around the beast’s tail. “We heard a noise outside.”

  Gavin’s face danced with shock, then envy, then an immediate flat attempt to disguise that he’d had any response at all to seeing Ladon’s chest.

  I forgot how modern men react to other men. Ladon held a desire to roll his eyes. He wasn’t significantly larger than most men, or extreme in his musculature. Women liked his body, and he had maintained his speed and agility over the centuries, so he didn’t understand the issue. He was who he was.

  Ladon nodded toward the kid. “You stay here.”

  “Why?” More bluster than Ladon expected bowed out Gavin’s chest. “Daisy’s father told me the exact same thing but if I’d stayed here that morpher would have hurt her.”

 
He’s drunk, Ladon pushed to the beast. “You’re in no shape to take on a threat.”

  Gavin looked as if he wanted to give Ladon the finger. “We’re in a neighborhood off campus. Nothing happens here. It was probably a raccoon.” A small curl pulled at his lip.

  He smells frustrated. Dragon made a show of sniffing at Gavin’s face.

  Gavin frowned but didn’t push the beast away.

  The kid’s relationship with Daisy was not one of simplicity and shared intimacy, which was a shame for them both. She deserved the closeness of a man she trusted.

  The lack of a relationship explained Gavin’s frustration. And his state of drunken belligerence.

  “Where’s Daisy?” Ladon tucked his t-shirt into his jeans.

  “Peeing.” Gavin pointed at the ceiling. “She took the dogs. Or they followed her. Who pees with their dogs?” He shrugged.

  So she’d also had her share of the wine. Ladon couldn’t help but chuckle.

  The men in Daisy’s life often required full vetting before she would consider talking to them, much less dating. Ladon often wondered if she had trust issues, or if being Dmitri’s daughter made her conscientious about the effect her family had on people. Or if, like a lot of beautiful women, she had difficulty telling deep interest from shallow.

  Gavin leaned against the counter. “I just spent two hours on her couch eating popcorn, drinking wine, and watching superheroes beat on each other.” He swiped an empty wine bottle off the counter and held it up.

  Dragon sniffed Gavin’s face again. He must not hold his liquor well.

  Ladon took the bottle from the kid’s hand.

  “I used to have a crush on Rysa.” Gavin blinked as he watched Ladon return the bottle to the counter. “Back when I tutored her in American Sign Language.” He gestured in a wild, semi-signing way that looked like finger babbling. “But she was dating that douchebag Tom.” His eyes grew wide as he stared at the wine bottle. “Then all that shit with him happened and she needed a friend more than a boyfriend, you know?”

  Gavin stepped away from the counter and patted Ladon on the shoulder. “I’m glad she met you and Dragon. She deserves someone who appreciates her.”