by Tate James
“What does that mean?” Boden asked us, raising just one brow. Such a cool trick.
“It means Hunter has to explain what the hell is going on here,” I explained, waving a hand around the table at the three of them.
Adriel frowned. “Here? What do you mean, Margaret?”
My jaw clenched, and I ground my teeth in anger. I just freaking knew he was going to use my real name. Asshole.
“Cleo thinks there is something suspicious going on, that we don’t belong here in Edan and that we shouldn’t be so interested in a beautiful, charismatic, magenta-haired pocket rocket like her.” Hunter was still slurring a fraction, but I got the feeling he wasn’t quite as drunk as he was pretending to be. Just like me. Sneaky fucker. I had freakishly good tolerance for my liquor, and despite the fact that I was a little drunk, I was definitely playing it up in the hope that Hunter would let his guard down.
Boden and Adriel both looked at me, then back at Hunter as though curious to see how he planned on explaining the weirdness.
“Well?” I prompted, curious myself to hear what he had to say.
Hunter sucked in a deep breath and then leveled me with a direct stare. “You’re right. It’s no coincidence that you broke down where you did or that we found you. We’ve actually been here for months, waiting for you.”
My smile faltered, and uneasiness clenched at my gut. “That’s... an odd thing. Why would you be waiting for me?”
“Because you are the descendant of Queen Hatshepsut who was chosen by Ra in 1501 BC to bear the Amulet of Light. We are your magically sworn guardians, and it was only a matter of time before fate pulled the four of us together.” Hunter delivered this with such a straight face that I almost believed him. Almost. Except for how utterly insane he sounded.
After an extended silence, within which the three of them just stared at me, I started laughing.
“Okay sure, good answer. Magic. How silly of me not to think of that.” I chuckled as I ran my fingers through my probably messed-up pink hair. “Serves me right for not specifying I wanted the real explanation for all this weirdness.”
Hunter just blinked at me a couple of times, but Boden laughed a little with me. Adriel had a small frown marring his beautiful, bronzed features, though, and when he opened his mouth to say something, Boden shot him a look.
“Yep, that’s Hunter for you,” Boden agreed, giving me a warm smile. “Always quick to make up wild stories. Can I grab anyone else a drink?” He pushed off his stool and took all our orders before heading to the bar.
Left with Adriel and Hunter, I eyed the two of them with resignation. “All right, fine. Keep your secrets. Just don’t turn out to be serial killers, or we will have problems, okay?”
For the first time since we’d met, Adriel almost cracked a smile. The corners of his mouth lifted just a fraction, and his glowing green eyes seemed to project a little less anger than they had a moment ago. “Not serial killers,” he assured me.
“Good.” I nodded, accepting the margarita that Boden returned with. “Now, I don’t suppose any of you know how to fix my van? Hunter suggested that it might be a few days before I can even get it towed into town, let alone fixed.”
Boden coughed a laugh. “Hunter didn’t tell you? He’s a mechanic.”
My jaw dropped open, and I glared at the brunette Australian liar.
Hunter just shrugged and looked totally unapologetic. “If I’d just fixed it for you then and there, we never would have had time to hang out. Besides, did you forget the whole part about us being your magical guardians? I didn’t want to have to chase your ass halfway across America when we had a chance to just straight up meet you.”
“Of course,” I deadpanned. “The magical guardian thing. How could I forget?”
Hunter laughed, picking my hand up from where it rested on the table and rubbing small circles across my skin with his thumb. “Tell you what, Cleo. I’ll fix your van tomorrow if you do something for us.”
His touch was doing that weird thing to me again—my vision was tunneling, and I was losing sense of where we were. All I could focus on was Hunter.
“Hmm?” I murmured. “And what is that?”
“Take us with you,” he replied in that sexy, purring voice.
The oddity of his request had me pulling my hand out from under his fingers, and the room rushed back into focus around me. “You want a lift to Texas?” I frowned at him in confusion and glanced at the other two for confirmation.
“Sure, why not?” Hunter shrugged, raising his brows at me in challenge. “If we promise we aren’t serial killers, can we tag along with you on your road trip?”
What happened next, I had no explanation for. Blame it on the alcohol or my crappy day or my poor, starved sex life, but for some insane reason... I didn’t want to say no.
So in a move that I was sure I would come to regret, I nodded. “Okay, deal. You fix my van, and I’ll take you to Texas.” I stuck my hand out for Hunter to shake to seal our deal, but he hesitated a moment with his hand a fraction from mine.
“Are you sure?” he pressed me with a strangely intense gaze. “If you make a deal with a magical being, you’re bound to keep your word.”
I smiled at his continued use of this magical being story. “Uh-huh, sure. I said I’ll take you to Texas, Hunt, it’s not a big thing. Just don’t turn out to be a psycho.” I closed the gap between our hands and shook his before he could fuck around any more. As our palms met, there was a shock of electricity, and I yelped at the same time as Hunter hissed.
“Weird,” I muttered, shaking the lingering tingles out of my hand.
Adriel made an annoyed sort of sound, which drew my attention, and I wrinkled my nose at him. For dudes who claimed they weren’t psychopaths, they definitely acted pretty suspiciously. Like the fact that Adriel was glaring at me even harder—if that was even possible—like I’d just ruined his life. Or the fact that Boden sagged in his seat and blew out a long breath, like he’d been holding it for a while.
“You guys are so strange,” I muttered, taking a long sip of my drink. “I guess we should call it a night if we’re leaving tomorrow.”
“Nonsense,” Hunter scolded. “This is cause for celebration! Dance with me?”
Without waiting for my response, he grabbed me around the waist and whirled me out into the clear piece of space near the stage. No one else was dancing, but the combination of excessive amounts of alcohol, plus the intoxicating brushes of Hunter’s hands on my skin—whenever they ventured off my clothing—had me dancing along with him in no time at all.
These guys were strange, for sure. But for some reason, my gut was telling me I’d made the right choice in trusting them. Maybe it was the magic?
3
When I woke, I was pretty sure someone was taking a mini-jackhammer to my head. My mouth felt like it was stuffed full of cotton, and I was so freaking hot.
What the hell had happened last night? The last thing I remembered was dancing with Hunter... and then... I squeezed my eyes closed tighter in a lame attempt to clear the headache thumping through my skull. What had happened after dancing with Hunter?
“Stop thinking so hard; you’re giving me a headache,” a deep, purring sort of voice muttered into my hair, and I froze.
“Hunter?” I croaked, turning my head slightly and cracking an eye open. “What the hell are you doing in my bed?” A fuzzy memory of doing tequila shots danced across my brain, and I groaned. “Also, I’m pretty sure it’s the tequila causing your headache, not my loud thinking.”
He mumbled something I couldn’t understand, and his arms tightened around me.
For way longer than what was socially acceptable, I just went with it. His frame totally engulfed my own petite form, and the warmth emanating from his skin made me feel like I was wrapped in a huge fur coat. A fur coat that had wandering hands and a rather long, hard length pressed against my backside.
“Hunter,” I mumbled. “Did we... ah...” I was
both searching my fuzzy brain for any memory of how we’d ended up in bed together and having a hard time focusing on making words. The same sensation was back from touching Hunter’s skin, and I couldn’t seem to stop myself from arching my back and grinding my ass against his erection.
He let out a low groan, and his wandering hand closed over my breast—under my tank top. Where the hell was my bra, anyway?
“We didn’t,” he sighed. “But if you keep that up, things will change pretty damn fast.”
My breath caught, and I toyed with the idea of calling his bluff. Why shouldn’t I? We weren’t drunk anymore, and as far as I could remember, he didn’t have a girlfriend or wife stashed somewhere... What would be so wrong with taking things further?
“Hunter!” someone snapped from the driver’s seat of my van. “Tone it down!”
Two things occurred to me simultaneously. One, that was the exact same thing Adriel had said last night when I was going all gooey-eyed at Hunter, and two, Boden was driving Candy Jack.
It was probably the second point that saw me shooting out of Hunter’s embrace and onto my feet. The second I did so, however, I regretted it. The movement of my van combined with the movement of my hangover saw me stumbling and winding up sprawled across a very unimpressed looking Adriel’s lap.
“Uh, hi?” I peered up at the angry man as I braced myself with a hand on his rather impressive bicep. He had his shoulder-length hair tied up in a messy manbun-type situation and wore a pair of black-framed reading glasses. The effect was a little bit absurd, like they were fashion statement glasses for a “sexy-serious” photoshoot or some crap.
“Is there a reason why you’re half-naked and in my lap, Margaret?” he drawled, sounding both bored and annoyed. Fucker. Now that he pointed it out, though, I realized I was dressed in nothing but my tank top and aqua panties.
How the freaking hell did that happen?
“Actually, asshole, there is,” I snapped back, feeling my anger rising to combat the fuzziness of my hangover. “Because your lap happens to be sitting on my couch inside my van. What the hell is going on, anyway? Why is Boden driving Jack, and where the fuck are we going? Oh my cats, are you kidnapping me in my own van?”
Suddenly panicked, I scrambled off Adriel’s lap and backed away from him, which was all of about two feet until my back hit the little kitchenette and my elbow smacked painfully on the edge of the counter.
“Why would we kidnap you in this piece of shit?” Adriel snorted and rolled his eyes. Apparently when I’d landed in his lap, I had knocked a book from his hands, which he picked up and resumed reading like I wasn’t even there.
Feeling equal levels of panic and anger rising within me, my breath started spiking and I frantically looked for an escape route.
“Cleo, chill,” Hunter groaned from the depths of my bed. I had been so proud of myself when I had managed to squeeze a king size mattress into the back of Candy Jack. I’d lost a bunch of storage space to do it, but I did love to starfish in my sleep. Now, though, it had been invaded by the second coming of Ivan Milat—the infamous Australian backpacker murderer—and I was already picturing that beautiful mattress soaked in my blood.
Boden cursed something and braked sharply, pulling Candy Jack over to a stop on the gravel strip along the side of the road. Unfortunately, he had jerked the wheel so hard that I’d been sent flying again. Straight back into Adriel’s lap.
Fuck!
“Cleo, you need to calm down,” the blonde man advised me from the front seat as he turned to look at me. “You’re going to make me crash with how hard you’re projecting your emotions.”
“Excuse me?” I spluttered in outrage, trying to scramble out of Adriel’s lap—again—and finding his huge hands locked to my waist, keeping me where I was. Scowling at him, I smacked his hands off me and stood back up to glare daggers at Boden. “You were driving my van while I was passed out half naked under a total freaking stranger! And you’re telling me to stop projecting my emotions? What crazy-ass planet are you from where this is a situation not to freak the fuck out about?”
Adriel, who I was fast figuring out was an even bigger douche canoe than I’d given him credit for, snorted and rolled his eyes. “Told you she wasn’t taking this seriously.”
It took all my willpower to just grind my teeth and not start shrieking for help. Not that it was going to do me much good; a quick glace out the window showed we weren’t exactly in a densely populated area.
“Taking what seriously?” I hissed at the Native American supermodel with the personality of a porcupine. I was pretty sure he was about to tell me about how I was being held for ransom or being sold into a sex trafficking ring or maybe just being moved into another state so that it would take longer for someone to find my chopped up remains.
So, I didn’t really know how to respond when he leveled a stare at me like I had the IQ of a block of cheese and told me in a patronizing voice, “The fact that you made a magically binding agreement to take us with you on your journey. You did this, drunk or not, so don’t go crying about it now. Trust me, I wish you hadn’t done it, too.” This last part was muttered under his breath as he turned his attention back to his book.
For a long moment, I just stared at the top of his head, then flicked my gaze to Hunter—still half asleep in my bed—then finally to Boden in my driver’s seat. The three of them had kept up the whole “we’re magical creatures” joke all night, from what I could remember, but I’d figured it was just an elaborate metaphor for... uh... life?
“Okay, so that whole thing was entertaining last night, but it’s just creepy now. Cut the shit and tell me what the hell is going on!” Anger, or possibly fear, was making me tremble, and I hugged my arms in a lame attempt to hide the shaking from my abductors.
Hunter groaned again from my bed, and his sleep-disheveled head popped up out of the pillows. “Cleo, babe, I explained this to you about sixteen thousand times last night. It’s not a metaphor. Magic is real. We are your fated guardians to protect you against Bast and her minions.” Hazy memories of him telling me this between shots flashed across my brain, and I cringed.
“Uh-huh.” I laughed nervously, still pretty sure they were messing with me. “And I need to be protected because...”
“Because you’re the descendant of Queen Hatshepsut, who was—”
“—gifted the Amulet of Light by Ra in 1501 BC,” I cut Hunter off and finished his sentence in a horrified whisper. “That’s not...” I trailed off and rubbed at my pounding head. This whole trip had been an utter clusterfuck so far, and now I’d drunkenly agreed to pick up three hitchhikers with mental problems.
Rubbing the amulet in question, I peered at the three of them one by one, praying someone would start laughing and admit the whole thing was one big joke. When no one spoke, though, my heart sank.
Why were the pretty ones always so crazy?
“Okay, listen,” I started, licking my dry lips and keeping my voice as calm as possible, “I can see you’re all very invested in this story, but you sound certifiably insane and I’m just not comfortable traveling with you. I’m grateful that you fixed Candy Jack, but I think it’s best if you just invoice me for the work and I drop you off at the next bus station, okay?”
“Doesn’t work like that, Margaret,” Adriel sneered, and his cold gaze flicked over me like I was a moron. “Hunter tried to warn you last night, but you went ahead and accepted the deal before he outlined the consequences. So now you’re stuck with us like we are with you.”
“Stop calling me that,” I growled, anger making my teeth clench. I was only accustomed to hearing my real name from my mother, and even then it made me want to punch a wall. “And what the hell do you mean? I never signed any contracts in blood nor did I marry anyone—that I’m aware of—so no one is stuck with anyone. I changed my mind, end of story.”
A cruel smile pulled at Adriel’s sexy mouth. “Actually, Maggie, you did one better. You bound us in magic, and if you
break the deal, then you’ll suffer the consequences.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Oooh, magical consequences. Of course. Let me guess, I will turn into a toad and need the kiss of a prince to turn me back?”
Boden made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh covered by a cough and ducked his face out of view when I shot him a suspicious glare.
“That’s actually a pretty solid guess,” Hunter mumbled, then yawned heavily. He had finally surfaced from my bed and was sitting, totally shirtless, on the edge of the mattress as he blinked at me with those sleepy brown eyes of his. “Except I think the magic was cued to rodents not amphibians. I don’t totally remember because, let’s be honest, we were already pretty drunk by that stage.” His cheeks took a pink tint, and he ran a hand through his messy brown hair as though embarrassed.
“Huh?” I squinted at him, sick of repeating “what does that mean” every three seconds.
“He means that if you try to break your word to take us with you, then you’ll turn into a rat,” Adriel explained in a painfully dry voice.
Before I could start laughing hysterically, a loud bang sounded from outside the van and the screech of brakes filled the air. Flinching, I covered my ears, but the gesture was pointless when something heavy slammed into the side of Candy Jack and sent me flying back into Adriel’s lap for the third time.
This was different, though, and his strong arms wrapped around me tightly, shielding my body as my van was hit again. Whatever it was that had slammed into us hit harder this time, and Jack was no match for its superior weight or strength. For a suspended moment, we teetered on two wheels, and then we were falling.
Over and over my van rolled. Shit flew out of cupboards, and the four of us bounced around like popcorn in a microwave for what seemed like an eternity, until it all stopped.
Throughout it all, Adriel remained locked around me like a human shield, and when everything fell still, his whole frame remained tense and alert.