City of Dragons: Blood Bonds

by Adrienne Wilder

  And Humans just didn’t do palm licking.

  She walked into her office, dreading the next round of office rumors she was going to have to deal with. But it could have been worse.

  I could still be down in that hole, who knows how deep, waiting for someone to realize I was missing.

  “Hey...”

  She looked up. Farley was sitting in her chair with his feet up on her desk. The floor was littered with Post-It notes folded into paper footballs. By the look of the place, he’d been at it for a while now.

  Housekeeping was not going to be happy.

  He slid out of the chair and glided across the floor.

  Farley was the only other Kin who worked the Atlanta Bureau and he wasn’t even an Agent. Garrett had tried to give him Agent status once, but Farley was Male. A relatively low-man-on-the-totem-pole-type-Male. Okay, even that was giving him a status booster. Farley was Food, which meant his control just wasn’t what it needed to be.

  After a few write ups he’d been dropped back down to an informant. The pay sucked, but at least it was a job. It kept him licensed and legal outside the Dens.

  Still, he was better than average about working with Humans. But there was no mistaking him for one. Farley wasn’t tall and broad like most Males, but his skin had the flawless ethereal look. His eyes were large with thick lashes. Too pretty for a man. Now that he kept his hair sheared short, he didn’t have those lovely red curls to soften his facial features as much. If it weren’t for the short hair, the tawny muscles and his squared-off shape, Farley would look feminine.

  Haley hated to admit it, but she missed the curls.

  “You okay?” Farley smiled in a crooked way which said he was thinking nefarious things. But then, he had a one track mind.

  Haley pushed the door shut behind her and let out a sigh.

  No, she wasn’t okay. She leaned into her friend and he wrapped his arms around her and pressed his face into her neck.

  God of Man, it felt so good.

  A deep thrum kicked up in Farley’s chest and the sound of it reminded Haley why she loved her Mustang so much.

  He stroked her back. “Are you hurt?”

  Haley didn’t trust herself to speak, so she just shook her head.

  His mouth touched her neck, his tongue pressed down on her pulse. The sensation was calming. Better than alcohol or tranquilizers. If Humans only knew what they were missing.

  Haley turned her head so her nose was against Farley’s neck and all she could smell was his scent. It was nothing like Niles. His scent screamed power, Farley’s whispered comfort.

  He pulled her to the small two seat couch and made her sit. Haley said nothing to the fact he’d broken about a hundred taboos about Males initiating contact.

  The truth was she just didn’t care.

  No, Haley liked it that Farley didn’t act like other Males. Oh, he knew how to revert to the mode of survival when it came to working the Dens, but when he was with her, he knew she wouldn’t pull the dominance card.

  She didn’t want to pull it.

  Farley drew her into his lap until she had one leg thrown over his thigh and her entire body was pressed into his. He stroked her back and rubbed his cheek along her jaw while she curled against him and listened to him purr.

  Haley petted the soft cotton of his black T-shirt. Farley didn’t have her hang ups about clothes, but then, he was usually in the Dens. At the office, Farley’s choice of baggy skaters, black urban shit kickers, and various heavy metal T-shirts were out of place. But in the Dens, he fit right in. Haley touched his forearm and traced the gold and bronze pattern of his Nevus. Most Kin only had one. Farley had a rare trait and displayed mirror images, one on each arm. His hold tightened.

  “How bad is it?” He’d know exactly what she meant. The media backlash for this kind of crap always got to her.

  “Do you really want to know?”

  When she looked at him, his dark brown eyes were flecked with gold. He smiled, flashing fang.

  Typical Male. Low threshold.

  She sighed. “Yeah, I do.”

  Farley slipped right into reporting mode. “News has been on all morning. Lots of exclusives with EFH members.”

  Great. Put the bigots on the news. Give them plenty of air time. Haley heaved another sigh and closed her eyes, wishing she could go back and start the day over. “What else?”

  “Channel Five is flashing about eight seconds of security footage showing Niles doing a number on those Human guards.”

  Haley moaned.

  “Channel Two has that and another snippet of you getting top.” He grinned.

  “I was holding him down.” She glared at him. “I had one hand around his heart and the other in his lung, for crying out loud. I don’t do sex in public.”

  ‘Cause that’s exactly what a large majority of her co-workers would think. Not to mention the public. Nobody would bother to take into consideration all the blood.

  Farley’s grin widened. “I know. But I still like to hear you say it.”

  Haley sobbed. She just couldn’t hold it any more. It was the worst of her Human impressed habits. Crying. Real crying, the shoulder-jerking, earth-shattering kind. Kin weren’t supposed to cry.

  “Hey, hey, I was only kidding.”

  “All I wanted to do was prove I could be trusted outside this damn building.” She didn’t resist when Farley pulled her face up and made her look at him. His thumbs erased the tears out from under each eye. He sucked them off one by one.

  “Who says you can’t be trusted?” His eyes searched hers. There was more gold in them now and little flickers of copper-red. “You’re completely trustworthy, Haley. You’ve got control like no other.”

  “And yet, every interview I do, I have someone leaning over my shoulder. The cops are afraid to be in the same room with me. The other Agents don’t want me on any case they deal with. I’m stuck here, in this building, every day.” And what made it worse were the restrictions the higher-ups put on her. She had to live in a certain area of the city, attend at least half of the office functions, and go to Human Sensitivity Training at least once a year. Not to mention she wasn’t allowed past the Wall into the Dens.

  Farley shushed her. The thrumming in his chest kicked up a notch, easing her tensions. His hand went to her throat and he stroked her under the neck with his thumb.

  “Why do you do this to yourself?” He sounded so sad. “Why do you stay with them?”

  She knew what he meant.

  It was an old argument. It wasn’t that Farley didn’t understand. If anyone was capable of it, he was. He’d been her friend for a very long time. Haley’s adoptive Mother needed a way to feed her. Fresh kill could only do so much. The metaphysical side of her biology couldn’t be sustained by human standards of consumption.

  Back then, it was common for Alchemists to used pinned Kin in the labor trade. Haley’s adoptive mother picked Farley because he was small. If only she had known his reputation for being a man-eater. Farley stayed with Haley in the little town she was in and eventually the town became a city. With each passing generation of Human life he always asked her why she endured the hate to stay.

  And for her the answer was simple.

  She stayed because it was all she knew.

  Besides, Medan had made it clear that she was not welcome in the Dens.

  Haley wiped her eyes and sat up. She sniffled once, cleared her throat, then pulled herself off the sofa. She had work to do. There would be forms to fill out about the incident and she needed to check her voice mail. It was always full with requests from other Agents who needed her expertise in dealing with Kin. Expertise that was mostly book-learned and supercharged by genetics.

  The rumors, glares, and ugly whispers would pass. They always did. At least here she had purpose.

  Farley held onto her hand, and she looked down at him and smiled.

  She pulled away, went to her desk and sat down. Haley pulled up her email. When she looked a
t Farley he was sitting on the edge of the couch watching her. “You work tonight?”

  “Actually, I’m off. I was thinking about a movie.”

  A movie was a great idea. Just like cell phones, Haley had no idea how anyone ever lived without them.

  She scanned her inbox. “Sounds like fun. What are we going to watch?”

  “Um ... that’s kinda what I wanted to talk to you about...”

  When she looked at him he was digging the toe of his boot into the industrial carpet and staring at it like he might find a lost gold nugget or something equally impressive.

  “Don’t tell me--”

  Farley held up his hands. “It’s her birthday.”

  Haley rolled her eyes. Farley just couldn’t seem to get it. He was playing with fire when it came to screwing around with the office help.

  Farley peeled himself from the sofa and eased across the floor. It was hard not to watch him move. By nature all Kin moved with liquid grace, but Farley was downright breath taking. He slid onto the edge of her desk and stroked her arm as she hammered in her password.

  “You’re mad.” It wasn’t a question.

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Then why are you abusing that keyboard?”

  She stopped typing and looked up at him. His face was a careful picture of blank beauty.

  Talk about a poker face.

  She frowned. “I’m not mad.”

  “Jealous?”

  Yeah, he’d enjoy that. Another Human hang up he could pick at her about. If only it were that simple.

  Haley caught Farley’s hand and made him quit petting her. “You’re going to break Claire’s heart.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Yes, you are.” She finished hammering in her password and opened her inbox. “You’ll break her heart just like you have all the other office help. And then they’ll come to me, all boo-hooing and blubbering, wanting to know what aspect of Kin culture they got wrong. And I’ll tell them, same thing I always say...”

  “It’s not you, it’s him,” finished Farley.

  Haley glared at him, totally unamused. “And if I’m lucky, she won’t have some jilted ex-lover who seems to think by trying to beat the living hell out of you, they can win back”--she put the back of her hand to her forehead and pulled a Scarlett O’Hara--“the love of their life.”

  Farley waggled a finger at her. “Hey, you’re pretty good at that. Maybe you should consider acting.”

  She ignored him and continued, “Or a pissed off big brother who’s bent on revenge because you broke his little baby sister’s heart.”

  Farley snapped his fingers. “Don’t forget the psycho, tire-slashing, stalker chick who thinks you’re ‘standing in the way…’” He even made air quotes.

  “Trust me. Four sets of tires are not that easy to forget.”

  “And I still plan on paying you back for those.”

  “Riiight.”

  “No seriously, I’m working on it.” Farley petted her arm again as she opened her mail.

  “I just worry you’re going to wind up losing your job because you keep sleeping with all the office help.”

  “Just the women...” Farley poked around on her desk. “Where’s that jar of candy?”

  Haley lifted the corner of a paper stack so he could see it.

  Farley rescued the jar, then picked through the various colored wrappers.“Did you eat all the green ones?”

  “They’re on the bottom.”

  He made short work of the wrapper and popped the candy into his mouth.

  “Seriously, Farley, you really need to stop.”

  He shrugged. “I can’t help it if they find me attractive.”

  Haley shook her head. It was more than that. As Food, he’d survived the hatching grounds by turning the hunger of others to something he could control, something that made him more interesting than a snack.

  Pleasure. Sex.

  For him it was a natural as breathing.

  Four hundred years was more than enough time to perfect technique. No wonder every time he slept with a woman she wanted to keep him.

  Haley sighed and went back to reading her mail. There wasn’t much. Just a few internal memos, some spam mail, and one from an unknown sender. She clicked on it.

  Beside her, Farley said, “Look, I’ll talk to Claire.”

  “You need to break up with her now before it goes too far. Before she wants you to go with her to pick out drapes. Good grief, look at how messed up Deshi’s life is.”

  Farley made a face.

  “You know I’m right.” Her eyes were still on the email. She read it a few times trying to take it in.

  “Unlike Deshi, I’m not delusional. Besides, if I break up with Claire, I won’t be able to tell you all the juicy stuff when we go out on movie night.”

  Haley rolled her eyes. “Trust me. I can live without hearing your imitations of the sounds she makes when you ... hey ... when did Medan get email?”

  Farley turned to look at the screen. “She’s had it ever since she put the Pit online. It has Wi-Fi now and everything.”

  Haley read the email for the third time, but her brain flat out refused to process the words. “Seems like she wants me to meet with her.” She leaned back in her seat. That couldn’t be right. Not leave-forever-or-die Medan.

  “Damn...” Farley whistled.

  That was the understatement of the year. Even if Haley wanted to go--which she didn’t--she couldn’t. Because of her sensitive position with the Center she was forbidden from the Dens.

  As in, her loyalties could be seriously compromised. Queens were notorious for head games, and they could really screw up a person’s brain matter, Female or not.

  “Email her back and tell her you can’t,” Farley suggested.

  Haley waved a hand at the screen. “I can’t. There’s no return address.”

  “She’s clever, I’ll give her that.”

  Yeah, in order to tell Medan she couldn’t meet her request, Haley would have to show up in person. Which put her right where the she-bitch would want her to be.

  Haley bit her lip. “Maybe I could call her?”

  “Good luck. Only time there’s anyone around to answer the phone is during club hours, and then the place is so loud you can’t hear it ring.” Farley gave her a pat on her shoulder. “You have my sympathies.”

  “Gee, thanks.” Haley stared at the email a little longer. Maybe she could get Ken in IT to do a trace on the IP. And if all else failed there was always snail-mail.

  Someone knocked on her door. Farley hopped off her desk and crammed his hands in his pockets. Human sensitivity training at its best.

  “Come in,” Haley called.

  The door opened and she didn’t need to look up to know who it was.

  Speak of the devil. Claire Patterson. Her ears must have been on fire.

  “Hi, there.” Claire’s voice was way too sticky sweet to be addressing anyone but Farley. “Did I interrupt?” Her cornflower blue eyes did a lap around the room.

  So polite. Hard to imagine such dirty little things coming out of that mouth. Haley stared harder at her screen, not reading any of it.

  “Um ... no. We were just talking about Agent stuff.” Farley inched closer. His fists made lumps in his pockets. No doubt, he was just dying to reach out and touch someone. But of course that would have broken ten thousand Human sexual harassment rules.

  Thank you God of Man, those kinds of Taboos didn’t exist for Kin.

  “I can...” Her hands made little butterfly motions. “I can come back later if you want. Becky said she saw you come in and...”

  Haley glanced at the woman from over her monitor.

  “Naw ... no way. I was ... I was just coming to find you.” The expression on Farley’s face was a cross between adoration and innocence.

  “Yup, he sure was.” Haley grinned wide, hoping it looked as painful as it felt.

  Farley threw a glare in her direction and she shru
gged.

  He turned back to Claire, all smiles and bedroom eyes. “Hey look, I’ve got tickets to the movies tonight. I was hoping you’d want to go with me.” Good one. Buy the tickets first, then ask. ‘Cause if she did have any plans she’d feel guilty that he wasted part of his measly paycheck. “And I made reservations at that little Italian place you like so much.”

  Whoa, no wonder he didn’t have the cash to pay for Haley’s tires.

  Claire smiled. “That’s so sweet. Dinner and a movie. I’d love to.”

  Haley popped her head around the monitor and said, “I hear that new hack and slash is good ... Friday the Thirteenth, I think? Lots of T and A, if you get my drift.” The suggestion earned her another searing glare from Farley.

  She had to give him credit. He was getting good at the stink eye look. He gave her his back. Haley rolled her eyes and went back to not reading her email while Farley eased in for the kill. He slipped an arm around Claire’s shoulders and walked her to the door. And Haley didn’t fail to notice how he angled the Human on the other side so Claire wouldn’t be able to catch any of the disgusted stares she might toss her way.

  The door clicked shut and Farley’s shadow rained all over her desk again.

  “I think you’re jealous.” His tone suggested he was excited by the concept.

  “No, I’m not jealous.”

  “Not even a little?” He pinched his fingers together.

  Haley sighed and propped her chin on her hand. “Would it be a turn on if I was?”

  “Yes” He eased a little closer to her desk.

  “Then no.”

  Farley leaned in and raked his teeth across her cheek. “Don’t wait up.”

  Haley growled as he sauntered out of the room laughing.

  Damn him. Farley was going to wind up in some serious shit one day. He had no idea how possessive Human women could be. The thing was, it was never him they went after. It was almost always her.

  Her door opened.

  “I’m still not jealous, so you can take your happy ass--”

  She snapped her mouth shut. It was Detective Bauer. The man leveled

  his dark eyes on her. She said, “Sorry, I thought you were--”