Fortunately, it was a short walk, because Sophie couldn’t think of much to say. All she could focus on was the pounding in her heart and the throbbing in her pussy as their hands warmed hers in the cool evening.
Once inside the bar, Sophie felt like she could relax. The darkness made her feel protected. If they said anything that made her blush, they wouldn’t be able to notice it. She’d have a much easier time pretending to be calm and cool.
“What can I get you?” Gabriel asked.
“A Turbodog would be great, thanks,” she said, settling herself down at a table.
“You want a Jockamo?” he asked Virgil.
“You know it.”
“Cool, I’ll be right back.”
Sophie could feel the heat rise in her face as Virgil sat next to her and put his arm around her.
“You seem tense, baby. Everything okay?”
“Oh, you know. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a date of any kind. And I’ve never been on a date with two guys at once before. I can’t lie—I’m a little out of my element here.”
“But you do admit it’s a date.” Virgil flashed her a smile. “I’m glad to hear that. I was worried you wouldn’t be interested in that.”
“It’s not that I’m interested. It’s just that—you know…”
“Know what?” Gabriel asked, placing the beers on the table. He pulled a chair around and sat on Sophie’s other side.
“Sophie was just telling me that we’re on a date,” Virgil said. “But she’s hesitant about something.”
“What’s to be hesitant about, baby? Worried people are gonna stare at you if you’re at this bar with two men? Come on, now. This is New Orleans. This ain’t even close to the strangest thing people have seen today.”
“That’s not it,” Sophie said. “I mean, I’m out of my comfort zone and all, but that’s not really what I’m hesitant about.”
“Then what is it?” Virgil asked.
“Well, I mean, you have to admit, the shifter thing is kind of hard to work your mind around.”
“Not when you are one,” Gabriel said with a chuckle.
Sophie took a swig of her beer and hurried to collect her thoughts. Her pussy was still demanding release, which made it more difficult to think, but she pushed her body’s desires aside so that they could have a conversation. “I suppose that’s true. Still, I can’t be the only woman who has had difficulty figuring out the whole shifter thing.”
“What’s to figure out?” Gabriel asked. “Don’t you believe what you’ve witnessed with your own eyes?”
Virgil leaned in so close that she could feel his breath on her ear. “Don’t you believe what your body is feeling?”
“How do you know what my body is feeling?” she asked, hoping he couldn’t hear the way her voice wavered.
“If it’s anything close to what my body is feeling, I know it’s almost impossible to resist.” He dropped his eyes slightly, and Sophie followed his gaze. She saw his cock, completely hard and straining against the fabric of his jeans. She couldn’t help but reach out and brush her fingertips against it, briefly savoring the power it promised if set free.
Sophie let out a small moan. She closed her eyes to regain her composure and then turned to look at Gabriel. “And what are you feeling?”
Gabriel took her other hand and brought it to his own cock, which was just as hard as Virgil’s. Sophie couldn’t help but gasp as he began to rub her fingers up and down the denim-encased shaft.
“Feels good, don’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I know something else that would feel good,” Virgil said.
Without giving her time to respond, he pulled her face around and gave her a deep kiss, probing his tongue along her lips before delving deep into her mouth. Sophie’s cunt surged with even more desire than she ever would have thought possible. Her heart raced, and she refused to give up his lips, kissing him back deeper than he had, her mouth always reaching out for more. It was only when Gabriel reached around and put his hands on her breasts that she could bring herself to pull away from Virgil. But as she turned and accepted Gabriel’s kiss, she faced a most delicious reward. Her pussy pulsed even harder, and she realized that if she had to choose whose kiss she’d preferred, she’d never be able to give an answer. They were both perfect. Especially the way Gabriel pinched and pulled at her nipples through her thin tank top. As Gabriel devoured her lips, Virgil stroked her neck and tangled his fingers in her hair, pulling slightly, so she had to fight to cling to Gabriel’s mouth.
Finally, she needed to come up for air. She hated pulling away from Gabriel, though her body was thrilled to know that the second she turned her head, Virgil would be waiting for her. She’d never experienced such intense desire. Her emotions mixed with her body’s arousal, making every touch and caress they gave her feel ten times stronger.
Just as she was about to turn and kiss Virgil again, she saw Georgina walk into the bar. She startled and tried to pull away, but she didn’t move fast enough. Georgina turned and looked her straight in the eye, a look of anger quickly overtaking her face.
“Shit,” Sophie mumbled, struggling free from the arms around her.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Gabriel asked.
“I was supposed to meet my friend, and I blew her off to meet with you guys. She just walked into this bar, and it doesn’t look like she’s too happy with me.”
“What?” Virgil looked in the direction where Sophie’s gaze was trained. “Oh, shit.”
“What’s she doing here?” Gabriel asked.
“I don’t know,” Sophie whispered. Something in the tone of Gabriel’s voice seemed off to her, as though he knew her, but she pushed the thought from her mind and tried to think of a reasonable explanation for her friend.
Georgina hesitated for a moment, and Sophie briefly thought she was going to turn and run off. As much as she knew they needed to clear the air, Sophie thought it would be best to do that one-on-one, rather than in a crowded, noisy bar. But Sophie’s hope was short lived. She saw Georgina’s look grow more frustrated, and she began her approach again. By the time Georgina reached their table, there were tears streaming down her face.
“I–I can explain,” Sophie started to say, but Georgina held up a hand, cutting her off.
“Never mind. I don’t have anything to say to you right now. Any of you.” She turned and fled toward the door.
“Oh, no. Damn, I’ve really screwed up.” She stood up and turned to Gabriel and Virgil. “I’m really sorry. I was having a great time, and I’d like to see you both again. But I really need to go take care of this.”
“Okay,” Gabriel said slowly. “Yeah, um, I get it.”
“Can you come down to the bayou tomorrow?” Virgil asked. “Do you know how to pilot a boat?”
“I’ve been doing it since I was sixteen.”
Virgil pulled out a scrap of paper and wrote down some coordinates. “Your phone has GPS, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Head out toward Alligator Bend and plug these coordinates into your system. You’ll find us in about an hour.”
“Okay.”
“See you tomorrow,” Gabriel said, standing and planting a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“Be safe,” Virgil said, kissing her as well.
“Thanks. I’m sorry this night got interrupted.”
Without giving them a chance to speak, she turned and hurried out of the bar after Georgina.
* * * *
“Shit,” Gabriel said before downing half of his beer in one gulp.
“You got that right. What the hell is Georgina doing here?”
“Where did you expect her to be?”
Virgil shrugged. “I kinda just figured she’d disappear or something.”
“That ain’t how the banishment ritual works, though. It just makes it so she can leave without anybody dying.”
“I know, I know,” Virgil said. “I just sorta assumed that once s
he was banished, we’d never see her again.”
“Same here. And yet she’s runnin’ around New Orleans.”
“What worries me more is that she and Sophie clearly know each other.”
“They don’t just know each other. They’re friends.”
“I don’t suppose she’s told Sophie any of the truth about her past. I mean, she was pretty confused when we told her about the whole shifter thing. So it doesn’t seem like Georgina clued her in ahead of time.”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Would you?”
“Nope.”
“My worry is that now that she’s seen us, she’s gonna fill Sophie’s head with lies.”
Virgil sighed. “Well, we’ll just have to deal with that if it happens.”
“Think we should tell the rest of the congregation?”
“Probably, yeah. Especially since we have to tell Sophie everything when she visits tomorrow. Everyone else will want to know what’s goin’ on.”
“Shit. That’s not gonna have to be a fun conversation to have.”
“Well, we should probably get back. Gonna be a hell of a long day tomorrow.” Virgil stood up and cleared away the empty bottles. “I want us to get all of our maintenance work finished before Sophie arrives tomorrow.”
Gabriel groaned. “That’s gonna mean wakin’ up much earlier than I’d like.”
Virgil grinned. “It also means that when Sophie arrives, we won’t have anything we need to do but entertain her.”
“You have a point. Okay, let’s get out of here.”
As they walked through the quarter and arrived at the docks, Gabriel was shocked to see how far up the land the waterline had encroached over the past few weeks.
“The problem is gettin’ worse, man,” Gabriel said. “This ain’t some natural erosion. This is something manmade, and it’s really bad.”
“I know.” Virgil shook his head. “Seems to be one thing after another lately. The fish problem would have been more than enough for one year. And now the coastline is suddenly shrinking so fast we can see it happening.”
“I don’t get it, man. It’s like the river is trying to punish us.”
“It ain’t the river’s fault. Hell, Villemont was responsible for the fish disappearin’. I’m pretty sure this is manmade, too.”
“Think Villemont is behind it?”
“He ain’t the only businessman in this city who don’t have no regard for the sanctity of the bayou. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he was involved.”
“Not like we have any proof, though.”
“Well, we’d better figure it out soon. Shit, it’s gotten so bad I don’t want to imagine the floodin’ when hurricane season starts.”
Gabriel snorted. “Hurricane season? It’s so bad I think a regular old thunderstorm would be a catastrophe.”
Virgil shuddered. “Damn. You’re probably right.”
“We’ll talk to Adele and Narcisse about it tomorrow. Maybe they have some ideas.”
“We can only hope, man. We can only hope.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. I ain’t lettin’ this city get destroyed again.”
“And how do you suppose we go about stoppin’ the problem?” Virgil asked.
“We always have voodoo.”
“You know how weak Serafine’s powers are gettin’. Hell, man, fixin’ the entire bayou could kill her.”
“You can’t do nothin’?”
“You know I don’t have her power. Only one who’ll be that strong is the new queen, and I don’t know when she’s gonna show up.”
Gabriel shook his head. “Then I don’t know what to do. But I’m gonna figure it out, because this city ain’t gonna get destroyed again.”
Chapter Four
“Georgina, wait, please! Just let me apologize!”
“I need to be alone right now,” Georgina said. Sophie could hear the tears in her voice and felt even guiltier. She didn’t give up, though. She continued to chase her friend, pushing through the crowds that swamped the French Quarter streets.
“I’m sorry I blew you off. I had no right to do that. I was just—I’m so into these guys, and I can’t figure out why. It was like my heart wouldn’t let me turn them down when they asked me for a drink after the show. It felt like I had no ability to tell them no.”
Georgina suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. “You mean they forced you?”
“No,” Sophie said, almost laughing. “Nothing like that at all. More like—more like I was possessed by some strange spirit, some supernatural force that invaded my brain and body and compelled me to say yes to their invitation. I’m sorry, hon. That strange feeling is still no excuse for ditching out on our plans. I’ll make it up to you. Just tell me how.”
Georgina sighed and pointed to a quiet bar down the street. “Let’s go sit down. We need to talk.”
Sophie’s stomach clenched as she followed Georgina into the dive bar. Based on the gravity in Georgina’s voice, she was certain she had offended her friend more than she could have imagined. They each ordered beers and then sat down at a booth back in a far corner.
“I’m not upset that you blew me off,” Georgina said after taking a few sips of her beer. “Well, I mean, I am upset, but that’s not the real reason I flipped out back there.”
Sophie raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, it was seeing the two of them that really set me off.”
“What, is one of them your ex or something?”
Georgina shook her head. “No. They used to be my family.”
Sophie choked on the beer she’d been swallowing. “Used to be your family?” she asked when she regained her composure.
“Well, sort of. We’re not related biologically or anything.” She sighed and threw her head back. “Ugh, it’s so complicated. I don’t even know where to start.”
Sophie shrugged. “Just begin at the beginning, I guess.”
“Okay, here goes. So you knew I spent most of my life living in a houseboat in a commune on the bayou, right?”
“Right.”
“Yeah, but that’s only part of the story. Maybe I should have told you before, but…but it’s just so painful to think about. I hate bringing it up. It brings back all those terrible memories.”
“Terrible memories?”
Georgina nodded, a small tear rolling down her cheek. “Well, the commune, it wasn’t just full of regular people. I come from a group of people that can shift between human form and alligator form.”
“So–so at the show last week, when Virgil and Gabriel spontaneously shifted into gators, you knew exactly what was going on.”
“Yeah.”
“So how come you acted like the guards pulled you away and you were terrified for my life? How come you played innocent, like you didn’t know what was going on? I mean, that whole thing was such a shock. I could really have used your input and advice.”
“I’m so sorry,” Georgina said, her tears falling faster now. “I should have mentioned something, but I didn’t know how. It’s just—it’s just that it’s so hard to talk about. It doesn’t get the least bit easier. And I am afraid for your life. These—these aren’t the kind of people you want to get involved with, especially not for life. You can’t decide to mate with them. You’ll regret it.”
“Why is that?” Sophie kept her voice low and calm, but she was starting to feel upset. She didn’t like being unsure of Georgina.
“You’re my best friend. I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I’ve never been close to someone the way I’ve been with you. I really care about you, and I don’t want them to hurt you the way they hurt me. I don’t trust them to treat you the way you deserve to be treated.”
“This has something to do with why you left the bayou and moved to New Orleans permanently, doesn’t it?”
Georgina nodded and finally wiped the tears from her face. She took a deep breath and finally began to tell her story.
�
��The members of the congregation never liked that I was so passionate about school and that I wasn’t interested in helping to run the fishing business. I mean, nobody ever leaves. You grow up there, you help with whatever aspect of the business is best suited to your talents, and you die there. There are some exceptions to that. One of the recent mates kept her career as a biologist at Tulane. She wouldn’t consent to being mated otherwise. Of course, part of the reason nobody ever leaves is that we can’t leave for more than forty-eight hours, or we die.”
Sophie raised her eyebrows. “Then how are you still alive?”
“I’m getting to that. Anyway, I was fine to live on the houseboats, especially since I didn’t have much choice in the matter. But I didn’t want to fish, and I didn’t want to be involved with the business side of things. I wanted to be a scientist. The congregation indulged me for a long time, but then they betrayed me when I had the chance to follow my dream.”
“How?”
“When I was offered full-time work at Villemont Industrial Labs, I jumped at the chance, even though it meant leaving school. The pay was higher than I’d ever be able to make in academia, anyway. But the rest of the congregation wouldn’t stand for it.”
“Why not?”
“They don’t like Villemont or his business practices. They hate pretty much anything associated with big business. They consider him an enemy of the bayou, and they wouldn’t allow me to work for him.”
“You got around that somehow, I take it.”
“Sort of.” Georgina started to cry again. “When I told them they couldn’t force me to refuse the offer, things just went crazy. They decided to banish me from the congregation. By choosing to follow my dreams, I had become their enemy. Our voodoo queen performed a ritual that spiritually severed me from the congregation, making it possible for me to leave without dying. Then they packed my things and sent me away. I’ve been on my own ever since. And it kills me every day. I mean, you have to understand that it physically hurts to be cut off. Much of the pain has subsided, but I still feel it. And I miss them. I miss my mom and dad and having a strong community. I also lost my powers. I can’t shift. I can’t heal from injuries quickly. I lost everything that made me special.”
Rose, Charlotte - Bayou Flood [The Shifters of Alligator Bend 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 4