by Sariah Skye
My eyes widened. “Good to…know?”
He laughed. “I guess outside might be better. At least you won’t crash into any walls,” he said with a wink.
I groaned. “Oh, that’s not comforting.”
He grinned. “Maybe Bash can find something more on the stealth power. It’s been years since any supe has been reported with your ability.”
“Someone else had this?”
He nodded. “Your father, assumedly.”
“Oh.” I said, crestfallen. “Well it’s not like it’ll be obvious he has it if he can remain hidden.”
Xander grinned. “True. Way to keep optimistic.”
I slumped back down on the ground, flailing my arms about as if I were throwing a child’s tantrum.
“Are you throwing a fit?” Xander asked with a smirk, looking rather amused.
“Yes!” I kicked my legs and banged my fists on the ground as I pouted. “Why can’t I figure this out!” I whined.
I heard him snicker behind me. “Do you need a spanking now?” I lifted my head, his smirk had turned mischievous.
I sat up, cocking a brow. “You offering?”
Xander let out a low whistle, and shook his head before darting towards me.
I let out a squeal and took off. The studio was large, but not that large. There weren’t too many places I could go, but behind the big, white columns that held up the ceiling. I ducked behind one across the room, but Xander was right there almost instantly. I took off for the other one, trying not to trip on the mats as I dashed. Xander was hot on my heels, and just as I reached it he was nearly there. Damn these boys and their long legs! There wasn’t much I could do, being 5’4 and short-legged, compared to his 5’11. He wasn’t as tall as Mathias or Trystan, but he was fast!
I ducked behind the column and made myself small. Honestly? I was half hoping he’d catch me, and deliver on that promise of a spanking. BDSM wasn’t my thing—I didn’t think. But the idea was suddenly intriguing. I really need to keep my head straight; these boys are messing me up! He never reached for me, though.
“Ava!” He called out, his voice sing-song. “Where did you go?”
I snickered, turning around; he was right behind me. “I’m right in front of your face.”
He shook his head. “Ava, I can’t see you. Somehow, you did it.”
I looked down at my hands, turning them over from back to front as the air around me shimmered gently. “I did?”
“Yes.” He gave me that sideways smirk that I just couldn’t resist. Before I could spin off and tear away, Xander grabbed at me, triumphantly grabbing my arm before I could peel away. He yanked me into his body, causing me to cry out in surprise. Instead of spanking me though, he began lightly tickling the small of my back.
And, I’m extremely ticklish.
I giggled uncontrollably, but managed to gasp out, “You’re not going to spank me?”
He clutched me closer, his fingers trailing up my sides. I let out another peal of ridiculous laughter. The closer he got to my armpits, the more I couldn’t take it, and I fell to the ground in a pile of annoying, girly giggles.
“No, Ava…I couldn’t really spank you. That’s demeaning,” he said, lowering himself to the side of me on the ground. He ceased the tickling, and his eyes were awash with something playful—something other than innocent tickling.
“Some people like it,” I said, trying to catch my breath. My face hurt from laughing so hard.
“Do you?” He asked.
“Don’t know,” I said with a shrug, letting out a little cough. Perhaps I needed to focus more on cardio—my stamina was shit.
“Ava—here’s the thing. If I touch your ass ever—it’s not going to hurt, I promise.” Xander declared, laying his face next to mine on the mat, his eyes hooding with lust gently.
I swallowed, my breathing hastening once again as he reached over, tracing the side of my face.
“Bloody hell, just what have the two of you been doing down here?” Trystan’s Scottish accent boomed as he trampled down the stairs into the studio.
I sat up quickly, smoothing out my rumpled t-shirt, and tossing my hair over my shoulder.
Xander had no shame though; he still laid, sprawled out on the studio floor. “Just magic practice.”
Trystan stood at the bottom stair in the entry, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head, with a slight smile on his face. “You sounded like a couple of bleating goats. ‘Magic practice,’ me arse…”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, so break time. What’s up?” I held out a hand to Xander, and assisted him into a sitting position.
“Well, I was coming to see if you wanted to come with me to the grounds still,” he said.
I looked at Xander expectantly, who just shrugged and motioned up the stairs. “I don’t think we’re going to get anything else accomplished here.”
“Sure then, what the hell? Screw work, I’m not getting anything accomplished there either.” Xander stood, and held out his hand to assist me up this time.
“Also…” Trystan let out a low sigh, which didn’t sound promising. “Bash found more on the web about the ‘fire’ last night.”
“Uh oh.”
“Aye. It’s not good. Another two missing supes,” Trystan shook his head, and looked at me with hesitation. As if he had something he didn’t want to say.
“Say it,” I urged him.
“Also, one missing human.” Trystan appeared distraught, as he shuffled his feet while leaning against the wall.
“Human?” Xander let out a low whistle. “Now, that is new.”
“Any idea who? What does that mean?” I demanded, my eyes darting back and forth between them.
“Let’s…go talk to Bash.” Trystan started up the stairs, but I reached out for his arm, pulling him back.
“What does it mean? Why tell me about the human? People go missing all the time!” I laughed uncertainly.
He and Xander exchanged a look over my head, and I knew at once what they were thinking.
I shoved past the brickhouse that was Trystan, and rushed up the stairs.
“Ava!” Trystan shouted after me, but I had a head start.
“I gotta get a hold of Summer!” I insisted, flinging open the door from the studio stairs, to the hallway on the main floor, as I made a mad dash for my bedroom upstairs.
Turning the corner, I barreled into something heavy, and strong that broke my sprint: Bash.
“Whoa, Ava!” He clutched my arms firmly, and I tried to squirm out of his grip.
“Gotta call Summer!” I insisted in a panic.
He glared at Trystan who was now behind me. “What did you go and work her up like that for, fucker?”
Trystan scowled. “Och, you were the one that said, ‘Shit, there’s a human missing now…better not tell Ava.’”
I narrowed my eyes at Bash. “What now?” I demanded.
Bash released me, throwing up his arms in the air. “I said not to tell you because I don’t know anything yet. All that the description says is it’s a brunette female. That could be literally anyone! Telling her will just get her needlessly worked up!”
“I am right here, Sebastian,” I said with severity, poking him with a finger right in the middle of his chest. “Don’t speak about me like I’m not here, or I’ll rip your balls off—”
Bash cringed, placing a hand over the vicinity of his “crotchal area”. “I know, I’m sorry. But I didn’t want to tell you—yet—until I had more information.”
Xander let out an exasperated sigh from behind me. “Ava, why not just go try to call your friend?”
“Exactly what I plan to do,” I said, storming down the hallway to the main living area and up to my bedroom, the three men in tow.
CHAPTER 27
“Shit!” I cried out. From down the stairs to the loft, I could hear my phone ringing off the hook. It was my generic, 1990s cordless phone ringer, indicating that it was a random caller, and not someon
e I had programmed into my phone. So, it wasn’t Summer, but…
I clamored up the stairs quickly, and practically dove for the phone that was ringing on the bed.
I swiped the screen and answered the unfamiliar number. “Hello?” I asked, panicked into the mouthpiece.
“Ava?” inquired a somewhat familiar voice from the other end that I couldn’t place. It wasn’t Summer, but she did sound like her. And then it clicked who she was.
“Mrs. Santiago?” I asked, surprised.
“Yes! Oh thank god I found your number again!” She said, her relieved sigh audible.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“I am sure it is, but I just wanted to know if you could tell my daughter to call me? I’ve been trying to get a hold of her for a few days to tell her I changed my number—I accidentally dropped the other in the toilet,” she said, with a snicker. “It was taking too long to transfer the number so I just made them change it for now.”
“You haven’t heard from her at all?”
“No. It’s not unusual for Summer to lose track of time of course, as you know,” she said, with a wry laugh. “But usually she texts me by now.”
“Um.” I didn’t want to tell her that there was currently a missing female out there, one that may or may not be Summer. I breathed out, Bash was probably right, I realized, when I thought of the idea of telling her mother that she might be missing. After all, I did just see her yesterday.
“What is it?” Summer’s mother asked, with renewed panic.
I glanced at Bash, Trystan, and Xander who were sitting now in random parts of my room: Bash at the corner of my bed, Xander nearby at the desk chair, and Trystan across the room, leaning against the wall. They were listening in on my conversation with interest. “Oh, nothing! I’m just not home right now,” I said with a light laugh. “Summer is with her work friends; they’ve been going clubbing quite a bit lately.”
I could practically hear Mrs. Santiago’s eyes roll. “Oh lord…I hope she’s staying away from that tequila. That one boy—Ian or whatever—at the salon she’s with half the time just loves to make drinks with it. She just can’t tolerate it.”
I snorted, with a grin she couldn’t see. “Yeah, I know. But I’ll keep trying to get a hold of her. I know it’s still early-ish for her, especially on a day off,” I said, glancing at the clock that read just after 2:00 PM. “She’s probably out shopping or raiding someone’s closet and ignoring her phone.”
Her mother chuckled. “Oh, probably. I know how she is, doesn’t want her good time to be dragged down by her old mother calling.”
“Right? Dang her…” We both laughed. “I just saw her last night and she was totally fine. But I’ll keep trying. I’ll call my mom too and see if she’s come home recently.”
“Oh thank you, Ava. Please call me back and let me know when you get a hold of her!”
“I will.” We said our good-byes and I disconnected the call. “Summer’s mother,” I said to them. “Apparently, she hasn’t called home in a few days.”
“Is that normal for her?” Bash asked.
I shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“But we just saw her…so now you see why I didn’t want to tell you yet and get you upset,” Bash said. He placed a comforting hand on my leg. I patted his hand in solidarity, offering an appreciative smile.
“I get it, even though she did say she was going to go to her mother’s last night…” I said. But it didn’t stop me from calling my friend. The line rang, and rang, but no one answered.
I did the unusual: I left her a voicemail. I know, unforgiveable this day and age, but this way she’d know I meant business. “Summer, it’s Avie. Please call me back as soon as possible. Your mom changed her number and is needing to give it to you. And, you were going to help us get into the Underground, and you disappeared. We never could find it. So please call me back, all right!?” I also texted her for good measure.
“Let me see if I can do some digging. I know she was in Uptown, but let’s see where she’s been going.” Bash excused himself for his Geek Central computer set up, after giving me a brief hug. “She’ll be fine, I promise.”
I nodded appreciatively.
Xander, Trystan, and I were left behind. I groaned, burying my face in the bed.
“What I want to know…” Xander began thoughtfully, “is why is a human coming up on the void web?”
“Because if they went missing at the same time as other supes, perhaps it had to do with supes?” Trystan suggested. “I dunno, really.”
“But who entered it in the database, though? Usually you don’t come up in a search, human or not, even if supes had something to do with it. Right?” Xander said, drumming his fingers on the desktop. He shook his head slowly. “Something really doesn’t add up here.”
Trystan grumbled. “Aye, I agree with ye. But let’s let Bash do his thing. You ready to help me out, lass?” He said directly to me.
I breathed out. “Yeah…might as well. Maybe it’ll help get my mind off this stuff with Summer.” I glanced at Xander, to see if the idea bothered him.
Xander smiled, motioning me out of the door. “Go, Ava—have fun. I’ll check on Bash and see what’s going on; see if I can hurry him up to find Summer.”
“Aww, thanks.” Against my better judgment I gave him a quick hug, and a kiss on the chin—that’s all I could reach. He seemed surprised as I left him behind in my room, looking bewildered as he touched the spot on his face my lips just touched.
“Xander’s taken quite a shine to ye,” Trystan said, as we trudged through the house, and down the stairs. We stopped at a front closet, and he pulled out two jackets in a quilted flannel pattern. “Hope ye don’t mind; I kind of have a thing for plaid.”
I took a red plaid jacket, with yellow and blue lines intersecting in square patterns. “Is this your Clan’s official…whatever you call it?”
“Tartan. And this is about as close as it gets, I s’pose,” he said. “A lot of the records of the official pattern are long gone, of course, but some places get close. These were just random ones I bought from the store that just happened to resemble it,” he said, with a laugh. “Figured, I had to have it.” He winked at me.
“I like it. Always liked red plaid. My mother used to have quite a bit of plaid, left over from her twenties in the 90s,” I said, rolling my eyes. “She outgrew her shirts and gave them to me. She had a couple like this.”
“Oh really? That’s cool.”
I put the jacket on over my t-shirt, and it came to the tops of my knees; the sleeves were too long also. But it was warm. I wrapped it tighter around myself and breathed in deeply; it smelled of Earth and a fresh breeze, with hints of a heady musk. Just like Trystan.
“Like it, eh?” He draped an arm around my shoulders after we put on our shoes—brown boots for him, my normal black sneakers for me—and we headed out to the property. The rain had slowed down quite a bit, but the clouds were ominous in the distance. A low rumble of thunder indicated that we didn’t have long before the storms moved in.
“Lots of rain this week. Weird,” I said, watching the clouds above shift and swirl.
“Eh, not really. We’re actually behind on rain this month, so it’s a good thing,” he said, eyeing the clouds ahead. “Nothing severe; just a wee little rumbler.”
I raised a brow. “Oh, you’re a meteorologist now?”
He smirked. “Aye, a little. I sort of got a good feel for the weather patterns and such when I could…” he trailed off, mid-thought, appearing wistful as he glanced upwards at the sky.
I frowned. “When you could shift?”
“Aye,” he nodded slowly. He stopped momentarily, and I followed suit; we were in the middle of a rather large clearing, a barn was in the distance. The same one I helped them in the other day. “There is nothing like flying, Ava. Nothing. It’s absolute freedom. It’s beautiful; if anyone had truly any idea how beautiful this world was…”
“But,
we’ve seen it from planes, right?” I said.
He shook his head quickly. “Oh no. Nothing like seeing through the eyes of an eagle,” he said, gesturing towards his eyes. “The colors are brighter as an eagle—more alive. It’s amazing.”
“I’m so sorry. When is the last time you could shift?” I questioned, reaching out to place a comforting hand on his chest.
He placed both of his over mine, and just squeezed. “Oh, years. Shortly after I was cursed, before I lost all my shifter energy. I had one rather…intense encounter with more than one woman.” His face turned crimson as he looked away. “Replaced a lot of my energy, and I was able to shift one last time. I could only fly for a few minutes, but…it felt good.”
I couldn’t say anything that would make him feel better, so I just allowed him the silence, to muse in the respective moment. Like a moment of silence for the dearly departed; although it wasn’t a person that died, it was half of himself. “I wish I could help.”
He smiled at me appreciatively, clasping my hand in his, and bringing it to his lips. “Thank ye, lass. I appreciate it. Really.”
I had a thought. “So…if an extreme encounter with a threesome—” I had to pause my words, so I didn’t visibly cringe. I know I had no reason to be bothered by his incubus past, but I still was. Of all of theirs. “—helped you, and a normal human doesn’t really cut it…what about an encounter with a cambion?”
The corners of his eyes crinkled, and his pupils dilated. “An encounter…with ye? And just what sort of encounter are ye thinking?” He closed the small distance between us, pulling me into his rigid form, and enveloped me in his arms.
The warmth of his stare was intense, and my instincts wanted to shy away, but I forced myself to hold it. I could feel my lids grow heavy with desire. “You know exactly what kind I mean,” I whispered breathily.
“Oh, bloody hell…” he muttered, his gaze just as hot as mine.
I stood on my tip toes, bringing my hands to his neck, and forcing his face down towards mine, where I sought his lips.
He moaned gently, and his tongue searched for mine. I allowed him to part my lips, and he deepened the kiss. I sighed deeply, and melted into him.