Page 68 of Changeling (The Incubus Saga #2)

Sasha chuckled and leaned his head back to enjoy the rain like he was sunbathing. “Us and the fuse box. Thing was so old it totally blew. Whole place went up in seconds. Man , that was a rush.” There were fangs in his smile.

A knot formed in Nathan’s stomach. “All that…evil…dark energy…went into you ?”

Jim and Sasha looked at him at the exact same moment, their expressions intent.

Then they reached for him and there wasn’t any time.

Nathan only had one weapon on him now and he went for it, pulling out his ankle blade and brandishing it out in front of him.

He knew he could never use it but he didn’t know what else to do.

The intent expressions on Jim and Sasha’s faces immediately broke and what Nathan read on them wasn’t malice. It was concern. Shame.

“Nathan,” Jim said first, his eyes drooping at their edges, “it’s us. It’s just the energy. Sure, it’s intense but…it’s not evil.”

“Power’s just power,” Sasha added, both of them up on their knees facing Nathan. “Oh, god, Nate, I’m sorry. It’s a crazy high, I’ll admit, but we’re still us, I swear. We didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You have to believe us.”

“Please.”

“ Stop ,” Nathan held up his free hand. “Just…just stop.”

He stared hard at both of them, at the way their eyes pulled down all puppy-like even though they were slit amber and red and still crackling.

As he watched, trying to sort out if he believed them or not, Jim closed his eyes and slowly the sparks of electricity faded until they were gone.

He opened them again to reveal dark blue that just tore into Nathan.

A moment later, Sasha had managed the same.

Nathan knew that the energy, the power, was still in them, but they held him with their collective gaze and Nathan had no choice.

His arm dropped.

“Don’t ever fucking scare me like that again,” he said, scrubbing his face even though it really didn’t do much to help with the rain. “Energy high? You big freaks, what the hell am I gonna do with you?”

Jim and Sasha laughed again—giddy.

“This is gonna wear off, right?” Nathan re-sheathed his ankle blade, finally relaxing.

Jim nodded. “It’ll wear off. Twenty-four hours probably.”

“Awesome. Can we get the Hell out of here then?” Nathan said, nodding up the slope. “That fire’s bound to bring someone.”

Sasha and Jim quickly agreed and they all got to their feet. It became immediately apparent that the energy surging through Nathan’s companions was something they both wanted to burn.

“We gotta do something,” Jim practically bounced. “I’d say we shouldn’t let this extra power go to waste, but that was literally every sidhe in the tri-state area. And believe me, I know.” He closed his eyes a moment. “My radius is a lot bigger right now.”

Nathan couldn’t help the grin that grew on his face. “You want to go out? Like hit the town for some well-earned fun kind of going out? You ?”

Sasha giggled.

Jim—somehow managing it while he was still smiling—scowled. “Yes, me . What, I can’t want fun? Isn’t that something you would suggest about now?”

“Well yeah. But then you’re supposed to shoot me down and say that we have to turn in early so we can get up and head out first thing to track down our next batch of sidhe.”

“And we should,” Jim nodded, “the leaving first thing, thing anyway. Nothing’s more important to me, Nathan, than saving you. You know that,” he said perfectly serious. Then his large grin quirked up again. “But as for tonight…”

Sasha whooped up at the sky, slapping both Jim and Nathan on the backs with wet slopping noises that made Nathan feel even squishier. He had to smile though. They all did.

“Do you realize how many sidhe we’ve gotten rid of already?” Sasha grinned, “I mean, holy shit, guys, it’s crazy. Nathan…we can totally do this.” The hand on Nathan’s back moved to his face, holding it with wet on wet skin.

“Yeah…I think we can. So, what’s this night on the town going to entail?”

Jim looked honestly thoughtful but Sasha’s mouth opened with promise. Then his cell phone went off with a loud exclamation of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.”

Jim barked another laugh while Sasha moved to answer the call, trying unsuccessfully to shield his phone from the rain.

“Yeah?” He listened for a moment. “Cam! Hey, what’s up? Uh, standing in the pouring rain covered in mud, actually.” He laughed again and gave Nathan’s arm a good smack. “No, not in a kinky way. You in town?” Sasha had been keeping his friend posted on where they were.

While Sasha and Cam talked, Nathan turned his eyes on his brother, who was trying to flick some of the mud off his clothing.

They would all need a shower before any ‘outing’ was to be had.

And then suddenly one good fling sent a gob of mud from Jim’s sleeve right at Nathan’s neck.

It oozed down underneath Nathan’s collar, reminding him of how gross he felt. He tossed Jim a glare.

Jim, of course, snickered.

‘I will end you,’ Nathan mouthed.

Jim eyed Nathan with the most insufferable look. It said ‘bring it’ loud and clear and Nathan was so ready to get dirty. He reached down and scooped up a handful of mud. Jim did the same.

“Guys!” Sasha yelled.

But it was too late. Nathan let loose with a good fling and so did Jim, both of them managing fairly direct shots to the face.

Nathan didn’t wait for Jim to reload. He dove forward and brought Jim down hard into the mud.

Jim was bigger and stronger, but he was also something like drunk or high and was not at his best. He just barely grabbed hold of enough mud to smash up into Nathan’s face again.

Nathan didn’t care though. He had hold of Jim and was soon giving his brother a good old fashioned mud face-wash.

“You are so dead!” Jim laughed as he lashed back at Nathan, knocking him to the side and then pouncing after him with his face and hair totally covered.

Nathan tried to crawl out of Jim’s reach but Jim grabbed quickly onto his thighs to hold him.

He scooped up another gob of mud and hurled it point blank into Nathan’s face.

Nathan laughed so hard he got some of the mud in his mouth and had to spit before he could regroup. When he did it was to tackle Jim back again until they were honestly wrestling in the mud like ten-year-olds.

“Guys!” Sasha called again, this time actually insistent even though he was laughing so hard there may have been tears streaming down his face if not for the rain.

Jim and Nathan obeyed, stopping their mud fight long enough to look up.

“Cam’s not here, but he wanted us to know that Eppy and Atty are ,” Sasha said. “They told him they’d meet us later at this place in town if we’re game. Guess they’ve been waiting for the chance to hook up. It’s perfect. If anyone knows how to live it up, it’s the twins.”

Normally, Nathan would have made his utterance alone, but it was further proof that Jim was buzzing from that energy high because both of them responded with the same toned, same hopeful sounding prompt of, “Twins?”

There were few things that could best the fun of having a mud fight with his brother.

Washing the mud off of his body with his boyfriend in the shower was definitely one of them.

Nathan loved an aggressive Sasha. Whatever that surge of dark energy was doing to his companions, fervor was a prominent part of the package. And stamina, it would seem.

Nathan was still half covered in mud, gasping back against the tiled wall while Sasha gripped him hard and ran eager hands down the contours of his stomach, making him quiver.

But despite the energy surge currently making Sasha forget they had been estranged the past couple of weeks, Nathan thought about what Jim had told him at the barn. He leaned back against Sasha under the spray of hot water.

“You know…I never signed up for this break we’ve been on, this sleeping next to each other instead of with each other thing.” He felt Sasha’s hand still and slide up to his stomach. “I figured you were…mad I didn’t let the change happen all the way.”

“What? No, Nate, I…of course I’m not mad about that. I thought…” Sasha’s arms wrapped around Nathan’s waist and held him tightly. “I thought you were mad at me for almost getting Jim killed.”

Nathan’s hand instinctively came up to scrub down his face. He turned in Sasha’s hold. “Baby…you didn’t almost get Jim killed. And neither did I. It was that Malak bastard lording his power over us, shoving it in our faces that he owns me. You didn’t know that was gonna happen.”

“But you looked so…relieved when the change didn’t take. The things you said to Malak, I thought…you had to have meant them.”

“I…did mean them,” Nathan admitted, hanging on firm to that blue gaze, “and I was relieved. I wasn’t ready for all that, Sasha.

Forever’s such a crazy word for me. I’d never want it to happen just for me to regret it later.

Because I never want to hurt you like that. Which I realize now I’ve done anyway…”

Sasha’s arms came up to wrap around Nathan’s body again, holding him close. His words were tentative but hopeful. “Do you still want to be with me, Nathan?”

“I don’t know if I want to be an incubus,” Nathan answered quickly, “but I got caught up in the moment that night because the moment was there, because it’s always right here, tugging me closer to you.

I can’t imagine life without you now. I don’t want to.

I want to be with you. I only got a couple weeks left, baby, I want to be with you every second. If I make it past that…then…”

“It’s okay, Nate. I got caught up in it all too. It just…scared me so much what happened to Jim. And then meeting Malak and seeing the power he had. I was afraid to…touch you again. Like I carried the kiss of death or something.” He tried to laugh but the sound came out broken.

Nathan grinned a little crookedly as he said, “Do you think maybe we could skip all this…and get back to the making up part?”

Sasha laughed again, far more genuine and sweet. “I’m sorry I’m an idiot,” he said, squeezing the back of Nathan’s neck as he held it.

“We deserve awards for it or something,” Nathan chuckled. He was already leaning in.

Kisses came so naturally for them, whether a soft and simple pressing of lips like right then, or deep and possessive the way the kiss became, with the spray of water tumbling over Sasha’s shoulders and between their chests.

The feel of Sasha’s tongue sent a jolt through Nathan’s body and he realized how much he had missed the redhead the past two weeks.

There was no need to ease back in, to take things slow and draw out reconciliation. Nathan didn’t have time for that.

Time, in fact, slipped away from them quickly even when they thought there was plenty of it. As their wet kiss continued and hands started to stray again, Nathan and Sasha both hard between their bodies, a knock sounded on the bathroom door.

There was laughter in Jim’s voice as he called, “Hey, no time for that! It’s already late! Come on, you two!”

There was no power in the words so Sasha didn’t immediately listen, chuckling darkly as he continued his assault and the mapping of Nathan’s body with his fingers.

Nathan was the one to pull away finally because he didn’t like knowing Jim was just outside the door, not when this energy surge made both brother and lover so unpredictable.

Hell, Nathan wouldn’t put it past Jim to walk right in and haul their naked asses out of the shower.

“Incubus…back in the box,” Nathan gasped and patted Sasha’s chest. “Later,” he promised, looking forward to that more than he could say.

It was when Nathan went out to start the car, waiting on Sasha to finish getting ready and for Jim to follow out after him that Walter appeared. Nathan leaned back in the driver’s seat to regard his Spirit Guide next to him.

“Changeling power is the most concentrated, Nathan, aside from the highest level sidhe. That Blue Man was still an underling. It seemed…not powerful enough to banish me.”

Nathan nodded, pleased Walter understood his question before he had to voice it.

“Perhaps there will come a time when I will be able to appear to you in Jim’s presence again.

Perhaps soon… touch will take no more effort than it once did when I was alive.

” Walter accentuated the words by reaching cautiously toward Nathan and laying a hand gently on his shoulder.

He smiled at his success. “I only know that this is all part of what awaits you, Nathan, and whatever role I am meant to play in your destiny, I will be happy to do what I can. Malak is indeed powerful. You know who he truly is?”

“Yeah…no mistaking it anymore. He’s not just any dark sidhe lord—he’s king.”

“And yet I do believe you can beat him at his own game.” Walter flickered and his hand fell through Nathan. He pulled it back with a frown.

Jim and Sasha were almost to the car.

“Come what may, Walt, right?” Nathan grinned. “We got this.”

Walter nodded before fading completely. A moment later, Sasha got into the front and sat where the Spirit Guide had been. Jim slid into the back.

“Ready for a night on the town?” Nathan said as he shifted gears.

The twin grins that replied were answer enough.