Page 17

17. Eau de Diabolique

Gemma

The black SUV pulled into the parking lot and Spin all but fell out of it the second it stopped moving. For someone who was usually in constant motion, he must have felt tortured to be cooped up in a vehicle for hours. The two other guys were a little slower getting out, and I bounced on my toes in anticipation.

Before he’d left, Clem had said one of the newcomers was a warrior and the other a healer, and I wanted to try to guess who had which power just by looking at them. It was a harmless little amusement, but turned out to be too easy.

The tallest people of my acquaintance were Kerry and John, who seemed to have engaged in a growing contest since Christmas. I’d seen a few people around the Sanctuary who were about John’s six foot three, but none that surpassed Kerry’s six foot six.

This guy did - and by at least three, maybe four, inches. I’d never seen, let alone met, anyone that tall in my life. He was wider and broader than Kerry, too, with bulky muscles that even his heavy coat couldn’t hide. His hair was silvery blond, his eyes chips of blue ice, and his mouth a taut line in a rock-hard, square jaw.

Warrior. No doubt about it. I sighed. Bet he doesn’t have a sense of humor, either. Maybe it’s a requirement for the class.

Then the second guy came into my line of sight, and my jaw dropped.

He was about as tall as Travis, and had a fit build like Jax, but he was in his own category of gorgeous. His eyes were violet - I mean, like Liz Taylor violet - and his sharp jawline was shadowed by a close-cropped beard. The top of his long black hair was tied back in a man-bun, a style I’d never much liked until I saw it on this guy. It made me immediately conscious that my hair was unwashed and probably sliding out of the braid I’d put it into hours ago.

He could be a model. Any fashion house in the world would want him.

“Hey, sweetheart!” Spin jogged over. “We meet again.”

Smiling, I opened my mouth to say hello, but my nose was suddenly squashed against Kerry’s back. He’d moved so quickly that I’d only caught a blur of motion. His big hands fisted up at his sides and tension thrummed through him. Rolling my eyes, I peered around him and saw Spin raising his hands in a gesture of peace.

“Don’t worry, Kerry.” He grinned. “I’ll behave myself this time.”

The enormous blond blurred over to stand in front of Spin, which put him far too close. I tried to slide around and get between them, but Kerry stretched out one long arm and blocked me.

“Back down or throw down,” the blond snapped.

Of course, Kerry responded with that low growl deep in his chest. I knew without even looking that he was wearing his just-bring-it grin.

“Chill, Rome!” Spin laughed. “It’s my fault. I can’t help pushing his buttons. It’s so easy to do.”

“Um, hello?” I ducked under Kerry’s elbow in an attempt to make eye contact with Mr. Enormous. “Please move back. It’s only making him worse.”

Rome either was ignoring me or couldn’t hear me over his own growling.

Uh-oh. We’re in trouble. This is going to go downhill fast.

“Better keep your boy on a leash this time,” Kerry warned.

“Better keep yourself on one, demon taint.”

“I may be tainted, but I’m not stupid enough to mistake no for yes, please.”

“Stupid enough to not understand a joke.”

As they spat insults at each other, I laid my forehead on Kerry’s back, slid my hands under his coat, and pressed my palms against his flat stomach. I hoped it would help him to calm down, but knew within half a second that wasn’t going to happen. He quivered like a tiger that had sighted a deer and was preparing to leap.

Since my touch was preventing him from calling up his power, I hung on.

“Is forcing someone to do something a joke?” he barked.

“He wasn’t going to do anything to her!” Rome barked back. “Did the demon rot your brain as well as your soul?”

“Rotted and gutted all of me. What’s your excuse?”

“I don’t need an excuse to put down a rabid dog.”

When Kerry’s body went rigid under my hands, my heart sank. Any second now, he was going to cut loose all over Rome. I didn’t want to put him to sleep, but this couldn’t end in bloodshed, either.

“He’s an ally, Kerry.” I squeezed him. “A friendly.”

“Dude,” Spin also tried again. “Seriously, chill!”

“You’re reacting to the taint, Rome.” I figured that the unfamiliar voice was the pretty guy. “Clem warned you, remember?”

Neither of them heard us.

“Come at me, demon taint, if you got the balls.”

“Don’t make me show you what I’m best at.”

“All right, you two,” Jax cut in. “Enough.”

I sighed in relief as his power engulfed us in an orange cloud.

“Quit being a Neanderthal, Kerry,” he scolded. “No one’s going to hurt her, okay? And Rome, Kerry needs a lot of personal space, so move back, please. Yeah, that’s good. Thanks.”

Kerry relaxed. A fraction.

“We don’t know you and you don’t know us,” Jax continued, “but you two snarling at each other like grizzlies the whole time isn’t going to work, so let’s set up some ground rules. For our part, some of us are pretty damaged. Possessed, enthralled, abused, well, let’s just say we have issues. So if you three could keep your physical distance until we get used to you, that would be appreciated. What do you need from us in return?”

“I won’t tolerate any threat to Spin or Chance,” Rome snapped. “Even if Spin does deserve it half the time. We lost a team member last year. I will not lose another, and especially not to friendly fire.”

“Understood, and I’m sorry,” Jax said. “That must have been rough.”

“It’s not helping that the taint stirs up his killing vibe.” Spin sounded like he was grinning, which was probably not wise at the moment. Then again, it was Spin. “He’s not used to letting anything wearing Eau de Diabolique exist for long.”

“Makes sense for a warrior. Travis,” Jax pointed to him, “has some, too, from being enthralled, but Kerry says it’s nearly gone now. By the way, my name’s Jax. I’m a wrangler. Obviously.”

Tuning out the rest of the introductions, I unwrapped myself from Kerry’s back and slid around to his front. He didn’t try to block me this time, even though Rome was still only a few feet away, and I took that as a good sign.

Humming softly, I framed his glowering face with my hands and tilted it toward mine. It took a few seconds for his eyes to swivel down, and I waited a few more until I could tell he was actually seeing me. Within a minute, he was calm enough to talk.

“Neanderthal?” he murmured.

“Caveman.”

“Caveman?”

“Yes.” I ran my eyes over him in pretend-assessment. “You know, you probably would’ve been a great caveman. Hunt, kill, make fire, eat, carry woman off to cave. Repeat next day.”

He blinked, his eyes solemn, and I was afraid the humor would pass him by. Then a huge grin spread across his face, making the tightness in my chest evaporate like dew in the sun.

“I definitely like the ‘carry woman off to cave’ part.” His eyes sparkled with mischief.

Suspicious, I took a step back, but wasn’t quick enough. He threw me over his shoulder and started walking. Stunned, I hung down his back and scrambled to find something to hold on to. The ground was a long way away.

“Don’t you dare drop me!” I warned him.

The arm that was locked above my knees tightened a little.

“Don’t worry, angel. I ain’t gonna drop you.”

“Where are you going, Kerry?” Gigi called out.

“Caveman find cave,” he called back.

“Check for bears first, caveman!” There was no mistaking the laughter in Tara’s voice.

Oh, dear.

“We’re at a hotel, and we call caves rooms now!” Travis chimed in, curse him.

“Yeah, caveman, get a room!” Spin hollered.

“You know they’ll torment you about this, right?” I sighed.

He shrugged his other shoulder.

“Doesn’t matter. I got you where I want you. Well, sorta. I can’t kiss you like this, but I have other things to entertain me.” He patted my bottom with his free hand.

“Kerry Harker!” My face burned.

He stopped walking and relaxed his arms, and I slid down his chest until we were face to face. I slid my fingers into the hair at the base of his neck as his hands locked together at the back of my thighs.

“Should I say sorry?” he asked.

“To me, or to Rome?”

“Do I need to apologize to you?” His eyebrows drew together. “Did I offend you or hurt your feelings by patting your, uh, backside?”

“I was startled, but no,” I admitted, and my cheeks burned. “No one’s ever—”

“You think I don’t know that?” The good side of his mouth quirked up.

“What about apologizing to Rome?”

“He started it!” he grumbled. Then his deep voice dropped and his whole face softened. “But I’d do it for you, angel.”

Loving this boy was so easy. Sure, dealing with his brokenness was exhausting and filled each day with stretched nerves and near tragedies, but loving him was as easy as breathing.

How he could trust enough to love me continued to shock the healer in me. He shouldn’t be able to do it. After what he’d endured, and for as long as he had, he should still be hidden behind a self-protective wall. Instead, he’d stepped out from behind it months ago to tell me he liked me, knowing he risked humiliation or rejection.

What raw courage that must have taken.

“Well?” he demanded. “Should I apologize to him or not?”

“Oh, why bother? You won’t mean it.”

When I smiled, his eyes dropped to my mouth. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who was very aware that we’d finally started kissing.

“Can the others still see us?” I whispered.

“Who cares?”

Then his lips were on mine and, yeah, who cared?

#

Kerry

Since we were all kitted up for backpacking, Rome suggested we hike some famous trail that ran from Maine to Georgia. He said we could drive back to the mountains in a coupla hours and hike as far south as we needed or wanted to go. There were towns along the way to restock, few to no hikers would be this far north at this time of year, and there was no risk of running into human police.

Hiking in the snow wasn’t anyone’s idea of a good time, but we wanted to stay as far from people as possible. Sure, they couldn’t see our power or Diabolical creatures in their true forms, but they would notice a battle going on around them.Well, probably. They could be oblivious, not to mention fragile.

So, even though I wasn’t sure I liked him too much, I decided to take Rome’s advice. He had years more experience and formal training. Plus, Clem trusted him, so I decided I could, too.

For now, at least.