Page 2 of Help Wanted, Vampires Inquire Within (Ours Evermore #6)

“You’re the one who doesn't understand,” he countered, pulling her to the front of the truck, then pushing her out the door. “I’ve got one more stop before I get to go home and sleep until my second job starts. I don’t have time for some college students playing stupid games.”

She stumbled into the street and saw the durmin ahead. For a second, she thought her luck had changed. They were all facing away, and she might be able to make her escape.

The truck driver leaned out of his window. “Come get your girl, and all of you go sleep it off. Too much partying and not enough studying! None of you know how lucky you are!”

The durmin all turned at once as the truck made a U-turn behind her and drove away. She wasted precious seconds looking around for the best direction to run when the sound of massive wings beating the air made her look up.

Mason, in his gargoyle form, was swooping down.

She thought he was going to land between her and the durmin, but instead he grabbed hold of her and beat his wings hard to gain altitude.

She wrapped her arms and legs around him, equal parts thrilled and terrified as they went higher.

Once they could clear the nearby buildings, he winged around in a graceful arch.

His gargoyle body was much harder than his human form, but still warm to the touch. His powerful arms held her tight against his chest, and she knew even if she let go, she was safe from falling.

Soon, he slowed and descended a little to land on a familiar roof. Anatoly tried to make the space comfortable for Skyler when everyone realized that leaving the building was dangerous. The furniture and the table with a built-in fire pit was nice, but it wasn’t enough to keep a nymph happy.

No matter how comfortable the space was, separating her further from the earth wasn’t going to go over well.

He stopped after a few running steps. She expected him to carry her down the stairs to the studio apartment they shared, but instead, he set her down and stepped back, his expression furious.

“What were you thinking?”

She shrank back. This was the first time Mason had turned his anger on her.

She didn’t think he’d hurt her, but seeing him this enraged was intimidating.

Especially since he was still in his eight-foot, massive gargoyle form with sharp teeth, a long tail, and wings extending far out on either side of him.

“Don’t act like that, I’m not going to hit you,” he grumbled.

The tension in his face eased. He folded back his wings and rubbed his face with both hands.

As he did that, his form shifted back to human.

He was naked, and she forced herself to keep her eyes focused on his face.

This wasn’t the first time she’d seen Mason naked, but it was a struggle every time.

The man was gorgeous, and the meat hanging between his legs was proportionate to the rest of him.

Nymphs were earthy creatures and loved nothing more than a little sex magic, but he’d never shown any interest, and she didn’t go after unwilling partners.

With a deep sigh, he dropped his arms to his sides.

“Look, I’m sorry I yelled, but you can’t put yourself in danger like that.

If McConnell gets a hold of you, he’ll force a soul bond on you.

If that happens, you’re stuck. Breaking soul bonds is dangerous and half the time, it kills everyone involved! ”

“I’m sorry,” she said, wishing she could say more. She’d been dumb to think the daylight would keep her safe. She knew McConnell’s human and those durmin copies were out there waiting for a chance to grab her, but she’d ignored the danger.

“I’m an idiot,” she said, dropping her faceinto her hands.

“We can keep the area around this buildingsafe, but no further than a few yards at most. You were almost a mile away!”

She nodded her head, face still hidden behindher hands. “I know. But I needed the outside.”

There was a moment of silence. When she liftedher face enough for her eyes to see over her fingertips, it was to find Masonstaring at her with a puzzled expression.

“You needed the outside?”

He didn’t know?

“I’m a nymph,” she reminded him, pulling herhands away from her face completely.

“I know you’re a nymph, that’s why we went toall the effort to give you this space on the roof,” he said, gesturing around tothe furniture.

“It’s very nice, but—"

“No, Skyler. There’s no excuse!” Hisexpression turned thunderous. “If the roof wasn’t good enough then I could’vetaken you where you wanted to go. Why didn’t you wake me up? You had to steparound me to go out the apartment door. I was right there!”

Skyler bit her lip, unsure how to explain bothher sense of guilt about Mason’s protection and her attraction to him.

She opened her mouth to try to explain and apologizeagain but Mason shook his head.

“No, Ican’t hear this right now. Whatever you’re going to tell me can’t possibly be agood enough reason to put yourself in that much danger.” He pointed to the doorto the stairwell. “Go downstairs. Don’t leave the building. I’ll be backtonight."

With that, he turned and shifted at the sametime. Jumping up on the waist-high wall running the perimeter of the roof, hespread his wings and leapt into the air.

She watched his powerful body flying away. Shepitied all the humans down below that couldn’t see him because of the specialmagic gargoyles possessed. Unless they interacted with him directly, they werebasically blind to his existence, even if he flew only a few feet above theirheads.

“I see you,” she whispered,even after he’d completely disappeared. “And I love you.”