Page 34 of Heir

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said, squeezing me tight, bringing the familiar scent of her lavender shampoo.

“Me?” I squeaked, not hugging her as tight as I would have liked because I just couldn’t risk hurting her again. “I’m the one that hurt you. Are you okay?”

We pulled away from each other, still hanging on though.

A voice cleared behind us. “Can we come in, please?” the vampire said with impatience.

I was beginning to really not like this guy.

Gemma and I stepped further into our loft, our sanctum sanctorum, as we called it. The bear, mage, and vampire followed, and the door shut.

“I’m okay,” Gemma said. “I took a couple of extra-strength Tylenol, but I’m okay. What happened though?”

“She can’t control her powers, and her anger triggered one of her powers. It nearly boiled your brain like soup in your skull,” the mage said, opening up our fridge and pulling out a sparkling water. He read the flavor, made a face, and put it back. “Eww, strawberry? Do you have any like . . . lime, or something citrus?”

I glared at him for a half-second. “I think there’s unflavored club soda in the back of the fridge, and a lemon in the crisper.”

He grinned at me and went to work.

“What happened to you?” Gemma asked me, taking my hand. “Are you okay? These three booked it out of here like you were in mortal danger. I’ve never seen men move that fast if it didn’t involve pizza, beer, or a blowjob.”

“I could go for some pizza right now,” the bear said. “May I borrow your phone again, please?”

“If you don’t have pockets for a phone, how do you have pockets for a wallet?” I asked him.

“I know my credit card number, expiration date, and CVC by heart.” He held out his meaty palm for my phone. “May I borrow it, please?”

This guy was so freaking polite it was impossible to say “no” to him. I reached into my back pocket and handed it to him.

“Thank you very much.” He wandered away, punching the screen with his giant fingers.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the mage in my kitchen, cutting up a lemon with a knife. He plunked the thin round slices into the glass with the club soda, then picked up the glass and put it on his left index finger. Suddenly, the water began to bubble and steam. He was boiling it right in front of our very eyes.

“That’s cool,” Gemma said. “Even if these guys are freaks of nature, that’s a cool party trick. He’s who you want when you’re out camping. No need for a propane stove. Just use the freak’s finger.”

“That’s Mr. Freak,” the mage said, taking a sip of his now-bubbling sparkling lemon water.

Gemma snickered.

“We don’t camp,” I said. “We don’t rough it.”

Gemma shrugged. “But if we ever did, we could just bring him along to cook up our baked beans straight in the can.”

That made me chuckle. She always knew how to bring me out of my funk and make me smile.

The vampire was sulking in the corner, sitting in the green velvet chair, staring at his phone.

I took a deep breath just as the bear returned and handed me my phone.

“Can we start from the beginning, please?”

They all nodded.

“Good. Because even though the three of you are starting to become less scary, don’t for one second think that means I’m going to let you all gang bang me so we can swap bodily fluids and powers. I might have had a dream where I was getting tag teamed by three guys, but that was a dream, and this, unfortunately, is real life. And I’m . . . way too freaking small to even consider such a thing.”

CHAPTER SIX

Zandren

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