Page 28 of Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie

My head snapped his direction. “Get us out of here? How do you plan on doing that while trapped inside that metal cage?”

Phlox stood, stretching his slender arms above his head and arching his back. His wings fluttered and he lifted off the cage bottom as far as the confines allowed.

“I’m not a typical pixie,” Phlox said with a mischievous grin.

A lesser vampire would have rolled their eyes. “So you say. I still fail to see how you plan on getting out of your confinement.”

Phlox rolled his shoulders while his gaze skimmed over the bars. “Why do other species always underestimate pixies?” He shook his head, his ombre hair floating around his shoulders. Despite the circumstances, I was entranced. Phlox was stunning. Ignoring my burning skin, I soaked him in like a human dying of thirst lusting after an oasis. Given how long it had been since I’d fed, the analogy hit far too close to home.

“First things first. Time to get out of here. I was waiting for you to wake up.”

“I don’t see how—” The words died on my lips. Phlox’s body changed, decreasing in size, shrinking in on itself. His marvelous wings disappeared along with his flowing hair. The air around his body shimmered and when that shimmer died, a small feline was left.

My mouth dropped open, my eyes shot wide. “Phlox,” I whispered and got a guttural mew in answer.

Sitting on that cold stone floor, I watched Phlox walk up to the metal bars. Their spacing was meant to keep a pixie inside, not an eight-pound cat. Wiggling through, Phlox easily came out the other side. Shaking his plush fur out, Phlox padded my way.

The closer he got, the more stunning he looked. Phlox’s fur was gray with hints of ochre and reddish hues. His head was round and full with small, curved ears. Phlox’s tail whipped around, a dense appendage ringed with narrow black bands interspersed with gray, the tip black.

Crawling onto my lap, Phlox’s eyes were pure yellow, his pupils circular instead of slit like a typical feline.

The more I gazed at him, the more I realized Phlox’s shifter form wasn’t a typical house cat. While I wasn’t certain what he was, that much was clear. What was also clear were the claws kneading my chest.

“You’re stunning,” I said in a hallowed whisper. Those words earned me a hearty purr and a rough tongue swipe along my jaw. Phlox was considerate and stuck to the side of my face that wasn’t sun scorched.

Another shimmer of light and I had a lap full of pixie.

“Bet you didn’t expect that,” Phlox said smugly.

“No. Not that,” I easily agreed. “I’ve never heard of a pixie-shifter before.”

Phlox shrugged as if it weren’t important. “Not sure if there are any others. You told me I was unique. I guess you just didn’t know how right you were.” Glancing off to the side, Phlox’s wings fluttered. He looked nervous and sounded unsure when he asked, “Is it okay? I know it’s a little…different.”

I hated my shackled arms more than ever. “Free me of these restraints and I’ll show you just howokayI think you are.”

Phlox’s grin lit his face. “You got it.” Holding up his right hand, Phlox raised his index finger and flicked out a single claw. “Partial shifting has its benefits. One of the first things I learned when I became an agent was how to pick a lock. Magical or not, I’ve got this.”

One by one, my shackles fell, slipping away and falling to the ground with an unceremonious clang. The itchy feel of foreign magic fell with them.

“Better?” Phlox asked hopefully.

In answer, I wrapped my arms around the amazing pixie I planned on making my own. “Better,” I agreed before tasting his lips. Phlox melded perfectly with my body. Knees on either side of my hips, Phlox plastered our chests together. I ignored the stinging pain radiating from where our lips touched. My scorched skin wasn’t nearly as happy as the rest of me.

Finally pulling away, Phlox rested his forehead against mine. “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. It was just supposed to be me.”

Rubbing my hands up and down his arms, I whispered, “I’m not sorry. I couldn’t fathom the idea of you being taken. If you were gone and I had no idea where you were…” I couldn’t finish that thought, let alone sentence. Most likely Lucroy would need to take drastic measures if that were to happen.

Phlox sighed and pulled away. His gaze was stern with a little V formation between them. “That’s all well and good, but we’ve got a problem.”

“Just one?” I questioned, raising a single eyebrow.

“One that’s bigger than the others. Like I said, you weren’t part of the plan, and believe it or not, there was a plan.” Phlox blew out a breath that sounded like a raspberry. “And it’s not just my plan blown to pieces. Oxley and Sylvie didn’t expect you either.”

“Oxley?”

“The troll. Anyway, the point is, they don’t know what to do with you either, but they’ve got ideas.” Phlox filled me in on what he’d heard. “They haven’t been back since dumping us in here, so I don’t know what they’ve decided about you.” Phlox sniffed and raised his chin. “Really, the service here is deplorable. They didn’t even offer me a glass of water. Not that I would have drank it if they had. Sylvie’s already threatened to drug me a couple of times.”

This time, my teeth extended, and my eyes tingled letting me know they’d flooded in crimson.

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