Page 88 of Cry of the Firebird

"Yeah, but you more than just like him. I can tell," Honaw teased, toying with her ponytail. She battered his hand away.

"And what about you? How's your love life going?" she counted, making Chayton laugh and Honaw grumble.

"None of your business."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Katya said, pulling into Trajan's driveway and the underground garage. The Twins climbed out and looked around with wide eyes and drooling mouths.

"Hey, Honaw, I think we need to make friends with these supes," Chayton said as he studied an incredibly beautiful Rolls Royce.

"Come on, you two, you can look at pretty cars later." Katya took both their hands and pulled them into the elevator. She remembered the trip she had in there with Izrayl and grinned. Thevolk krovisure could kiss.

"I see that smile, and it usually means trouble." Chayton gave her hand a squeeze.

"And you haven't even met him yet." The elevator door opened, and they were flooded with the warm, sweet smell of frying pancakes. "By the smell of things, he's cooking breakfast."

"No wonder you are in love with him. He's replacing Aleksandra with the prestigious position of keeping you well fed," Chayton said.

A dreamy look passed over Honaw's face. "Oh, Aleksandra, she can cook a meal so good it will make a man weep."

"Sounds like you weren't just sighing over her cooking. Don't be getting mushy ideas about her, or I'll have to kick your ass like last time," she warned.

Katya followed her nose to the kitchen and pushed open the door. Izrayl stood in front of the stove, dressed only in a pair of jeans, cooking breakfast. Butterflies and lust exploded in her stomach as he turned and grinned at her.

"Good morning," he said with a welcoming smile. Katya's gaze lingered along the smooth pelvic grooves, which disappeared under his loose jeans. She knew where they led and wanted to visit again.

"Boys, this is Izrayl. Izrayl, this is Honaw and Chayton," she managed to stammer out.

"The wolf," they said together. Honaw offered Izrayl his hand, and Izrayl shook it.

"That's me. I thought you would be hungry after such a shitty flight," Izrayl replied.

"Honaw is always hungry. Don't worry about that."

Katya's glance started to linger over Izrayl's mouth, and she quickly snapped her attention to the pile of pancakes he had cooked.

"I'm starving," she said loudly. She hustled the Twins to sit, and she set them up with plates and toppings. Katya did her best to ignore Izrayl as she brewed them all strong coffee. He disappeared out of the kitchen for a few moments, returningwith a black singlet on. She wouldn't have been able to say why, but that was worse than having his skin bare. Izrayl brought the food over and sat next to her, his knee lightly brushing hers.

"Did I tell you Isabelle Blackwood is in town?" Katya asked the brothers. Both stopped eating at the same time and gave her identical stares.

"Seriously?" they synced.

"We went with her on a job last night. A really fucked up one too. We could use her help with what's going on with Anya and Yvan and the Darkness trying to find us."

"You want to be careful she doesn't make things worse for you. That girl draws trouble like ants to honey, and the Illumination still have a hefty bounty on her," Chayton said and placed a hand over Katya's. "Are you sure you are in that much trouble you would want to risk it?"

"We need her. She has more of an idea of what is going on currently with the Illumination and the Darkness. You know she's obsessed with keeping close tabs on both," Katya replied.

"Only so she can stay out of their way," Honaw argued. "She's not going to want to get into a head-on conflict with them."

"She might after last night. It was beyond fucked up. They have been experimenting on people with magical bloodlines and left the bodies there to die slowly from their transmutation experiments," Katya said, unable to get the strange pain-filled creatures from her mind. She stabbed a piece of bacon. "I don't know if the Darkness is planning something big or just want to increase their numbers. Isabelle has been looking into it, so she's supposed to drop in sometime today."

The Twins had one of their silent conversions with each other consisting of frowns, expressive eyebrows, and a grunt from Honaw.

"What? What have you seen?" Katya demanded.

"War, but we can't see when it kicks off. I hope you know what you are doing. I love Isabelle, but you know she doesn't play well with others," Honaw said.

"She certainly gave the impression of someone you'd want to avoid in a bright alley, let alone a dark one," Izrayl commented. "She isn't all human, that's for sure."

---