Page 7 of Ivory's Familiars

Vaughn laughed, clearly enjoying Seth’s discomfort as he draped an arm over his shoulders, “Hey now, it’s not like we can all smell like thunder and lightning.”

A sharp jab to Vaughn’s ribs only caused his arm to tighten as he brushed his head against Seth’s shoulder. Ronan heard a deep inhale and then a rumbling purr that served to stir up his own inner panther, “Don’t fight it, kitten. You smell sexy …” his tongue darted out to lick a long line up Seth’s neck, before nibbling on the flesh exposed behind his ear, “… youtastesexy.”

A squeak from behind them had him spinning to find Ivory standing in the doorway. Her eyes darted between them, lingering on Vaughn and Seth before she cleared her throat, looking pointedly away. Ronan frowned at her obvious discomfort. Did she have a problem with men being together? He was surprised how disappointed he was in her. Wondering why her opinions should matter to him so much on such short acquaintance, he almost missed Vaughn’s deep breath in. The satisfied purr that followed wasn’t loud enough to be perceived by human ears, but his panther heard it loud and clear.

What the hell?He wondered, shocked by Vaughn’s reaction. But then he smelt it; arousal, sharp and ripe permeated the air. And it was distinctly feminine. Out of all of them, Vaughn had the best sense of smell and had obviously picked up the scent before he or Seth.

Well, well, well, Ronan thought. Seemed his initial assumption about Ivory’s reaction had been wrong. Now, wasn’t that interesting?

CHAPTER SIX

Ivory took a deep breath, attempting to gain control of her rapidly beating heart. When she had entered, the two largest of the men had been wrapped around each other and it was all she could do not to lick her lips. Talk about a turn-on. She’d never really thought of herself as particularly kinky before and although she enjoyed the odd daydream about being pleasured by a harem of hot men, she had never entertained the possibility in real life. Well, she sure as shit was now! Vaughn had his arm wrapped around Seth and the bigger man had been leaning into him, clearly trusting in his lover’s strength to keep them both upright. Vaughn’s mouth had been at Seth’s neck and all she could think of was how she wanted to be in the middle of it all. Strong, masculine arms surrounding her, hard bodies pressing in from all sides as lips and tongues explored at their leisure …Sigh …

Quickly averting her eyes before any of the men noticed the lust lasering from them, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the wall … and sighed all over again. But this time, it was in resignation. She caught herself patting her hair self-consciously, hating the mousey-brown colour and the limp look of it. Her dull brown eyes, rounded freckled face, and non-descript clothes completed her appearance and she found herself cursing the magical glamour for the first time in years. Never being a vain person, she hadn’t really been too concerned with the necessity of the glamour – she altered her appearance to save her life. Full stop. She’d rather be alive and safe, than preen at herself in the mirror every morning. But right now, faced with the trio of male perfection in front of her, she wished she could reveal her true features. Her bright purple eyes and snow-white hair were always eye-catching – and that was exactly why she had been forced to use a glamour in the first place. Her countenance was too striking, too unusual – even the non-magic users couldn’t fail to notice her otherworldly appearance.

Her self-pity was for naught anyway, she chided herself. Seth and Vaughn were clearly in a relationship, which meant she had the wrong equipment to bring to the party.Stupid breasts,she berated, scowling at them accusingly.

“Ivory? Everything okay?”

The deep voice had her jerking from her ridiculous inner ramblings.Focus, Ivory. Focus!“Yes. Sorry. I ah, I have everything you asked for,” she held up the box containing all the notes and ‘gifts’ her creepy stalker friend had given her.

She walked back over to them a little cautiously. What were the chances the same three men of her dreams from the night before would be the same men from the security company she had contacted the week prior? It was a strange coincidence but at the same time, their little town didn’t have a whole lot of watering holes. The chance of them walking into hers was relatively high … she supposed. Boy, she really hoped she wasn’t making excuses for them because they happened to be pretty. She wished she could whip up a spell and peek into their heads – and other, naughtier places. Unfortunately, her glamour prevented it. Yes, it altered her appearance and hid her magical energy from other magic-users, but it also worked the other way as well – dampening her powers, her senses, and even inhibiting her natural instincts. Three things she really could have used right now.

She placed the large box on the table, pushing it into the middle so they could all see its contents. The men stood in order to peer inside more fully and Ivory was blessed with the chance to appreciate the obvious strength in their bodies and the height of their frames. She had been right last night; they were well over six feet, with Seth being about two inches taller than Vaughn and three inches taller than Ronan. Seth was also carrying the most muscle – a fact she found most intriguing given he was clearly the youngest. She put him at around her age of thirty, if not a little younger. Ronan looked to be mid-thirties, while Vaughn was perhaps late-thirties or a very good looking forty. She wondered if Seth was like a boy-toy for the older man, but then remembered the way Vaughn had been looking at Seth when he had his arm wrapped around him. There had been definite heat there, but there had also been warmth. No, she decided, the relationship must be emotional as well as physical. She tried really hard not to let the green-eyed monster rear its ugly head over that. Jealousy was a very unattractive trait.

“What’s this?” Seth asked, pointing to the unwrapped parcel from the night before.

That’s right. There was a box full of disturbing trinkets from a likely psychopath in front of her. She’d do well to focus on that rather than the three men rummaging around in it, “It was on my doorstep last night after I closed down the bar. I decided not to open it because I knew I was meeting with you first thing this morning,” she glared at the newest package, resenting its existence. She had hardly slept at all last night because she had been so tempted to open it and see what was inside. It was like some kind of sick, morbid curiosity. She knew it wouldn’t be anything good, yet she couldn’t help wanting to rip the paper open. Even now, with the three men eyeing the innocent-looking brown paper, she wanted to yell at them to get into it.

“What time did you discover it last night?” Ronan asked.

“Just after three in the morning. The bar closes at three, so it was maybe twenty minutes after that,” she answered.

“Do you always close the bar at that time?” The question came from Seth.

“No. I mean, yes – the bar closes at three. But I’m not always the person who works the late shift. I’m on rotation with two other staff.”

“Is it the same rotation every week?” he followed up.

She shook her head, chewing on her bottom lip. Apparently, they weren’t just the hired muscle but also had some brain power behind them too, “It’s supposed to be,” she offered, in answer to Seth’s second question, “But I’m really flexible with the staff. Last minute changes to work hours happen almost every week.”

Vaughn grunted at that, “You’re going to have to tell us your routines; what time you get up, what time you go to work, when you go to the grocery store, when you break for meals. And everything else in every minute of your day.”

Every minute of the day? She forced herself not to fuss nervously with her hair or chew on her fingernails. This protection thing was going to be far more invasive than she had counted on. How was she going to keep her past a secret? She really didn’t like to lie. And yes, she knew how hypocritical that was given her entire face was one big illusion. Ronan must have picked up on her nerves, for he encouraged;

“I know it sounds like we’re being nosy, but not only will that information help keep you safe, it will allow us to piece together a timeline of when your stalker has made contact in the past. Hopefully, we’ll be able to determine his routine and have him caught in no time.”

She nodded her head, appreciating his logic. But it didn’t make her any less nervous, “The package …” She prompted, distracting herself and them from her anxiety.

Seth looked toward the other two and Ronan gave a slight nod of his head. Clearly, that was all the go-ahead Seth needed, for he whipped out a switch-blade from his pocket and proceeded to slip the knife-edge under the tape holding the paper in place. A few deft slices and the paper fell away to reveal a plain white box.

“Look familiar?” he asked.

She was already nodding her head, “All the packages have been wrapped identically; brown paper, white box. All the notes are the same too; white envelopes, plain paper, black pen.”

“Well, let’s see what we have in here, shall we?” Seth used the tip of the blade to push the lid of the box back.

Black lace was folded neatly inside and he prodded it around just enough for her to make out that it was a g-string.Lovely,she thought,more lingerie.It had become a favourite present from her admirer over the past few weeks. She actually loved indulging in exotic lingerie and had a rather extensive collection in the top drawer of her dresser. She had to fight against the negative association every time she slipped into something satin or silk these days. But she wasn’t going to let the bastard take away her joy over her pretties.

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