Page 48 of Howl for the Gargoyle

"I thought they might be breaking up, actually. They sort of dropped off the radar. Their lead singer was attacked by a werewolf," Sunny added in a whisper.

My hands clenched at my sides, the sketch of Hannah's scars vivid in my mind. "They're going on a tour soon," I said, staring down at my food, ignoring the way three sets of eyes turned in my direction.

"They are?" Sunny asked.

I nodded. "I…heard it somewhere."

"Amazing! Khell—"

"We'll find tickets, petal," Khell offered before she could finish.

Sunny hissed a "Yesss!" under her breath and stole another onion ring.

"You can come too, Rafe," Khell said, smug and obvious.

I lifted my head and held his gaze. "Perfect."

I couldn't even be that annoyed. Seeing Hannah singing live was too tempting.

"I'll have to…check them out," Elias said, arching an eyebrow at me, daring me to pick the fight.

I stuffed my mouth with fried pickles dipped in hot sauce and kept my thoughts to myself.

CHAPTER 18

Hannah

"She's good," Kiernan said, glugging from his water bottle and watching our new bassist, Kelsey, as she chatted with Mikey. "She's picking up the work quickly."

I nodded and accidentally caught the woman's eye as I glanced at her.

Kelsey was good. She was learning our music with a speed that was either a natural gift, or because George had offered her some homework. She was also part harpy, with glittering blue feathers around her hairline and sprouting at her elbows. Her eyes were slightly wide set and they flickered around the room like a predator's, but she didn't set me on edge like Astraeya from MSA. I suspected that was because I was the more dangerous one between the two of us.

I'd liked her best of all the candidates just from the audio files she sent in, and there was something…comforting in not being the only not-entirely-human person in the room. Not to mention having another woman in the band now.

"Mikey's going to get a crush," I murmured.

Kiernan snorted. "I'll keep an eye on it. Come on, let's get back to it. Warm up with a cover?"

I stretched, scrunching my nose as my neck cracked. "You pick."

I covered the pocket where I kept my earplugs with my right hand, but left them there. I'd asked everyone to turn their amps down for now, and it had helped with the rattle of sound I sometimes found overwhelming.

Kelsey was already moving to her bass as Kiernan and I walked over to where the gear was set up, instruments and amps arranged in a circle. We liked to face each other during our rehearsals. It was harder for me to communicate with them when we were on stage, when I was meant to be facing a crowd and not them, but this time together helped us learn each other's cues, the spots in a song where Kiernan wanted to experiment or when Mikey tended to fall off rhythm.

"Don't worry if you don't know this one, but I can mouth the chords to you," Kiernan said to Kelsey. "Pretty standard four count otherwise."

"I'll catch on." From what I could tell, our bassist was crisp on delivery and energetic while playing. I had a feeling I'd like her even more when we had time to relax around one another, but for now I appreciated how serious she was.

Kiernan started the first trickling run of notes, and I smiled, perching on my stool and cooing into the microphone, a familiar, sexy classic song we'd covered at plenty of local shows. Kiernan had learned it for his current girlfriend, and I'd always been mildly intimidated by some of the belting notes in the bridge, but this was only a rehearsal. And I had to learn my voice now, like Rafe had said.

I closed my eyes, ignoring the exchange between Kelsey and Kiernan, her soft fumble into the notes at first and then the moment she found her footing, thumping darkly along with Mikey's beat on the bass drum.

The music shook in my chest, a slow and powerful heartbeat, or better yet, the pace of a good thrust in sex. I ignored the sudden gratitude, the sting of tears in my eyes, and pressed my palm over my thrumming heart. The music will come back.

Rafe's face appeared in my thoughts, brow furrowed and lips parted on a pant. My body shivered with the memory of him, cunt pulsing with the phantom sensation of how he felt inside me, the detailed tease of his carved cock.

It might've been Kiernan's song for his girlfriend, but it was mine for Rafe in the moment, the need and the filth and the joy of sex. And when the bridge came, I didn't think about the notes, about the sudden rise and carrying cry that was always a fifty-fifty shot of whether or not I'd hit it.

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