Page 24 of The Gathering Storm

Chapter Seven

The dance with Sigrid lingered in Will’s mind the rest of Friday and well into his dreams that night. Saturday morning, he awoke restless, edgy, and so hard, he could barely walk.

It was ridiculous how easily she aroused him.

As soon as he rolled out of bed, he texted Ethan Phillips, the People’s local doctor and a cousin on Will’s mother’s side, and arranged to meet the other Son in midmorning at the gym in Clayton. Sex was off the menu. Lifting weights wasn’t the best substitute, but it was better than nothing.

During the drive into the nearby town, Will’s thoughts inevitably turned to Sigrid. She’d been beautiful last night, radiant, like a goddess risen from the North Atlantic, cold and deadly and fierce.

Until that kiss.

Desire flickered through him, and he shifted in the seat of his truck, spreading his knees wide to accommodate his burgeoning erection. Sweet Mother, she’d felt so good rubbing up against him with her hands on his chest and her mouth so giving under his. Another kiss like that, and he might drag her into his office and take her whether they were both ready or not.

He wasn’t.

The lone car ahead of him slowed as it approached a steep curve near the local public library. Will eased off the gas and applied the brake automatically, his thoughts tangled in a knot over Sigrid.

Did she want him or not? And if she did, was he really prepared for what that entailed? Two years of wanting her might not be enough when push came to shove. Or maybe it would weaken him to her, breaking him when he most needed to stand firm, and in the doing, he would lose her.

Ahead, the other car’s left turn signal blinked on, and it turned onto the back street leading to downtown. Will waited for it to clear the lane, then matched his truck’s speed to the posted limit as he drove past the library and the civic center into downtown Clayton.

She enjoyed his kisses, that was pretty damn clear, and she claimed to want him. Why else would she take the time to track down his name and address, take him to lunch, and make a point of dancing with him?

Then again, why had she broken her promise to meet him earlier in the week? If it was all a game to her, why had she bothered to come back to The Omega? True, it was the only nightlife in Tellowee and a lot of the local People gathered there, but there were other options if she really needed to get out. Clayton wasn’t that far away and it had its fair share of restaurants and live music, especially in the summer. The music scene was slower now that true winter had arrived, but not that slow. There were still plenty of outsiders wandering through to keep things interesting.

Will huffed out a sigh, negotiated the last few turns into the gym’s parking lot, and parked. It was pointless to dwell on a Daughter’s reasons for doing anything. Sigrid would tell him what was going on or not, and nothing he said or did would change her mind either way. So far, the only thing that worked on her was kissing her into silence.

Oddly enough, he was ok with that.

A sleek, black Tesla Model S pulled up beside Will’s truck. He snagged his gym bag, slid out of his truck, and grinned at Ethan over the top of the other Son’s car. “Snazzy ride.”

Ethan laughed and slammed his car door shut. “You’re just aiming for a turn behind the wheel.”

“Absolutely.”

They met on the sidewalk and walked in together, a sharp contrast in looks, if not in build. Ethan was maybe two inches taller than Will and had darker skin and auburn hair, though they both shared the light green eyes that seemed to pop up in random intervals in their line of the family, no doubt inherited from some captured mate. It wasn’t unusual for Daughters to kidnap men with uncommon traits and breed with them, hoping to improve their offspring’s chances of surviving in a world that too often sought to destroy them.

The gym was packed with men and women of all ages and shapes. Will nodded at two Daughters he knew more by sight than anything, then he and Ethan headed toward the men’s locker room, ignoring the gazes of the mortal women tracking their progress.

They’d worked out together enough to understand each other’s routines. By unspoken consent, they headed for the free weights, eschewing the machines, and settled into a steady, upper body workout. No competitive muscle flexing, no adversarial remarks, just the nice, relaxing burn of man versus iron.

During a lull between biceps curls and bench presses, Ethan rubbed a towel over his face, drying off the sweat, and leveled a speculative gaze on Will. “So tell me, cuz. How does a Son handle two Daughters in one night?”

Will’s heart thumped once. He snagged his bottle of water and hid his nerves behind a long, slow sip. Friggin’ grapevine. Nobody could get away with anything in Tellowee without rumor spreading like wildfire.

He set the water aside, then adjusted the weights for the next set of reps. “If you came by The Omega more often, you’d figure that one out for yourself.”

Ethan shot Will a wicked grin, flashing even, white teeth. “I don’t have to stoop to bar crawling to get my women.”

“Yet somehow you managed to lose Serafina Noland to Levi Ewart.”

Ethan’s grin morphed into a sour scowl. “Low blow, man.”

“All’s fair in love and war.” Will jerked his chin at the weights. “Are we going to work out or what?”

“Work out.” Ethan laid down on the bench, curled his hands around the bar above him, and adjusted his position relative to it. “You’ve never been much for talking about women, but this evasiveness is bad, even for you.”

Will settled at the head of the bench, in the spotter’s position. “Stop psychoanalyzing me, Doc.”

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