Page 73 of Slaying With Sylphs

Connall rubs at the back of his neck. “Well, we’ve had an odd incident here and I’m wondering if you’ve ever heard anything similar from the Shadowsurf residents.” He glances at me. “Lou, do you want to explain it in your own words?”

Zeke turns to me with a curious look.

I clear my throat and sit up a little straighter. “I saw a person who’s supposed to be dead, a shifter from here, in Ever.”

Zeke cocks his head to the side. “Supposed to be dead?”

“Definitely dead,” Connall says, his tone mournful. “We cremated him. I was there. He’s gone. But Lou saw him last night. Dirk and I were with her, and we saw nothing. I’m just wondering if you’ve heard of anything like that?”

Zeke grits his jaw. “What else was happening at the time? Anything?”

“A woman had been attacked,” I say. “We can’t figure out what’s wrong with her. But as our doctor was examining her, I saw Leighton when nobody else could.”

Zeke’s eyes spring wide open, and he looks around at all three of us before shaking his head.

Finally, he levels Connall with a serious look. “It’s not uncommon for those of us who have been through trauma to see visions, to see monsters. But it tends to happen during sleep or when we’re alone.” He glances at me, brows furrowed. “It’s not common to happen around others or to be connected to real world violence like this. Although, I suppose it’s possible that the trauma of finding someone attacked could lead to visions.”

I resist the urge to yell at him. What I saw was as real as the nose on my face.

A rolling purr rises up from Zeke’s hologram chest.

“Easy, darlin’, I don’t mean to discredit what you saw.” He shoots me a half smile. “You saw something that can’t be explained, and that’s important. I’m just sharing what I’ve seen in my years of running the Shadowsurf program. But if I’velearned anything in all that time, it’s to never assume I know the answer.”

“Thanks, cousin,” Connall says. “Mind doing me a favor and asking around a bit more, just to be sure? We’ve got an injured mermaid and what Lou saw. I don’t want to leave any stone unturned.”

Zeke agrees to do that and signs off. The kitchen is quiet, too quiet. I dig into the lasagna, mulling over what he shared.

“I’m not surprised he didn’t have answers for us,” Dirk says. “You’re unique, Louanna.”

I snort out a laugh. “You can say that again.”

“I’m serious.” Dirk rubs the back of my arm with the thrall bites. “You’re different, my sweet. You’ve already done things no one can explain. Why should this be any different?”

He makes a good point. Doc Slade couldn’t explain my thrall bites healing either. But still, the idea of all these things being connected to me is slightly terrifying.

We finish eating and Dirk mercifully changes the subject to skyball for a few minutes. The guys talk and I listen, trying to focus but continuing to come back to all the things we don’t know right now. I know myself well enough to know that it’ll consume me if I let it.

“Hey,” I break in when there’s a pause in the skyball chatter. “I’m anxious and feeling weirdly sappy about all this shit going on; I think we all are. But maybe we can set that aside for a little while.”

Connall rounds the island, grabs the end of my braid, and pulls the hair tie from it. His fingers comb through the strands, undoing it. “It’s not sappy to share your feelings and emotions. I want you both to do that, always. Never hold back from me, or each other. The only way to navigate something potentially complex is to be honest.”

Good, I think.Because I’m about to take this in an entirely different direction.

I lift my chin. “I want to see what you guys did earlier.”

Dirk chuckles.

Connall looks at him, his wolf’s focus flashing through his irises as a muscle works overtime in his jaw. For a long moment, he seems to weigh the options, and I think he might actually say no.

But after a moment, his nostrils flare. “Get on the couch,” he commands, waving us toward the giant pit sofa that might as well be a bed. He grins at Dirk. “Take your clothes off, Sylph.”

I hold back a moan as Dirk’s smile grows broad. He pulls his gem off and sets it on the edge of the sofa. Reaching down, he shoves tight jeans down his muscular legs, revealing a partially hard cock bobbing against his thigh. His dick is as beautiful as the rest of him, long and thick with heavy balls nestled beneath. He’s hairless, but it just accentuates how chiseled he is.

“Sit against the back of the sofa,” Connall says to Dirk. As Dirk obeys, Connall turns to me. “I want you to watch, Lou. Watch and know we did this earlier. And we wanted you to see, to be part of it.”

“Okay,” is all I can manage as he unbuttons his jeans and steps out of them, kicking them onto the floor. His cock swings free, the bulbous section at the base swollen. I gulp as I stare at how huge it is, and I know it’ll swell bigger, locking us in place during sex.

This is a much, much better idea than focusing on all the things I can’t figure out tonight. Go me.

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