Page 141 of Forget Me Not

“One neighborhood would do, honestly,” Benny observed.

“There will be consequences,” Ray warned. His mate only continued to smile.

“There are always consequences.” Cal took a deep breath, then said, “You’ve got some color in your cheeks again. I think you should stand up now.”

Ray put a hand to the ground to push himself to his feet. The sweater, dark and sticky with his blood, he let fall to the ground.

A significant portion of the village was milling around the plaza, drinks and snacks in hand, phones out, no one straying farther than the sidewalk since the police were in the street. A news van was parked down the block. It might have been here for a piece of the party, but Ray didn’t think that was going to be the story now.

Cal came forward, tugging at Ray’s shirt, finding the second phone in Ray’s pocket and giving Ray a knowing look when Ray told him to take it but keep it secret. He handed the phone discreetly to Benny, who made it vanish, then Cal continued to try to make Ray look less like he’d had part of a building collapse on him.

“Did you know you’re barefoot?” he remarked.

Ray shrugged, though he felt a bit silly about it now. “In case I had to shift.”

“To be a monster.” A shiver went through Cal’s wings. “To be as wild as you ever get. And everyone saw it. You let them see.”

“I didn’t care anymore.” Ray couldn’t lie. “You were gone, so I didn’t care. I just had to help Penn and to get as much information as I could for you. They thought I was a monster all this time, then didn’t know what to do with me when I was.”

“Fortunately, I do.” Cal stopped his fussing to gaze up at Ray. The smile finally left his face. “To them, you might be a disgrace, but to us,” he waved distractedly behind him, “you’re a full moon at perigee.” He touched Ray’s chest and his scent held something greater than pleasure. “Your colors right now… Your center is there like it never left, blazing like it wasn’t before. Unmistakable. The sign of a hero.”

Ray didn’t get a chance to question what that meant or to argue about it.

“There you are!” Benny called out. “Are you okay?”

Coming up the street from the direction of the damaged building, was the troll Ray had pleaded with before. She had the coloring of a pink water lily, and was actually not nearly as tall as trolls could get. She sparkled as well, just a little. Not entirely a troll, then. Her long hair was in two braids, and in one hand she had several large trash bags.

Ray sighed in relief, then frowned. “Where’s Penn?”

“I left the detective with the ambulance crew,” Divinity answered in a voice like the candy of her name. “The human with her as well. She wanted me to bring her here first and didn’t like that I wouldn’t. She’s pretty pissed.”

“Are the other officers down there?” Calvin wondered. “We should go see to her, especially if they take her to the hospital. So she won’t be alone.”

Ray shook his head, surprised when no headache followed the gesture. He turned to Cal and bent down automatically when Cal made grabby hands. Ray recalled their previous conversation. “She’sa hero.” Ray nodded toward Divinity. “She didn’t have to help.”

“And neither do you. But you’re going to, aren’t you?” Cal regarded Ray far too knowingly,fondness/affection/worryall over him again, maybe always. He’d send Ray out on a mission all the same. Ray thought he was beautiful. But Cal seemed to think Ray’s appearance mattered more. He stroked Ray’s hair away from his face. “Better for the cameras,” he revealed.

Ray didn’t give much of a fuck about cameras, or whatever it was they were debating. He traced the tip of one precious leaf-shaped ear. “It won’t be easy. Might be dangerous. I don’t know about money, either, or what we’ll do if—”

“Moonlight becomes you, Ray,” Cal cut him off softly. “And the lights from the mural too. There’s not much that doesn’t, to be honest.” He pulled Ray closer to him, off the sidewalk, away from the street the cars and the flashing red and blue.

“I’ll check on Penn,” Calvin offered. “See that she’s all right, get our stories straight, bring her over here when she’s healed.”

“I don’t think the medics will let her move. Well, not one of them, anyway.” Divinity was near Calvin and Benny now. “I don’t know if they know each other, but sometimes, pixies just get like that. You know, spiky. I don’t think it was about Strider. Head wounds bleed a lot. They always say that, but it really is true.”

Benny whipped his head around to stare at her. “Did you sayStrider?”

“Yeah. Not as cool as Éowyn though,” Divinity answered, regarding Benny almost defiantly. She had bloodstains on her blouse, and had just saved two people. But that remark seemed to awe Benny the most.

It was his turn to be dazzled. “You just get more amazing,” he told her breathlessly.

“Detective Branigan,” someone shouted out from somewhere behind Ray, someone authoritative and abrupt, tearing Ray’s attention from a Benny who looked ready to leave the Oscar Benedict version of a hunted rabbit at Divinity’s feet. The authoritative voice did not stop. “Maybe you can put down the fairy for a moment and explain what’s going on, and why a were like you was running through the streets chasing people. What precisely do you think you’re doing here?”

Ray was, in fact, holding a fairy in his arms. Cal must have jumped into them and Ray had caught him. It hurt; Ray’s side felt like someone was stitching it closed with stinging nettles, but he didn’t care. He let Cal nestle in close, his face at Ray’s throat for any judgmental fairies to see, and then looked out over the village, the few people he recognized, Gary, and Truman, and those kids from Guerrero’s, and the elf who owned the West African takeout place, and a glimpse of what he thought was C.C.’s dyed hair shining beneath the red, black, pink, and orange of the mural.

Ray imagined the unhappy voice belonged to a captain or some other higher up called away from their home and their dinner to deal with a mess in the village involving rogue beings detectives. He didn’t think anyone like that would understand anything about what Ray thought he was doing, or what Ray might say.

So what he did say was, “IthinkI am starting my honeymoon.”

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