Page 51 of Gemini Hunted
Like,thoroughly.
“Ssshhh,” I remind him, settling the duffel bag we’ve converted to a breathable cat carrier more securely over my shoulder. Despite our current circumstances, just thinking about that fluffy white kitten asleep inside on a thick soft towel, her little tummy distended with a good tuna breakfast, makes my whole chest flood with warmth.
Zephyr did himself a solid with that kitten.
I really hope he and V can work their shit out.
Mordred lowers his rumbly baritone approximately one decibel to a piercing whisper that’s practically a roar. “Isit a haunted house though? Sure looks like one.”
“Why don’t you bloody bellow that shit through a police bullhorn, mate?” Ronin hisses.
Clad head to toe in assassin black like the trained killer he is, Ronin creeps through the trees at the head of our huddled group without snapping a single twig. He’s tracking Lucius’ shifted paw prints (which I can’t even see) through the detritusof evergreen needles and pinecones and rotted wood that carpets the forest.
I know, I know. Evergreen isn’t the right kinda flora for the Med.
But this is an enchanted island, so the magical wards that hide us from the normals also mess with the climate.
“For fuck’s sake. Should’ve left you on the blooming boat,” Ronin mutters as Mordred capers along happily beside us.
“You need me on this gig,” Mordred says comfortably. “Besides, imma grow on you. Always do.”
Ronin scoffs and rolls his fiery topaz eyes. “Just mind that fucking Horn and keep your gob shut, mate. That’s all we need from you.”
If only that were true.
I’m just coming out of a big superheat, so everything about this incubus who’s taken up residence in my harem is extra distracting. The way his scaly pants cling to his thick thighs and sinewy calves and the hard globes of his bitable ass is disturbing, for real. He’s like Quadzilla forging through the trees ahead of me, with that tangle of ink-blue hair spilling down his back. I wanna sit him down with a hairbrush and tidy him up.
Then mess him back up again.
Shit.
“I’ll be quiet, hot stuff.” The demon leers at Ronin’s own ass, which could fucking stop traffic in his fighting leathers. “Long as I get me a reward later.”
“Later, I suspect,” Vasili murmurs with poisonous spite as he winds through the trees like a rattlesnake beside me, “you’ll be roasting that tight demon ass of yours in hellfire. The moment we return that Horn, your Unseelie tyrant of a cousin intends to banish you back to the demonical realm that spawned you.”
“Does he now.” Mordred turns around to walk backward and winks.
When his gaze lands on me, that demon’s purple eyes turn crafty in a way I find worrying.
Vasili stalks through the woods at my side, looking wicked as fuck in his punk-rock twist on the Academy uni, glittery violet combat boots thudding into the earth. With his moussed-up hair and smoky eyes and black-lacquered nails and pissed-off pout, my dominant alpha is rocking his Duran Duran today.
With Lucius and his keen wolfish senses in the lead, though not currently visible as he scouts ahead, Ash and Zephyr guard our rear. That way, my Dark Fae can keep his eye on all of us… especially Mordred…andVasili, who is (very subtly) staying as far from the kitten as possible. (And how could I not have known my snake is afraid of cats?)
Long story short? We’ve barely managed to cobble my distrustful polycule together enough to run this heist.
It kills me to admit this.
But we’re only together on the surface.
Ronin, who’s blatantly been a card-carrying member of Team Zephyr in the Vasili-Zephyr throwdown since the exact moment V summoned that demon, hasn’t spoken a syllable to Vasili all day. Plus Zephyr won’t speak toanyof my guys except Ash, Ronin, and an extremely contrite Neo, who’s just too endearing to ignore.
Guess we’re back to Square One on integrating Zephyr (and therefore Ash, since those two are a package deal) into my harem.
When I swing my makeshift cat carrier to my other side to give my shoulder a break, Vasili edges away from the cat.
But he does it in a way that’s too subtle for anyone else to notice.
You really shoulda told me, Goblin King,I tell my dominant alpha softly through our mating bond. Because this isn’t the kinda shit you say out loud to a snake like him.It’s called ailurophobia. I looked it up. Fear of cats.
