Page 6 of Fallen
“Let me get this straight. Lev, did you just fuckingteleport?”
I nod. “That’s the only definition I have but I’m more worried about the fact that Gerald just mentioned how fast my magic is progressing. I’m wondering if it has something to do with this fatal attraction or whatever.” I hope it doesn’t because logically—the more magic I obtain or the stronger it becomes, the sooner I’ll die.
Chapter 4
LEVIATHAN
It’s been two days since we stepped into Essence PI’s offices and frankly, I don’t really want to return. It’s just… too much. I’m also widely sure that someone has watched the security tapes and found Amand sucking me off with his perfectly forked tongue.
Yep, no desire to return.
We’ll have to work with the other three soon but I’m hoping they’ll want to come out of their futuristic little hole and hang here. Or literallyanywhere else in the city.
For now, I’m more than happy to lounge on the couch and flip through the files of the victims, trying to find a connection between all of them.
Victim one: a fox shifter, 24, bartender. Victim two: a lion shifter, 27, mechanic. Victim three: the guy in my truck, a wolf shifter, 25, freelance artist. All male, all shifters, all young. No shared connections—no common workplace, no mutual friends, no pack ties. I knew two of them, but the fox shifter I’ve nevereven seen while working in the city. The only link is the MO: a single, enchanted horn strike AND that scent, sharp and metallic like ozone, unmistakably unicorn, laced with that familiar pine and musk. It’s driving me nuts.
“Lev, you’re gonna burn a hole in that paper,” Amand says, his voice pulling me out of my spiral. He sits on the coffee table in front of me, his elbows on his knees, watching me with that mix of amusement and concern that makes my heart do stupid things.
“Paper’s fine,” I mutter, not looking up. “My brain, on the other hand…”
Rowan pokes his head out of the kitchen. “You’ve been at it for hours. We all have and nothing is just going to jump out from the paper. Take a break before you fade into the floor.”
I shoot him a glare, but there’s no heat in it. “I’m not fading. I’m investigating. Big difference. Besides, I haven’t faded for an entire 24 hours.” Gerald gave me a few tricks to practice and then just gave me a cheat sheet which said that having a little pouch of ginger would keep me whole regardless.
Fucker could have given me that weeks ago.
My mates, however, don’t seem very fond of the new scent hanging around me. For whatever reason, their instinctual biology despises ginger, their nostrils flaring and a whole lot of hissing when near me.
Rowan joins us, carrying a plate of what might be toast, if toast can look like charcoal. “Eat,” he says, setting it on the coffee table. “You’re no good to anyone if you starve.”
I eye the toast warily. “Is that… food? Or a science experiment?”
He smirks, sitting cross-legged beside me. “It’s food. Mostly.”
I grab a piece, nibbling the least burnt corner. It’s terrible, but I force it down, if only to see Rowan’s satisfied nod. Amand settles on my other side, his thigh brushing mine, andI’m suddenly hyper-aware of their proximity. I shove it down, focusing on the files. Work, Lev. Not sexy snake sandwich time.
Not that anything will happen with my trusty ginger pouch in my pocket.
Amand reaches forward and grabs another file before opening it, the official crime scene report for the victim in my truck. “You said that you smelled your ex on him, right?”
I nod, taking another bite of burnt toast. “Yeah. Silas.”
Rowan hums as he drags me into his lap, wrapping his arms around my waist. He hisses as the scent of ginger hits his nose, one of his hands dipping into my pocket and then chucking the pouch onto the table. “We need to find something else because it makes my skin tingle and not in a good way. Now, tell me what this Silas was like.”
A bitter laugh tears from my throat. As much as I don’t want to talk about Silas, it’s going to come out with this investigation anyway. “He was the kind who could charm the scales off a dragon, then leave you wondering what you did wrong. We dated during my sophomore year. He was magnetic with a killer smile, the works, the whole nine yards. But he ghosted me after six months with no explanation. When I finally did get to ask him what the fuck happened, he told me I had been the flavor of the month. Broke my heart, if I’m being honest.”
Rowan growls, the sound vibrating through his chest and settling deep in my gut. “Sounds like a piece of shit. You think he’s tied to this?”
I shake my head, even as doubt creeps in. “I don’t know. His scent was there but he’s a panther shifter. From what little research I could pick up about unicorns, panthers would be nowhere near them.” I wrack my brain for answers, frowning when I remember something from college. I blocked most of those years out but this might actually be helpful because Silaswas oddly interested in other shifters. I don’t think he ever mentioned unicorns, though.
“There might be something in one of my old journals from college. Hold on.” I catch my mates snickering as I throw the toast onto the plate and dash off to my bedroom, a room I rarely use at this point. However, it holds all of my shit that I refused to get rid of and now I’m glad I kept things from collegejust in case.It takes a few tries to find the right box and even longer to find the one dated for sophomore year.
My handwriting is atrocious and just opening to the first page makes me grimace. God, I was so fucking weird then. Still, I head back to the living room. “Okay, brace yourselves,” I say, clearing my throat. “This is peak Leviathan drama.” I read aloud, my voice dripping with mock gravitas.“‘Silas smiled at me today, and it’s like the sun came out. His eyes are like forests, deep and wild. I think I’m in love.’”
Rowan snickers, leaning back. “You were a sap.”
“Was?” Amand teases, dodging my swat. “Still is.”
