Page 17 of Secret Origins
It was a dangerous thing that I liked seeing him in my bed and didn’t feel like ripping his heart out for saying I was nervous. I was, but that was beside the point. Fenrir was more dangerous than whatever was after me.
“I’m going to gain access to my memories.” His gaze was too intense, so I turned my head to look out the window, pretending like I couldn’t feel his eyes burning a hole in the side of my face. “Living unaware was a good thing while it lasted, Fenrir. I would’ve left everything as is if I didn’t know I was about to die.” Snorting a humorless laugh, I shrugged a shoulder. “Well, they think I’m about to die. I have no such intentions. I need to know what’s after me, why it wants me dead, and then I’ll figure out how to kill it.”
“You have found a mage with psychic powers.” It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t answer him. “How? The ones slipping through the portal out of Sienna don’t last a week before their powers send a flare and someone is dispatched to either drag them back or kill them.”
“I hope you don’t expect me to answer that.”
“Very well.” He nodded to himself, which triggered all sorts of alarms in my head. “I suppose I’ll just have to wait and see.”
“If I need help, you’ll be the first I call.” I had no intention of doing so but he had no need to know that. “Until then, go chase Roberti. Or I don’t know, go play hide and seek with hunters. I’ve heard it’s good exercise to keep you on your toes.”
“You can allow me to come with you, or I can follow you.” Fenrir gave me an arrogant smile that I was desperately itching to slap off his face. “I’m good with either option.”
“My contact might not be happy to see me bringing another person along. I can’t risk it.” In a last-ditch effort to convince him to leave me be, I smiled at him. Stupid of me, really. Suspicion plastered all over his face in a split second, and I groaned in response. “You can’t come Fenrir. Humans get twitchy around us as it is. I need his help. I can’t have him going into hiding because you think we are going to play house.”
“I can deal with humans; I’ve learned a trick or two from Zoltan.” He lowered his head and started trailing kisses over my body, which scrambled my brain all over again. “He won’t even know I’m there.”
My fingers tangled into his long, silky strands and I tugged his head up so I could kiss him. The Fae was like a flame and I was a moth. I knew I’d burn if I allowed myself to be close with him, yet my tongue slipped past his lips and I lost myself in his taste. The scent of rain and forests surrounded me, and I kept telling myself this was only a small distraction I’d allow myself for the moment. I might die tomorrow, so at least I’d go without being sexually frustrated. Wherever our souls go after death, I was sure no one wanted a bitch entering that space anyway.
I was becoming a better liar daily, but I was mostly lying to myself.
11
That’s how we found ourselves driving through the streets with Fenrir perched in the passenger seat as if he belonged there. The lights we were passing illuminated his face for a split second before shadows hid him from my view. I was partly paying attention to where I was driving, and partly giving him side-eyed glances as if he would turn around and bite me.
This was a very stupid idea.
I fell asleep for less than an hour after our last session of monkey sex, and for the first time I didn’t dream. It must’ve been because I was tired and well sated. We had an attempt at a relationship before I left Sienna and settled in the human realm. I’ve slept next to him many nights and I had the same nightmares. This was something new I wasn’t willing to examine too closely, so I occupied my thoughts by thinking about the weather, of all things. At least there was no rain today at all.
There was always that.
My foot lifted off the gas pedal, slowing the SUV to a crawl as we neared the abandoned warehouse. Without taking a turn off the road, I stopped a couple of yards from the entrance and gave Fenrir an expectant look. His head turned slowly as he scanned the area before his gaze settled on me. I cocked an eyebrow that yielded no results. Putting the car in park, I leaned toward him and a slow smile tilted the corners of his lips up, at least until I smiled back and put our noses an inch from each other. His eyes narrowed just as I opened the door at his back, they they widened comically when I shoved him out of the car and onto the sidewalk. In a graceful twirl, he managed to stay on his feet, though he stumbled while beautiful cuss words spilled from his lips. I snickered.
“Stay out of sight.”
I slammed the car door closed in his face and drove off.
“This is what you get for agreeing to stupid shit,” I muttered in frustration. “Damn it, girl, it’s like you have never seen a cock in your life.”
I have seen enough that if I was human I’d be ashamed to admit the number. But a cock was a cock when you need to scratch an itch, but Fenrir was not just anyone. I should’ve remembered that before allowing him to get between my legs. Just thinking about it had me squirming in the leather seat.
The abandoned warehouse was just as I left it, standing unassuming in the darkness on the outskirts of the city. My body was jostled when the tires dipped in the potholes on the uneven, narrow road, gravel pinging a staccato under the car. Tightening my grip on the steering wheel, I wrestled the heavy vehicle through the already opened chain of the entrance.
The General was early.
Fenrir’s stubbornness might just save my life if this was a trap, and after my stupid phone call, the human might have decided it would be safer for everyone to get me off the streets. I did sound like a lunatic waking him up to talk about death and graveyards. I’d lock me up in a padded room if I were him too. I knew that he respected me, but it was only because I saved his life on a handful of occasions. I also knew that he was afraid of me, as any mortal should be. My gaze flicked to the rearview mirror but nothing other than dark, empty space was there.
The General was standing in the middle of the open area in front of the warehouse, the yellow lights of my car dancing over his silhouette before I brought the vehicle to a stop. Leaving the engine running, I opened the door and hopped out, sending my senses wide to search for someone that shouldn’t be there.
I couldn’t even feel Fenrir.
He might’ve gotten pissed off and left. If this was a trap, it’d serve me right.
“General,” I greeted the man watching me with curiosity glinting in his gaze.
“I must say I’m happy to see you in one piece.” He cracked a rare smile, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening, and I shuffled my feet before catching myself. This made me understand better what Fenrir felt when he got suspicious of my smile.
“Is that why you are early?” Rolling my shoulders, I dropped the illusion hiding my sword, revealing the hilt where he could see it sticking from my back. “You are never early, General.”
