Page 16 of Mystique of the Fallen
“Wow. Weird.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t know,” Grant replied.
“Would you like to learn more?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Give me your address. I’ll get the stuff to you, and you can decide at any point to read it.”
“I have an aunt. Well, she’s not really my aunt. But she practically raised me. You could send it to her apartment. But don’t, like, advertise that it’s from someone undead. She’s intolerant of pretty much everything.”
“Hmm, someone would have to go to the house to drop it off. I don’t want to offend her. How about this…can you go to a Dérive station and pick up a box? I can give you an address close to her place or yours.”
“I’ve seen those stations around, but I’ve never been in one. I’m not even sure what you Council people use them for. It’d have to be close to hers. I can do that. I think. Is it walking distance?”
Roman took the address Grant gave him and switched his mate to speaker so he could search. “It’s a couple of miles away; you’d need to drive.”
“Okay. Tell me where it is, maybe I can park at a restaurant or some shit.”
“Fine,” Roman replied. “I’ll teleport the box to the station before I leave for work; you can pick it up whenever it’s convenient.”
“That’s how you disappeared the day we met, isn’t it? You can actually fucking teleport?”
Roman managed a smile at the awe in Grant’s voice. It was a pleasant change from the usual belligerence and disdain. “Yep. I do it every day. That’s what the Dérive stations are for, so people can hop around easily.”
“I’d love that. My life would be so much easier if I could disappear.”
“Everything okay with you?” Roman asked, wondering again what exactly was going on in Grant’s life.
“Things are complicated. I should go.”
“Call me anytime.”
“I probably shouldn’t,” Grant said.
Without another word, Grant hung up.
Roman sat in his silent bedroom as he gathered his thoughts. Curiosity was a large part of his personality and suited his job perfectly, so it wasn’t easy for him to walk away from a mystery. Although he’d learned little about Grant, the things he knew both saddened and alarmed him. But he had no other choice but to wait for Grant to make the next move.
Nothing about their two brief interactions told Roman his presence was welcome. All Roman could hope was that Grant would read the things James had gathered and shed his disagreeable views on magickind. Roman flicked his covers out of the way and headed for the shower. With so much on his mind and his soul contorted by the strange matebond Fate had given him, sleep wasn’t happening. He might as well get some work done.
∞∞∞
Two days after his conversation with Roman, Grant was huddled in his car, reading through one of the books Roman had arranged for him to pick up. It’d been so odd to walk into a station full of people who had magic or were undead, like the fallen knight who’d suddenly popped into his life.
Thankfully, Grant had some space to absorb the material. He’d convinced Reginald he had a stomach bug. Reginald hated being ill and was avoiding Grant. To keep the shit Roman had left for him far from any prying eyes, Grant was pretending to be so devoted to his job that even sick, he was parked outside the townhouse of the poor woman who was supposedly fraternizing with a vampire.
Grant didn’t give a shit if she was, and although he had the dash cam on, he wasn’t paying it any attention. There was too much going on in his own world to bother trying to gain evidence that would enable some violent asshole to miss his day in court. The book he’d started with was a general overview of the Council.
Although Grant had been taught his entire life to trust nothing about it, he had to admit the things he was reading were fascinating…and scary. With so many magical abilities and people shifting into beasts, it was impossible not to feel inferior as a lowly human with a belly pooch and a growing drinking habit.
Since Grant had flipped to the information about the Order of the Fallen Knights first, he’d already learned Roman was no ordinary undead. He was part of their leadership and had been resurrected fourth. The idea of another powerful man charging into his life and telling him what to do made Grant scowl.
Why was it impossible for Grant to get a break? All he wanted was some peace so he could get his shit together and discover what he liked. But according to the book, Grant had somehow been picked to be the other half of Roman’s soul. If that were true and Grant followed that path, he’d be going from one controlling asshole to another.
That was the opposite of what Grant wanted, no matter how great Roman’s ass filled out his uniform pants or the incredible symmetry of his face. Why was he thinking about how attractive Roman was? Grant didn’t believe in Roman’s Fate, which meant he didn’t have to honor the supposed matebond between them.
