Page 19 of The Maestro's Mates
“I don’t!” Justin’s gaze came back to Pavel’s exposed chest and then flitted away, his blush deepening.
“I don’t have much with me,” Sebastian said, bending down and opening the small backpack he had slung over his shoulder. “I hadn’t planned on doing any spellwork today. I’ve got a few emergency supplies, and…”
Pavel cocked his head when Sebastian trailed off. What was wrong? After a moment of thinking, Sebastian continued.
“This is a well-maintained elevator. The kinds of spirits I traffic with are in short supply here, and Veronica may have done something to drive them away as well. There’s no way to keep a place sealed from spirits completely, but there are definitely things the little guys don’t like.”
“Wait…” Justin’s brow furrowed. “What is your kind of spirit?”
Pavel’s eyes narrowed. He wanted that information as well. Knowing Sebastian, it was probably something the spirits of trolling. Or the color black.
“My affinity is chaos.”
Pavel groaned. “Of course.”
“What?” Sebastian fluttered his eyelashes in faux innocence. “It’s a perfectly lovely affinity.”
“I don’t understand…” Justin looked back and forth from Pavel to Sebastian. “Chaos isn’t a force or an element like metal or wind or electricity.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Sebastian smiled wickedly. “Just because you can’t sense it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Chaos is one of the most powerful forces in the universe.”
“And fickle,” Pavel added with a sigh.
“Well, yes. Chaos spells are all about focusing on the intended result and letting the little monsters figureout the means themselves. Chaos spirits don’t like to be told what to do.”
“Okay,” Justin said, confusion written on his face. “This is all new to me.”
Pavel stood, trying to maintain his dignity as he did. He didn’t want to take stone again, since his gargoyle form filled so much of the elevator, but hewasnaked. His suit jacket was probably his most intact piece of clothing. He draped it over his shoulders, half-covering his chest, although a nipple peeked through no matter what he did.
“What do you need?” Pavel asked, a growing unease stirring in his gut.
“To get us out of here?” Sebastian pursed his lips. “I have enough ingredients to improvise a spell to send a chaos spirit out to weaken the barrier. Enough for you to break through in your gargoyle form, at least. The challenge will be getting the spirit here in the first place. I’ll need help with that.”
“How can we help?” Justin asked. “We’re not witches.”
Pavel’s shoulders tightened. He was afraid of what the answer to the question might be.
Sebastian smiled, a gleam in his eye. “We need to create enough chaos to lure a spirit here.”
Shit.
Pavel grimaced. “I don’t think?—”
“Oh, it shouldn’t take much.” Sebastian stepped closer to Justin, touching his shoulder. Justin’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “How much do you know about witches and their mates?”
Chapter 9
Justin
Justin knew something was up.
First off, the look in Sebastian’s eyes was predatory, like a fox that had figured out how to unlatch the door to the henhouse. The effect was only exacerbated by his long, thin nose. The expression was hot as hell, but it was scary.
Secondly, Pavel’s face had turned beet red, and the man was sputtering. Justin had never seen the normally unflappable conductor so completely off-balance, made all the worse by the fact that, except for the shreds of trouser fabric he was holding in front of his crotch, the man was fully nude.
And God, Pavel was sexy. His muscled biceps were dreamy, and the fine brown hair covering his toned chest made Justin shiver with desire. Add in the fact that, despite the man being plastered to the wall, Justin had a decent view of his lovely, bouncy ass, and the vampire was fighting to think through the fogof desire.
One of these men was enough. Two was torture. All of it made Justin very, very nervous.
