“He doesn’t look uncomfortable,” Lanzar said, staring Treycore down. He returned his attention to Kid. “Are you uncomfortable? If so, maybe I can make you a little more comfortable.” His lips curled into a charming smirk.
Treycore could feel exactly how he wanted to make his Kid comfortable.
“I’m good. Thank you, though,” Kid said.
Treycore growled so loud he thought he might bark.
“Trey,” Kid whispered. “Now is not the time.”
“You’ll have to excuse Lanzar,” Yorro added as he approached Treycore. “He’s got a problem with manners.”
“As long as it’s his mouth and not his hands, I’ll be fine,” Treycore said.
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew what I could do with my mouth,” Lanzar retorted with a wink.
Kid chuckled, and Treycore turned his disapproving glare on him. “Sorry,” Kid said. “That was kind of funny.”
Treycore started toward Lanzar when Aerysn put his arm out in front of him. “Come on, Trey,” Aerysn said.
“Yes, Trey,” Yorro added. “You would be wise to be nice to your new friends.”
“Are you friends?” Treycore asked.
“We would very much like to be in this time where allies are important. We created this truck to come out and kill off some of these creatures and find survivors. The more help we have, the better. We have a hideout where we can keep you and your friends safe, at least while we try to figure out what to do about these monsters.”
“So there are others at this hideout of yours? Other immortals, I take it?”
“We have about sixty mortals and immortals there, who we protect. We work together. Right now we’re the night guard, but let’s not have this conversation out here where we could easily be attacked by more of these creatures. We’ll take you back with us. We have food, which I’m sure you all could use.”
Though Treycore was appreciative of the hospitality and how these guys had just saved their asses, he wasn’t about to let his guard down. But he was willing to take a chance on them.
***
Yorro had permitted Kid, Trey, and Aerysn to hop aboard their truck. They drove to a warehouse a few blocks away before Lanzar hopped off and turned back to Kid, extending a hand. Kid instinctively took the higherling’s hand, admiring the tattoo on that massive chest of his. Lanzar grinned, as though he could tell how attractive Kid thought he was.
Kid jumped onto the pavement and pulled his hand free of Lanzar’s grip.
“Don’t play like you didn’t feel anything,” Lanzar said with a wink.
Treycore hopped down right after Kid, his fists clenched at his sides, looking like he wanted to beat the shit out of the bastard.
“They’re helping us, Trey,” Kid reminded him.
Treycore snarled before joining Kid and slinging an arm around him, making it clear he wasn’t letting Lanzar have anything with Kid.
“Relax,” Fyrow said. “He’s teasing you, Trey.”
Lanzar and Fyrow approached a panel beside a garage door where Lanzar keyed a code to open an automatic door. Yorro drove the truck into the garage and then joined the others, leading them through a door into the warehouse.
“We still have electricity, but I figure it won’t be long until those things knock that out too. Fortunately, this place has some generators, and Lanzar here has been working on finding a way to keep them charged for us permanently if we need that.”
“Not going to be much use in a permanent anything if we can’t stop these monsters.”
“Oh, the dogs? Yeah, tell me about it.”
Yorro pushed through a set of dual doors, leading them into a wide room. Men, women, and children clustered together in different spaces. Some kids cried. Others glanced around the room, trying to take in their new lives in this warehouse. They couldn’t have understood what was going on. Hell, Kid still didn’t know what the fuck was going on.
Reality was such an elusive thing to him these days, especially considering how much it contrasted with all the things he’d believed about the world such a short time before. Kid’s worldview had been so restricted—limited. That was what being a slave had done to him. Now it was a world he could hardly recognize.
