“Then wait in your truck. Cause you can't do this, Cowboy-Cop.” I went invisible.
“Fine,” Austin muttered as he headed back to the street, past vanishing gods and demigods. “It's my operation but sure, I'll just go wait in the truck like a useless Yankee.”
Viper was the only one who didn't go invisible. Instead, he stripped and held out his clothes. “Vervain, can you hold onto these for me?”
“Sure, honey.” I took the clothes and his boots.
“Viper, I felt something off about snake,” Kirill's voice held a warning tone. “Something... evil. Death doesn't like him.”
A shiver ran down my back. “I felt it too. Something slimy. He gave me the creeps. Be careful.”
“Don't worry. He may be big, but I'm bigger.” Viper grinned and shifted immediately—going from muscular, gloriously naked star god to a massive, glistening green snake.
“Bigger doesn't mean better,” I whispered.
“That's a man's line, La-la,” Re said from somewhere on my right.
I would have said something snarky back but a man came out of a trailer with a flashlight and started shining it in our direction. Luckily, Viper was already in the grass, completely hidden. Within seconds, he was gone—slithering down the same hole that the other snake-shifter had escaped through. The man with the flashlight—not the same man who the snake had been following (I doubt he'd be emerging from his trailer before morning)—gave up after a few minutes and went back inside. Little did he know that his backyard was full of gods.
I sought my bond to Viper as we waited for him. He felt me touching his mind and spoke before I could.
This might take awhile.There's a whole system of tunnels down here and my sniffer isn't as good as yours.
Maybe I could—
Hold on,he interrupted me.I just needed to put my tongue into it.
Excuse me?
You do know that a snake smells with his nose and tongue, right?
Ah. Yes. I just wasn't sure what you meant.
Viper chuckled.We'll talk about putting my tongue into something else later. Right now, I've locked onto our guy.
Good. Let me know when you find him.To everyone else, I whispered, “He's found the trail.”
He's making a run for it, babe,Viper said. Maybe you should head back to Austin's house to wait.
I don't want to leave you here.
You're not. I'm not there anymore,he pointed out. And I'm sure Austin's place will be closer to my destination than that field is.
Fair enough. I'm going. But remember what we said and be careful, sweetheart.
You know it.
“Viper says this is going to take awhile and we should wait for him at Austin's,” I relayed to the others. “Everyone trace there; I'll ride back with Austin.”
“I'll go vith you.” Kirill's invisible hand slid into mine as everyone else traced away.
“Worried about me being alone with Cowboy-Cop?” I teased him.
“It vouldn't be first time you vent off vith friend and returned vith boyfriend.”
“Hey,” I huffed.
Kirill chuckled under his breath, then said, “Come on, let's give Austin a little scare.”
