“Is it always this beautiful here?” I ask, taking a big whiff of the air. It smells like sun-warmed earth and springtime flowers.
“I’d say it has gotten a lot more beautiful over the past few days,” Brogan says with a massive grin. Oh, that smooth little flirt. Somehow he gets away with it without sounding cheesy or leery. Probably because he’s so ridiculously hot.
“I meant the weather. Do you guys control it?”
He nods, putting a hand on my hip as we walk. “We have it set so that it’s kind of seasonal and varied. Our seasons don’t last as long as the real thing though, but it means that some days it’ll be raining, other days it’s sunny, and sometimes we even get snow. The garden still needs rain and sun, but it stops us all from going insane from the constant sunshine.”
To anyone that hasn’t spent a lot of time in the Ether, it might seem weird that they can control the weather like that. Whether it’s weirder than them having a statue that creates soul gumdrops or a gate to the afterlife is debatable.
We reach the entrance to Finn’s cave and step inside and once my eyes adjust from the bright sunshine to the dim light inside, I can see that his place is laid out as a kind of open plan apartment. By the looks of things, Finn clearly has… eclectic taste. His sofa looks like it’s the most comfortable thing I’ve ever seen and I just want to curl up and fall asleep on it, while his dining table looks like it’s a couple of centuries old. There is a mismatch of weapons and posters on the walls. It’s like castle chic meets bachelor heaven.
… and then there’s the pile of bloodied limbs in the middle of the floor.
“What the hell? I thought you guys were cleaning this place up,” Brogan says, taking a step closer to me, so that he’s practically shielding me from the view of blood and gore. Too late.
Finn and Soren stand in the middle of the living area, both panting slightly, both covered in a mixture of clear and black fluids.
If I hadn’t already seen the severed limbs, I’d wonder what thefuckthey’d been doing in here.
“What the fuck happened here?” Brogan asks.
Finn strides forward and scoops me up in his arms like we’ve been together for years and haven’t seen each other in days. Not at all like near strangers that only met each other yesterday. Add to that the fact he’s at least six foot five and seriously ripped, but has decided to go topless and is dressed only in a frilly apron that’s covering his junk… and it’s a surreal greeting.
Despite the fact that he’s clearly hard as a rock and I’m pretty sure if he turned around, his ass cheeks would be on display, I relax into his arms. I feel this part of me deep inside settle at the contact and take a moment to embrace the feeling as Finn presses his face into the crook of my neck and lets out a happy noise that’s part hum and part purr.
“Okay, man, you don’t want to get blood all over her. And maybe you want to explain why there’s a mountain of corpses in your den?”
“More soul-eaters,” Finn grumbles into my neck. His voice is so deep, I feel it vibrating through my chest. “They attacked again yesterday and then overnight. I was explaining to this idiot that this place is like a beacon at the moment. You have hundreds of souls in limbo downstairs and it’s going to draw them in. If we’re not careful, we’ll be overrun.”
“And I was explaining to this lizard-brain that there’s fuck all I can do about it,” Soren spits.
Finn waves a hand in frustration but doesn’t let me go. He keeps one strong arm pinning me to his muscular bare chest and all thoughts of it being smeared with blood or of the bodies littering the floor fly right out of my head as my libido rises up like a Kraken.
I wonder what else he could do holding me like this. I wonder if he could hold me up with one arm? Certainly looks that way, considering the fact his biceps are the same size as my thighs.
He’s all dark, flashing green eyes and dark hair and muscles. A bit feral, a bit dangerous-looking.
And yet he’s wearing a frilly apron. He’s like a study in contradictions and I want to get to know him better.
Soren’s eyes flick to Brogan and then to me and there’s something in how they’re both holding themselves makes me think they’re having a private conversation that we can’t hear. He nods and his eyes fix on mine. The look that Soren gives me is intense, like he could look right through me and with his eyes looking into mine and Finn’s chest pressed up against me, I’m starting to sweat.
“I think it’s best if we avoid bringing more outside attention to the garden.”
“Fine,” Finn huffs. “Just be aware we’re on higher alert, Reaper, especially now that my mate is here.”
“Our,” Soren growls, and it’s the first time he’s acknowledged he’s a part of this freak show too. He meets my eye again for just a second before looking away again.
“Now, Echo, I want to introduce you to my gate.”
Introduce me? That sounds like it’s a person.
I meet Brogan’s eye, and he gives me a whadayagonnado look and shrugs.
“Doesn’t seem like they’ve sorted their differences, but I’ve had an idea for this afternoon, babe. We’ll hold off on visiting Wren’s childhood home or whatever until later or until we hear something from Cam or Leif.” Brogan presses a kiss to my cheek. “I need to make a call, but I’ll be back and I might need you later.” He bends right down to speak directly into my ear and once again I shiver and he grins.
“Oh, we are gonna have so much fun together, babe.” He lets his lips brush the shell of my ear and then steps back, grinning wickedly.
I’m flushed as lust shoots through me and I feel like I’ve slightly gone out of my mind when Finn links our fingers together and tugs me along. He’s so much bigger than me, my palm is practically cocooned inside his which does nothing to settle my raging libido.
