They stayed there, floating, watching, waiting.
Then Ciaran could taste something metallic and sour, and it took him a second to realise what it was. He still had his limb wrapped around Fray’s, and he could feel the thrum of his friend’s hearts and taste what he was feeling.
Fear.
Ciaran pulled him away.We’ll come back with the others.
Fray stared out into the darkness for a beat, then he nodded, and they turned back the way they’d come.
Back to Tenebrae Cove. Back to their human home.
The return journey seemed to take an age. He’d been so distracted, so immersed in his own problems, so desperate for distance, it had only felt like moments to get out that far. But it was dark by the time they came into the Cove.
They headed straight for Fray’s shop, which had the lower jetty underneath it for a dry dock, so they could slip out of the water with less risk of being seen.
Ciaran was feeling an equal measure of need to get back to be where Sawyer was and dread of that very proximity at the same time. The turmoil had slowed him up, and Fray was ahead of him, heading for the first pylon of the jetty, when something—fear or fate, he wasn’t sure—made Ciaran stop and scan the pier.
He saw him then.
Sawyer.
He was standing on the pier, wearing a big coat now, looking out into the blackened cove, scanning, searching.
Ciaran reached out and grabbed Fray with one arm and pointed above them with another.
Fray went still, both of them darkening in colour to match the inky water.
Camouflage was as easy as breathing.
Then Tobin was there on the pier next to Sawyer, and Ciaran bloomed with a jealousy and rage so fierce, his colour changed to vibrant red. Fray spun in his hold, shocked and alarmed, and Ciaran was no longer holding him; instead, Fray was gripping him with eight vicelike holds.
What the fuck, Ciaran.
Ciaran fought with reason, with rationale. He couldn’t take his eyes off Sawyer, but then Tobin said something, and Sawyer gave a nod before he turned and walked away.
Tobin glanced quickly down at the water, eyes widening when he saw Ciaran, and he pointed his thumb toward Fray’s jetty before he disappeared from view, no doubt following Sawyer.
Ciaran didn’t like that, but he did feel better once he couldn’t see Sawyer, the fight leaving his body.
He knew he was there, though, somewhere close by, and that was enough.
Fray’s grip on him lessened, though he then dragged Ciaran to the pylon, and both taking human form as they climbed out of the water, their feet silent on the jetty. They grabbed towels first, then a handful of clothes—there were always shorts and T-shirts handy, both at Fray’s and underneath the main jetty—and Ciaran pulled on some shorts.
He had to roll and shake his shoulders out, the tension now back in full force. The muscles over his skeleton felt too tight, and it was like he hadn’t just spent hours in freeform at all.
They could see Tobin heading their way down the pier, and Sawyer was right beside him.
Oh, that’s just fucking great.
Tobin walked in like he owned the place, his eyes silently asking,“What the fuuuuuuuuuck,”but Sawyer stopped at the door and poked his head in. “Knock, knock,” he said. “Uh, hi.”
Ciaran’s hearts thrummed so hard and fast, it almost hurt, his limbs itching to morph, to shift. It took every ounce of self-control not to...
“Hey,” Fray said, opening the fridge like it was the most natural thing in the world. “What brings you this way?”
“I just...” Sawyer’s eyes went to Ciaran’s, and, with a heat Ciaran could almost feel, he raked them down his bare chest to his abs and to his board shorts. He stopped then, and with what looked like a concerted effort,madehimself make eye contact. He’d just checked Ciaran out, no doubt about it, but he at least had the decency to look embarrassed. He cleared his throat. “Uh... saw you guys go in the water, didn’t see you come out. Didn’t know if I should call the coastguard, or...”
Ciaran still couldn’t speak apparently, so Fray, now with a beer in hand, nodded to the loft-like shop that had open spacedown to the dry dock and jetty below. “Internal access,” he said casually. “We’ve been in and out a few times all day.”
