Yesterday, Cas had to threaten Zane to within an inch of his life not to push the issue. Not that Z would have forced her. None of us would ever even consider that, but he’d been making suggestive comments, wiggling his eyebrows, offering massages that we all knew would lead to wandering hands. He wasn’t being malicious. Just desperate. Weallwere.
The moment she says all clear, Zane’s going to have her bent over the nearest flat surface with Cas and me in line behind him.
Seri’s bathroom door clicked open and there she was. Our beloved, in her simple t-shirt nightie, her honeyed curls tumbling around her shoulders. She took one look at me sitting on the bed, hair falling around my face, and her eyes lit up as if I’d handed her a chocolate milkshake.
She spun on her heel and disappeared back into the bathroom, only to emerge seconds later with two hair bands and a comb clutched in her hand like a prize. That pure excitement over something so simple made my chest tighten with affection.
“May I?” She wiggled the comb as she bounced over.
“Of course. You never need to ask.” I told her that every time, and every time she only smiled.
Handing me the hair bands, she climbed onto the bed behind me, her knees against my back as she knelt. The first stroke of the comb through my hair sent a wave of relaxation down my spine. She had an instinctive understanding of how to touch without hurting, and for someone denied gentleness for so long, I ate that shit right up.
“I’m going to do a braid on either side.” She was already sectioning my hair. “Would you like that?”
“I likeanythingyou do,” I said honestly.
As her fingers worked through my hair, gentle and confident, I closed my eyes, letting myself sink into the comfort of her touch, trying to think of a compromise to her joining us on a hunt.
Arabesque had outsmarted us by thinking outside the box. My mind kept circling back to that, nagging at me that I should be doing the same thing. Thinking beyond the obvious.
I frowned, my thoughts shifting gears as an idea began to form. If Seri couldn’tphysicallycome with us yet, what if she could be there in another way?
The spy eyes. My little surveillance bugs with crystalline wings and magic cores. They were designed to relay both audio and video feeds back to my equipment. I’d been developing them for reconnaissance, but they could be more…
“Braid one done!” Seri reached one hand over my shoulder, and I dutifully gave her the hair band.
In the dresser mirror, I saw Cas come out of our bathroom, towel knotted across his hips and steam trailing after him. He stood there for a long moment, just watching Seri. His green eyes softened in a way they rarely did, the hardened commander melting away to reveal the man beneath.
“May I braid yours while you braid his?” he asked at last, uncharacteristically hesitant.
Seri’s hands paused in my hair, and I felt her body tense with surprise and delight. So far, none of us had been brave enough to touch her hair, not since the shampoo adventure when we discovered that naturally curly hair wasnotlike our straight hair.
“I know how, obviously, since I braid my own all the time.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Mom taught me before…”
Before leukemia doused her light. Before Lucian began turning us into monsters. I kept my sigh silent. No more drama needed tonight.
“Yes,” she breathed, and I didn’t need to see her face to know she was beaming. “Yes, please!”
The bed dipped as Cas settled behind her, creating a line: Me sitting at the edge, Seri behind me, Cas behind her. I felt her shift as he gathered her curls, heard the soft intake of her breath at his touch.
I knew what he was doing. He was trying to make amends for making her feel like we didn’t trust her to come along on a mission. Wedidtrust her; it was the monsters we hunted that we didn’t trust. A mission could go south in a heartbeat and, while we healed quickly, she didn’t.
Cas had ordered a dozen different types of healing potions from Angelo’s family magic shop, and, true to my prediction, had created a rolling med kit just for our girl.
But potions and bandages couldn’t help if a vampire tore out her throat or a wendigo ripped off her arm.
In the mirror, I watched as Cas played with Seri’s curls, not even attempting a braid. He handled them like they might shatter if hewasn’t careful enough. I smiled a little as he brought a handful up to his nose and breathed in her scent, his eyes closed and his face relaxing.
Meanwhile, Seri finished my second braid, securing the end with the band I handed her.
“All done!” She dropped a kiss on my nape that raised goosebumps everywhere. “You look very handsome, Mr. Cimmerian.”
What if she could see through the spy eyes? Be our extra pair of eyes from a safe distance? The technological equivalent of astral projection. All the benefits, none of the risks…
“Koko?” Seri’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “You don’t like this style? I can redo—”
“No, baby.” I reached back to pat her leg. “It’s perfect. I was just thinking.”
