“So you say. But technically, I still don’t have my pants on. How safe is that?”
He chuckled. I expected him to release me so I could remedy the issue, but instead, he reached for the waistband of my jeans and hauled them up my legs, his knuckles brushing against mysensitive skin. I suppressed a shudder as my brain, treacherous thing that it was, imagined him ripping my pants right back off.
I held my breath, afraid to breathe as he fiddled with the button.
“There, all done.” He carefully picked up the bag with the egg, and then my other bags as well. “Now let’s get out of here before they find us. I don’t want to have to wipe the floor with their asses again.”
Chapter 6
Graham
Theroadsidedinerwasnearly empty at this hour. It was the only one still open in the area, which shocked me because I’d been all around the country and late-night diners used to be very common. The all-American staple was nearly extinct. What was the world coming to? Why did everything close so early now?
At least it still looked the same, with the familiar chrome trim, fluorescent lights, and booths upholstered in cracked red vinyl. The air smelled like cheap coffee that had been sitting on theburner too long and greasy fries cooked in oil that should’ve been changed yesterday.
I could taste the fries already.
A waitress in a faded uniform hummed to herself as she worked her way down the row of booths, wiping the tables. Her hairstyle looked almost as old as the diner itself.
Meera and I sat tucked into a booth near the back. She sat across from me, arms folded, shoulders tight, eyes flicking toward the door every few seconds like she expected a small army to burst through and steal the backpack she hugged to her chest. The egg wasn’t in it, of course. It was just a decoy. Omelet was hidden in my vehicle, under a modified seat, in a padded, bombproof box Desmon just happened to have for this occasion.
Our food arrived at our table just as Mateo and Eva walked in the door. I waved them over, and the waitress took their orders too.
Meera gawked as Mateo proceeded to order not one but two cheeseburgers with fries, and a meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy. Eva went straight for the sugar, ordering a chocolate milkshake. I introduced my friend and his mate as the waitress left.
“So you’re the egg lady,” Mateo said.
“And you’re the asshat who told me to take a hike.”
Oops. I’d forgotten about that.
I wonder if Meera would be so forward with her words if she could see through Mateo’s illusion spell.
My glamour hid my wings, tail, gray stone-like skin, and my sheer size, shrinking me down to something more acceptable to human eyes. The spell was potent, capable of subtly guiding those nearby to avoid my tail and wings. It made them ignore things that didn’t add up.
Mateo’s spell hid his feline facial features, a furry lion’s body, wyvern wings, and a scorpion tail. As a manticore, he had both an upright and a four-legged form, but even when he walked upright, being a lion man with extra parts tended to draw a lot of negative attention. Especially since he was massive, even for his kind.
Most humans reacted to seeing a gargoyle with a mix of fear and awe, like we were walking statues. Sometimes they screamed. But with Mateo, the screams were usually louder, and the reaction often leaned much more to fear and a little less to awe. Scholars believe it was because gargoyles appeared in cartoons and other literature, which helped set their human psyches up to accept us. But manticores were less common, and so most people reacted negatively. But I think it was the scorpion tail that did it.
Eva was human. And for the majority of her life, a magically plain one too. It wasn’t until recently that she realized she was one part of an equation to unlock some major magic. She was classically pretty by western sensibilities, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and she dressed well too.
But if you looked more closely, you’d realize that everything was covered in a layer of cat fur. Some of it from Mateo, and some of it from her four-legged clients. She worked as a cat groomer.
Eva laughed. “Mateo can be a bit of an ass sometimes. Did you know when we first met he accused me of being a thief?”
Mateo grinned at her. “I was right. You are a thief. You stole my fucking heart.”
That had Eva rolling her eyes. She’d heard it all before.
“Come on,” Mateo said, turning to Meera. “Your story sounded a little ridiculous, don’t you think? But I’m sorry. Would you forgive me if I told you I found your phone?” He brought out a device that looked a little worse for wear.
Meera’s eyes went wide. “Is that on? Turn it off! I think my ex is tracking it. He’s the one that…” She glanced around. “You know.”
I’d already sent Mateo what I’d learned from Meera.
“Hewastracking you. I removed MapLocate, so you should be fine now.”
Meera frowned. “You mean my map app?”
