With the egg neatly wrapped up and stowed away, I packed everything I’d need on the run. As I did, I ran through the plan in my head. Living in New York, I hadn’t actually used my driver’s license for years. But I had one. And I remembered how to drive, I think. I could rent a car and drive to Darlington. Make a fewcalls along the way, and keep moving until I got the egg safely to Desmon in Darlington.
And suddenly my plan became very clear. I put my hand on the egg, absorbing its warmth through my palms.
“I’m gonna get you home, buddy,” I promised.
Chapter 2
Graham
I’dclaimedtheeastwing of the penthouse because the windows gave me the best sight lines over the city. I hadn’t known at the time how thin the walls were between my personal office and the common area kitchen. Now I had to listen to all the laughter coming from it every day.
Not that there was anything wrong with that. I was happy that everyone I cared about had all found their mates. I just didn’twant to see or hear their joy every single day and be reminded of what I could never have.
We had the entire upper floor of the building to ourselves. And by we, I meant me, two of my three gargoyle brothers, and Eamon, who was technically a demon, but we considered him an honorary gargoyle since we’d spent so many years protecting the same building in the past. The fourth gargoyle brother, Griff, had also found his mate and was living with her nearby.
Eamon’s mate, Tansy, laughed at something her pet conure was doing, and it came through the walls undiminished.
I didn’t begrudge any of them a single moment of their happiness. How could I after the tough life we’d led? They deserved everything they’d worked for. I just hadn’t anticipated how lonely it would be as the only one left unattached.
My brothers knew better than to suggest I find someone of my own. They knew my past. I was single by choice.
I’d loved a woman once, a very long time ago. Seraphina had married another. Since then, I’d carried all of her details—her face, the way she moved, the color of her hair—in my head. Not because I wanted to remember her and her betrayal, but because I couldn’t forget her. But as the years passed, the memories of her twisted and changed. And somehow as the details got foggier, her effect on my psyche only grew.
I couldn’t even recall her face now, no matter how hard I tried. Her face came back in fragmented pieces, and I wasn’t even sure if they were true memories or something I’d made up to substitute lost details along the way. I knew she had red hairsince it had always reminded me of the blazing dawn, but was it more red than orange? Or was it more orange than red? It had waves, but had they been gentle like the ones breaking at the shore of a lake or wild like the ones at the coast? I did not remember.
But she still haunted me, and I had never loved another since. Hell, I hadn’t even looked at another woman romantically. The worst part? Despite her ultimate rejection and betrayal, a part of me still felt guilty whenever I looked at another woman, as if I was cheating on the memory of her. I both loved and hated her. It was confusing.
My phone rang from my desk. Cell phones were one of those modern conveniences I took for granted now, and I wondered how I’d ever lived without them. I answered before the second ring.
Desmon’s familiar voice came through the speaker. “Graham. I have a job for Redrock Protective Services. It needs to be someone reliable.”
“Everybody we hire is reliable, Des.”
“You know what I mean.”
I did. This was something personal.
“I’ll take it. What do you need?”
Most of Desmon’s private jobs were full of action and excitement anyway, something I desperately needed to distract me from all the happily mated couples intruding into my personal space.
“I’ll update you in my library.” His voice was measured, and I wondered what I’d just agreed to. “Seth will open a portal in ten minutes.”
He hung up, and I quickly pulled on something decent enough to meet with a dragon—as in something that hadn’t been sitting in my laundry basket for more than a week—before stepping out to the common area where Desmon’s portals usually opened up.
It was Chicken Nugget, Tansy’s sun conure, who greeted me first. She flew in, landed on my head, and made a squawk that sounded more like a chicken than a parrot.
“Hello to you too, Nugget.”
Gunnar, my brother, was sprawled on one of the couches. Eamon, Lily—Gunnar’s mate—and Tansy had one of the penthouse’s large Bird of Paradise plants on its side. Tansy had her hands on her rounded belly, further proof that the whole penthouse was moving rapidly away from being a bachelor pad.
“Uh, what’s going on?” I asked.
“They’re beyond rootbound,” Lily explained. “It’s time for a new pot.”
It was only now that I noticed the pair of new, ornate, ceramic planters, one on each side of the French doors leading out to the rooftop patio.
“Ah, I see. Looks like you have your job cut out for you. Desmon called, and I’ll be taking a mission for him. And Seth’s going to open a portal soon. Like, right there.”
