“Just get up here, you pervert,” I laugh, using my foot to pat the bed.
He leaps up gracefully, curling up on my legs like a weighted security blanket. And honestly? I can’t think of any better way to fall asleep than nestled between these three.
Fourteen
Cole
“It's like the sun is shining out of the rich humans' assholes,” I complain, looking around in disgust.
This town is still a couple levels below what the big cities are, so there aren’t the same security checkpoints to enter or leave the city. City humans are far too blatant in their disgust to allow us onto their streets without making ourselves known. I'm surprised we aren’t required to paint a red ‘S' on our shirts to declare us as savages to warn all the so called civilized snobs away.
“Not all rich here,” Rin counters, but she can’t hide her look of derision at the group of business men and women walking past the truck. “It’s still better than the penthouse district, at least. And it’s nice to have at least one more warm day before the year ends.”
Ares looks jittery, not that I blame him, but he tries to hide it. “At least we can walk around here with less issues. I know at least a handful of shifters moved out here a few years back, so it can’t be all bad.”
“Still, we should let Rin take point as much as possible. Even if it isn’t as bad here, we stand out. We don’t want people to remember our faces if we’re trying to abduct someone,”Ozzy points out and we all agree.“And,”he adds reluctantly,“I should stay in the truck or wherever we end up staying the night. Shifters may be more accepted here to a degree, but they don’t go strutting down Main street as beasts unless they’re looking for a fight.”
“It’s going to be fine. We’ve got this,” Rin starts rambling nervously and I like to think I know my mate well enough to guess what has her worked up.
“If we see him, we’ll leave; mage or no mage.” I turn around in my seat to see her worrying her bottom lip.
“He must have at least filed a missing person's report,” Ares points out. “But we were already trying to avoid cops anyway. If we start seeing posters around, we'll pull back a town or two and try our luck there instead.”
Rin shakes her head. “This is too important. I should just dye and cut my hair.”
Three resounding growls fill the cramped space. “Trust us to keep you safe, alright? You shouldn’t be afraid to be yourself. One thing at a time, beautiful, let’s not do anything drastic.”
She snorts and it’s incredibly endearing. “I’ve never so much as shoplifted a tube of toothpaste, let alone a whole person. But sure, let’s not be dramatic.”
Ares pivots in his seat and raises an eyebrow. “Who the hell steals toothpaste? If you’re going to shoplift, at least make it something interesting.”
She lifts her hands in surrender and shrugs. “What can I say? I’m practical.”
Now I’m the one snorting. “Practically adorable, maybe.”
“But it’s cute that you think you’ve been roughing it,”Ozzy adds and she flicks him on the nose.
“Geeze, everyone gangbanging up on me. Rude.” She leans down and starts rummaging around in her bag.
“I think you mean ‘ganging up’ on you.”
She briefly looks up just to wink and go back to searching. “Nope, but it’sadorablethat you think I’m wrong.”
She pulls out her wallet triumphantly, frowning when she realizes she doesn’t have a purse and it’s too big for her pockets. Seriously, whoever is in charge of designing women’s clothes is the one that needs to get more practical.
“First thing’s first, I’m going to get a purse so I’m not just walking around asking to be robbed, and then I’ll start striking up some casual conversations to see if anyone knows where mages like to hang out in town.” She leans between the seats and kisses Ares and I on the cheeks before doing the same to Osiris and pushing open the door. “Gods, you guys must save so much money on phone bills. I’ll keep Ozzy in the loop so you know I’m not dead in an alley.” She shuts the door as soon as Ares starts to object, strutting down the street and into the nearest shop.
“Why’s she got to put things like that in my head? Like I’m not already freaking out enough, now I’m picturing some bastard mugging her,” he growls, smacking the dashboard.
“She doesn’t know how to put up a mental block to save her soul. Trust me, if she so much as has to pee, I’ll know. You don’t even want to know what was going on in her head while she was choking down Cole’s dick last night,”Ozzy laughs and I try not to be offended.
“You going to just leave me hanging?”
“I leave everybody hanging, remember?”he cackles obnoxiously and I flip him off.
We sit there in the truck, simply people watching while we keep half an ear out for Rin. From the pep in her step, she’s either thrilled to be back in a bustling town, or she’s just that elated we’re depending on her while sitting here with our tails between our legs.
Well over an hour passes without any real updates, not that I expected them this soon. Still, the sooner we can get out of here, the better. It feels like the axe is just there hovering at the nape of our necks, waiting for us to let our guards down before striking.
