I nod, “Yeah, I just really needed to recharge. I’m as good as new now. Where’s fluffy?”
“Fluffy?” Hades asks while everyone looks confused, and then realisation dawns across his expression, “Farren, did you call the ancient beast that’s thought to be extinct, Fluffy?”
“Yep,” I reply proudly.
Said beast appears at the foot of the bed in the thankfully large room.
“Shit,” Storm curses. “We should have known he wouldn’t leave Farren’s side.”
“Fluffy!” I grin, and the guys all groan, but quickly stop when Fluffy moves to the side of the bed and dips his giant head so that I can pet him again. I give him lots of love. “You were such a good boy, thank you for coming. Although I’m not sure how or why you appeared, I do know that you are mine.”
“Yours?” Hades asks. “I haven’t seen one since I was a boy, and it was supposed to be the last one alive, and it died not long after I saw it.”
“Yep,” I reply. I tilt my head when the rest of his sentence registers, “That’s not true. He’s from your castle, you had him guarding your vault.”
Hades' eyebrows hit his hairline. “No, I didn’t. Fluffy is not the creature that I left behind.”
“Huh,” I say, confused as I look down at Fluffy. “Well, he’s definitely the same creature that was there.”
“I believe you, I just don’t know how it's possible,” Hades agrees, looking at Fluffy.
“His kind were hunted to extinction by the gods, because they are the only creature that can kill a god,” I explain.
“What?” Hades replies, completely shocked.
“Are you sure?” Rast asks. “I wasn’t aware that there was a creature that could kill a god.”
“Neither was I,” Khaos frowns. “That would have been handy information to have. As far as we know, it’s only a specific kind of metal that is forged in a very secretive place and a complicated process that can do it.”
“Who told you about them?” Kill asks curiously as he moves Loki out of the way, eyes Fluffy for a moment and then kisses me fiercely. “Stop scaring me like that.”
“To be fair, this wasn’t my fault. I had no idea that my magic was going to bring him back,” I point out. I look at Rast. “Are you still mad at me?”
A look of regret immediately crosses his face. “I am so sorry. My reaction was unnecessary and not right. Nico is my best friend, my brother. He was killed on a mission that the compound leaders sent him on, they wouldn’t let me search for him.”
Nico clears his throat, shadows crossing his features as he looks away. I get the feeling that there’s a lot more to the story. Things that even Rast doesn’t know. It’s not my place to bring it up.
I smile at Rast, “I get it. It’s fine, but if you get in my face like that again, I will not be so quick to forgive.”
The guys smile at my threat.
I do forgive him though, of course I do. He was highly emotional, and all he did was get up in my space, but I also need him to know that it’s not okay and put a boundary in place. If he has a problem with that, then that’s a red flag, and he’s not actually sorry, is he?
Rast nods, taking my threat completely seriously, “I give you my oath that I will never get in your face like that again.”
I smile.
Magic stirs in the air alongside Rast’s words, and Nico’s head snaps in his direction with surprise.
Rival narrows his eyes, “Why do I think that wasn’t a simple promise?”
“Because it wasn’t,” Nico explains when Rast stays silent. “Because of the kind of supernatural that Rast is, if he gives his oath, it is binding, and if he breaks it, it has serious consequences.”
It doesn’t escape my notice that Nico didn’t actually say what kind of supernatural Rast is.
Damn it.
At this rate I’m just going to ask him outright and hope he answers.
