Grinning, I stood on my toes to kiss Oanen lightly and pulled back before he could take things further.
“We’re in food-central, and I’m starving. Something just isn’t right about this.”
He sighed and brushed his fingers along my jaw.
“I know you’re nervous,” he said.
My pulse jumped, and I reached up to the neckline of my shirt. There was no way he could see it, could he?
“I meant what I said. I’ll wait for as long as it takes. Just don’t stop kissing me.”
Relief coursed through me. He’d meant sex, not the burns. I found it ironic that I found sex a safe topic this morning.
“If you want more kisses, feed me.”
My stomach let out a growl.
He grinned, kissed my forehead, then left me so he could shower.
Less than twenty minutes later, we were seated in a familiar diner.
“Is one of everything an option?” I asked, studying the choices and seeing too many things I’d want to try if my head didn’t hurt so much.
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“Hey, no judging a girl with a healthy appetite.”
“Not that. You can get whatever you want. You just look a little pale today.”
“I’m fine, Oanen.” But, I was starting to think I wasn’t. This was twice now that I’d been burned trying to use my powers. Once in the parking lot and now on the patio. Both times I tried to send someone to hell. Obviously, I was doing something wrong. But, the Book of Fury didn’t exactly outline the steps to a successful trip to hell.
After the waitress took our order, he reached across the table and played with my fingers.
“I know we’re not supposed to talk about this, but you’re different. I think something’s wrong.”
I opened my mouth to say I was fine again, but he lifted his hand.
“Hear me out. Before the lake, you ran hot. Now, you get cold. You threw up. You’re not sensing the wicked like you used to. And you have a burn that’s not healing as quickly as it should. I’m worried.”
His phone rang, but he didn’t move to answer it.
“Adira, Mom, and Dad are worried too.”
“You told them?”
He took his phone out of his pocket and met my gaze.
“There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you. Including risk your temper to keep you safe. I’ll be right back.”
He stood and strode toward the exit while my mouth was still hanging open. He would flip his shit if he found out I had another burn. My gaze tracked him as he walked outside and stood on the sidewalk to answer his phone.
Across from me, someone sat in his place.
I turned, and my jaw almost dropped for a second time.
“You’re wasting time,” Mom said.
She looked exactly the same. I struggled between wanting to hug her and wanting to punch her in the face because of ditching me. I surprised us both by partially standing and hugging her. She set her cheek against my head and stroked a hand down my hair. Too quickly, she pulled away.
“You need to get to your Grandma Irene.”
“Why?” I asked, trying not to let my frustration show.
“I told you. You can’t deliver the wicked to hell without your wings because without them, you’re not a fury, and your power will consume you.”
The straight forward answer stunned me. She took advantage of my silence to continue.
“Ditch the unnecessary baggage and get to St. Louis.”
“Baggage?” I asked, confused.
Mom’s gaze flicked to Oanen, who had his back to us.
“Oanen isn’t baggage. He’s my boyfriend.”
A wave of heat came from across the table.
“Have you slept with him?” she demanded.
“We’re staying at his parents’ apartment. There’s only one bed.”
“Stop being thick. Have you had sex?”
I didn’t like her tone or the anger in her expression.
“You ditched me, remember? I think that means my sex life is none of your business.”
“Of course it is. Didn’t you learn anything in that shit town? Griffins only have sons. Furies only have daughters. It will never work. You will destroy each other.”
“It’s a little late for that warning. We’re already bonded.”
Her expression changed, becoming more earnest.
“Learn from your succubus friend. The boy can love you, but you don’t need to love him.”
There was so much wrong in what she just said. How did she know about Eliana? And was her attitude the reason for the revolving door of her love life?
“You should have listened to the messenger. It’s dangerous for us to keep meeting. I’m guessing you already have your first burn or you wouldn’t be this calm.”
“Hold up,” I said. “Messenger? You mean you sent that guy last night?”
She exhaled slowly, a look of annoyance crossing her features before she suppressed it.
“You need to focus, Megan. Your power is free, uncontrolled and unpredictable, and it will burn you out if you don’t get your ass to your great-grandma’s place in St. Louis and kill her so you can claim your power as a fury in full. Do you understand? I didn’t bring you into this world just to watch you die before your time.”
A waitress walked over with my chocolate milk.
“Get it done,” Mom said, sliding out of her seat.
“Wait.”
She left without a backward glance. As much as I wanted to push the waitress out of the way and chase her down, I stayed in my seat.
“Your food will be out in a minute,” the waitress said before walking away again.
I barely heard her. The gas station. The man on the balcony. If Mom was being honest, things were worse than I’d thought. And, they’d keep going downhill from here.
Heart sinking, I glanced out the window at Oanen. I couldn’t tell him what Mom had said. He’d made the priority of my well-being pretty plain. And I couldn’t—no, I wouldn’t—kill my great-grandma just to save myself. There had to be another way. If it was my power burning me up because I was trying to send people to hell, then I’d stop trying to send them. How hard could it be?
Oanen pocketed his phone and headed for the door. I took a drink of chocolate milk and focused on trying to calm down. By the time he strode in, I was able to arch a brow at him.
“And what was so important that you needed to run away before I could unleash my anger?”
His lips twitched a little as he sat down.
“Your anger has never concerned me.”
“Oh, you’re begging for it now.”
“I thought I’ve been begging for it since the moment we met,” he said.
I frowned at the gold creeping into his gaze.
“We’re not talking about the same thing anymore, are we?”
A small grin tugged at his lips before disappearing. He was breathtaking when mischievous and amused.
“That was Adira,” he said, answering my original question.
The waitress interrupted with the delivery of our food. I dug into my pancakes and waited for Oanen to continue.
“The Council believes that Eliana’s mom is tied to the murders.”
“Why?”
“All the victims are males. The smiles in death. And the fact that pregnant succubi are ravenous enough to easily be one of the most dangerous creatures out there. The Council wants us to investigate Nicolette further.”
I sighed and took another big, syrup and butter-soaked bite.
“So are you going to tell me what your mom wanted?” Oanen said.
My heart gave a hard thump as I swallowed.
“You saw?”
“After you disappeared from the Gizzard, I’ll never fully take my eyes off you again.”
I took a sip of my milk while I tried to think what to say. I didn’t want to lie. He’d know if I did. Omission wasn’t far from lying, either. But I told myself I wasn’t going to hide what I knew forever. Just until I could figure out a way for me to live without someone else dying.
“She pulled her normal Paxton bullshit,” I said finally. “She wanted to know if we’ve had sex. When I told her it was none of her business, she said that griffins only have male offspring and furies female. That we can’t mix. She wants me to get rid of you.”
Oanen’s eyes darkened.
“There is no going back,” he said. “We’re bonded.”
“I told her that. It didn’t matter to her. It seems like babies are on everyone’s brains.”
He exhaled slowly.
“I’m not sure how much we can trust what she says. Like the Council, your mother seems to be withholding information.”
“Exactly. The information that she gives is reliable enough, but there are too many holes and missing bits for us to clearly see the big picture.”
“Maybe we should go to your great-grandmother.”
My heart stopped before my anger started to surge. He held up a hand.
“Not to do what your mom wants but to ask questions. Maybe your Grandma Irene would be more willing to share some straight forward answers.”
I considered what he was suggesting.
“Okay. We can try talking to her. Hopefully she’s more mellow than Paxton.”
We finished our meal and, with renewed determination, left the diner. Oanen wanted to re-check the places the trolls had died for any clues that might point to Nicolette.
In the kitchen space of the first apartment we went to, the ceiling was slowly giving up its hold and crumbling down to the floor in hand-sized chunks. Some of those chunks had been crushed to small mounds of dust that intermingled with other debris. Old food wrappers. Small bones. Shredded bits of material. Thankfully, the heat was off so the place didn’t smell too bad.
“What type of clues are we looking for?” I asked as I studied the place.
“I’m not sure,” Oanen admitted.
“If Nicolette is anything like Eliana, I can’t see her setting foot in here, no matter how hungry she is. I mean, Eliana’s too…clean.”
He looked around the efficiency apartment, his eyes lingering on the tattered bare mattress, dark with who knew what kinds of stains, and shook his head.
“You’re right. I don’t see any succubus willingly coming in here.”
“If I remember right, the other apartment was better than this one, and that one still was something I couldn’t picture Nicolette willingly visiting. When we saw her in the Tabernam, she wore a nice cloak and her nails were a perfectly polished red that matched her lipstick. My point is that she was put together. High class, not streetwalker, put together.”
“Maybe she didn’t go home with them. Maybe they went to her home.”
“And she carried them back to their places after feeding?” I asked. “It doesn’t fit her upscale you’re-beneath-me vibe. The way she acts, she expects guys to carry her, not the other way around.”
“You were in Uttira for several months. We’re taught to blend. To not leave a trail. It’s possible she could have left her kill in a location where no one would suspect her. I think the proof we need won’t be here but at the Goose and Gizzard on those tapes.”
“Alright. Let’s go.” Although I didn’t like the idea of going back there again, I was willing to do just about anything to get out of this apartment.
Oanen led the way and opened the car door for me. Across the street, a group of young men openly watched us with looks of hostility on their faces. Not a hint of wickedness touched me. Mom’s words came back to me. I’m guessing you already have your first burn or you wouldn’t be this calm.
“You’re not feeling anything from them, are you?” Oanen asked, noting my hesitation.
“No. Nothing.” I looked up at him and gave him a quick kiss. “Stay focused on the case,” I said. “I’ll be fine.”
He didn’t say anything as I got in, and he closed the door. But he was right. I should have been able to sense something from them. Their body language alone said they were up to no good.
When he pulled away from the curb, he didn’t turn around and head back to the Gizzard.
“Aren’t we going the wrong way?”
“Nope. The Gizzard won’t be open for a while, and I promised to keep you fed.”
“But we just had breakfast.”
“We’re going somewhere for fun then food.”
He took 278 south to Ocean Parkway. I paid attention to the tree lined boulevard, feeling a sense of familiarity that I couldn’t quite place. It’d been a long time since I’d been in New York. When we turned onto Surf Avenue, and I saw the red spire on the horizon, I knew where we were going.
“Coney Island?”
“Have you been there already?” he asked.
“Yeah, but a long time ago. I remember it was great, though.”
The remnants of my headache faded as I leaned forward in my seat and waited for the first glimpse of the rollercoaster. My memories of the amusement park were of people, good food, games, and rides. So, it happened a long time before I started losing my temper. I frowned slightly and hoped I wouldn’t ruin it this time, either.
Oanen found a place to park, and hand in hand, we strolled down the boardwalk. The sights, sounds, and smells filled me with excitement.
“What do you want to do first?” he asked.
“All of it.”
We moved from ride to ride. He grinned at my enthusiasm and shook his head when I suggested the roller coaster be renamed to Soaring Griffin.
“It’s pretty close to flying with you,” I said.
“I doubt that.”
“You weren’t the one clinging to your back when you dove down at Aubrey in that clearing.”
After we’d had enough of the rides, he humored me with a few games. Most of them would have been hard for a human to win. I delighted in making the booth attendees’ jaws drop when I bested them.
“I think your stuffed animal collection is big enough,” Oanen said, his voice muffled by a unicorn’s fluffy pink tail.
I picked the animal off the pile and handed it to the nearest kid.
“Let’s find some new owners for the rest of these then get something to eat,” I said.
The toys were easy to get rid of. Deciding where to eat was harder. We settled on hot dogs and went to sit shoulder to shoulder on the beach, listening to the waves as we ate.
It felt like a date. Not the secluded, come-to-my-house-and-have-a-quiet-dinner kind but a real date.
“Thank you for this,” I said when we’d finished eating. “It felt so…normal.”
“The first date of many that will be like this,” he said, his gaze sweeping over my features in a way that made my pulse skip. When he leaned toward me, I met him eagerly.
His lips touched mine, and his arms wrapped around me, careful to avoid the burn on my back. I barely had time to note that before he deepened the kiss and stole my ability to reason or breathe. Oanen was my world. Then and always.
When he pulled back and broke the kiss moments later, the cool ocean breeze brought clarity as I tried to catch my breath.
I liked kissing Oanen. Talking to him. Sleeping beside him. Just being with him. No, it wasn’t like. It was so much more than like. And, that still scared the hell out of me.
He watched me closely, his golden gaze missing nothing.
“I love the fire in your eyes and the way you look at me after we kiss. I see every bit of passion your fear is holding back, and it makes my heart race because, I know when you unleash it, not even the gods will be able to keep us apart.”
“Oanen, I…”
His lips twitched as he watched me fumble with what to say.
“I know the time’s not right for you to admit how much you can’t live without me. Don’t worry; I’m patient.”
His teasing helped with the awkwardness.
“Patient? I would have gone with overconfident. Now, don’t we have some tapes to look at?” I said, standing and brushing my butt off.
He chuckled and joined me.
“Here, let me help.”
I hopped away before he could touch me.
“Hands to yourself. You’ve messed with my head enough for one day.”
He studied my face for a long moment.
“I’ve meant everything I’ve said. Kids don’t matter. Sex doesn’t matter. You admitting how you feel about me doesn’t matter. You’re all that matters.”
He was getting into the scary territory again. I thought of my burns and my great-grandma and needed to shift the topic.
“That’s not what I meant. I meant all this talk about kissing and passion is distracting me from our focus.”
“That is my focus, Megan. You.”
“Dead trolls, Oanen. That’s our focus. And Nicolette. Come on.”
There was no handholding on the way back to the car. I was too rattled and worried. I loved Oanen loving me. Although the idea of kids still scared the hell out of me, I trusted him when he said having kids wasn’t something we needed to do right away. I also trusted that he would wait and let me drive the pace of our physical and emotional relationship. It was his complete need to keep me safe that worried me. What would he do when he found out about the second burn? Or that these burns were signs of my powers eating me alive?
The car ride to the Gizzard was just as quiet.
As soon as we walked into the place, we had the bartender’s attention. He nodded to the side door and moved to meet us in the short hall.
“No news, Enforcer. Words out, but no one’s talking.”
“I was wondering if we could look at your tapes for the past several weeks.”
“Knock yourself out. Want me to bring you anything to eat or drink?”
“No, thank you,” Oanen and I said at the same time.
The man left us alone in the back room for the next two hours. Oanen and I watched endless footage of patrons coming and going. Eating and drinking. We didn’t see much conversation happening. And, there definitely were no signs of a put together succubus.
“There’s nothing here to link Nicolette to the troll deaths. I’m going to call Eliana.”
Oanen grabbed my hand before I could pull my phone free.
“You can’t call her,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“She’s my best friend, who I promised to call every day. If I don’t call her, she’ll be angry.”
He removed his hand.
“Don’t say anything about her mom.”
“You’ve already said that.”
I dialed Eliana. Like the last time, she picked up on the first ring.
“Where’s the seventies porn background music?” I asked.
“What? Ew! Why would you say that?”
I laughed.
“I figured Adira would have converted you by now.”
She snorted.
“No. She’s been surprisingly quiet today.”
And I knew why.
“So, I have some interesting news,” I said.
Oanen turned in his chair and crossed his arms at me. I rolled my eyes at him.
“I saw my mom today,” I said to Eliana.
“No way. Did she tell you what’s going on?”
“Yep. Apparently Oanen and I can’t be together because griffins have boy baby chickens and furies have girls with anger issues. According to her, we won’t mix.”
“While she might be right about the past, who’s to say what will happen? I don’t think a griffin and fury pairing has ever been done before. At least not in written history.”
“I just wish she didn’t try so hard to be a pain in my ass, you know?”
“I’m sorry it wasn’t a pleasant reunion.”
“It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, I guess. She looked exactly the same. But, this time when I saw her, I realized just how much I didn’t know about her. Other than her taste in men. But back then, I thought she was just a regular, human gold digger, you know?”
“My mom’s motto is usually the richer, the better.”
I gave Oanen a triumphant look.
“Usually?”
“Apparently my dad was an exception.” A morose note crept into Eliana’s voice. “His devotion tasted sweeter because it had never been given to a mortal before. Only to one of the gods.”
“Hey. I didn’t mean to bring you down. Let’s talk about something else. Anything interesting happen at the Academy today?”
“Not really. I better go. It’s just about dinner time, and if I get down there first, I can be sitting before Adira arrives.”
“Um?”
“She won’t notice my dress enough to make me change.”
“Ah. Okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
After I hung up, I gave Oanen a pointed look.
“And that confirms it. Nicolette would never go to a dive like this to pick up men. She’d go upscale.”
The monitor behind Oanen caught my attention.
“Look,” I said, pointing at the screen. “There he is again.”
“It’s the same cloak,” Oanen agreed. He changed the angle to find a camera with a shot of the guy’s face, but it was never a clear look.
“It’s like he knows where the cameras are.”
Oanen made a sound of agreement then froze the frame.
“That’s him. The troll grandpa who beat his grandson.”
He was sitting right next to the cloaked man.
“I need to call the Council. But not from here,” he said, standing. “Let’s pick up something to eat and head back to our place.”
