“Don’t say that part so loud,” I cautioned. “The devil has keen ears, you know.”
“Gods, don’t I know it,” the vampire muttered. “I feel badly for what I said. And for making you think I was upset with you. I just didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“You know who else said that to me?” I met his gaze, eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
“Colette. When she kidnapped me, put a hex on me, and put me into this really disgusting dream loop where I saw all of you die. Well, not you. In my dream loop, you were already dead,” I explained. “You can’t take away my choices like that, Cian.” My fingers tugged at the hem of my tank top, stretching the fabric.
The vampire’s hand moved, covering mine, and gently extricated my shirt from my grip.
“I’m sorry.” He pulled my hand into his. “Anything I can do to make it up to you?”
I considered his question, then grinned nervously. There were definitely a couple of things only he or Indra could help me with. Getting the upper hand with Akiva was one of them. “Help me get the jump on Akiva next time I come over.”
Cian snorted. “I might consider distracting him for all of ten seconds to give you a chance, but that’s it.” He opened his door, then looked at me pointedly until I did the same with mine.
The sun had only recently set, and the Quarter was packed with people. We walked down the street, and I was both charmed and unsurprised to see Merric aggressively smack Yuna’s shoulder and point her in our direction.
She rolled her eyes and pushed him away, making the kitsune squawk indignantly and stagger.
It was obviously an act, but that didn’t bother me tonight.
Indra walked towards us, and while I expected him to go to Cian, he didn’t. Instead the hellhound threw his arms around my shoulders and embraced me eagerly. My breath caught in my chest. He’d come to me?
“You left so fast last night that I couldn’t thank you,” the hellhound admonished gently. He smiled warmly, pulling a smile from my own lips that I couldn’t hold back. I felt myself blush, though willed my body to not make this a big deal.
“My bad,” I said, wrapping my arms around him. “And you never have to thank me. Only Akiva does.” I met the lich’s momentarily shocked glance over Indra’s shoulder.
His eyes narrowed and he snorted. “Thank you, O great George, for your heroic actions. You have saved us all, and the kingdom of New Orleans will be at peace for at least the next five days. Is that sufficient?”
“Nope. Try again on your knees.”
He shook his head, rolling his eyes mockingly. “That’s so inappropriate. What will the public think?”
Merric craned his head around to look at us from behind Yuna. “C’mon c’mon,” the facade-wearing fox called. “I’m hungry and Cian’s buying.”
“He is?” I walked with Indra through the doors and out to the back patio.
Our tables by the decorative fence had been shoved together, as we’d had them before. It made me smile.
Predictably, everyone took their same seats, and Akiva again hooked his leg around mine as we sat, while Yuna rested her arm against mine with a sideways glance from her teal eyes.
I didn’t mind. I liked sitting between the two of them, with Cian fielding insults and protests from Merric as they sat down.
“Is this a date?” I asked curiously.
“Do you want it to be?” Indra inquired, resting his menu on the table and meeting my gaze.
My grin widened. “Yeah, I do actually.”
I leaned against the railing by the river, head tipped back to stare at the stars while tourists and performers yelled and called out their approval. With my back to the river, I could feel the cool breeze against my shirt. Dinner had gone much more smoothly than I’d expected. Even Merric had been on his best behavior. Or at the very least, his insults seemed less abrasive than usual.
“There you are.”
I didn’t look down, but I did smile as Yuna leaned on the fence beside me, not looking at the sky.
“I’m sorry I slapped you yesterday,” she said. “I didn’t know how else to get you to release your magic.”
“Don’t apologize,” I murmured, not really wanting to think about the wolves of the Moon tonight. That was a problem for another day.
Admittedly, I seemed to be racking up quite a few of those, and I was worried that another day was going to end up coming a lot sooner than I wanted it to.
“I’d like to get together again soon,” the cecaelia went on, looking to where Merric was laughing at something Indra said. Or perhaps laughing at Indra himself. “Without the Troublesome Trio and your fox.” It did not escape me that she had picked up Merric’s nickname for them.
“I want to do that too,” I agreed.
She crossed her legs at the ankle, and sighed. “I hope you don’t regret this.”
“Regret what?” I looked at her for the first time and saw her staring at me intensely. It made my stomach clench slightly and my eyebrows knit together in confusion.
“Coming to New Orleans. Helping them. Meeting me. Merric. Have you stopped to think about how much you don’t know about us? Will you really throw your lot in with a nine tailed fox, a centuries old vampire, a lich, a lost dog, and a sea witch?”
“I don’t see the issue with it,” I shrugged, willing my face to remain blank. Our differences had tickled at my brain far into the night, but she didn’t need to know that.
“It doesn’t bother us, you know.”
“Me?”
“Killing. None of them, not even Indra, bats an eye at it.” Her gaze was steady and she reached out to encircle my wrist with her long fingers. “What will you be like, when you don’t flinch at taking a life either?”
When, she’d said. Not if.
The cecaelia pulled me to her, pressing our mouths together insistently like it didn’t bother her one way or
