Page 47 of Minding the Minotaur
One of the guys, who looks like he pumps iron daily, lets out a roar, pushes back his chair and stands to his full height of at least seven feet. And suddenly he’s not remotely human. He’s shifted into a huge, shaggy brown bear. I shrink behind Arlo as the bear strides over and claps a large paw around his shoulders.
“Hey man, you’ve escaped house arrest.”
“How the fuck do you know?”
“Len came and played poker last week. That lizard couldn’t keep his own eggs hidden from a hawk. Said you had a huma—” Brody’s brows shoot up as I step out from behind Arlo’s shadow. “Well fuck me…hellothere.”
“Where’s your manners, bro?” Arlo growls.
Brody shifts back into his human form. “I beg your pardon, ma’am, we don’t see many female humans around these parts. My name’s Brody.”
“Sammy.” I smile back as he proceeds to pump my hand. He’s handsome in a beefy, goofball way, and not at all threatening, I realize, as he flicks a lock of dark hair out of his eyes and grins down at me. I notice he has soft, furry brown ears nestled in amidst his dark hair. Like Tippy. Shifting is clearly not an all-in-all-out thing.
“Sammy is my—minder,” Arlo supplies, and I sense his loving gaze on me.
The twinkle in Brody’s dark eyes deepens. I get thedefinite feeling he’s already worked out the measure of me and Arlo.
“And these two retrogrades are Kazmo and Silas,” Arlo says as the other two guys get up from the table and join us.
“My pleasure.” Kazmo’s voice is a deep purr as he shakes my hand. For a moment, his face takes on a holographic image of a powerful feline with a mane and sharp fangs, before quickly changing back into a broad-browed human with arresting gold eyes.
Kazmo isclearlya lion shifter.
Luckily, his hand remains in its human form throughout. I wouldn’t have fancied a scratch from a big cat’s claw.
Finally, I’m greeted—somewhat awkwardly—by the third guy, Silas. He’s tall and slim with glossy blue-black hair that almost touches his shoulders. He’s wearing glasses on his aquiline nose, and doesn’t look like he’s ever visited a gym. A library, more like. He informs me that he’s a raven shifter. Except he doesn’t shift, or shake hands. In fact, he barely smiles, just blinks at me out of pale blue eyes from behind his frames, then looks away. Maybe he’s shy.
As they all turn their attention back to Arlo, it’s clear they adore my guy. It’s Kazmo’s turn to slap him on the back now, and even Silas greets Arlo with a hug. Only then, for a second, do I see Silas’s arm turn into an ink black wing around Arlo’s shoulders. It quickly morphs into an arm again.
We’ve just sat down at the table when the door from the main diner opens. The sounds of voices and laughter rush in, along with a big goat man wearing a striped apron. He plonks down a tray of shot glasses full of a bright green liquid and gives Arlo a gruff greeting of “Gods below, the bloody bull’s back.” When Arlo introduces the goat to me as Digger, the boss, he taps a gnarly horn and mutters, “Welcome to my humble establishment. Please partake of a glass of home-brewed grappa on the house.”
Arlo grabs two shot glasses off the tray. “I warn you, it’s like swallowing fire,” he says as he hands me one.
“No probs.” I down it in one go, only to splutter and cough, my eyes watering.
“I did warn you babe,” Arlo murmurs close to my ear as he surreptitiously rubs my back with a big palm. It’s so endearing and protective, and as his fingers glide lower to rest on the rise of my buttock, the need that’s been bubbling since our clinic visit makes my pussy spasm. I am so ridiculously hot for this guy. Drinking grappa is like iced tea in comparison.
When I’ve finally stopped gagging and everyone’s checked I’m okay, Arlo leans back in his chair and growls, “So Len spilled the beans about my incarceration, did he?”
“Yeah,” Brody says. “Though I knew something was up when Otis brought the portal cape back. He was hell pissed. He said I wouldn’t see your sorry ass for a while.”
“He recorded my trips, the bastard,” Arlo grumbles.
“Seriously? How?”
“He put a tiny little metal thing in the lining that recorded the cape’s locations and then spat it all out onto a flat metal book. He called it a com-poo-ter.”
“Shit. That sounds weird.”
“Yeah, Otis and his fucking inventions. He put me on house arrest for a month.”
“Pretty loose definition of house arrest.” Kazmo raises an eyebrow.
“I’m allowed out once a week.” Arlo counters. “For work.” The guys all nod. I wonder how much they know about Arlo’s job. “Sammy agreed to a quick detour on the way home to say hi to you guys, it being poker day and all.”
“Doesn’t look like you’re suffering too much,” Brody teases.
“Obviously, I’mverycompliant.” Arlo smirks.
