Page 30 of Aberrant Monsters
“And you have nothing to be ashamed of,” Uncle Fred added.
I’d never allowed anyone to see this moment, the moment Telarion detached himself from my body. At first fear had kept me away from them. Fear that he might hurt the people I loved, but Telarion had never threatened anyone close to me. I’d asked him why in the first week or so of our union and he’d simply said that those who belonged to me belonged to him.
I assumed it was a territorial thing. But it worked.
After that, shame at what they might think kept this aspect of my relationship with Telarion behind closed doors.
“Telarion is part of the team now,” Nandi said. “No more hiding.”
My eyes pricked and I set my jaw and reclaimed my seat. “Okay. But it’s probably not pretty to look at.”
I felt the sun die as a numbness spreading across my body and claiming my limbs. A long exhale squeezed my lungs, and when I sucked in a breath, heat rushed through me, eating away the numbness. My skin prickled and stung as Telarion pushed against the surface. I bit back a cry and let my back arch as he detached himself from me.
I sagged, suddenly free, and looked up at Telarion standing beside me. He surveyed the occupants of the table with his eerie green eyes, lingering over Archie for several moments.
“He’s mine.” The words came out firm and authoritative.
Telarion sighed, almost wearily. “Shame. It would have saved me hunting.”
Archie’s mouth dropped open, spilling noodles back into his plate, and a stupid giggle bubbled up my throat. I quickly clamped my mouth closed to quell it.
“I’ll find you,” Telarion said to me before zooming across the kitchen and through the wall.
“Damn, that was so fucking cool,” Archie said around a fresh mouthful of noodles.
I looked up at him with a lopsided grin. “You are such a freak, you know that?”
“Says the woman who has an aberration living in her body.”
“Touché.”
“Are you hungry?” Uncle Fred asked, looking decidedly pale.
I was ravenous. But not for anything they could provide. “I need to pop out, I have errands to run. I’ll grab something on the way back.”
Nandi caught my eye as I headed for the door. The look she gave me said she knew exactly where I was going.
I should have been ashamed.
But I wasn’t.
I was excited and that scared the crap out of me.
nine
Mystic Pleasures was located on Moonset Walk, a street lined with eateries, bars, and antique stores carrying mystical items.
Human norms didn’t venture this way, but a lot of psychics and witches had businesses here. The jewel of the street, however, the main draw, was Mystic Pleasures.
At Mystic Pleasures you could drink, eat, and get fucked in whichever order you liked, or in some cases, all at the same time. Go figure.
The place was fae run and there were strict rules. The client list for Other Level pleasures was selective, but I’d gotten in because of a case I’d worked on right at the beginning of my career. A case that had helped the owner buy this building in this specific spot. A hot spot, as the supernaturals liked to call it. I hadn’t understood why it had been so important to him at the time, but he’d paid well, so whatever. I’d taken the job, helped him nab this location, and the rest was history.
I entered to the hum of voices and the smell of meat pie and sweet ale. Low ambient music played on speakers set high up on the walls. Patrons huddled in booths and shadowy corners, choosing to conduct theirbusinessright here on the ground floor instead of taking it to one of the Other Levels. I strode past it all, swerved away from the bar, and pressed my palm to the door in the wall that led to my floor of delights.
The door slid open to reveal a lift. There was only one button for everyone, linked to each client’s thumb print, and it would take them directly to their host.
I hit the button and waited. There was no dip to suggest we were moving, because the kind of movement that was happening couldn’t be felt by my physical senses. Finally, the door opened to a crimson and onyx boudoir that reeked of sexy incense. I stepped out of the elevator and kicked off my sneakers, socks and all, before allowing my bare feet to sink into the plush carpet.
