Page 26 of April's Fool
Despite Mori’s soothing presence and happy-go-lucky attitude, even his patience was wearing thin. “Should we return for the night and come back fresh tomorrow?” he finally asked. It had to be about three in the morning. My eyes felt gritty, and I kept suppressing yawns.
“Why don’t you stay here?” Oak offered. “There are a couple of rooms you could have. We could all get a couple of hours’ rest, then start fresh in the morning.”
I seemed to be taking the lead on this, as my companions all looked at me to answer. Something about it didn’t feel right, but Parker’s eye bags had bags of their own at that point. Moving with us all this tired was stupid and dangerous. “Fine. Let’s get some sleep.”
River led us up to the spare rooms while Oak and Thyme talked in low voices, arguing about something I was no longer interested in. I just wanted to lie down and close my eyes for a few hours. Just switching off my brain for a while would help. “Here you go.” River opened both the doors. “You’ll have to double up, I’m afraid. Sorry, there aren’t more rooms.”
“No worries,” Parker said with a smile before towing Gregoris into one room and closing the door with finality. I guess we were having that discussion another time then.
“Shall we?” Mori’s face lit up with a grin. Okay, this was probably better than bunking with Parker. He always had cold feet that he liked to warm on my legs.
“Sure. Thanks, River.”
We said our good-nights and entered the comfortable guest room. There were none of the personal touches that filled the downstairs rooms. It was as welcoming as most hotel rooms were. Bland, inoffensive, with hopefully a comfortable bed.
Mori turned to face me when I shut the door carefully and locked it. A crackle of energy arced between us. Was he feeling the pull as well? He closed the distance between us and cupped my face. “Can I kiss you?” he whispered. “I need to know.”
“Know what?” I asked, leaning into his touch. His hand was warm. It made me feel… safe.
His eyes never left mine. “Just what it is about you.”
“Yes.”
Slowly, he closed the gap between our lips. It felt like it took forever, the anticipation of his mouth on mine drawing tight like a bow string before snapping.
When he kissed me, I gasped. Not out of a sense of him belonging to me, or some mystical sense, just a feeling of rightness.
Home.
Mori felt like every dream come to life.
I pushed closer to him, opening his mouth with my tongue. He clasped the back of my neck and groaned into the deepening kiss. This was everything I’d ever been looking for.
Bed. I wanted to get him into bed to see just how well we came together. Based on this kiss alone, Mori was perfect.
Clever fingers loosened my tie and worked at the buttons of my shirt. It was my turn to moan into Mori’s kiss as he touched the bared skin of my chest.
“Hmm,” he sighed, as I worked kisses over his jaw to his neck.
“Let your ears change. I want to test how sensitive they are.” The familiar feel of magic filled the air as he let his ears free. I licked along one, making Mori groan.
Mori’s mouth landed on mine just as I heard it.
The whip-crack sound of a shot.
Mori jolted, then cried out in pain as blood bloomed on his shoulder.
Fuck!
Instinctively, I acted. “Get down!” I yelled, as I pushed him to the floor.
I flung myself behind the bed and withdrew my gun that I’d hidden inside the jacket of my suit. The witches hadn’t even thought to check us for weapons.
It took a second, but I found the line of sight the shooter had used. I couldn’t get a shot with such a small gun. The shooter had the advantage. Dammit. We were fucked. We had to get out of there.
The door burst open.
“Down!” I cried as another shot went off, this time hitting the wall beyond the empty doorway.
