Page 3 of Help Wanted, Vampires Inquire Within
“What were you thinking?”
She shrank back. This was the first time Mason had turned his anger on her. She didn’t think he’d hurt her, but seeing him this enraged was intimidating. Especially since he was still in hiseight-foot, massive gargoyle form with sharp teeth, a long tail, and wings extending far out on either side of him.
“Don’t act like that, I’m not going to hit you,” he grumbled. The tension in his face eased. He folded back his wings and rubbed his face with both hands. As he did that, his form shifted back to human. He was naked, and she forced herself to keep her eyes focused on his face. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen Mason naked, but it was a struggle every time. The man was gorgeous, and the meat hanging between his legs was proportionate to the rest of him.
Nymphs were earthy creatures and loved nothing more than a little sex magic, but he’d never shown any interest, and she didn’t go after unwilling partners.
With a deep sigh, he dropped his arms to his sides. “Look, I’m sorry I yelled, but you can’t put yourself in danger like that. If McConnell gets a hold of you, he’ll force a soul bond on you. If that happens, you’re stuck. Breaking soul bonds is dangerous and half the time, it kills everyone involved!”
“I’m sorry,” she said, wishing she could say more. She’d been dumb to think the daylight would keep her safe. She knew McConnell’s human and those durmin copies were out there waiting for a chance to grab her, but she’d ignored the danger.
“I’m an idiot,” she said, dropping her faceinto her hands.
“We can keep the area around this buildingsafe, but no further than a few yards at most. You were almost a mile away!”
She nodded her head, face still hidden behindher hands. “I know. But I needed the outside.”
There was a moment of silence. When she liftedher face enough for her eyes to see over her fingertips, it was to find Masonstaring at her with a puzzled expression.
“You needed the outside?”
He didn’t know?
“I’m a nymph,” she reminded him, pulling herhands away from her face completely.
“I know you’re a nymph, that’s why we went toall the effort to give you this space on the roof,” he said, gesturing around tothe furniture.
“It’s very nice, but—"
“No, Skyler. There’s no excuse!” Hisexpression turned thunderous. “If the roof wasn’t good enough then I could’vetaken you where you wanted to go. Why didn’t you wake me up? You had to steparound me to go out the apartment door. I was right there!”
Skyler bit her lip, unsure how to explain bothher sense of guilt about Mason’s protection and her attraction to him.
She opened her mouth to try to explain and apologizeagain but Mason shook his head.
“No, Ican’t hear this right now. Whatever you’re going to tell me can’t possibly be agood enough reason to put yourself in that much danger.” He pointed to the doorto the stairwell. “Go downstairs. Don’t leave the building. I’ll be backtonight."
With that, he turned and shifted at the sametime. Jumping up on the waist-high wall running the perimeter of the roof, hespread his wings and leapt into the air.
She watched his powerful body flying away. Shepitied all the humans down below that couldn’t see him because of the specialmagic gargoyles possessed. Unless they interacted with him directly, they werebasically blind to his existence, even if he flew only a few feet above theirheads.
“I see you,” she whispered,even after he’d completely disappeared. “And I love you.”
Chapter 2
Mason
Landing on the roof of his duplex wasn’t an option. The last time Mason had done that, he’d caved in a section, and it took months before the landlord got around to fixing it.
Calling that guy a landlord was generous. Slumlord was more accurate, but then again, he continued to rent from the greedy bastard, even though the place was falling apart.
It wasn’t a money issue. Mason had a healthy savings account and investments that sometimes did better than keeping up with inflation. He could easily find somewhere else to rent or maybe even buy a place. But he stayed even though the neighborhood was loud, the couple renting on the other side of the duplex were drug dealers, and there was always something breaking.
The issue was that Mason hated change.
This place was the first one he’d rented when he moved out of his mom’s house. That was almost twelve years ago, and the thought of having to move again gave him anxiety.
Which was why he had to fold his wings and drop ten feet to land in the tiny five-foot square area the landlord calleda backyard. He landed with a thud that shook the duplex’s foundation. He heard a startled cry from one of his neighbors, but they’d think it was one of the small earthquakes that were so common in Southern California.
