Page 107 of Pack Rage
“They do not sparkle.” Grigor winked at me, then turned with a serious expression to Finn. “Pup, you’re young, so you may not know this, but good sex can give some shifters a special glow?—”
“Fuck all the way off,” Finn snarled.
I giggled when Grigor stifled a laugh and apologized. “It’s your magic, I think. You’d never reached your potential until now, from what I can tell. You’re not in pain? You’re just powerful then. Maybe this is normal for someone whose magic has been drained for years. I don’t know.” When Finn scowled, Grigor set down the cloth and stared at me. He shook his head, then studied Finn for a long moment.“That’s… unexpected.” Grigor’s dark eyes flashed with excitement before he explained, “You know that our magic needs fuel.”
“Blood, pain, death,” Finn whispered. “And the moon.”
“And it’s strengthened by our bonds,” I added, wondering what Grigor was seeing when he looked at Finn.
“It seems that what you needed to unblock your potential was another source of power. Joy.”
“Joy?” Finn blinked. I found myself laughing again. “I’m sparkling with… happiness?”
“A special glow,” I whispered. “I hope it never stops.”
Finn was not amused. “What if it doesn’t?”
“I’m not worried. Even if it lasts, it’ll just make you sexier to me. Like Brand’s eyes.” Finn’s lips curved upward. They all knew Brand’s eyes did it for me. “We’ll go live at the lake, hunt, fish, and fuck every day. It was already the retirement plan, right?” All of the guys had agreed we’d move to Mountain as soon as the mess was cleared up here. That was only a few months away, maybe less.
Grigor grumbled something about his own eyes. “It’s diminishing a bit at a time. By morning, you should be back to normal—though I think you may need to meditate, focus on… Come on, here.” He stood and grabbed Finn’s hands, pulling himover to a chair. “Shut your eyes. Hands closed on your lap.” He pressed a hand to the center of Finn’s forehead, and the other to his heart. “Sit here and focus on the power. By the moon, you’re leaking all over! Yes, see this? Right, just…”
Their voices got quieter, and I drifted to sleep, only waking to find myself lying next to Grigor. The windows were curtained, and Finn was still in the chair. It was dark outside, but at least most of the city’s lights were glimmering again.
Grigor was sitting beside me on the bed, staring at me like the creeper he was. Apparently, he didn’t need much sleep at all, and wanted to take advantage of every moment we had together. Such a grandpa thing to say, though he’d swatted my butt the last time I’d teased him about acting old.
“Is he done leaking?” I murmured.
Grigor shook his head. “Not yet. But he paid through the weekend, and I’ve put a spell on the door. He’s deep in meditation. No one will disturb him.”
“He’s going to be okay?”
He snorted softly. “More than okay, little queen. He blew open the channels to his power, the passages through his soul that magic runs along. It’s hard to explain, but he’s not hurt. He’s just exhausted, and he should be. When he wakes, he’ll be as powerful as I am, or close to it.”
“Jealous?”
“Not at all. More protection for you, and for our pack, is never a bad thing.” His teeth were slightly sharp as he smiled. “And I have the advantage.” When I lifted my eyebrows, he explained, “More experience, and far fewer of those pesky morals that trip the rest of your mates up.” I rolled my eyes, but we both knew it was true.
And it was one of the things I loved most about my murderous, oldest mate. The others were all amazing in their own ways, but Grigor was the only one who would whistlehappily while he plucked the eyeballs from the sockets of anyone who gave me so much as a mean look. Though he would always claim to check to make sure they were bad guys first.
Was it his fault the world was so full of bad guys?
Grigor pulled me from my thoughts, and out of bed, leading me to the bathroom, where I took a few moments alone before he wrapped me in a robe and my crystal flats, then pulled me to the exit.
“Where are we going?”
“Hunting,” he replied, with a dark twinkle.
“Bye, Sparkles,” I whispered as the door closed behind us.
“This isn’t hunting,”I accused a half hour later. The night had been cold, but running with Grigor had warmed me up.
Especially because we were running from the human police. Well, not the humans, but their dogs. Grigor had carried me into the zoo in the center of town, and when I’d gotten sad seeing the animals in cages, he’d decided to let them out for me, as a “belated mating gift.” I’d had to shout over the screaming of seventeen monkeys and the roar of a disgruntled lion before he’d paid attention, and by then someone had called security.
“It is hunting,” Grigor insisted as he grabbed me and wrapped me in a quick spell just in time, leaping to the top of a light post to watch the chase below. The two lovely, fierce German Shepherds, followed by the officers, came running around the corner only a half a minute later, the dogs sneezing as they ran through some magical thing Grigor must have put down while we slipped away.
I sighed as he carried me bridal-style to a bridge over a small stream in the city center, pulling out a box of handmade chocolate truffles from the dark cloak he’d begun wearing after Glen had binge-watchedThe Witcherwith him. He hadn’t liked the way I’d eyed up the lead actor, though Luke didn’t mind. “Looks like me,” he’d whispered in my ear as Grigor and Glen made fun of the hot Englishman.
“I suppose it was a hunt,” I admitted to Grigor when the last chocolate was gone, peering around the park where he’d carried me. “But I thought you meantwewould be doing the hunting.”
