Page 4 of Kit
Nick’s eyebrows lifted. “By doing what, exactly?” he challenged. Once in a blue moon, they’d be home at the same time, hardly enough time for Nick to do anything to get on his nerves.
“Do you know how Adonis can find people on the water?”
First Nick had heard about it. “Yeah.”
“I can do that.”
“Good for you.”
Connor jabbed an elbow into his ribs, making Nick grin but not hurt.
“I can feel where Trevor is. Where Laurence is. I can even sense Sam and Goldilocks,” Connor continued, ignoring Nick’s remark. “But you’re annoyingly hard to find.”
Nick took a second to mimic Trevor’s accepting frame of mind. “Right. Shall I get a collar and stick a GPS in it?” He sidestepped a second elbow jab. Connor’s eyebrows scrunched together, his version of a glare as he focused his narrowed gaze on Nick.
“Is this why you called me a sneak earlier?”
Before Connor could answer, Sam turned up abruptly at Nick’s side, red curly hair mussed from fingers, eyes wide with concern. He shone as bright as his merman boyfriend’s scaledtail in a golden waistcoat buttoned neatly over a pristine long-sleeved shirt tucked into jet-black pants. Sam cast Nick a quick, distracted smile, but his attention snapped to Connor. “Adonis is cracking hulls in the harbour—I think Bee and Dew egged him on. Goldilocks is running interference, but would you mind…?”
Nick snorted.
Connor’s narrow-eyed glare turned into more of a scowl, still pointed at Nick.
Nick grinned. “You knew he was going to dosomethingwhen you left him behind and went with Dad.”
Connor’s scowl eased, replaced by a look of mild surprise. “There,” he said. “I can feel you.”
“So I shouldn’t buy a collar?”
The scowl came right back.
Sam’s weight shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. His impatience quickly got the better of him, and he grabbed Connor’s wrist. “Come on. Vi’s technically my mother-in-law, I don’t want her guests subjected to needless property damage by the peopleIinvited!”
Connor, with the air of only being mildly annoyed by his boyfriend’s rampage, followed. As Sam and Connor passed through the crowd, people quickly slid out of their way, only to just as quickly turn back around to stare at Connor. There were murmurs. Whispers. Fixed gazes. At the archway leading outside, Connor glanced over his shoulder.
Every turned head snapped away.
Chapter Two
Lingering at the edge of the courtyard, Nick nursed a second glass of too-sweet wine. According to a passing server, it was past midnight. A too-large, too-bright, pale blue moon shone down on a thinning crowd, but the party endured. Did harvest parties rage all night? Tired, Nick fantasised about sneaking off, finding his way back to his room, and lying down. Unfortunately, in order to keep sleep within the realms of possibility, he would have to walk Trevor, Laurence and Connor to their respective rooms andthengo to his own. Otherwise, he’d just pace and worry. Not that he wouldn’t do that anyway. The rooms all had beautiful verandas with ocean views. Fresh salty air, a cool breeze…multiple access points.
“Vi’s wine is famed for its taste,” a voice at Nick’s side remarked. “But it does not seem to please you.”
The black-tailed man from earlier was there. He stood tall, head cocked to the side as he looked over Nick, that curious gleam back in his eyes. His gloved hands were loose at his sides, and his tail was wrapped around his leg, hiding it from plain view.
“I don’t have a sweet tooth,” Nick said. He looked on either side of the man, but his aggressive partner wasn’t anywhere he could spot. “You should move here,” he said.
The man stared at Nick. “Excuse me?”
“You won’t get smacked for swinging your tail around here.” Nick had no authority on the subject, but what was right was right.
Discomfort filled the man’s expression, and Nick looked away, not adding to it with the pressure of his stare. Nick moved his gaze to the party. The dancers that just wouldn’t quit—and Nick was beginning to suspect Laurence would stay on the dancefloor among them until someone dragged him to bed. Nick had a sneaking suspicion that was going to be his role for the night. Trevor was comfortably settled at a table with Sam’s family, and Nick had counted a good dozen yawns out of him in the last ten minutes. Connor was absent, consoling Adonis in the bay.
“My tail can cut,” the man finally said, a plain avoidance of the topic. He followed Nick’s gaze to Laurence, but his blue eyes focused on Jasper, whose tail swung through the air without causing harm. His attention returned quickly to Nick.
“I am Kit,” he said.
“You’re named after your species?”
