Page 7 of The Goblin in the Sink Drain
Soft growls directed me to the correct washing station. I walked in to find a pair of long legs incased in denim sticking out from under the elevated tub in Station Two. The boots would have identified him as Rían, even if the cramped fit of his large frame hadn’t given him away. I crouched next to him, ducking my head into the opening. “You sound frustrated.”
A dull thud rang out, followed by a ripe swear, and he pried himself out of the confined space.
“Hey.” He shut the cabinet and leaned against the door. “I hope you don’t mind I took a look.”
Blood trickled from his hairline into his left eye when his gaze flicked up to mine.
“Your head.” I tipped forward onto my knees beside him. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“I should have been paying closer attention.” He wiped his face on the back of his hand, smearing crimson across his cheekbones. “I get locked in sometimes when I’m tinkering and forget to monitor my surroundings.”
“Dangerous attribute for an alpha.” Sloane anchored her hands on her hips. “Where’s your beta?”
“Good question.” Rían tore his focus off me to scan the room. “He was here a minute ago.”
“Stay put.” I set my hand on his forearm, his muscles tensing under my fingers. “Let me grab a rag from the laundry.”
Amusement pulled on Sloane’s lips as she watched me dash to the dryer and select a clean cloth. We used them for wiping down tables, but we washed everything with a laundry sanitizer to kill bacteria.
Hip braced against the sink, I squirted soap on the fabric then checked with Rían. “Is the water on?”
“Yes.” Brow furrowed, he watched me work up a lather. “I cleaned out the P-trap and put it back in, so I was testing for leaks.” His eyes widened when I knelt beside him again. “You didn’t have a clog, so I’m not sure what was making the noise.”
“Hold still.” His chin pinched between my finger and thumb, I washed his face then pressed the cloth to the cut. Sure enough, it had healed itself in the last minute. “There.” I turned his face this way and that. “I think that’ll do.” I rose, preparing to rinse out the cloth, when I ruffled his hair. “Good boy.”
A howl of laughter as Sloane bent double and smacked her thigh drew Liam from wherever he had gone.
Mortification sank in as I snatched my hand out of Rían’s hair and stumbled back, tripping over his boots and banging intoa rack of grooming tools in my haste to escape. I made it one step before he caught me by the ankle. Good thing too. I had been poised to step in a mini lake that would have sent me skiing across the floor.
“Easy.” Rían shifted his hold until he cupped behind my calves to brace me. “I’ve got you.”
“Habit,” I panted, throat tight, wishing I could slide down the drain with the bubbles.
“I get it.” His thumbs stroked the creases of my knees. “It’s like sayingI love youto end a business call.”
“Yes.”I clung to his reasoning with both hands. “You’re not a good boy.”
“You never know.” He caught his bottom lip between his teeth. “I might be.”
On the verge of melting into the puddle already at his feet, a rasping growl that tapered into a rattling hiss saved me from embarrassing myself.
Yeah. Okay. Fine.
Embarrassing myselfagain.
Happy to embrace the distraction, I extricated myself from Rían. “That’s the noise?”
“That’s the goblin in the sink drain,” Liam confirmed, eyes on his cousin. “Did it attack you?”
“What?” Rían tracked my cautious steps as I picked my way to the tub. “No.”
“There’s a bloody rag in the sink.” His eyebrows winged higher. “Care to explain how your blood got on it?”
For a second-in-command, Liam was mighty bossy. He didn’t give one whit he was talking to his alpha. No. His magnus. Dad would have slapped the taste out of Mercer’s mouth if he spoke to him in that tone.
“I hit my head.” He gusted out a sheepish laugh. “You know me.”
“I leave you alone for five minutes to call a plumber…” Liam stuck out his hand, clasping forearms with Rían. He grunted with the effort of hauling the much larger man to his feet. “How did you survive for a whole year without me?”
