Page 9 of Coven Relics
Chapter7
Ravyn
We all met at the Pakistani food truck around the same time. Everyone was excited and talking all at once. Bjorn got his tea, and Bjorn and Killian were raving out this old Unseelie woman they met. Sleipnir was excited about the food. The Pakistani shifters that ran this food truck were nothing short of amazing. They immigrated here and opened this food truck right around when Ripley and I moved here to attend the Academy of the Profane. We came to this market with our parents before they flew back home to get school supplies and have been die-hard fans ever since.
We had some time to kill once we got home. Killian had been around long enough to know how cellphones worked, even if he had never used one before. Sleipnir and Bjorn caught on very quickly but were night and day about the things they enjoyed about it. Bjorn had discovered search engines and that he could press a button to ask his phone anything and could get an answer. He was obsessed with finding out everything he missed while he was in the pocket dimension.
Sleipnir wasn’t interested. He had been in the pocket dimension, and now he was out. He was interested in the present, not the past. Sleipnir was also very much into the camera feature on his cellphone. He took photos of my entire cottage and all of us before Loki introduced him to selfies. Then, after a crash course in the art of the perfect selfie, Sleipnir had his shirt off and was posing all over my living room.
I was looking, of course, because he was a fine specimen of man, and I wasn’t dead. Damn, he looked good shirtless. I was abigfan. Loki set him up with social media after that, and while we were trying to get ready for the rave, Sleipnir’s phone was blowing up from every thirsty person on the planet. I loved a pretty man, but I didn’t grovel or beg.
We all met in my living room dressed for the rave. I’d gone all out, and Killian wanted to wear eyeliner, so I did his. I loved that he was so open and figuring out how he wanted to be in this century. I’d paint his nails and do his makeup whenever he wanted me to, but Balthazar was probably the best at teaching him if he wanted to wear eyeliner every day. That vampire did eye makeup much better than I did, and if he taught Killian, he’d better teach me, too.
I wasn’t shocked Loki was made up. But, holy shit, did he look sexy. He was easily as tall as Reyson but not as built. I could tell Loki could kick some ass if he needed to, but he only ever did that as a last resort. Loki wasn’t created to scare people with brute force. It was his cunning that made the other gods fear him. Loki had gender bent himself more than once, and he looked pretty androgynous tonight.
“Damn, you are smoking tonight,” I said, pulling him down for a kiss.
“I love vampire parties because you can be your weird self, and no one gives a shit. But I’m planning on kidnapping you and Killian after this rave because seeing the two of you dressed like this is giving me bad thoughts.”
Bjorn came in the room, and I was barely going to be able to contain myself with this many sexy men in my living room. His outfit was what the Unseelie wore at their exclusive parties, and he owned it. He’d slicked his hair back into a low ponytail, and his beard looked well groomed.
“I knew Unseelie designers would look amazing on you. You have this goth-Viking thing going on, and I’m so here for it,” I said.
“Cassia picked that one out when I told her we were going to a rave,” Killian said,
“I’ll have to look up what goth means, but these clothes are extremely comfortable. You could pillage in these, and they wouldn’t be constricting.”
Sleipnir came in last, and I was totally about to lose my shit at the hotness surrounding me. Sleipnir picked this out after Loki tried to explain what a rave was. It was a lot of leather, and Sleipnir looked like he could be headed to the local sex dungeon instead of a rave. There wasa lotof hot male flesh on display. Before I could say anything, Sleipnir grabbed his crotch and adjusted himself.
“You were right about the boxers. They don’t feel horrible, and when I tried to wear these trousers without them, I didn’t like how they made my cock feel.”
Well, I was glad Sleipnir was fully committed to wearing underwear now. He seemed to be stubborn but willing to try something new. He could have just refused to admit Loki was onto something and been uncomfortable all night, but he decided to try it. I could work with that. I got that this whole situation was fate meddling in my life, but I didn’t particularly want a man in my coven who couldn’t play well with others.
“You nailed it when you picked out that outfit. You look hot as hell,” I said.
Sleipnir just grunted at me. We hadn’t sat down and had a conversation about logistics and things that would be totally inappropriate with the two of them with me. I had some hard no’s, and I was sure Loki did, too. Sleipnir probably had some big opinions about what he wouldn’t want to do, but right now, he was treating me like I was Loki’s property a little bit.
Before anyone could say anything, there was a pop of light, and Ripley was there with all of her guys. She walked over and hugged me.
“We decided to travel by god rather than figure out who would be the designated driver. I don’t know about you, but now that we don’thaveto flip a coin at parties, we totally shouldn’t.”
Loki gave us a sweeping bow.
“I’d be happy to be your enchanted pumpkin tonight. For the most part, when I’m drunk, I have no problem getting back home.”
What the shit?
“Loki,” Reyson chuckled. “We canalwaysfind our way home. Loki isn’t going to send you to another country. He’s fucking with you.”
“I will always love to fuck you and fuck with you.”
“So, I haven’t met the new guys yet. I met Loki when he was pretending to be a warlock,” Ripley said.
I introduced everyone, and my sister didn’t say anything to Loki about lying to me because she knew I wasn’t mad about it. They all got along great. We all grabbed onto Loki. This was much different than Lilith’s doors and traveling to Hell. There was a flash of heat, then we were standing outside the bar, and I got a shiver. It must have been different for Ripley and her guys because Felix started dry heaving.
“I’ll never get used to that, and I spent time in the Aether,” Felix groaned.
“It’s really disorienting,” Bram said.
