Page 29 of The Paranormal Investigation Bureau
I couldn’t leave now, my gryphon needed to protect her. Nyx was going to give me so much shit. Bevan was still here. He knew damned well about my no ballerina rules and all about my kinks. I didn’t tell the little fucker about it voluntarily either, he’d just waltzed into the same dungeon I frequented one night! I was there to punish, and he was there to get punished.
I didn’t have to threaten to beat his ass to keep my secret. A succubus took care of that the night we ran into each other. We had an understanding. We talked about our kinks in private, but never with each other. Nyx knew everything about me, for the most part, but I didn’t tell her about Bevan. That was up to him.
“What was that about?” Bevan asked, after Beyla left. “She totally changed after she found out Santiago might be a prince. If he is still alive, he’s gotta be ancient by now. I doubt Marsden has any ties to the Unseelie Court. He can be an asshole, by anyone's standards, but he’s tame for an Unseelie.”
“I’m staying here tonight, Nyx… something weird is going on.”
Nyx drained her beer and slammed the bottle on the table.
“Nope! You’re getting your furry ass the hell out of my apartment unless you admit the real reason why you are staying.”
“This should be good,” Bevan said, opening up another beer.
“Nyx, you looked her up when you found out Marsden was sticking her with you. You commented then that she hadn’t been with a company before she got here, and how she’s old enough to have graduated high school a few years ago… so why the gap? You saw how she reacted when we said Santiago was Unseelie. What if she’s been an Unseelie captive, and they let her out to dance with us?”
Nyx snorted and opened another beer.
“You spendwaytoo much time listening to that conspiracy theory podcast. You aren’t staying the night here unless you admit why you’re so protective of her when you rarely give a shit about new ballerinas.”
“I cared about you, didn’t I?” I pointed out.
“You only approached me at first because you thought it was funny I directed a banshee shriek at Merlin.”
“Yeah, but then I found out how cool you are.”
“Yeah, but I’m safe. You know there’s a zero percent chance of me ever wanting to fuck you. After hanging out for so long, even the idea of having a crush on you is gross. You’re like my brother. Which is why I’m doing you a solid here and kicking you out of my apartment unless you admit the truth to yourself.”
I was way toodrunk for this, having hit the beer hard because I was having fun, and Bevan had brought over some of his homemade enchanted moonshine that was famous at cast parties. His apple-infused version was my favorite, but that was before I tried this new apple and strawberry he’d brought over.
“I’m too drunk for this shit, and I’m worried about Beyla. Can you just do me a solid, Nyx? You too, back me up on this, would you Bevan?”
“No way. I’m more scared of her than I am of you… and I’m on Team Nyx with this.”
“Traitor! I don’t even know what you want me to admit.”
“You’re so fucking dense sometimes, Arden,” Nyx said. “Your gryphon is on edge. You’re planning on shifting and sleeping outside her door, even though you know full fucking well that no Unseelie guard is going to be breaking in to snatch her.”
Nyx wasn’t wrong, she usually wasn’t. Beyla made me want to break all my no ballerina rules, and I did plan on shifting and sleeping outside her door. There was only one thing that would make me do that, and I’d made a point to avoid it.
“Shit,” I moaned, mopping my face with my hand. “She’s the one, isn’t she?”
Nyx and Bevan toasted their beer bottles, then straight-up laughed at me.
“Gryphons mate for life, asshole,” Nyx said, cracking up laughing. “You’d better break her in slowly, you know… with the whole spanky thing.”
“You also have competition,” Bevan said. “I’ve never danced like that with anyone else, and Ilikeher. I want to get to know her better. I got Merlin and Nicolai to call off any stupid bets they might have, but Nicolai has danced with her, too. She threatened to murder him and sell his parts on the black market because she didn’t like how he looked at her. Now, he thinks he’s in love. Merlin won’t be too far behind. She’s a hell of a witch.”
I jumped out of my seat and felt my talons come out. Beyla wasmyfucking mate, and I loathed Nicolai and Merlin. I’d kill all of them, and I actually liked Bevan.
Bevan didn’t move, or make eye contact. Everyone knew that was best when a gryphon wanted to come out to play. I dug my talons into his shoulders until I smelled blood. Then something snapped into place… Bevan wasn’t a threat to me, my gryphon accepted him.
That was fucked up. He’d admitted to wanting to take my mate away from me. I pulled my hands off his shoulders and licked his blood off my talon. Bevan definitely wasn’t my enemy, no matter what his feelings were towards my mate.
I calmed down and settled into my chair. I poured another shot of Bevan’s magical moonshine and contemplated the meaning of life. I should have slaughtered Bevan in the middle of Nyx’s living room for what he said to me about having feelings for my mate.
After I drew his blood, I was oddly okay with it, but I didn’t get it. What if she chose Bevan over me? Unless you were a total psychopath, like Julian,everyoneloved Bevan. I should just kill him now, but I didn’t want to for some reason.
I downed my shot and slammed the glass on the coffee table.
