“You think I’m going to give you a treat after that stunt?” I asked, walking back into the living room. My father and future in-laws had varying degrees of surprise on their face when they saw me. Phillip walked back in and shared the same expression of surprise. My clothes and skin were damp from toilet water and feathers were stuck to me everywhere. I couldn’t wipe off the glower as I stuck the dumb bird back in his cage and flipped the blanket down over his cage, though it couldn’t block out his wails of needing to die and needing Twinkies.
“Well, you need to go get cleaned up and we need to catch our plane,” Regina said.
“Yeah, you do that,” I said, hanging onto my cool by a single thread.
As they reached the door, it opened and Calan walked in. His hair curled a little more than usual, dampened by sweat. The sun streamed in behind him, turning his skin golden and making his blue eyes pop. A true Adonis in the morning.
While yours truly got to play the part of drowned sewer rat.
His surprise at seeing our guests only doubled when he regarded me. Our parents made a hasty retreat with the promise they would be back in plenty of time before the wedding.
The door shut behind him. Calan struggled to hold back the smile he’d been fighting with little success.
“It’s toilet water,” I said, screwing up my face in disgust and shaking my damp hands. “Snarp tried to kill himself via the toilet. No treats for him for a week.”
The squawk of displeasure was almost deafening.
“Looks like we both need a shower,” he snorted. An honest to god snort, from the ever-composed Greek god. Now I knew I was a hot mess.
“Nooooossss nossss, mistresss nooooosss.”
"Keep it up bird brain and it’ll be two.”
The screech that came from the cage next to me nearly pierced my eardrums.
“That’s it,” I said jerking the blanket back up and opening the cage door with all the violence I could muster.
Two strong arms wrapped around me from behind subduing me. Calan closed the latch I’d just opened. “You can kill the bird later,” he said calmly.
“Killllssss me now!” Snarp cried.
I tensed under Calan’s grip, but then suddenly I was airborne and over his shoulder. “Hey, put me down. We are going to eat roast parrot tonight.”
“Eattsss mee,” Snarp screamed in earnest delight from the next room.
Calan slapped my ass, causing a shot of lust mingled with shock to go through me. He walked us through the feather explosion in the bathroom and turned on the shower.
“You seem stressed, and today is too beautiful of a day to be anxious.”
“Yeah well, you telling me to relax is the fastest way to get your ass kicked.”
“Later,” he promised. “Right now, I plan on cleaning you up, then lapping between your legs until you go boneless and beg me to stop.”
I went silent at that.
What was I worried about again?
4
Istepped through the portal I'd made, my boots landing on a marble floor. It was no secret where the Order of Luxis was residing these days. Phillip explained to me that with their reduced numbers after nearly being wiped out, the Luxis had pulled in their ranks. Instead of retreating to a remote Temple in the jungle or somewhere else unknown, the Luxis had taken up in the midst of civilization in a church that was protected like a fortress.
Numerous, disapproving eyes watched me from paintings on the wall as I walked down the red carpeted hallways.
Knowing the predilections of my former Master, I sought the highest north western rooms. Sure enough, I found him in a hall that could have contained the entire mess hall of our old temple. One side of the massive room was covered in long, thin, stained-glass windows that overlooked what I immediately recognized to be Paris. I had hunted here before. It had taken a fortnight to track and kill a particularly nasty changeling.
There was not much more in the room than several stone seats, the very ones that had been at the Temple of Luxis. The only other furniture in the middle of the room was the small table set up for tea. A bald man with knotted head, and deep purple robes was currently at it, pouring tea in a cup.
Before I could utter a word, Master Ylang spoke without turning around. “You aren’t going to sit me with that woman are you?”
