“Hundreds?” Nox mouthed and swallowed hard. “That’s…concerning, for sure.” He felt like he was going to throw up and needed a few breaths before he could continue. “But that’s bound to have consequences, aside from tickingyouoff and putting a target on his back.”
“Let’s hope so,” Smoak said tightly.
“I can see why you didn’t want to alarm the others. It’s a good thing Merlin’s already bald, heis notgoing to take this well. Clancy might have an actual stroke but he should recover quickly…” If there was a way to avoid telling Nelson, Nox would go that route. He groaned as he kicked at the paving stones, hating thathewas supposed to be in charge and make these enormous decisions.
“Trust me, I like it less than you do,” Smoak said with a heavy sigh but there was a flash of a smile before he grimaced. “We came out here so we could hear each other, and to hear ourselves think. And to possibly hear what the other person is thinking,” he added slowly, his head tilting as he watched Nox.
That intrigued Nox deeply. “Can you hear me?” He could sense how Smoak felt and could tell when he was lying, but Nox couldn’t hear his thoughts. Nox suspected that Smoak wanted it that way and that theycouldhear each other if that barrier was lifted.
“No,” Smoak admitted. “I don’t want to but I feel your will and that it’s in harmony with mankind. Unfortunately. There is no hunger for power or a demand for obedience and you only seek one man’s devotion. It’s incredibly boring.”
“What can I say?” Nox held up his hands. “It’s hard to care about other men when I have Nelson. Have you seen him?” He moaned appreciatively as he bit a knuckle, picturing Nelson in the shower. “Speaking of…” Nox leaned and craned his neck to check the study but no one was there. Clancy and Merlin had left and Nelson must have gone up to bed.
“Like I said, incredibly boring,” Smoak replied, his tone dry as he dismissed Nox, waving at the terrace doors. “Don’t let me get in the way of your evening.”
Nox offered him a cheeky wink. “I won’t!” he said as he dashed up the steps.
He set the conversation with Smoak aside until he could brief everyone in the morning. There wasn’t much they could do about Dùbhghlas until they knew where he was hiding so Nox was putting his time to better use. All of the locks were checked and the security system was activated within seconds before Nox flew to the top of the stairs, restless and urgently in need of Nelson. He took a moment to calm down, then opened the double doors at the end of the hall and casually strolled into their bedchamber.
“How did it go with Smoak?” Nelson asked from the bed. He had already showered and was reading something faded and tattered from the study.
Nox wrinkled his nose, shaking his head as he headed for the bathroom. “Not great but it’s nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow.” He kicked off his Converse in the closet and dropped his clothes in the hamper. “The good news is: Smoak’s definitely on our side now. No more threatening to tell Niall if he won’t help us.” Hopefully, that would cheer Nelson up and distract him. “He called you boring but he didn’t mean it.”
That made Nox giggle as he quickly bathed himself in moonwater and a soul-soothing herbal body wash, but Nelson didn’t appear to be amused. “Why did Smoak have a suddenchange of heart?” he asked when Nox slid under the covers and reached for him.
“He’d have to have a heart, first, in order for it to change,” Nox murmured as he kissed Nelson’s shoulder.
“Stop deflecting, please.” Nelson turned a page in his book, silently threatening to ignore Nox if he didn’t behave like an adult.
Nox scraped his teeth over his lower lip, slowly walking his fingers along Nelson’s arm, towards the book. “It’s very hard to focus when we’re both naked and you’re reading. You know this counts as foreplay,” he complained playfully. Everything Nelson did was sexy but nothing drove Nox wilder than naked Nelson with his nose in a book. The book snapped shut and Nelson held it up and to the side, threatening to drop it.
“I could put on pajama pants.”
“Come on!” Nox yanked on Nelson’s arm but it wouldn’t budge.
“I’ll make you a deal,” Nelson began and Nox perked up.
“Go on…”
“Give me the wave tops and I’ll read to you.”
He was bringing out the big guns because Nox was aslutfor story time. Nelson could reduce Nox to a drooling, babbling, hornymessby reading a phone book. “Okay,” Nox replied weakly, licking his lips as he rewound his conversation with Smoak and deleted the bits that would upset Nelson and kill the mood.
“Don’t leave out the important parts,” Nelson warned, narrowing his eyes at Nox.
“I wasn’t going to!” he lied. “Smoak said that Dùbhghlas is gone. He left his compound in Beartown, killed a bunch of demons, halflings, banshees, and other magickal beings to cover his tracks, and he definitely has a valkyrie.” He had buried thelede about the mass slaughter of demons and prayed that Nelson wouldn’t notice.
“Damn it!” Nelson whispered, lowering the book back onto his lap.
“Smoak also called you boring.” In case Nelson forgot about that.
He rolled his eyes. “I’ll take that as a compliment from him. What about the rest of it?”
“I don’t know,” Nox confided in a whisper, his mask slipping for a moment. “I needeveryoneto make sense of all that’s happened but I have to wait until tomorrow to burden them with this.”
“Alright…” Nelson pushed out a hard breath and nodded. “As long as that’s why you’re putting this off, not because you’re a horny idiot.”
Nox pulled in both of his lips and bit hard, fighting back his conscience. “Of course not! Whatcha reading?”
