“Don’t worry, they didn’t go far.” He pats my bottom, urging me to the open suitcase. I grab a black shirt off the end of the bed, and as soon as it passes over my head, I know it’s Gunnar’s. It smells like him. I inhale deeply, bringing the fabric up to my nose.
“Are they upset?”
“No, get in bed.” Gunnar’s gruff voice has me turning toward the door. Calix disappears into the bathroom, shutting the door softly behind him.
“Can we sleep in the other room? Kim has no fuck shui.”
“You mean fung shui?” Gunnar arches one brow.
“Uh-uh, I know what I mean.”
“That’s my shirt.” Gunnar ignores my comment and saunters slowly over to me.
“That a problem?” I grab the collar again, bringing it up to my nose to take another sniff. He grunts out a content sound, grabs my shoulder, and spins me so we’re heading out of the room and into the other.
Chapter 12
My heavy boots make clomping sounds as I stomp down the stairs. I’m already frustrated, and we haven’t even left Kim’s house yet. We spent the entire day with Torin again yesterday, and I don’t feel like he’s any closer to a decision about what he’s going to do with his pack than he was the first night.
He’s eating, which could be a sign of something, but who fucking knows? He vacillates between desolate and crabby, favoring the latter when Kim is around.
Adding to my pissy mood is the fact that I haven’t heard from Aeson since we arrived. Plus, Grim left this afternoon, and he still isn’t back, which makes me think that witchy fucker Antonio is up to no good.
“What’s wrong, my lady?” Gunnar meets me at the bottom of the stairs, stopping me from going into the kitchen.
I roll my eyes, but I’m no longer bothered by the honorific. My lips fall into a slight pout. “I feel like we’re running in circles. Well, not even running, but just… at a standstill or something. Yesterday was a complete bust, and we’re no closer to plucking out Antonio’s eyeballs.” I pinch my fingers together, miming squishing the tiny orbs.
Gunnar tilts his head to the side and a half smile graces his lips. Stepping a little closer, he wraps his arms around my waist, hoists me up from the last step, and then turns to head toward the kitchen while carrying me. “Well, you accomplished something.” He slides his grip down to cup my ass and grinds his stiff dick against me. “You know what it does to me when you talk about maiming,” he coos against my neck sweetly. He’s so easy to please.
“Are you gonna eat this or not?” Calix grouses.
Gunnar slides me slowly down his body before depositing me in one of the chairs. Grim’s absence is noticeable when I look around the table. There are, however, three plates, one with less food than the others.
“Hungry?” Calix’s brows are high on his forehead.
I push the small pile of fluffy eggs around a little. They smell pretty good, and I haven’t had any adverse reactions to my newfound hunger just yet, so I might as well. “It’s weird, right? After all these years, how can I suddenly eat now?” Acknowledging the fact doesn’t stop me from placing a bite into my mouth.
“Maybe you should have been consuming souls instead of sins all along. Maybe it triggered some kind of transition,” Calix supplies while watching me eat, instead of eating his own food.
“I guess that makes as much sense as anything else. Are we heading back to the wolf’s den after this?” I know I’m the one who started this conversation, but it makes me uncomfortable, so I switch topics.
“Yeah, Death said he would meet us there when he was done.” Calix accepts my subject change easily.
“Did he say where he was going or why?” I place my fork down after only a few bites.
“He didn’t say,” Gunnar answers, but from his tone, it’s clear we all know that the only reason he would have left was if another Charmed were dead.
“So, what’s the plan? We only have today and tomorrow to figure out what the hell Torin is going to do before all hell breaks loose, right? We need to get him to either lead or pick a replacement who can withstand an outside challenge, or shit is about to get really messy with that pack.”
“And the Nemean,” Gunnar adds, not even bothering to look up from his plate.
Calix shoves his dish away, even though it’s not empty. “Pretty much. I’ll be stuck here until the dust settles, longer if the alpha who takes over doesn’t inspire trust, otherwise there will be an exodus of members seeking out other packs, going rogue.” He pinches his temples between his fingers, as if the thought alone is enough to give him a headache.
“Does he seem any closer to deciding what he’s going to do?” I ask. Calix was the last one to speak with him early this morning before we left to head back to Kim’s for the day.
“Not really. He keeps going back and forth.”
“Tell me about it.” Gunnar leans back, crossing his arms over his chest. “At least when we first got here, he knew what he wanted.”
