I blinked. Then my eyes went wide. He’d been teaching me magic, and while I wasn’t as good as him or Vergis, I had a grasp of the basics. The mate call was magic, and it was strong. A strong connection from here to Aër. Also, the presence had basically told me already.
“Aër and Earth are bound, but the monster place and Earth aren’t. For that place, it’s like a ko circle you haven’t fed enough sacrificial power to. It sort of works, but not really.”
Kinnek smiled. “Look at the human, Inkiri. An expert in magic all of a sudden.”
Inkiri clicked. “He’s a survivor, and one has to be smart to survive what he survived.”
I lifted my head. “We can get the veil to the monster world closed, can’t we?”
Kinnek nodded. “I think so, yes.”
I pointed an accusing finger at him. “You didn’t tell me that was an option!” I pointed with the other hand at my husband, who was still sitting there, naked and at ease. “Nor did you.”
Inkiri shrugged. “Magic is Kinnek’s field of expertise, and he asked me not to.”
“You asked him not to?”
“Well, snapdragon, are you going to walk into danger and help close the veil to where the monsters come from?”
My jaw dropped. “Yes, of course!”
Kinnek grinned and nodded. “See? Took me a while to get you to where you’d say that to my face, sugarplum. Doesn’t it just feel so very right to want to go out and fight the monsters and the cola assholes and the humans they are in league with?”
I paled. “Well, when you put it like that?—”
The door opened again. Vergis didn’t cross the threshold, but he stood just outside it and glared. Was it his happy glare? I decided to go with the belief that it was his happy glare. “He forgot to say that we’ll all come along. Clearly, everyone in this house has turned philanthropist all of a sudden, and we want to keep humans safe now. Endangered species that they are, would be such a loss, yada yada. You two fucking again or no? I’m getting my earplugs if you’re fucking again, no matter what anyone thinks.”
Kinnek clicked his tongue. “Muffin, just because me and your daddy are very quiet in the bedroom doesn’t mean everyone has to be.”
Vergis’s eyes widened. “You aren’t—you know what? Never mind. I don’t want to talk about how noisy anyone in this house is. It’s not a contest. Bye.”
The door fell shut again. I couldn’t hear Vergis, but I imagined he was silently stomping down the hallway to the stairs.
“Well then,” Kinnek said. “You two have another go?—”
I turned billet bean red. “No, we’re good.”
Kinnek shrugged. “If you say so. I’ll continue showing Zeddira around and telling him everything the twisted little mage in the bunker told us.” He opened the door, but looked back at me. “I’m so very proud of you, snapdragon. You’ve become a Loathly Lady to be reckoned with.”
He giggled at the face I made when he called me that, but left us alone again. I made a mental note to lock the door the next time me and weirdo husband were doing anything in the bedroom. Not that he was bothered. He was still comfortably lounging, not concerned about hiding anything.
I looked at him. “We could get the beasts to go away.”
He nodded. “We could keep them from coming. Those who remain would have to be dispatched, but there wouldn’t be any new ones after them.” His expression hardened, and I knew what he was going to say.
I decided to preempt it. “You’ll keep me safe, right?” I gave him my best puppy eyes. I hoped he’d like that.
“Of course, sweet thing. We all will.”
I wanted to tell him that I was going to keep him safe too. I wasn’t a fan of the magic I could do, and having the presence in my head wasn’t my ideal state of being. But if it meant I could make sure none of my guys died protecting me, I was okay with that.
There was a bright intensity in Inkiri’s gaze. He really, really liked the idea of me asking him to protect and care for me.
“Uhm…”
“It would be a shame if Vergis got his earplugs for nothing, wouldn’t it, sweet thing?” He tilted his head. “Unless?—"
Well, what was a mate to do? I reached for the hastily fastened buttons of my shirt and flicked them back open. “No unless. It sure would.”
