It felt good to be doing something. A community project, and by lunchtime the next day, Sawyer was already beginning to think of other projects he could do after this. Like a small library, or maybe a community room with a pool table and a projector for movie nights.
Hendrix and Dylan helped out on the ladder, while Kellan preferred his two feet on the ground. Hendrix was pretty handy too. Dylan assisted him with the right tool and a hushed comment every so often that made Hendrix laugh, and of course Kellan watched on like a lovesick fool.
Sawyer adored them all, and he loved their dynamic. He’d originally assumed it would be Kellan who would be the one incharge of their trio, but the more time Sawyer spent with them, the more he realised it was Hendrix who took the lead. He also assumed that spilled over into the bedroom, and by the gods, he loved that for Kellan.
“What’s got you smiling like that?” Ciaran asked.
Sawyer hadn’t heard him come in, and he could see now he’d brought Hudson with him, who was carrying a large tray of fresh bread rolls.
Sawyer jumped down off the pew he’d been standing on so he could sand back the windowsill, and he gave Ciaran a kiss. “I’m smiling because I’m happy,” he said.
“And these are tomatoes from the garden?” Kellan asked, holding his bread roll.
“The hothouse, yes,” Hudson said.
Sawyer ate one of the sandwiches, and while it was delicious, what he loved even more was the people.
Ciaran nudged him again. “You’re smiling to yourself again.”
He laughed as he swallowed his last mouthful. He didn’t care if the others heard. In fact, he hoped they would. “I told you I was happy,” he said. “Just reminded how great it is here. The town, sure. But it’s the people?—”
“Ciaran!” Fray yelled from the jetty. It was his serious tone too. “Ciaran!”
They all raced outside just as Otis climbed out of the water holding a cephamorph in freeform by the throat. It had its tentacles wrapped around Otis’s arm. He roared and shook it free. It hit the ground, clambering on all eight legs, trying to scurry away as Pania went after it in a rage.
“You stung my mate!” she hollered, fists closed, shaking with fury as Otis held her back.
Beau gasped beside Ciaran. “It’s Dirk. Dirk’s here,” Beau said, and Hudson took a step back.
Fray stood there with his hands on his hips, grin wide, Tobin was now beside him. “Hey, Ciaran?” Fray yelled. “Can she kill him? Or are there laws and shit over ripping the leader of another consortium to pieces?”
“I’m not going back,” Hudson whispered. “Please.”
“You don’t have to,” Ciaran assured him before turning a menacing smile toward Dirk that curled around Sawyer’s insides, warm and lovely.Oh hell yes.
“No killing him yet,” Ciaran said as he began to walk over. “Let’s see what he has to say first.”
“If you don’t want him to see you, go inside,” Sawyer said, mostly to Hudson but also to Beau. “We won’t let him take you.” Then he hurried to catch up with Ciaran.
Hendrix went, too, but Kellan and Dylan stayed with Hudson.
Beau hesitated, but eventually, he came over as well. He still had a hammer in his hand though, so...
Dirk was an ugly mottled blueish-grey colour in freeform that Sawyer didn’t like at all. And when Dirk morphed into human form, Sawyer wasn’t sure which he preferred. Yikes.
Dirk was... Well, for a start, he was naked, which didn’t help. Sawyer had to wonder how it was possible for a cephamorph to resemble a potbelly pig in human form.
“He came into the Cove,” Fray said. “Surprised to see me, Tobin, and Otis. Then he saw Pania, and... well. Should have kept his mouth shut.”
“I didn’t know you had a female here,” Dirk said to Ciaran. The way he said the word “female” pissed Sawyer off.
Otis, too, apparently. Pania had simmered down a little, but now Otis looked about ready to murder someone. “Ciaran,” Otis said, voice low, as if he was barely hanging on to his self-control.
“It’s okay, Otis,” Ciaran said, sneering at Dirk. “I’ve got this.” Then he leaned over him and spoke down at him. “You insult oneof my consortium, and then you stung her mate.” Ciaran flicked out his arm and his hand morphed into a dark red tentacle. Not his vibrant, sexy red. This tentacle was dark and angry, and it curled at the tip and twisted with an irate mind of its own. “You want me to return the favour?”
Dirk scampered back, eyes wide with fear and pleading. “No, no, please no.”
Sawyer knew that Ciaran had the ability to burn with his toxin, but he’d never seen it in action. He’d seen the marks it had left on Lusca, however, and Sawyer wasn’t opposed to seeing it on Dirk.
