Page 3 of Filthy Fae

When I spun back, thrumming with irritation, Darrel was standing over the splatter. Water dripped from his dark hair and beard, running down his sculpted body. His dark-blue gaze met mine, and he tilted his head. “Are those dragon shifters a threat I need to be worried about?”

“Not unless you’re afraid of strongly worded social media posts or online petitions signed by their university friends.” I leaned in beside him. “Is it just me, or is the smell better?” The only scent left resembled body odor mixed with fresh cut onion.

“Lance will probably have some better insight into this,” Darrel said. “He’ll want to move up his flight. Meanwhile, we should get inside.”

“Oh.” There was a sinking sensation in me. Leaning down, I gathered the clothing on the ground which still held my wallet and keys, touching the acid-free areas. “So… No date, then. That’s fine.”

He furrowed his brow and stared at me in that way that still gave me a glimmer of suspicion that he was psychic, even though he claimed he wasn’t. “You still want to go?”

“It’s just that if we’re really fast, we could still make our reservation. It’s a casual place, but it only has ten tables, so reservations are a little hard to come by. It doesn’t matter. This…” I gestured to the scorched grass. “This is more important. Let’s head upstairs and call Lance.”

We didn’t talk all the way up to the Knight Brothers’ apartment or as we climbed into the shower and scrubbed each other off, making sure there was no lingering acid anywhere. When we were out, and our bodies were steaming and smelling a whole lot fresher, Darrel’s hands came down and squeezed my shoulders. “We can wait until Lance gets here tomorrow to tell him about it.”

I laid my head on his chest and groaned. “But that’s such a reckless, irresponsible thing for us to do. Some creature came to the complex and attacked me before exploding, and we have no idea what it is or where it came from. We don’t know if it attacked me at random or if someone sent it.”

“And tomorrow morning, all those things will still be true, and there will still be an acid burn on the grass. I think making your reservation is more important right now.”

Damn it, why did I feel like crying? Darrel always did this to me.

His hand slid behind my neck, his thumb gently massaging along my hairline, and I leaned back into his fingers. Gazing into my eyes, he smiled a little. “This whole mating thing was thrown on all of us. You and I never really had the time to do the get-to-know-you stuff. We just jumped into a routine right off the bat, and we both deserve more than that.”

It was like he read the thoughts I hadn’t been able to form. “I feel like the Universe threw me into three celestial arranged marriages at once.”

“I feel a little like that, too. I’m happy about it, but I’m not completely sure on the best way to go about all of this.”

“Me, neither. Not at all. So, are you sure we’re making the right decision about dinner?” I asked, because I flat-out knew that we weren’t.

He nodded, looking worlds more confident than I felt. “Should I call the restaurant and see if they can give us a little more time?”

“No, let’s just go,” I said, happiness bubbling inside me. “It can be really loud in there, and I don’t want them to cancel our reservation by mistake. I’ll be at most five minutes.” Before I was finished speaking, I dashed off toward Aaron’s room—or the room I shared with Aaron. In the month and a half since I’d caught my boyfriend of two years screwing my sister, I’d moved in my stuff and taken up half of his dresser, closet, desk, and bed.

It took me only four minutes to dress in a black silk shirt, high-waisted jeans, and waterproof boots. I covered it all up with a raincoat that was a trace musty and was rushing out toward Darrel when his phone rang.

“You going to see who that is?” I asked as his arm slung around my back.

He winced, and I felt a pang of guilt, knowing that I was going to cause him to be in hot water with his infuriating triplet.

Reaching into his pocket, Darrel extracted his phone and checked the screen. His brow puckered. “It’s your dad. I didn’t even know he had this number.”

“Crap!” I skidded to a stop. “Mine is still downstairs in my desk.”

Darrel held out his phone, and I silently mouthed a thank you as I answered.

“Scarlet,” my father said through the receiver. “I’ve been trying to reach you for over an hour. You okay?”

“Sorry, there was a substantial leak, and I had to do some outside repairs, so I locked my phone in my desk, and—”

“Scarlet—sorry, Alpha. I mean Alpha—”

“Dad, you can call me Scarlet. I always called you dad.”

“Honey, listen. We’ve been contacted by the police. A member of our pack went to a party—a party where you switch couples with other couples.” He broke off and cleared his throat.

“A swinger party?”

“Thank you. Everyone at that party died—twenty-six people, humans and fae. Our wolf was the only one who survived. He’s in police custody at the station.”

Chapter Two