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I glance at the screen and chuckle. “What? Second place not good enough?”
“I almost had him.”
I walk over and plop a kiss on the top of his head. “I’m sure you did.”
He grins at me and holds up his controller. “Want to try?”
I shake my head. “Another time. Illren and I were going to go visit Giselle. See if we can learn something about why I lost control of my power last night.” I glance at Illren for confirmation. “If you’re still up for it.”
He rises to his feet and starts loading all of his weapons back onto his body. It’s a small arsenal. I’m not sure where he puts it all. I smirk. “So…that’s a yes.”
I hate leaving when we’re all finally together for once, so I extend the invite and try to entice them all with food. “Anyone else want to come? Maybe we can find a diner or something after we talk to her. Grab some brunch.”
Charlie jumps to his feet and heads for the coatrack. “I’m in. I was going to head home and pack up some stuff a little later anyway. There’s an IHOP between the lighthouse and my place. It should be open today.” He looks around the room. “Maybe we should all go…”
Not surprisingly, both Oliver and Rook jump at the chance to spend time with me, but I get all warm and fuzzy on the inside when even Terrance agrees to come. Normally he’s pretty antisocial. Or just too busy to hang out. The only other time I’ve seen him take an entire day off was Christmas Day last week.
I eye Charlie suspiciously. Could that be his doing? His whole power of suggestion thing? He said he strengthens relationships. Maybe that doesn’t only apply to romantic ones. Charlie catches me looking at him and winks. Definitely up to something. Oh well, if he wants to make my guys all love each other like a real family, more power to him.
We all pile into several cars and head over to the lighthouse. It’s overcast and freezing today. Typical for a Michigan winter, but not ideal for visiting the Riverwalk. The wind is blowing forcefully off the water when we arrive, burning my lungs every time I breathe in and stinging my eyes. It’s almost enough to make me turn around and come back to see Giselle in May.
Oliver and Charlie look just as miserable as me, but the werewolf, with his internal heater, and the two winter fey don’t seem to have the same problem. I hunch down into my coat and bury my face in my scarf as we make our way through the park. At least the sidewalks have been salted if not cleared of most of the ice and snow. I don’t want to slip and end up all wet, too.
We gather around the railing along the water, and Illren lets out a whistle, calling to Giselle. While we’re waiting for her to surface, I sidle up next to Rook, hoping to steal some of his heat. I give him an innocent smile. “Want to be my space heater?”
He chuckles and happily wraps his arms around me. It’s not quite the same when we’re both wearing coats, but it’s better than nothing.
“Nora!” Giselle chirps, controlling the water to lift herself up to the same level as the railing. Her eyes flick over the small group with me, and her smile widens. “And you’ve brought the crew! Yay!”
“Most of them,” I agree, smiling back. I’ve come to visit Giselle only once since she told me about my need for a harem, and all she wanted to do was gossip about my men. She’s a boy-crazy one, for sure.
I make the rounds of introductions, and when I get to Oliver, Giselle lets out a longawww. “You are just adorable!” She bops his nose and smiles wickedly at me. “This one’s my favorite. If he weren’t already yours, I’d keep him.”
Oliver ducks his head and steps back out of Giselle’s reach. “Um…thank you?”
She winks and blows him a kiss.
The guys all snicker, and Oliver hunches his shoulders like a turtle trying to duck into its shell. He’s never going to hear the end of this. Poor guy. Giselle’s right, though. He is my adorable one.
Giselle rests her arms on the top of the railing, ready to shoot the breeze. The woman is topless—it’s a mermaid thing—and her wet hair is forming icicles, but she doesn’t seem bothered by it at all. “How are you not freezing?” I ask as a large gust of wind blows my hair off my frozen face and makes my nose start to run.
“I’m a fish—cold-blooded.”
“Oh. Right. Must be nice.”
She laughs and props her chin in her hand. “So what brings you to my doorstep today? Clearly, with this wind, it’s not just a social call.”
“Yeah, I’ll make more of those in the spring. Actually, I was hoping you might know something about my power. I lost control of it last night.”
Giselle straightens, her carefree attitude replaced with concern. “Lost control of it, how?”
I grimace. “Well, it was like it had a mind of its own. It wanted me to use it.”
Giselle nods as if she expected this response. “And you wanted to use it, didn’t you? You felt compelled to.”
I nod slowly. “It’s how I ended up with Charlie.” I wave in his direction. “I couldn’t stop myself from using my song on him. Once I had him enthralled, it was like I had to have him. I accidentally claimed him as a mate, but it felt like it was more than that. Like I wanted to…I don’t know, exactly…”
“Devour him?” Giselle guesses. “Consume him?”
