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Chapter 21
We tottered out of the tavern.
“Asses,” I mumbled. “Kicking us out.”
Reed gave a naked Kahlo his long coat, but not before I glimpsed his…Oh, my.I tripped over my feet at how damn big he was even without being erect. When I glanced up, he caught me looking and smirked with a knowing look that said,it’s-all-yours.
My face burned, and I looked away.
Gage marched ahead, and we followed him along a windy road heading deeper into the town. A few torches lit the path, but no one else was around. “Thank fuck we booked our rooms at another tavern,” Gage explained.
“Well, that went south fast,” I said, hugging myself against the cool breeze. “What the hell happened in there? Why did you transform?”
Kahlo shrugged, walking in a crooked line. “Control is hard when intoxicated, baby cakes.” He slurred his words. “Plus, all that excitement of a fight got my tiger riled up.” He roared and broke into a laugh. Okay,someonehad had way too much to drink.
I nudged Reed in the arm. “Clearly, you’re the only one with control.” I offered him a smile, but in response, his expression soured.
“I gotta go.” Without a response, he swung left and walked down a side alley, vanishing in the shadows.
I froze, my chest constricting. “Reed? What’s going on?”
“I’ll go after him.” Gage bounced on his toes, full of energy. “We’ll meet you both at the Old Reindeer Hunt tavern.”
Confusion twisted inside me, and I glanced at Kahlo, who leaned a shoulder against the wall of a tailor’s shop. He didn’t seem bothered with Reed taking off. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s move. I can’t carry or roll you to our room.”
I looped my arm under his, but damn he was so heavy. If we fell, he’d crush me. So we traipsed down a dark road between two buildings, the place stinking of garbage. “Ever since those two returned from Tritonia, Reed’s been acting strange. Have you noticed?”
Kahlo half-nodded, half-shrugged but kept his lips tight.
“I know something happened, but I don’t understand why he doesn’t tell me. I can help him.”
Kahlo sighed. “Baby cakes, ain’t nothing you can do to help him now.”
“What do you mean?” I tightened my hold.
“He adores you but doesn’t want you to see him struggling.”
Damn men and their egos. I halted at the corner of a cobblestone street with several burning torches lighting up the residential houses spreading outward. But maybe I was wrong about his reaction being about his sister.
“Is he worried about his sister? I am too, but we’ll help her. Did you hear the bartender…? A horned lion attacked them. That was the hooded man. He was here, so we’re on the right track.” That also meant Faye might be here, so I had to keep a low profile. Maybe I’d get a cape to conceal myself and my bag holding my hair.
“It’s not that.” He leaned to the side, and I pulled against his weight so he stayed upright.
“Then what? What the fuck is going on with Reed? Just tell me.” I closed the small remaining distance between us, our chests pressing together, my fingers threading through his. “Please, Kahlo.” I batted my eyes.
For the longest moment, he said nothing, then at once, unleashed a guttural sigh. “You know why he didn’t shift back in the bar?”
“Because he has more control than you and Reed?”
“Fuck that. He was dying to change—I saw it on him. But he can’t. He told me he sold his mane and shifting ability for your gargoyle spell.”
His words refused to process at first, but my body numbed and my head screamed. “What the fuck? Why would he do that? I never…” I stumbled backward, my earlier meal threatening to hurl out. “Does he get it back?”
I studied Kahlo, pleading with him to sayyes, but when he shook his head, my legs weakened beneath me and I fell. My knees kissed the pavement, but I didn’t sense the pain. Not when tears swarmed my eyes. “He had no right,” I cried out, furious that he’d give up something so precious for me.Me!The hypocrite who’d always played it safe. Who’d refused to get close to the three men who intrigued her in case it didn’t work out. Yet they’d given their all and Reed had sacrificed part of himself.
I sobbed into my hands.
Kahlo was at my side. “Don’t cry. He’s gifted you with what he had because you mean so much to him.”
