Lover At Last(162)

Qhuinn muttered something that sounded like, “Thank God.” Then he moaned as he disengaged, withdrawing himself. In the aftermath, Blay stayed where he was for a brief moment, but ultimately he had no choice save to get up, go out the door, and return to where he belonged.

Thank God no one saw him.

He made it back to his own room without anyone playing witness to the walk of shame, and yup, within fifteen minutes he was showered, leathered, and armed. Stepping out of his door, he—

Qhuinn came out of his at exactly the same moment.

Both of them froze.

Ordinarily, walking down together would have been marginally awkward, the kind of thing that they would have made small talk during.

But now…

Qhuinn dropped his eyes. “You go first.”

“Okay.” Blay turned to walk away. “Thanks.”

Blay cast his chest holster and his leather jacket over his shoulder and strode off. By the time he hit the stairwell, it felt like years had passed since they’d lain so close together. Had the day between them even fucking happened?

Jesus, he was starting to feel insane.

Entering the dining room below, he took a random empty chair and hung his stuff over the back as the others did—even though Fritz hated weapons around his food. Then he thanked the doggen who presented him with a fully loaded plate, and began to eat. He couldn’t have told you what had been served to him, or who was talking around the table. But he knew exactly when Qhuinn came through the jambs: His core started to hum, and it was impossible not to glance over his shoulder.

There was an immediate physical impact as he took in that huge body clad in black, and dripping in weapons—like a car battery had been hooked up to his nervous system.

As Qhuinn didn’t meet his eyes, he supposed that was a good thing. The others around the table knew them both too well, especially John, and things were complicated enough without the benevolent peanut gallery getting a chance to weigh in—not that anything would be said publicly. Privately, though? Pillow talk ran rampant through the household.

Something to envy.

Qhuinn started forward, then abruptly changed direction and walked allllll the way around to the other side of the table, to the only chair, other than the one next to Blay, that was empty.

For some reason, Blay thought of the conversation he’d had with his mother over the phone, the one where he had finally admitted to a member of his family who he really was.

Unease feathered across his nape. Qhuinn would never do something like come out, and not because his parents were dead, or because, when that pair had been alive, they had hated their son.

I see myself with a female long-term. I can’t explain it. It’s just the way it’s going to be.

Blay pushed his plate away.

“Blay? Hello?”

Shaking himself, he glanced at Rhage. “I’m sorry?”

“I asked you if you were ready to play Nanook of the North.”

Oh, that’s right. They were going back to that stretch of forest where they’d found the cabins and the lesser with the special power for going ghost—as well as that airplane which was, at the moment, gathering snow in the backyard.

He, John, and Rhage were on deck for the assignment. And Qhuinn.

“I…yeah, absolutely.”

The most beautiful member of the Brotherhood frowned, his Caribbean blue eyes narrowing. “You okay?”

“Yup. Just fine.”

“When was the last time you fed?”

Blay opened his mouth. Shut it. Tried to do the math.

“Uh-huh. I thought so.” Rhage leaned forward and spoke around Z’s chest. “Yo, Phury? Do you think one of your Chosen can come here and fill in for Layla at dawn? We’ve got some blood needs.”

Great. Just what he wanted to do at the end of the night.



About an hour later, Qhuinn took a sharp breath as he materialized in the cold. Flurries fluttered around his face, getting into his eyes and his nose. One by one, John, Rhage, and Blay assumed form with him.

As he faced off at the airplane hangar, the hollowed-out shell brought back memories of that fakakta Cessna, and the Hail Mary trip, and the crash landing.

Happy, happy, joy, joy.

“Good to go?” he said to Rhage.

“Let’s do this.”

The plan was to proceed at quarter-mile clips until they came to the first few cabins they’d already been to. After that, they would locate the other buildings on the property, using the map they’d found previously as a guide. Just your typical search/recon protocol.

He had no clue what they would find, but that was the point. You didn’t know until you did the job.

As Qhuinn sent himself forward, he was acutely aware of where Blay was. Yet as he re-formed in front of the first cabin they came to, he didn’t look over when Blay appeared about five feet away. Not a good idea. Even though they were on assignment, all he had to do was close his eyes and his mind was flooded with images of naked bodies intertwined in the dim light of his bedroom.