“You,” he said, and lightly nipped my earlobe.
A set of delicate arms laced around my shoulders. “Oh, Silver.” Sunny was sobbing against my neck and I patted her back consolingly. “Don’t be mad at me,” she begged. “This is horrible timing and I wanted to cancel but everything was ordered to deliver and I asked Simon what to do about it.
He
said that you needed this and it would snap you out of your gloom,” she said accusingly. “At least, that’s how he put it.”
“Leave it to a woman to throw you under the bus,” Simon muttered.
“Sunshine, I swear to God if you cry at my birthday party, I’m going to make you take me to a strip club next year.”
“Then I’ll cry a
river
for you, girl.”
We laughed until everything felt normal again. There was no point wallowing in self-pity—it’s not something I’d ever done in my human life when things got tough. There was a time when I had no place to live, no job, and medical bills I paid out of pocket because of what my ex did to me. Life goes on. It was my first year as a Mage and it was only fitting that it be memorable.
My nerves vibrated like a string on a guitar when I heard the sound of bodies moving. Were they gawking at the scarf on my head or the horribly mismatched clothes I was probably wearing?
“We missed you, dollface,” a gravelly voice said.
I grabbed his tremendous arms and patted them. “Knox, so good to… feel you?” I smiled. “Sorry, Sunshine. Swear to God I’m not feeling up your man.”
I tugged at the tight cap he wore on his head that covered up his dark hair. It was intrusive to be so physical, but my hands instinctively sought to do what my eyes could not. “Nice suit, Knox.” His silky dress shirt was tight in all the wrong places; I was so impressed that Sunny managed to get him in a suit at all—even if he won the war over wearing the hat.
“Get over here and say hello to your friend, Razor.”
My heart stalled when Knox called Adam by his human surname. I hadn’t known Adam was here and after our last conversation, I was uncertain he’d want to even be a part of this.
Adam once told me all he needed in life was a piece of land, purpose, and a good woman. After meeting the women at Novis’s party, I had doubts that it would be possible with our kind.
Knox quietly cursed at him and I knew he wasn’t going to let go of the resentment he harbored.
All of Logan’s brothers except Lucian were present. Finn talked excitedly about lighting the candles and someone shushed him. He’d never experienced a birthday and I made a mental note to talk to Logan about it.
“I should have brought a piñata,” Finn blurted out. He didn’t mean any harm by the fact I was blindfolded and I heard one of the Cross brothers growl at him.
I laughed contagiously. “Bring it. I’m in the mood to stomp some serious piñata ass.” I might have actually enjoyed swinging a baseball bat, given my mood.
They’d rearranged the room. The dining table was shoved against the left wall and the chairs and loveseat were pushed together on the opposite side. It was cozy to have everyone in the same room and allowed me to listen to the conversations. My ears flooded with sound: drinks pouring, someone tapping their foot, crunching from the vegetable tray, laughter, and disparaging sighs.
Logan very slowly moved away, creating a maddening friction between our bodies. I took a seat in the chair and blew out a shaky breath.
“I probably look like something the cat dragged in,” I said to Sunny. “What if I had walked up here in my underwear?”
“Now
that
would have been a surprise,” Simon remarked from across the room.
Her laugh was bright and she hugged me again. “Is that how you parade around the house in front of Justus?”
“Only when I want to punish him.”
Logan was great. He gave me space and every so often, I felt his presence. It was hard not to; there was something about his energy when he circled around me that stimulated my light and made the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“Honey, you want to sit by the most handsome man here?”
“Levi, how could I say no to a guy who manwiched me?”
He snorted and eased me onto his leg. “That was as close as I’ll ever get to mating with a female, Silver. But I must say—you give good back.”
I missed all the subtle facial expressions, but I caught so much more in the tone and pitch of everyone’s voice. I wrapped my arms around Levi’s neck and rested on his shoulder.
“I don’t really remember any of it, but thanks.”
I wasn’t usually so public with affection, but not seeing the watchful eyes made it easier.
“I’ll always have your back,” he murmured.
“You need to quit while you’re ahead.”
When I stood up, my legs were a little wobbly and I gripped the table. Levi clutched my hips. “You should sit down,” he said in a concerned voice.
“I’m fine.”
Simon and Finn argued about how the universe was created while Leo bragged that his plan was to have seven children—which would be enough to scare off any woman.
A rough hand took hold of my fingers.
Adam’s hand.
No words passed between us, but we came to a silent resolution. It wasn’t my fault that his woman was a conniving tramp, yet now I understood him better. Our hands did the talking that our lips could not.
The room grew silent all of a sudden and Sunny began to sing.
Oh God, I was never into the whole birthday-song thing and listening to a group of men who couldn’t carry a tune was more than I could stand. I backed up like a spooked mare and Logan encased me in his arms from behind.
“Red still suits you, Little Raven,” he said softly, grazing his finger along the hollow of my cheek.
“What am I supposed to do now?”
“Blow out the candles,” Finn suggested.
“And set my hair on fire?”
Simon howled with laughter. “There’s only one candle on the cake, love.” He wheezed a few times and that’s when I was ready to shove his face into it. “I can’t help it. He’s dating a one-year-old.” Simon elapsed into a fit of laughter and someone smacked him.
“Help me do this, Logan. I don’t want to feel up the cake looking for the candle.”
“I’ll hold your hair while you blow,” he said.
Levi barked out a laugh. “All right, Logan. Save the sweet talk for later.”
I placed my fingertips on the edge of the table and blindly blew out a breath. There were claps, which led me to believe that I hit my mark or they were filthy liars.
“Give me the knife,” Sunny insisted. “Let me cut it properly before you men hack it to pieces.”
“Presents!” Simon demanded.
“I don’t really—” I shook my head. This was becoming too much.
Someone shoved a light box into my hands. No paper or ribbon. The lid fell to the floor and beneath the rustling tissue was thin, delicate fabric. I lifted it with my right hand and someone whistled. My cheeks flamed up and I let go, hearing a few deep chuckles.
“Thanks, Sunshine,” I grumbled.
“Anytime,” she said with a smile in her voice. “Every girl needs something to feel sexy.”
“Thought you could use these,” Justus said in a raspy voice, handing me a small bundle wrapped in tissue paper.
What did Mr. Moneybags get me
? I wondered.
When I tore away the paper, my hands ran across an unexpected gift.
“Well, what is it?” Levi asked.
“The perfect thing for my cold feet—slipper socks.” Probably worth more than I deserved. I may have been blind, but I knew that Justus was firecracker red.
Our house always ran cold and I took advantage of the fact that he was a Thermal. Many a cold night, I cozied up beside him on the sofa with the ulterior motive of warming my feet. The man was a portable space heater; what girl could resist?
Simon whispered in my ear, “We’ll play this later. Promise I won’t cheat.”
I felt the box and laughed. “Why don’t you and Knox give it a test run?”
“What game is that?” Levi asked.
I turned my mouth down. “Twister.”
“I’m in,” he said with a hard clap of his hands. “Knox?”
“Sorry, but there’s only one spot Knox is putting his hands tonight, and it’s not on red or green.” Sunny was full of spirit and I gave her a mental thumbs-up.
“There’s another one this way.” Logan took my hand and led me out of the room.
“From who?”
“Adam,” he said in a low voice.
When my feet brushed across woolen fur, I knitted my brows. “I don’t remember that,” I murmured.
Logan released my hand and I knelt down. Thick fibers ran between my fingers and I knew what it was—my old flokati rug. “Where did you get this?”
“I took it the night we went to your apartment.” Adam’s words were thick with memories as he drifted out of the room.
“It’s perfect,” I said graciously. The rug was the only piece left of my human life and it was my safe place when things weren’t going well.
“Mine’s next.” Logan brushed his hand over my head and I raised a suspicious brow.
Sunny gasped and someone shushed her.
“Hold out your hand,” he said. “Palm down.” I lifted my left arm and did ask he asked.
“I hope you don’t intend to slip something on my finger because—”
My fingers pinched together and told my brain it was a soft ear, wet nose, and the hard bristles of whiskers.
“A cat?” I hesitated.
“He’s yours, Silver. Not a replacement… but
yours
.”
“Max? You brought me my cat?” I was overwhelmed. Who does things like this? “But Justus—”
“Approves,” Justus interrupted loudly. “I don’t care for animals but if he’s yours, then I’ll make an exception. Just keep him out of my room.”
Max still smelled like my baby and I held him in my arms. Many significant events had transpired in that short period and Max had become a casualty. It was like hurricane victims having to leave their pets behind.
“Logan, I can’t believe you did this. How did you find him?”
“I own his scent. When you introduced me to him that time we flew down, I put it to memory. He was still in your mother’s neighborhood and it took some time to track him down. That little terror went into a crawlspace beneath a house and I had to go in there after him… with the spiders.”
“Don’t be such a pussy,” Levi said.
Simon laughed. “That’s the best joke I’ve heard all night. I’m going in for the cake before you manky bastards take all the good bits.”
“When did you do this?”
“The night you returned from Texas,” he admitted.
So
that
was the reason Logan never returned my calls; he was in Texas, hunting down my cat and arranging to transport him to Cognito.
Crap. The blindfold didn’t hide the fact I was about to lose my cool in front of a room full of people. A swell of admiration for Logan filled my heart, along with regret for my behavior when I confronted him at the Gathering. He
couldn’t
tell me the truth or it would have ruined the surprise. My face stung with the heat that preludes tears. Max scrambled from my arms and I leaned forward and grabbed the collar of Logan’s shirt, pulling him against me.
When I nuzzled against his unshaven cheek, Max wasn’t the only one who was purring. The voices around us trailed away.
He smelled my hair with a slow breath. He kissed the curve of my jaw. And then a long, passionate kiss grew between us—the kind that can shatter you into a million pieces. His lips were soft and tasted of the Bordeaux he’d been drinking. I loved the way his rough fingers stroked the nape of my neck. Every man has a place on a woman’s body that he calls home, and for Logan, that was it.
“Tell me, lovely, did we do good?”
“Mr. Cross, you did so good that I could strip you out of your clothes on this carpet.”
His laugh was low and dubious as he stroked his tongue along the soft patch of skin below my ear.
“Empty threats don’t impress me.” The flat of his hand moved across my collarbone and then down my chest until he gripped my waist. “I crave you, Little Raven. Say the word and I’ll remove everyone from this house and lay you out on this rug as mine for the taking.”
***