immediately returned. “No wonder my mother warned me
about charming Weres.”
“Did she really?”
“No.”
“Does she still love your dad?”
“Yes.” Cal didn"t hesitate. Ray wished he understood
why Cal sometimes did and sometimes didn"t. Why he"d wait
for Ray. Why he"d wait so
long
.
“So tell me the truth.” It was a good thing it hurt to
breathe. It meant he could stop without missing it.
Cal"s hand started to stroke over his hip, didn"t stop
until Ray was breathing again, breathing him in.
“Do you remember the first time I was in your cave,
Ray? In your house?”
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Ray might have nodded. Cal only smiled so brightly that
Ray felt it in his lungs.
“Then once upon a time, I rudely invited myself into
your lair….” Cal began, and Ray frowned at the hazy sparkle
at the edge of his vision, behind his eyelids. The air
tightened. It was a spell after all, fairy magic.
“No, that"s not everything, but it will do for now.” Cal
coughed and dropped his voice. It was a lot like Penn"s
singing voice, melodic, filled with hidden notes to make you
listen. “Once upon a time, you were very, very angry with
me, Ray, and I couldn"t figure out why because I"d just met
you, and I"d been nothing but nice.”
Ray remembered him as being a little
too
nice. Cal
shushed any protests by continuing.
“And you had just ushered out a pretty, youngish friend
of yours, and you were all frustrated and lovely and sexy,
remember?”
He did. Well, he remembered showing Lex out and then
turning to face the half-fairy that had been assigned to work
with him a few days ago. “I"m not sure about lovely and sexy,
but I remember being frustrated.”
“Trust me. You were. But stay with that, Ray. You were
frustrated.
Remember
.”
And he did.
The moment the door closed behind Lex, Ray crossed his
arms and faced his uninvited guest. His posture was
defensive and he knew it. It only left him more agitated. He
wasn"t even sure why.
He"d never had a problem with fairies before, but this one
put him on edge, filled him with a confusing mix of instincts,
grab
and
hurt
and
hold
and
lick
and
pounce
, and if it had
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been just sex, he might have done it, but the violence in him,
the need, was new.
He didn"t understand it, and he didn"t like it. The fairy in
front of him was pretty, beautiful, attractive, sexy, but Ray
had met pretty before without wanting to growl at it, rip its
clothes away and kiss it senseless.
The sound of his heavy breathing felt too obvious, and he
tried to control himself. He thought of the state of the moon
outside, wondering if that was to blame for the way he felt, or
if it was something about the creature in his living room.
Cal Parker"s multicolored eyes stayed on the door for a
moment longer, as though considering the now-departed Lex,
and then they fixed on Ray, swirling with innocence. A
moment after that they dropped, again, to the bare expanse of
Ray"s chest. Parker gave a hum of approval, as though
determined to embarrass Ray as much as he possibly could in
one day, and then, unbelievably, inched forward.
As the memory of their fight that afternoon was fresh in
Ray"s mind, Ray let out the growl that had been building in
his chest. He could still see Parker in the middle of the station,
demanding Ray"s attention by parking his fabulous ass on his
desk and announcing that it was
so obvious
that the person
threatening the Prescott family and harassing their patriarch
wasn"t human, but if all the detectives didn"t want to believe
him, then it was fine, he could leave. He didn"t want to be
there anyway.
Ray had stood up, pushing the half-fairy from his desk
with one hand and swallowing back his exclamation at the
warmth under Parker"s skin and the wide-eyed welcoming
look he"d received, even after being rough, had told Parker
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squarely that if he didn"t want to be there, no one was making
him stay.
He was volunteering his time, had only come in on the
case at the instigation of his father, there was no need for any
dramatic speeches or even any anger on Ray"s part. But when
Parker had glanced at him, wings flapping, his mouth open in
an expression of soft, shocked sadness, and asked if Ray
really
wanted him to go, Ray had snapped. Told him to leave
if he wanted to go so much, that they didn"t need any
miserable fairies hanging around.
It wasn"t like anyone expected fairies to stick around.
And this one hadn"t. With a twitch of his wings, Cal Parker
had taken himself out of the police station and hadn"t looked
back.
Ray was suddenly hot all over again, burning with not-
quite temper and the powerful urge to crush the delectable pop
tart in front of him to the nearest hard surface and make him
want
to stay. He wasn"t feeling subtle either, but just reached
down to pull up the pants loose around his hips. He hadn"t
buttoned them when he"d rushed to get the door ten long
minutes ago, and the zipper was starting to slowly inch back
down.
For a second, he almost heard it give another tiny fraction
and as though he did, too, Cal Parker"s gaze went right to
Ray"s crotch.
Ray growled. Again. He"d
never
growled this much at
someone he knew didn"t really deserve it.
“I ought to announce that I don"t believe in fairies,” he
snarled, aware that he was being ridiculous, that he was
referencing a children"s book, and Tinkerbell and Never Never
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Land had no place in an adult argument, and Parker gasped
dramatically.
“That hurts. What if that book had been in any way
factual, and you"d killed me with that remark?” And there,
amid every other emotion crowding Ray"s mind, was the need
to laugh. He didn"t understand it, but what drove him insane
in public was nearly unmanageable in the privacy of his living
room. Cal Parker was twinkling at him, grinning at what Ray
hadn"t meant as a joke but that suddenly was.
“Then I would have clapped real hard,” Ray informed
him, not smiling, because he would have. Cal—Parker—
smiled for both of them, slow and hot.
“You would have, wouldn"t you? I had a feeling you were
a big softie.”
“I….” Ray had to change the subject, regain control. “I
thought you quit the case.” It was a mistake to breathe out. It
meant he had to breathe in, and his house still reeked of
fucking,
sweat/come/need
, sex now infused with rosewater
booze and divinity candy. He had the fleeting thought that
Parker was drunk, but even sober, he probably would have
spoken the same way.
“Are you always like this, Detective? He, your
friend
, had
bruises. Were you rough?
Are
you rough? In bed?” Those eyes
came to rest on Ray"s face, desire evident even through the
half-fairy"s glitter haze. “Please say you are. Let"s play Red
Riding Hood, and I can talk about what a big—”
“Parker.” Ray swallowed, the always-ravenous wolf
inside ready for more, and there was such a tasty, sexy half-
fairy in front of him. He felt
alive
with that scent near.
What he"d been going to say was lost in the hot cloud of
lust and licorice whips, bold interest like lightning strikes seen
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through a window. Flashes of light and heat that coincided
with the spikes of need curling in Ray"s belly. Ray had never
felt anything like it, and yet in the past three days, since
meeting Cal Parker, he"d felt it every time their eyes had met.
Parker suddenly straightened, though he lowered his
voice. “Oh yeah, rough like a big dog. Rrrrufff. Not always, but
sometimes, right, Branigan?” he asked in all seriousness.
“You left little marks all over him, and he"s just a fuck buddy.
He"s not even spending the night.” Parker was alarmingly on
target, watching Ray with eyes that shouldn"t be so smart.
Ray tried to think past the strange flurry of sensations, to how
Cal"s father had promised his son was smarter than Ray
would ever believe, and how Ray hadn"t seen it until just now.
“What a lucky guy, though. I"m willing to overlook your
personal dislike of me, or is it fairies in general, if you"d ever
want to help
me
get that lucky, Branigan.”
He slid a hand to his flat stomach, just like that, pushing
up his shirt and then working a finger into the waistband of
his jeans. He tugged. Ray saw skin, pale gold and smooth.
“What—” Ray seemed to have lost his ability to focus on
anything but Cal. “I like fairies,” he admitted weakly. “They"re
fun. Good to drink with. I—” For a second he wondered if he
was dealing with some kind of incubus instead of the child of
a fairy and a human cop. He saw that skin and thought of the
marks, only a few, that he had left on Lex, and how he could
leave anything he wanted on Cal Parker and it would heal in
moments. He could grip his hips and suck him down and
drive him out of his not-so-ditzy fairy mind.
Cal would like that. Ray knew it without asking. Even
before Ray did anything with his mouth, Cal would be
reaching for him and begging for more. He didn"t know how he
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knew, his senses told him it was true, and so it was. It was
frightening, and Ray didn"t frighten easily.
He took a step back, scowling at the creature in front of
him, but Cal didn"t seem to notice.
“Well that"s good to hear, Detective. My dad said you
were one of the best. That you are understanding to Beings,
which makes sense, I suppose, because you are one, though
I"ve met a few self-haters. But you"ve been an unbelievable
hard ass to me for the past three days, so I thought maybe
you were a prick after all. You like fairies, huh?” Parker… it
wasn"t Ray"s imagination, Parker"s glitter was
shining
. “Ever
had a fairy lover? I"ve never had a Were lover, but I"ve heard
the legends….”
Ray normally held back with humans in his bed. He had
to. But tonight he had let himself get forceful, nipping,
pushing, gripping. Lex had been confused by the sudden
passion in their convenient arrangement, but had been turned
on, too, liking it, asking for more. This was the third night in a
row Ray had called him over, and yet when he"d pinned him
to the bed and slid his teeth over his skin, it hadn"t felt like
enough to Ray either.
He was almost hard again at the memory of shifting Lex
up beneath him and riding him until his come had splattered
on the headboard and Lex holding back his small moans until
the end. Something in the sound had been infuriating. It had
made Ray taste him again, over and over again, going deeper,
searching for something that wasn"t there, but Lex"s sweat,
otherwise clean, had suddenly lacked flavor, his scent empty
of anything but arousal.
Not like now. Ray rubbed his nose and tried not to taste
the needy scent of Cal Parker on his tongue, but he could.