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Right now. He could lick that patch of skin and more, not
certain why he was fighting the urge when he could feel his
cock swelling, and the fairy was offering. But his heart
pounded again, with that same alarm, like something bigger
than him was hovering just out of sight.
Cal Parker, half-fairy, wouldn"t hold back his moans. His
taste would be as rich as his scent, and though it would scare
his precious little fairy ass right out of the house, Ray wanted
to shift, shift just enough, to something bigger and rougher
and stronger to handle that unknown threat. Something with
teeth. He would pin Parker to the floor, the wall, and take
what was his, what was right there for him, all but wrapped
in a bow, and he would mark it, bruise so everyone knew. If
they couldn"t detect his musk, his come all over Cal Parker,
then they"d see his marks and know that this was his, this
was his mate. Cal Parker was his mate and—
Ray shut his mouth, stopped the low growl he was
suddenly aware was coming from him, and looked, shocked,
at the man across from him.
Cal still smelled—would
always
smell, Ray knew—
intoxicating. Ray backed up another step, though he wanted
to reach out, hold him, soothe that look of concern from Cal"s
face and lick any wounds, real or imagined, that he might
have inflicted with his careless words. He wanted to lie at Cal
Parker"s feet. He wanted… he wanted Cal Parker.
Cal Parker was his mate.
His—they had told him it was like this, but Ray hadn"t
believed them. That it would be this sudden, this
overwhelming.
He"d only known the man three days for Pete"s sake.
Three long, tense days of feeling on edge, wary and horny
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and stupid. Of looking into those eyes and breathing in and
growing angry without wondering why, only knowing that
he"d been furious in a way he"d never been to find a fairy
smiling back at him. Leering, teasing, flirting.
Because he was Fairy, and that"s what they did. Nothing
else. One night stands and booty calls. But never anything
longer, not that Ray had heard, unless he counted old stories,
which he didn"t, because the old stories about werewolves
were always wrong, and so the others were probably wrong
too. The evidence in front of him, however, the street fairs and
the nudity and nightclubs that said only too clearly that fairies
didn"t settle down, didn"t bond, didn"t Mate. Fairies were…
they weren"t… like Ray.
“You okay? I didn"t think you were that shy, Branigan.”
Parker was talking, hopping in place while Ray was trying not
to howl. “Tough Being detective and all, with those fierce
glares and that, really quite impressive, body. Sorry. Was
that, uh, guy, special to you?”
He actually pouted at the idea. Pouted. Probably at the
idea of a serious relationship.
Fucking fairies, Ray thought, but it lacked heat.
“Why are you here?” It was squeezed from him. Parker
just waved a hand.
“The case. I know you didn"t want me around. You don"t.
And I don"t either, well, I
didn"t
. No need to make my dad too
happy here by admitting he was right, and I can be of use to
the PD. But I had a thought earlier.”
“And you came here?” Ray could follow that train of
thought, if he tried. Just ignore his current stampeding
emotions and focus on the case, on why Cal would come to
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him and not Penn or one of the other detectives. “How did you
know where I lived?”
“What I need usually makes itself known to me,” Cal
hummed, ogling Ray before going back to bragging, or just
talking, Ray couldn"t tell. Mate. This was his mate. He was
numb, also, possibly on fire. Drowning. He inhaled and felt his
world steady itself: his mate was near. “Also, I read your
file—yes, I had to
borrow
it to do that. Oh, you aren"t snarling
at me. Are you sure you"re okay? Maybe that Lex guy wore
you out….” His tone said he doubted it.
“I"m not worn out,” Ray snapped back into the
conversation and gave Cal one of his so-called “fierce glares.”
Parker
wriggled
, for all appearances, utterly
delighted
to hear
that.
“I feel like I can almost see you baying at the moon when
you do that. Have you ever taken a lover as the wolf? You
know, I"ve never seen a Were in action.” He was not so
innocently curious. Ray"s chest tightened.
“You don"t know what you"re—haven"t you ever heard of
sexual harassment?” He tossed out anything that would make
Cal stop, let Ray have a moment to consider this. Mate. It
couldn"t be real.
“I don"t work for the department officially, remember? I"m
just doing my dad a favor by helping you with this one case.
Does the wolf make you rough or is that all you?” Cal"s voice
was rough too, suddenly. His mouth possibly dry as well,
since he licked his lips, once, twice. Ray wondered what
rosewater would taste like on Cal Parker. He"d never liked it,
too sweet, too strong, but he thirsted for some now. “I know
you don"t like me, but we could make like a moonlight sonata
if you want. You"re so….”
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He couldn"t help wanting to hear everything Cal Parker
had to say.
“You aren"t answering.” Cal pointed out, which perhaps
to a fairy was the same as not saying no. Ray
wasn"t
saying
no, he couldn"t even argue. “Tell me.”
“This is….” Inappropriate. But exactly what Ray was
thinking, wondering if a fairy could even handle half of his
Were nature. “I"m not telling you anything.”
But I could show
you….
He didn"t say it, but the growl was building again,
slowly, like the hunger in his stomach, the sizzling heat under
his skin, the itch to get naked. His mate was in front of him,
this beautiful creature. The air was full of him, just as
beautiful, but nothing to the scents they could create together.
Ray made himself look at the door and think of Lex, who
hadn"t seemed so confused anymore after meeting Parker,
after seeing Ray push himself between them. It was all so
obvious now.
Cal hadn"t liked being kicked off the case, or quitting, or
whatever exactly had happened that afternoon. Ray"s memory
was suddenly fuzzy with the image of Cal fluttering into his
face, pouting in a fairy version of unhappiness, his full,
savory, bitable
bottom lip out to let Ray know he was
displeased, deliberately pushing past Ray as he"d flounced
off.
An unhappy fairy shouldn"t have come back. And never
to Ray"s doorstep, even if they didn"t have any sense of
boundaries.
“The case can wait.” He was breathing hard, but
whatever, it had been a long few days, a long few moments. A
half-fairy. He"d never even heard of that. “Since you found
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your way here, you can find your way out. I"m going to take a
shower.” He didn"t look at Parker, but he got it out, and then
he moved too quickly down the hall to his bedroom, nearly
gasping at the heavy, lingering smell of sex by the bed, the
wet stains still visible.
He wanted to cover them with Cal"s, make it clear that
this was their bed, their lair, and Lex would never come back.
He wanted Cal to know that, and bit down, hard, to stop
himself from shouting it out.
He shed his pants as he hurried into the bathroom, and
as the air hit his skin, knew he was close to shifting. With Cal
still too near, in his neighborhood, within reach, he didn"t
dare.
He turned on the water without caring what temperature
it was and stepped in. It was hot, steam rising instantly
around him as he closed the door. He bent his head to let
water into his hair and because he was shaking like he"d run
a marathon and had to shut his eyes to focus on just heat and
water. He inhaled to let steam clear his senses. That was it,
all he wanted for the present as he tried to wrap his mind
around this.
He"d never really expected a mate, some wolves never
found theirs, after all, and he was alone in the city. He"d
certainly never expected it would be—
“By the way, was that ending as I got here, or did I
interrupt you?” Cal"s voice made Ray lift his head to track the
sound, the presence. He imagined that goddamn little fairy
sitting on his toilet and shook his head.
“Because you could have invited me to join you. He
wasn"t bad looking, and you look like you"d show us both a
very good time. No aftershave for you? At all? Is it the smell? I
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read somewhere that werewolves have a highly developed
sense of—”
“Cal—Parker.” He couldn"t quite recover from the shock of
Cal being there with him, and how much his mind and body
and heart seemed to welcome him, and from the idea that this
half-fairy knew anything at all about his kind.
Most were content with the lies in the movies. Calvin—
Cal"s father—had said Ray wouldn"t believe the things tucked
away in his son"s brain, but Ray hadn"t expected glimmers of
Were lore.
“Parker. I told you to leave.” He wasn"t picturing Cal in
his bed, though it wouldn"t have been a threesome. Cal was
where Ray would narrow his attention. No one would belong
there between them, no matter how nice.
“No, you didn"t actually.” Cal hummed again. “Not
explicitly.” Ray grunted and put his hands up high to the
smooth tile by the specially installed showerhead. He was
too… naked… for this.
“Then I"ll be explicit—” Fairies made no sense, or they
made too much.
“Please. Be as explicit as you want, Branigan,” Cal
whispered back, and Ray turned, trying to make out his form
through the frosted and steamy glass. But whatever had
compelled Parker to follow him into the bathroom had stopped
him before he"d come into the shower too.
If he had…. Ray swallowed. He couldn"t speak as he
saw himself lifting Cal up and fucking him in the corner of the
shower, Cal"s hand grabbed for the showerhead, his body
wet, bare, the floor swirling with sparkles as his cries echoed
off the tile.
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“Oh fine, ignore me. I"ll talk about the case then.” Cal
was pouting; Ray knew it without looking. That lip. He
wondered if Cal was really upset, and then what he could do
to make him feel better. He had a feeling he already knew.
Fairies weren"t subtle.
He"d never wanted to hide behind anything more in his
life than the glass walls of his shower.
“Have you ever met a goblin, Branigan? They"re kind of
like gremlins, only nearly as cranky to outsiders as you were
when I interrupted your little tryst. I"ve never seen anything
as hot as you, barely in your pants, sweaty and breathing