Hidden Passions (19 page)

Ari narrowed her cornflower blue eyes at him. "You're trying to make me feel better."

Tony grinned. "Is it working?"

She swatted him but got out of the car in a better mood. She only cursed once while reversing the enchantment that helped secure Kelsey's super-safe car seat. Kelsey was used to her mother's occasionally salty language and didn't bat an eye.

An actual human butler in an actual uniform opened the door to them. Since the guy looked like he could handle anything, Tony handed him the cat bucket, explaining that the pet could probably use a meal.

"Very good," said the white-haired man. "If you follow me, I'll take care of this."

With measured steps even Ari had to slow down for, the human showed them to a large sunroom where the others were waiting.

Rick didn't see him immediately. He sat on a flowered couch next to Cass, holding the beautiful half fae's hand. Their sides were pressed together, and their auras were intertwined. They weren't radiating like Nate and Evina had at their wedding, but Snow White was definitely more than Rick's "new girl."

Unless Tony's wolf had lost its knack for sniffing out these things, Rick and Cass were soulmates.

The discovery rocked him. His big brother had found someone.

"Tony," Adam greeted, spotting him from the other side of the room.

Rick looked over and saw him then.

He patted Cass's hand before releasing it to stand up. A big happy smile spread across his face. Tony felt his legs move--one stride, two--and then he and Rick slapped their arms around each other.

"Bro," Rick said, hugging him.

Tony was nearly as big as he was, but he still hid his face in his brother's shoulder. Holding Rick was like coming home himself. He was pretty sure they hadn't done it this unabashedly since he'd fessed up to being gay.

"Bastard," he said into Rick's neck. "You ran off without telling me."

Rick laughed and pounded his back some more. Tony pushed back and dried his cheeks. "Had to keep the hero stuff for yourself, didn't you?"

"I needed the advantage," his brother joked. "You are the good-looking one."

"Tony," Cass said a bit shyly from the couch. Possibly she'd been badass about killing evil faeries, but she wasn't looking it now.

"Cass," he replied. "I'm glad you're all right."

"Me too," she said.

Her rose red lips curved with amusement. Faeries were Resurrection's power elite. Even a little smile from Snow White dazzled. The buzz that vibrated through Tony's brain made him glad he was sure of his preference.

"Uncle Tony," said a more peremptory female voice. A curly-haired cub poked her head above the back of, well, he supposed rich people would call it a settee.

"Yes, Abby?" he answered extra respectfully.

She narrowed her eyes, seeming to know he was teasing a tiny bit. "Uncle Tony, don't you want to meet the dragons?"

He certainly did. His heart rate accelerated as he stepped around the fancy piece of furniture. Abby and her twin sat on the floor behind it with Evina. Between them were three exotic creatures Tony's mind didn't immediately make sense of. The dragons had wings and tales and snouts--just like in fairytales. The difference was they weren't any bigger than Cass's cat.

The trio turned their heads to him as he appeared. Their toothy mouths gaped like curious children's, their bright wings lifting like birds testing out a breeze. Tony didn't think he'd ever seen colors as vivid as those of their perfectly formed smooth scales.

The power they emanated was palpable.

"Gosh," he said, jolting to a halt. Resurrection held a lot of wonders, but these beings surely took the cake.

"This is Verdi," Rafi informed him, carefully stroking an emerald green dragon beneath its wing. "The gold one is Auric, and the red one--she's a girl--is Scarlet."

Tony dropped to his knees to get closer, barely aware of Evina rubbing him on the back in greeting. The girl, Scarlet, hopped in front of her siblings and trilled a sound at him. She was the smallest of the three but apparently not the shyest. Her curved red claws stuck a bit in the sunroom's looped wool carpet.

"They're really smart," Abby said. "They helped your brother and my dad kill the mean faeries."

"That
was
smart," Tony agreed breathlessly.

"You can pet them," Rafi reassured. "They don't bite nice people."

Tony extended one hand for Scarlet to sniff. Her lizard tongue flicked out from her muzzle, tickling one finger. "Is it okay to say they're adorable?"

He guessed it was. Scarlet rubbed her head against his knuckles. Her acceptance enchanted him. He reached to stroke her back with his other hand.

"Watch out for her dorsal spikes," Evina warned. "Those little things are sharp."

He didn't have a chance to worry. Scarlet suddenly flapped onto his thighs, stretching her body up his chest in what seemed like a dragonish hug. Her belly scales were smooth as satin, her catlike weight negligible. Tony was startled but cupped one hand behind her as a precaution, in case she fell backwards. Her tail seemed to help her balance on her rear feet, though her claws did dig a little into his jeans.

"Nice dragon," he said laughingly. "You're pretty, aren't you?"

Scarlet cheeped as if she agreed. She rubbed her skull against his chest muscles.

"She likes you," Abby said.

"I probably smell like Rick."

"She's a flirt," Evina said. "Look at her batting her dragon eyes."

All the dragons' eyes were silver and protected by double lids. Tony scritched one finger gently under Scarlet's chin. "You flirt with me all you want. You can be my one and only girl."

"Finally a promise the man can keep."

The familiar voice came from above and behind him. Jin Levine was as pretty as the dragons--and as colorful in her way. Dressed in a pink kimono-style dressing gown, she wore her twenty-four carat hair cropped short. Her tone was teasing, but he had a feeling she wasn't delighted by his presence. Back in high school, she'd been one of the girls he occasionally dated as a cover.

"Jin," he said, unable to get up with Scarlet perched on his legs. "Nice to see you again."

"Uh-huh," she said skeptically.

"Did you need something?" Evina asked sweetly. Her hand was on Tony's arm, her manner silently saying don't mess with my husband's friend.

Meow
, Tony thought, resisting an urge to grin.

Too smart to miss the message, Jin flicked her golden hair from her made-for-TV face. "Rick and Cass have had enough excitement for today. They'd like to take the dragons and go home."

Tony glanced over at the pair. They looked like they longed to slip away quietly, their body language saying "couple" and then some. No matter if Rick and he lived in same brownstone, he wouldn't welcome Tony accompanying them.

"Do they have a car?" he asked, remembering he'd driven Rick's.

"They're borrowing Bridie's," Jin said.

That was all right then. Ignoring the funny feeling in his chest, he looked at the girl dragon. "Scarlet," he said. "Much as I hate to say it, you and I have to part for now."

He handed her up to Jin, who took her gingerly.

The cubs thought the way Scarlet's wings drooped was hysterical.

"She's sad!" Abby exclaimed. "She doesn't want to leave you."

Tony wasn't sure that was true. Still, the idea that
someone
would miss him was agreeable.

~

Tony checked in with Adam, but his boss didn't need him for anything. The alpha and Nate had their heads together. From the sound of their discussion, they were strategizing how and what to report to their higher ups. Two members of the race who'd founded Resurrection had been killed at the hands of the RPD. Their deaths were justified, maybe even unavoidable. All the same, explaining how they'd come about was delicate.

Left at loose ends but not ready to go home, he wandered out onto the estate's back grounds. The weather had cleared since morning. A velvety autumn sky stretched over the groomed gardens. The beauty of his surroundings should have improved his mood. Instead, it saddened him. The person he'd been before he came out was haunting him--always hiding, often angry, rarely considering the feelings of the women he'd used to shore up his lie. Evina defending him was sweet, but to be honest, Jin was entitled to her grudge.

Maybe him being alone while everyone was finding soulmates was simply his just desserts.

Oh your life is so sad
, he mocked himself. Friends that loved him. Family that cared. Family that was alive and breathing, for that matter. Plenty of people were worse off than him. He'd suck this up like he did everything.

He'd reached a grape arbor where bunches of purple fruit dangled between the leaves. The arbor overhung a bench, and on that bench a man who sparkled sat. Tony had no idea how he'd failed to notice the figure as he'd approached.

Pureblood faeries who'd dropped their glamours were hard to miss.

The male was slender and black-haired. He'd been leaning forward, his attention on some object he was turning between his hands. When Tony jerked to a halt and gasped, his head came up.

His soft blue eyes gave Tony the automatic soul slap faeries were so good at, as if their power could reach anywhere they chose.

"It's all right," the fae said through the sudden cotton in Tony's ears. "I'm Cass's father, Roald le Beau."

Of course he was. If Snow White had been a man, she'd have looked like him. Roald pulled his glamour back around him, and his skin stopped twinkling. He was still incredibly gorgeous--incredibly sexy too. Tony clenched his teeth against responding.

"Tony Lupone," he said. He started to offer his hand, then wondered if he should.

"Best not," the faerie said. "I'm still recovering from my wounds, and my control isn't what it ought to be. I wouldn't want you accidentally faerie struck."

Tony didn't see any wounds, but fae were hardly all body.

Roald le Beau lounged back on the wooden bench, considering Tony without speaking. The grace of his pose seemed as unconscious as his beauty. Tony wouldn't have been surprised if the grapes on the trellis had burst into being for him. He seemed so astoundingly vital it could have been catching.

"Would you like to join me?" Roald asked after a longer pause than most people would have found comfortable.

Tony jerked, realizing he'd been dazzled. "Sorry," he said. "I'm standing here like a dolt, aren't I?"

"You aren't a dolt," Roald said. "And my invitation wasn't mere politeness."

He patted the bench beside him. Tony didn't think the fae was using his juice on him. Nevertheless, he felt helpless to do anything but sit.

Roald let another silence pass. Tony tried not to squirm.

"Do you know what these are?" Roald asked at last. He opened his right hand, revealing the object he'd been contemplating when Tony walked up on him.

"They look like the electrum knuckles the dying faerie gave my brother in the subway." Tony squinted at the rings. "They're not exactly the same. These seem newer."

"They are newer." Roald sounded approving. "They belonged to the faerie my daughter killed."

"Ah," Tony said.

This was hardly a brilliant comment, but Roald didn't seem to mind. Maybe he liked being in teacher mode. Neatly avoiding getting nicked by the weapon's spikes, he flipped the thing around one-handed. "These are called protector gauntlets. People who defend dragon keepers wear them, and they can assume different shapes: swords, gloves, these knuckles that you see. They're difficult to fashion, almost a lost art. Whoever made this one knew what he was doing."

"I see," Tony said, though he really didn't. Faeries' ages were hard to gauge, but it seemed Cass's father was old enough to be eccentric.

"Would you like to try it on?" He held out the gleaming thing. "It's a beautiful instrument."

Tony shrank back without thinking. "When I touched my brother's, it zapped me."

Roald smiled, and Tony's brain cells went slightly numb. "I don't think this one will."

Tony didn't want to risk it. He needed no more reminders that his brother was the special one.

"Maybe some other time," he said politely. He stood, drawing Roald's attention up with him.

"As you wish, young wolf," Roald said.

His formality reminded Tony of the fae he'd pursued to the motorcycle shop.

"What was his name?" he blurted. "The fae I chased, the one your daughter killed."

"Ceallach," Cass's father said. "He had to die, but his loss saddens."

"He tortured you." Tony couldn't hide his surprise.

Roald inclined his head. "No man has only evil in his heart."

Tony couldn't argue that. "I should go," he said, fighting an odd urge to bow. "It was nice meeting you."

"And you, wolf," Roald returned gravely.

Tony tried not to look like he was in a rush to escape. Beautiful though they were, fae weren't the most comfortable people to be around. If Roald turned out to be Rick's future dad-in-law, that was one blessing Tony didn't envy him.

He shut the door to Rick's car before remembering he hadn't gotten his alpha's formal okay to leave.
Fuck
, he thought, reluctant to go back in. Not that he wanted to go home either, not with the lovebirds right upstairs doing whatever. He pressed his brow to the steering wheel.

Why did everything have to close in on him at once?

His stomach growled, reminding him of Chris and his tiger-only sparerib feast. God, he wished he were with the cat. How awesome would it be to be his truest self right then? His best self. His happiest.

He pulled out his phone before he could stop himself. He knew the number for Evina's station. Surely he could invent a reason for needing to speak to Chris. He could pretend Adam wanted a statement for his report. Nothing relevant to the case had happened at the pool hall, but firemen wouldn't know what cops put in paperwork.

~

Despite Vasur's spareribs smelling amazing, Chris couldn't work up an appetite. He kept remembering Tony shaking his hand like they were strangers.