Page 19 of Whisper Woods
I blink a couple of times, trying to think of what to say. Because I’m fine. I mean, okay, I seem to be going through a thing, and my life feels like I’m hitting a weird crossroads. But it’ll pass. Hopefully.
Just before it gets too long to respond without it being awkward, I bob my head, maybe too enthusiastically “Yeah, man. I’m fine. Just been busy at work. Tired.”
Not exactly a lie. Work has been busy, plus the extra hours helping at the house behind the tavern Theo is helping to renovate. I even managed to find time to get to Matty’s to paint the nursery. Sure I got wrangled into putting together the furniture too. But it’s fine. Even if I had to miss my visit to Nanna B to do it.
Roan’s eyes narrow, like he doesn’t really believe me, but then he nods, leaning back on his couch, throwing his arm along the back of it and finishing his drink in one swallow. He grimaces at the glass in regret once it’s gone.
“That is putrid.” He shakes his head and looks up at me again, his “friendly barkeep” face firmly in place. “Just with everything with Theo… I don’t wanna miss things again. If you need to talk, we’re here you know. We all went through something big. It’s cool if you need to talk.”
After being rescued from the ancient fae Marieth, Theo had struggled big time. We’d made a mistake in leaving him alone when we returned and he withdrew into himself. Hard. It was scary.
“I know, man. Thanks. I’m fine. Like, I get nightmares and stuff. Don’t particularly like when things explode at work or whatever.” There had been an incident on a site, soon after we’d returned, when someone had dropped a pane of glass behind me. I’d half shifted in a panic. It had been more than a little hard to explain. “But it’s not… I don’t know. It doesn’t even feel real.”
Roan swallows hard, scratching at his beard.
“Yeah, man. I get it. Just… keep us in the loop, yeah? Do your folks know what happened?”
“They heard. They kind of heard some stuff. I cleared up a few rumours, like we’d faced down a horde of ghost giants or something ridiculous. And that one of us was possessed. Honestly, the stories out there are weird and dumb as shit. But I gave them a bare bones account. They’re kinda pissed that we went into that alone.”
Roan snorts, nodding his head. “Yeah, it was dumb as fuck. I can’t believe Caelan and Tor were gonna do it on their own.”
I smile sadly now, and so does Roan, both of us lost in the memory of that day. This conversation is way too heavy to have over the music of a nightclub, so I nod in the direction of the dance floor.
“He know you can dance?”
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, but Roan has moves. Out on the dance floor, Theo and Seldon are winding each other up further and further, their dancing having gotten even more seductive and outlandish. Somehow they’ve managed to get new drinks, even though I know for a fact they haven’t made their way to one of the bars. They haven’t left the dance floor.
Roan winks at me, shaking his head with a grin. “No, no he does not.”
“Think we should go show them a thing or two?” Roan stands—too eager to get his hands on Theo again—and almost knocks over the table. He quickly pats himself down to make sure he’s got everything then smiles in the direction of the dance floor.
“Oh, it’s on.”
***
We’ve been dancing for hours, I’m sweaty and sticky and, Gods, I feel good. Okay, I’ve had to use the guys as a physical shield a couple of times because some people just didn’t get the hint, but the music's pumping, I’ve had just enough drinks to get the perfect buzz and tonight has just been good.
Too hot to tolerate it anymore, I whip my singlet off, to the enthusiastic approval of the crowd around me, and tuck it into my back pocket. There arehands on me, a hard body behind me. I have no idea who it is, and I don’t care to look, too lost in the thumping beat of the music, lost in the moment.
There is something about this time of night in a club, especially here where there are so many beings, when everyone gets a little feral and their restraint slips. I can feel the tendrils of magic floating through the air, whispering against my skin, dragging me higher.
My blood is pulsing, throbbing, I can feel the skitter of heat from the guy behind me as his hands drag over my bare chest, down to toy with the low slung waistband of my jeans. His hair tickles when he leans in to kiss my neck. Instinctively I drop my head back on to his shoulder as he nips at the tendons there.
From between my half-closed lids, I spy Theo smirking at me in Roan’s arms, while Seldon has disappeared somewhere else. I can hear Theo’s sass, just from his raised eyebrow, so I flip him off and continue to grind my ass into Mr. Anonymous behind me.
It feels amazing.
Until… it doesn’t.
After a song, the guy disappears when he realises I have no intentions of turning around or taking it any further. He’s soon replaced by another guy, or three, until eventually I make my way back with Theo and Roan to escape the wandering hands. Together Roan and I plaster Theo between us—well, I keep a slightly respectful distance so as not to piss Roan off. But as I’m dancing, I become aware of something. Something big.
It begins with a tickle at the base of my neck. An awareness of something that has Wolf, who’s been happy and chill until now, on high alert.
Roan and Theo don’t seem to notice it, though. They are entirely in their own world, Theo’s arms thrown up to wrap around Roan’s neck, Roan’s hands firmly plastered to Theo’s ass.
I try to brush off the weird sensation. After all, being in a crowded room, full of beings, some with incredible powers, and others that are also predator types, it can be nearly impossible to distinguish the things your senses pick up, so it’s not unusual to get the wigginssometimes.
But it doesn’t go away.
