“Chasing down my next happy ending,” I muttered, looking up slowly and memorizing all the muscles for my spank bank. Then I realized I already had this one cataloged. It was the guy, Righteous, from that morning. “Hey, Ry!” My plate wobbled; I really needed to find a cushion to sit at before my aching arms stopped working entirely.
“My name isRighteous,” he spat out, pushing his tumbling dark hair away from his forehead. I took a moment to appreciate his bone structure.
“Mmhm. Very Dom Voice of you,” I mumbled, staring. Who could forget that perfect nose, those cheekbones, that thick, gleaming hair and skin that begged for a stain or two more?And I’m just the dirty girl to give it to him. My plate tilted again, another grape rolling away. “Hey, Ry, I’ve got my hands full. Maybe I can sit with you.”Or on you?He sputtered when I licked my lips, his eyes following the small movement.
Honestly, my second favorite discovery on Earth had been that, unlike lying and cursing and murder, sex wasn’t sinful—not if it was consensual. I had good memories of happy—albeit short-lived—moments, even if I hadn’t had them recently. For some reason, over the last century or so, I’d mostly died before I was old enough to even consider hanky-panky. All those years had caught up with me now, though. I shifted under my toga as Righteous finally found his tongue.
“The Guides said you weren’t welcome. There is no seat here for you,” he explained, but glanced at the grouping he’d been sitting at. The one with two empty cushions.
Gah, where was the camera when you needed one? I could sell a million copies of a college bully romance with that exact lip angle on the cover. If I could get him to slip the toga-robe thing down a little, I could sell ten million.
When he rustled his wings in agitation, I looked around. Every single seat was taken in the entire room, except for those two. I wondered if the room was magic, providing just the right number of cushions for angel butts.
Speaking of angel butts, Ry was talking again. I started eating from my plate where I stood; I knew where this was heading. Still, it was worth a shot. I interrupted his recap of my horrible group therapy session. “Hey, you’ve got a lot to say. Let’s get comfortable for this talk, ’kay?” I took a step toward the cushions.
He moved in front of me again, blocking my way. “You cannot sit with us.”
I snorted. “Oh, Regina. That’s soMean Girlsof you.”
“So… what?”
I sighed, still eating. “It’s a movie.” I scanned the room looking for Sunny. I could use a ride or die birch about now.
“You need to leave.” His nose crinkled. “The smell is affecting everyone.”
“Weird,” I said, raising the plate up so I could sniff dramatically at my armpit. “I don’t smell anything.” I wassolying. I reeked.
“Look around you. No one can eat until you leave.” Ry nodded to the nearest tables, where the Protectors were, indeed, not eating. “We need to eat so we can complete our meditations before merging this evening.”
Well, that sucked. It was one thing to tease Righteous, but I didn’t want to ruin classes or merging or whatever for the group. And he wasn’t wrong; I did stink. “Is there anywhere else I can sit?”
Ry snapped his fingers and shouted, “Sunny!”
Suddenly, Sunny appeared, scurrying across the room. I peered at the distant grouping where she'd been sitting. All the Protectors there seemed a little less glowy. But a lot less assholey. Maybe there was a free cushion there?
“Sunny, escort your charge back to her room.”
My ears heated up. “You snapped for her, like a dog?”
“I am the ranking Protector in Sanctuary.” Ry stuck his nose in the air. I peeked inside his nostrils, hoping against hope there would be a tiny golden booger there, something to make him less perfect. “So, yes. She comes when I summon. And you listen when I give an order.”
“Yes sir!” I snapped to fake attention, then stopped. “Or do you like to be called Master?”
“Master? What can you possibly…” His ears—those perfect golden shells which Iin no waywanted to lick and see if that would make this guy’s robe fit funny—started to turn pink.
I leaned in, forcing him to step back, and whispered a bit too loudly, so the Protectors around us could hear, “I mean, honestly, that whole Dom thing you’ve got going on does kinda do it for me, know what I mean? I’ve never actually played that game, and I’m not super submissive, but a girl’s gotta learn. Teach me, tiger.” I growled, and almost couldn’t hold in my laughter as he scrambled away, his perfect hair falling into his horrified face.
“Go! Go, take her away, Sunny! Now!”
“Yes, Righteous,” Sunny replied, biting her lip. She was having almost as much trouble not laughing at the pompous jerk. “This way, Feather.”
I tucked my plate to my chest, but after a few steps, I blew him a kiss over my shoulder and growled, “I’ll see you later, Sir.” As Sunny opened the door for me, I called out loud enough for the whole room to hear, “Don’t forget you promised to bring the strap-on! I’ve got plenty of lube!”
We made it out the door before breaking into peals of laughter. “Oh, thank you, Feather,” Sunny managed to choke out. “That was the best… the funniest…”
“Yes, yes.” I waved one smut-covered hand like Queen Elizabeth. “I know, I am the best and most perfect being ever to grace these halls.” I followed her down an endless series of white corridors that looked exactly like all the others. How did she not get lost in this place? “What’s up with that guy, anyway? He’s in charge? There’s some sort of ranking system, a hierarchy, and he’s the Head Boy or whatever?”
“Pretty much.” Sunny bit her lip again. “You know, they tell us we’re all equal here. I mean, except for the High Angeli. Gavriel, and the Maker—”
