Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 93448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Grey shrugged one shoulder and returned to his coffee, looking unconvinced and maybe even strangely smug. That was fine. Gio did not want to know the things he knew.
Ruby, who had been lying asleep at Gio’s feet, suddenly jerked upright, her entire body tense for a second as if she were listening for something. Gio started to reach for her, intending to scratch her head when she darted for the front door, barking.
“Pestilents?” Gio’s heart gave a skip and he pushed to his feet.
Grey shook his head. “The others are here.”
Gio’s knees almost gave out, putting him back in the chair. His eyes shot over to Lucien and Calder in the kitchen to find the same stricken expressions on their faces. If the others were here, it meant his time was up. He could almost hear the conversation in his head. It was too dangerous for Gio to know the truth. His memories would be wiped. He would lose Lucien and Calder forever.
A hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed. He looked up to see Cort smiling gently at him. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be okay.”
Reassuring, but it did nothing to get rid of the queasiness in his stomach. He followed Grey and Cort into the hall, feeling a little better when Lucien immediately came up to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. On the other side, Calder caught his hand in both of his and squeezed. At least he wasn’t alone in his anxiety.
The first man through the door was a redhead with a green duffle bag slung across his shoulder. A stack of books was tucked under his arm, and his face lit up when he saw Ruby. The dog also lost her mind, whining and barking, her butt wiggling at the sight of him. This had to be Baer.
He kneeled in the doorway, dropping the books with a noisy thud while engaging in some serious baby talk and cuddles.
“Fuck, Baer!” an even larger man barked when he nearly tripped over his companion. “At least get out of the doorway.”
“Sorry, she needed me.” Baer scooted off to the side, allowing two other men to file into the house. They were varying degrees of exhausted and grumpy. Well, except for the blond twink who was now cuddling the dog as well.
“Did you see that shit?” another voice bellowed as he trailed the others. “Those columns are a fucking disaster! It’s going to take me forever to get that repaired. I wanted to get to the attic before summer hit, but now I have to backtrack to take care of the goddamn front again.”
Gio winced. This had to be Dane. Poor man. He’d put in such hard work getting this place in shape and the pestilents were destroying it. Grey had said that he’d called the other group to give them an update on the Girl Scout attack on the house, but seeing the damage had to be worse than simply hearing about it.
That left the grim man with dark-brown hair and eyes as Clay. And right now, he was frowning right at Gio. “But we’re glad that everyone is okay from your adventure,” Clay murmured.
“You too,” Lucien said. Gio looked over his shoulder to find the Black man giving Clay a warning expression.
“Did you find the Air Weaver?” Calder inquired.
The blond twink groaned. “No. Yes. Sort of.”
“Well, that thoroughly covers that,” Grey muttered.
“Let’s move to the family room and sit so we can catch up.” Dane patted a hand on Clay’s arm before stepping around him toward Gio. “You’ve got to be Gio. I’m so sorry you’ve been dragged into all of this.”
Gio shook the man’s hand, returning his tired smile. “It was definitely my scariest encounter with a troop of Girl Scouts, but no harm done. I am sorry about the front of the house. This place is gorgeous.”
Dane nodded and motioned for them to retreat to the family room. Introductions were quickly made, and then Gio found himself sandwiched between Calder and Lucien on the sofa, as if they meant to physically shield him from whatever was about to happen.
Baer’s butt had barely touched the seat when he lifted his nose in the air. “Did Calder make his rosemary chicken?”
“You just freaking ate,” Wiley argued as he dropped into his mate’s lap.
Baer stopped rubbing the top of Ruby’s head and wrapped his arms around his mate’s waist. “Drive-thru.”
Dane chuckled. “You had two burgers, a large fry, and half of Wiley’s fries. Where are you going to put chicken?”
“There are plenty of leftovers in the fridge,” Calder said, putting a large grin on Baer’s lips.
“Later,” Clay snapped. “We need to talk first.”
“Yes, the Air Weaver,” Calder interjected. It was clear that he didn’t want them discussing Gio’s fate. Not yet.
Gio threaded his fingers through Calder’s and squeezed. Even if these were his last seconds, he was going to treasure each and every one of them while he could.