CHAPTER 18
I didn’t see Alex or Mason all day, and when I ran into our shared maid in the elevator, she said she didn’t even think they’d been home to change clothes, adding that when she’d went to their apartments to deliver fresh towels, the ones she’d delivered to them both the day before had still been in a clean stack.
I knew they both had to come home sometime. However, I knew they could just as easily grab clean clothes from someplace in the city, and probably shower somewhere too.
A little past eight in the evening, I received a text from Alex, and it was short and to the point. Just wanted to let you know that I’m thinking about you and still trying to get away to see you. My response was short and to the point as well. I hope I see you soon.
Very unfortunately, I didn’t. Five days passed. Five days of Dean being evasive with Dana, five days of Alex and Mason having their hands too full to see me, and five days of me nearly losing my mind with anxiety. I was really beginning to feel like I might never get answers from Alex. Also, I was beginning to feel like I might never get to see his incredibly handsome face again and feel him pull me close, which was somehow almost even worse.
The evening of the fifth day, Dana and I took a spin around the city in her new glossy red sportscar, which had been a birthday gift from Dean. Dana said that he usually didn’t buy her such extravagant birthday gifts, but that she thought that his guilt over not being able to spend much time with her as of late because of the Darkwings might have had something to do with it.
Once back home, I changed into pajamas, put my hair up in a knot, and climbed into bed, almost immediately biting back a scream.
I hadn’t closed my bedroom curtains that evening, simply because I’d forgotten. Sometimes, I even left them open on purpose, just to gaze out into the glow of the city in the dark before I fell asleep. The outline of tall buildings wasn’t what had my attention at present, though. The sight that did was of some dark shape hovering just a short distance away from my window, almost blocking out the city lights. It took me several seconds, clutching my blanket in fear, before I realized that the dark shape hovering beyond my window was a dragon, flapping its wings very slowly. Even though I couldn’t see this dragon’s features clearly, I could tell it was Mason, just because while in his dragon form, he had very unusual eyes, which were the same pale blue as his human form eyes, although in dragon form, they actually glowed. It was highly unusual for a were-dragon to have pale blue eyes, as Mason had told me once, because most were-dragons had eyes that were green. Mason was the only one in the city who didn’t have green eyes while in dragon form.
Knowing that he probably wanted me to open the window, I got out of bed, not without a little feeling of trepidation, and did just that. The moment that I had it opened fully, Mason made some gesture with his long, dark tail that I interpreted to mean “step aside.” Wondering just what on earth he was planning to do, I did, immediately startled, because within the blink of an eye, Mason shifted into his human form and somehow leaped inside, landing on the hardwood flooring almost soundlessly. And despite having startled me, he actually had the nerve to grin, making his perfect white teeth glint in the moonlight.
“I didn’t mean to make you scream,” he said. “I heard it all the way outside, and I’m really sorry. I just thought this might be a fun and interesting way to bring you a late-night snack. I guess I thought you’d recognize me immediately and think the whole thing was fun.”
Willing my racing heartbeat to slow, I snorted. “Oh, yeah. Real fun. Getting into bed and seeing some dark shape hovering outside my window, forty-nine stories up. I’m not exactly fully used to dragons and all their different little tricks, you know.”
Mason sighed. “I really am sorry. But, look…I’m going to make it up to you. Ever had a meatball sub delivered to you by a dragon before?” After flicking on a desk lamp nearby, he held up a white paper bag printed with the name of the sandwich shop he’d mentioned days earlier. “Don’t worry. I had them hold the banana slices. Weirdly, they told me that banana slices aren’t even a topping option for their meatball subs. Kind of strange.”
Despite not really wanting to, and despite the fact that I felt like I shouldn’t for some reason, I was suddenly laughing. I was kind of mad at myself for doing it, but I still couldn’t stop, at least not for a little while. I was actually starting to hate Mason’s humor, but just because I obviously really liked it at the same time. It was just that things would have been a lot easier if I hadn’t found him so funny. That way, I might have found it much easier to keep my guard up around him.
Seemingly encouraged by my laughter, he handed me the restaurant bag, grinning. “Here. I hope you enjoy this, even though it’s just a boring, standard meatball sub, no banana slices.”
I ate the very delicious sub in bed while Mason entertained me further with various jokes and funny stories. It was only after I’d brushed my teeth and returned to bed, finding him shirtless, that things began to get a bit more serious.
Without knowing what, exactly, was going on between him and Alex, I wasn’t exactly eager to climb in bed beside him, knowing what it might lead to now that I was finished eating. However, I really didn't feel like I had much of a choice at the moment, so I did. I felt like to do otherwise might arouse Mason’s suspicions that I was suspicious of him.
I’d just slid into bed beside him when he pulled me into his arms, seeming to be inhaling the scent of my hair. “You know, Kira…I think we could really make a great team together. Just the two of us. I like the way your hair always smells like strawberries, I like you in bed, and I like how you laugh at my jokes. You’re absolutely gorgeous when you smile, you know.”
I didn’t exactly know what to say, so I just simply said thank you.
Mason gave me a sexy half-grin, pulling me even closer still. “Don’t just say thank you. Thank me with a kiss. After all, I did have to do some intricate maneuvering to break free from Alex and the rest of the patrol team this evening, just so I could come here and spend a little alone time with you.”
As if he’d only been waiting to hear his name, Alex himself strode through my bedroom doorway right then. “Well, well. I thought I might find you here, Mason. When I noticed you missing, I wasn’t sure if you’d told me where you were going and I just hadn’t heard you or what; so, I figured I’d better try to find you just in case you’d told me to follow you.”
With his face completely devoid of expression, Mason just looked at Alex for a long moment. “Well…I did. I said for you to meet me back here at Kira’s, but you must not have heard me. I’m not just trying to be selfish with Kira, you know. We agreed that neither of us would monopolize her time, and I intend to honor my word. The two of us were doing a little talking here, sure, but I intended to wait until you got here to start other activities.”
Alex glanced up from untying his boots. “Oh, I know that. And I don’t begrudge you a little one-on-one talking with Kira. In fact, I’ve been thinking that you and I have probably been working a little too hard lately, and we should both take some time out to just enjoy some downtime and talking with her. And since you got tonight, I’ll go ahead and take tomorrow. So, you take the lead of tomorrow’s evening patrol, and I’ll come back here for a while, and then you can join us later on. Deal?”
Still pretty expressionless, but with his nostrils flaring just slightly, Mason shrugged. “I don’t care. I guess that sounds fine to me.”
“Great.”
Alex was now undressed down to his boxer-briefs, and he climbed into bed on my other side. Mason flicked off the bedside lamp, and soon, in the pale moonlight, I was being held, caressed, and kissed passionately by I wasn’t even sure who after a while. I just felt two different sets of hands intimately exploring my body, and two sets of lips brushing against my bare skin, all of this stimulation quickly bringing me to a point where I was outright panting with desire.
By the scent of his skin, I could tell that it was Alex who managed to penetrate me first, rolling on top of me while Mason planted a slow row of kisses down the side of my neck. Before long, he returned the kisses to my lips and began plundering my mouth with his tongue; and soon, the sensation combined with Alex’s powerful thrusting soon gave me my first mind-blowing climax of the night. My second one came a while later, while I rode Mason’s rock-hard cock with Alex looking on, eyes glinting.