Fuck. Was he joking? Why was it always suddenly ‘time to go’ when things were getting hot!?
16
Sloane
Saturday Evening
The club felt desolate outside of opening hours. With all the lights on in the building, it had an emptiness to it that made me uncomfortable. It was typically wild with life and music, but there were still two hours before we officially unlocked the doors to the public. A quietness rang through the barren establishment that was both haunting and peaceful, yet it was so abnormally cold that I couldn't stand being on the main floor. I left Novak and Simon to their various setups after introducing them and headed upstairs.
The rooms up there weren’t meant to have the same party atmosphere as the main space. They were homely and warm. Not temperature wise, but that feeling of warmth you got when you walked into a well-used room that showed the owner’s pride in their area. I walked into the office and stretched out in the chair behind the sleek, modern desk. There was a folder full of paychecks that needed to be signed and an inventory checklist to be looked at and initialed so we could send off for our weekly orders. I got all of that done and out of the way before writing out a few other notes. I waved my hand above each of them with the intention of sending them to the rooms my mates would be staying in. When I knew they had all reached their destinations, I relaxed once more in my chair and picked up my phone to text Jack.
A phone chimed from my purse, reminding me that I had new phones for Jack and Grim in there, and no way to get in touch with them until they showed up. Other than reaching out mentally. I didn’t want him to freak out over the turmoil rolling around in my mind, so I decided to wait out my boredom. I exited out of the one-sided conversation with Jack and saw that Franklin had texted me. All preparations had been made for our trip in the morning, and that filled me with nervous, jittery energy.
I would rescue York, but I would not be ready to talk about how his disappearance made me feel. I knew he’d want to talk sooner than I would. He was always like that. Often I needed time to put my feelings into words. Other times, I just needed that distance to keep from getting angry. He understood, but he’d still push me. Together we were like a brushfire waiting to happen, dry grass and one misplaced burning match. He kept me grounded, and I kept him wild. The adventures and excitement I experienced with him had felt endless, until they’d abruptly ended.
In hindsight, I should’ve known something was wrong. I did look for him, and I hired people to find him, but there was nothing. His cell phone was wiped clean by the factory reset, then cleared of fingerprints and left to be found on a bus station bench. I didn’t know what happened to his car or the stuff he had at his house. Now that I was really thinking about it… I remembered I still had a few boxes of his things in the attic. Franklin packed his stuff up and moved it all out of my room after a couple months of not hearing from him. I didn’t know what to do with it. So it had been sitting there the whole time he’d been gone. I guess, if anything, he’d have clothes when we returned.
Out of the mega load of crazy shit that had been dumped on my plate recently, I think finding out that he was meant to be my mate had me the most tied up. All that time together, and I never thought to ask about what I was feeling. Had we already sealed our mate bond, and I just didn’t know what to look for? I didn’t really know anything about it, and I wasn’t sure where to start looking. Although, I suppose I did have five other mates I could direct those questions to. Almost twelve hours ago I opened my home up to them, and now I felt like I’d be living in a hotel full of sexy males with a variety pack of personalities and powers.
Taking on mates wasn’t the scary part, though. Taking on the responsibilities that came with said mates was the kicker. If I sealed the bond with Palmer first, then I’d have to step in and take over as High Priestess of the Guilds. I wasn’t ready to give up my freedom, or my jobs, to take on being queen bitch to a bunch of uppity supes, but I guess that was happening whether I was ready or not.
I mean, it wasn’t like I could put them in a particular order and expect it to go the way I planned. I wouldn’t know who to choose first either. I’d rather that happened organically, but if what Father said was true, then I may not have as much time as I’d like. I could always get to know them later, but that sounded mortifying. What if I mated with one of them and then I found out I didn’t like him as a person, or that he didn’t like who I was?
Looks were one thing, but actually knowing someone? That was totally different. We weren’t talking about getting married on a whim and being able to get divorced. No. The bond lasted until death, and for us that was a lot longer than your average lifespan.
My thoughts were starting to twist into each other again, and I felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack. I closed my eyes, and I fought to slow my breathing, focusing on happy thoughts when I picked up Jack's mental trail. Thank the Devil. I needed him right now. I needed him to calm me down, and then I needed to consider a vacation. Or maybe not. I didn’t need to be by myself. That would’ve given me too much time to think about all th —
A knock at the office door jerked me out of my head, and I smiled thankfully as the door opened. Jack strolled in, followed by Grim and Novak. The latter was looking at the de-robed Grim Reaper like he’d never seen a male before. I wondered what was going on in his head, but just like with the fae, I heard nothing. When he looked at me, his gawking eyes said “I thought this guy was a skeleton,” and I struggled with the urge to laugh. I’d met many reapers, but Grim had always been my favorite. That wasn’t his real name, but it was what everyone called him because, well, he was pretty fucking grim. He was the complete opposite of his bubbly demon boyfriend, and yet somehow they fit together better than Jack and Coke.
Novak shut the door behind him and sat in one of the chairs on the other side of my desk while Jack and Grim remained standing. They all looked annoyed, which had me sitting up straighter in my chair. What had they found? Grim snapped his fingers and a smoky gray bubble appeared around us. Oh, great. Just what I needed.
“We found a mini camera and a few bugs downstairs but nothing up here. Grim took them to Franklin to see if he could trace them. But we won’t know for a few days.” Jack cut straight to the bullshit.
“Okay. I can send the security footage off and see if we can spot any suspicious activity, but I don’t think that’s going to get us anywhere.”
“Sloane,” Grim addressed me formally, and I didn’t like his unusual tone. “The camera was facing your booth.”
“I figured that was the case. Nathaniel told me I was being followed, so it doesn’t surprise me that this would be a step they’d take. Whoever they are.” It aggravated me to no end to know that I was being followed, but not closely enough to be able to determine exactly who it was.
“How are you so calm about this?” Novak inquired with some anger lacing his voice.
“It’s not the first time,” Jack countered.
“Not even the second. Though, this time it does feel more serious,” I answered Novak, bouncing off what Jack said. “Oh, before I forget, I need to give you guys your new phones. Franklin set them up.” I passed the phones to Jack and he handed one to Grim, who gave zero fucks about technology. We could’ve given him an old flip phone and he would’ve held the same level of excitement. He nodded his head in thanks and let the smokey dome drop.