A thoughtful look crossed his face before he nodded. “It’s a good plan. All you had to do was say that when you walked in. You didn’t have to make up crap about farting.” As if he could smell the horrible stench from hours ago, his features twisted in a grimace.
“Oh, that was not a lie.” Standing up as well, I started pacing, everything in me telling me to go to her instead of wasting time here. “Maybe she was just nervous? Some people have a nervous stomach, you know. Plus, it’s a natural reaction of the body. Maybe she indulged in fried beans for lunch.”
“Something is not right.” He looked twitchy, which was unlike him. The time I’d spent around the gargoyle had taught me one thing: Tyler was the calmest person I’d ever met. True to his original form that the humans loved to carve on some of their buildings, the male could sit in one spot unblinking for days if I didn’t talk to him.
“It’s natural to fart,” I pointed out again, but he slashed the air with his hand to silence me.
“Not that.” His fingers went to the center of his chest where he rubbed circles. My skin prickled when he touched the same spot where uneasiness clawed at me, as well. “I wouldn’t feel urgency like this if something wasn’t up. We should go to her now,” he said more to himself than me.
“If you met her, you’d know we would just make things harder for ourselves if we popped in uninvited tonight.” The fact that we were going there tomorrow morning uninvited was not lost on me, but I had a plan.
Everything in me was telling me to listen to Tyler and get to my mate as fast as I could, but remembering the fire in her beautiful eyes and the stubborn tilt of her chin forced me to reason with him. “I’m not sure what she is yet, and there is a possibility she doesn’t understand the mate bond. Do you really want to show up at her door and scare her?”
“You are an incubus,” he snarled at me, pissing me off when I took an involuntary step back. “Use your power if you need to subdue her, but we are going.”
“You want me to manipulate my mate?” My shoulders stiffened, and the room became bathed in a red haze. I could see the glow of my eyes reflected on the gargoyle’s face.
“Our mate.” Unfazed by my fury, he squared off with me. “Would you rather see her hurt?”
The prick knew how to deliver low blows, I’d give him that much. Protective instincts stretched under my skin in a wave, and it felt like it’d burst any second if I didn’t lay eyes on her. I wanted to give her time. To wiggle my ass in her life where she had no option but to see me every day. That would assure that she would succumb to the mate bond, even if she didn’t understand it.
Now?
I had a feeling Tyler was about to have a rude awakening about females in the new age we lived in. Judging by his behavior, the male was either a virgin or it’d been centuries since he’d been with one. Not that I was an expert in wowing and courting females, per se. I’d never been with the same female twice. But I had a feeling after I tasted those sweet lips of my mate, that would be it for me. It should’ve scared the fates out of me, but …
Strangely, I was okay with it.
“Are you having a vision?” My gaze focused back on Tyler when he spoke, my eyebrows pulling over my eyes in a frown.
“Huh?”
“Your eyes glazed over.” The prick got so close to me, our noses almost touched. “Were you having a vision?”
“Personal space.” Shoving him away didn’t do much, but he did move back slightly. “Demons don’t have visions, you dumb fuck. You need to learn boundaries. And I don’t need to have a vision to know this is a very stupid idea.”
Regardless of what I was saying, I was already pulling my boots back on, stabbing both feet in them. Taking a clue, the gargoyle picked up his things, which were scattered around the room as well. Thank fuck he pulled a shirt over his bare chest, not that it did much to cover his bulky form. I couldn’t shake off the itchy feeling that he was right and my mate was indeed in danger. Rushing there might mean I’d suffer blue balls for a long time, but if the hunch was correct, I’d rather she was safe than naked under me. I’d have plenty of time to have her thighs wrapped around my waist as I fucked her into oblivion. I could wait. Those thoughts startled me enough that I paused with my hand hovering over the doorknob.
“What’s wrong?” Tyler was so close to me his chest brushed against my back, making me grind my teeth.
“Step the fuck back and off my ass,” I snarled, turning to glare at him over my shoulder. “There doesn’t always have to be something wrong for me to stop and think.”
“Think while you’re walking.” He shouldered his way past me, almost yanking the door off its hinges. “Or tell me where she lives and stay here to daydream to your heart’s content.”
“I sure hope the seer was wrong and the female is not your mate,” I grumbled, closing the wobbling door gingerly behind me. “I can’t imagine one more week listening to your shit and being around you. If I’m stuck with you for as long as I live, I might just kill you … or myself.”
“She wasn’t wrong about you, and she’s not wrong about me either. Let’s go.”
My feet faltered as he stomped away. Was that fear that flashed through his eyes, or did I imagine it? What could a gargoyle be afraid off? It definitely was not me. I could hold my own against many, but with one of his kind, it’d be a tight stretch to say I would live in a life-or-death fight. If he was being fishy, I needed to figure out why, because if he was hiding some deadly secrets but wanted to be around my mate? Capable or not, I was going to kill the fucker in his sleep. My own secrets notwithstanding, I had to protect her.
“You coming?” Tyler snapped from one floor below, his feet thumping over the rickety stairs.
“I’m coming.” Muttering just loud enough for him to hear me, I took the same stairs down two at a time. “We will go where she lives, but we are not showing ourselves until tomorrow morning.”
“Whatever. As long as I have my eyes on her, she doesn’t need to know I’m there.” He looked around the almost-empty parking lot, only a couple of shitty cars parked closer to the doors of the first floor. “Which way?”
I had a bad feeling that this was going to be a long night. Not because something was going to happen, but because the damn gargoyle looked like a devil on a mission. Hopefully my mate would stay indoors and not see us lurking around her home like a couple of creeps.
Suffice it to say, luck was never on my side.
Chapter Three
Echo
With a sigh I melted into the worn-out cushions of the armchair, tilting my face toward the rotating fan spinning on full speed from the ceiling. The air-conditioning was on but the fan added a nice breeze, and the cool air felt heavenly after spending all day in the heat. Having a shower after unpacking my truck when I got home helped tremendously in calming down my emotions. The lavender and citrus tea in my hand would do the rest, just as it always did.
“What a day,” I breathed, closing my eyes on another sigh.
The house Pam and I had shared that she had left to me after passing was surrounded by wards. I etched those the first week she brought me here, activating them so that none of my kind would be able to cross them. Pam made sure I had a home. I, on the other hand, made sure we were both safe. It was the main reason the anxiety and all the pent-up stress leaked out of me as soon as I walked through the door. Nothing could get to me here.