Page 35 of Raze
“Well, aren’t you two frosty?” A voice chuckles from the other side of Aiden, but when I look, no one’s there.
Aiden’s hand snaps out to grab air. It closes around something, and then the chuckle returns. A wrist slowly appears in Aiden’s grasp, and then, like a magic blanket being pulled away, a man is standing there.
He’s closer to my height, with short blond hair and blue eyes that shine with mirth. His lips are spread into a wide grin as he looks past Aiden to me. In his grip is Aiden’s phone, which he drops into Aiden’s outstretched hand.
“I’ll get you one day, Master,” he chortles, as if stealing Aiden’s phone is some sort of game to him. And it must be, because Aiden doesn’t seem the least bit perturbed by it, and he would belividif I stole his phone. I’m sure of it.
And also.Master?
“You’re still breathing too heavily,” Aiden replies calmly instead.
“So, who’s this? A new member?” the man asks, moving around Aiden. He takes my hand and kisses the back of it before my brain can wrap around what’s happening. I think it’s still in shock at seeing Aiden’s smile and then himnotreprimanding an attempted theft.
I’ve walked into an alternate universe. We went too far underground.
It’s the only explanation.
“She’s a quiet one, isn’t she?” he says teasingly, arching his eyebrow at me.
Aiden’s dark stare falls on me, and I can see the difference in the way he looks at me compared to them. This must be the difference between being liked by Aiden and hated. “No, she’s not.”
“Hm, well then.” He suddenly holds my chin and strokes his thumb across my lips. “Cat got your tongue then, sweetling?”
I smack his hand away at the same time as Aiden growls and positions himself between us. “Don’t touch her, Harvey.”
Harvey’s eyebrows jump up to his hairline, and he whistles lowly. “Is this your girl?”
My pulse does a weird hopping beat, and my breathing shallows. I almost intervene to scoff that idea off and say something cutting to Aiden. It’s better to ruin it myself than have confirmation of his hatred repeatedly. But masochistic curiosity holds my tongue, and I wait for his response instead.
Aiden looks at me, and I think he expected me to cut in as I normally would. When I don’t, his gaze slides back to Harvey. “She can kill you with one touch. It’s better you keep your distance.”
Why. Why do I do this to myself?
Harvey laughs and plants his hands on his hips. “If she’s yours, that’s all you have to say, Master. No need to make her a pariah over it.” He leans down to whisper in my ear. “If you ever want to just disappear for a while, you come find me.”
Aiden fully moves between us, so Harvey is forced to step back, but he’s still grinning at me like the Cheshire Cat. “I’ll see you around…Raegan.” He holds his hand up in a farewell and wiggles his fingers, and then he vanishes.
Raised voices shout behind us, and I spin around to see what’s happening. A table flies into the air, and something, or someone, crashes into another table, and it breaks. Aiden sighs behind me like this is all so tiresome.
Vines lift someone in the air and more shouting ensues.
“Uh, are you going to do something?” I point to where four people are apparently fighting. Gifts in use and everything.
A tall, dark-skinned woman steps up on the other side of Aiden, where Harvey had been. Her hair is black and just long enough to frame her face, shining under the lights. She’s wearing a pencil skirt with a white button-down blouse, stockings, and heels. She looks the part of a businesswoman, and her presence fills the room.
“I’ll handle it. And dock their pay for the broken tables,” she says softly. They’re both watching it passively, and I hate that I don’t understand anything that’s happening here.
“Wait and see how they handle it first,” Aiden replies.
She nods, and then her striking amber eyes fall on me. She smiles warmly. “I’m sorry you had to see this. I’d say that this is uncommon, but our members are a passionate bunch.”
“Do they not get along?” I ask, because she seems kind enough to share something with me, while Aiden is happy to leave me in the dark. It just reminds me that I’m here as a tagalong, so I’m not unsupervised. Not because he was looking to share this sideof his life with me.
And where do the others fit in with the Guild? Are they considered members?
“They do. They just…” she considers her words and then continues, “Have a bit more fun in their disagreements.”
That doesn’t make any sense to me still. How is fighting with their gifts, where they could hurt one another, just be fun?
