Some Kind of Magic (23 page)

immediately returned. “No wonder my mother warned me

about charming Weres.”

“Did she really?”

“No.”

“Does she still love your dad?”

“Yes.” Cal didn"t hesitate. Ray wished he understood

why Cal sometimes did and sometimes didn"t. Why he"d wait

for Ray. Why he"d wait so
long
.

“So tell me the truth.” It was a good thing it hurt to

breathe. It meant he could stop without missing it.

Cal"s hand started to stroke over his hip, didn"t stop

until Ray was breathing again, breathing him in.

“Do you remember the first time I was in your cave,

Ray? In your house?”

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160

Ray might have nodded. Cal only smiled so brightly that

Ray felt it in his lungs.

“Then once upon a time, I rudely invited myself into

your lair….” Cal began, and Ray frowned at the hazy sparkle

at the edge of his vision, behind his eyelids. The air

tightened. It was a spell after all, fairy magic.

“No, that"s not everything, but it will do for now.” Cal

coughed and dropped his voice. It was a lot like Penn"s

singing voice, melodic, filled with hidden notes to make you

listen. “Once upon a time, you were very, very angry with

me, Ray, and I couldn"t figure out why because I"d just met

you, and I"d been nothing but nice.”

Ray remembered him as being a little
too
nice. Cal

shushed any protests by continuing.

“And you had just ushered out a pretty, youngish friend

of yours, and you were all frustrated and lovely and sexy,

remember?”

He did. Well, he remembered showing Lex out and then

turning to face the half-fairy that had been assigned to work

with him a few days ago. “I"m not sure about lovely and sexy,

but I remember being frustrated.”

“Trust me. You were. But stay with that, Ray. You were

frustrated.
Remember
.”

And he did.

The moment the door closed behind Lex, Ray crossed his

arms and faced his uninvited guest. His posture was

defensive and he knew it. It only left him more agitated. He

wasn"t even sure why.

He"d never had a problem with fairies before, but this one

put him on edge, filled him with a confusing mix of instincts,

grab
and
hurt
and
hold
and
lick
and
pounce
, and if it had
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161

been just sex, he might have done it, but the violence in him,

the need, was new.

He didn"t understand it, and he didn"t like it. The fairy in

front of him was pretty, beautiful, attractive, sexy, but Ray

had met pretty before without wanting to growl at it, rip its

clothes away and kiss it senseless.

The sound of his heavy breathing felt too obvious, and he

tried to control himself. He thought of the state of the moon

outside, wondering if that was to blame for the way he felt, or

if it was something about the creature in his living room.

Cal Parker"s multicolored eyes stayed on the door for a

moment longer, as though considering the now-departed Lex,

and then they fixed on Ray, swirling with innocence. A

moment after that they dropped, again, to the bare expanse of

Ray"s chest. Parker gave a hum of approval, as though

determined to embarrass Ray as much as he possibly could in

one day, and then, unbelievably, inched forward.

As the memory of their fight that afternoon was fresh in

Ray"s mind, Ray let out the growl that had been building in

his chest. He could still see Parker in the middle of the station,

demanding Ray"s attention by parking his fabulous ass on his

desk and announcing that it was
so obvious
that the person

threatening the Prescott family and harassing their patriarch

wasn"t human, but if all the detectives didn"t want to believe

him, then it was fine, he could leave. He didn"t want to be

there anyway.

Ray had stood up, pushing the half-fairy from his desk

with one hand and swallowing back his exclamation at the

warmth under Parker"s skin and the wide-eyed welcoming

look he"d received, even after being rough, had told Parker

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squarely that if he didn"t want to be there, no one was making

him stay.

He was volunteering his time, had only come in on the

case at the instigation of his father, there was no need for any

dramatic speeches or even any anger on Ray"s part. But when

Parker had glanced at him, wings flapping, his mouth open in

an expression of soft, shocked sadness, and asked if Ray

really
wanted him to go, Ray had snapped. Told him to leave

if he wanted to go so much, that they didn"t need any

miserable fairies hanging around.

It wasn"t like anyone expected fairies to stick around.

And this one hadn"t. With a twitch of his wings, Cal Parker

had taken himself out of the police station and hadn"t looked

back.

Ray was suddenly hot all over again, burning with not-

quite temper and the powerful urge to crush the delectable pop

tart in front of him to the nearest hard surface and make him

want
to stay. He wasn"t feeling subtle either, but just reached

down to pull up the pants loose around his hips. He hadn"t

buttoned them when he"d rushed to get the door ten long

minutes ago, and the zipper was starting to slowly inch back

down.

For a second, he almost heard it give another tiny fraction

and as though he did, too, Cal Parker"s gaze went right to

Ray"s crotch.

Ray growled. Again. He"d
never
growled this much at

someone he knew didn"t really deserve it.

“I ought to announce that I don"t believe in fairies,” he

snarled, aware that he was being ridiculous, that he was

referencing a children"s book, and Tinkerbell and Never Never

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Land had no place in an adult argument, and Parker gasped

dramatically.

“That hurts. What if that book had been in any way

factual, and you"d killed me with that remark?” And there,

amid every other emotion crowding Ray"s mind, was the need

to laugh. He didn"t understand it, but what drove him insane

in public was nearly unmanageable in the privacy of his living

room. Cal Parker was twinkling at him, grinning at what Ray

hadn"t meant as a joke but that suddenly was.

“Then I would have clapped real hard,” Ray informed

him, not smiling, because he would have. Cal—Parker—

smiled for both of them, slow and hot.

“You would have, wouldn"t you? I had a feeling you were

a big softie.”

“I….” Ray had to change the subject, regain control. “I

thought you quit the case.” It was a mistake to breathe out. It

meant he had to breathe in, and his house still reeked of

fucking,
sweat/come/need
, sex now infused with rosewater

booze and divinity candy. He had the fleeting thought that

Parker was drunk, but even sober, he probably would have

spoken the same way.

“Are you always like this, Detective? He, your
friend
, had

bruises. Were you rough?
Are
you rough? In bed?” Those eyes

came to rest on Ray"s face, desire evident even through the

half-fairy"s glitter haze. “Please say you are. Let"s play Red

Riding Hood, and I can talk about what a big—”

“Parker.” Ray swallowed, the always-ravenous wolf

inside ready for more, and there was such a tasty, sexy half-

fairy in front of him. He felt
alive
with that scent near.

What he"d been going to say was lost in the hot cloud of

lust and licorice whips, bold interest like lightning strikes seen

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164

through a window. Flashes of light and heat that coincided

with the spikes of need curling in Ray"s belly. Ray had never

felt anything like it, and yet in the past three days, since

meeting Cal Parker, he"d felt it every time their eyes had met.

Parker suddenly straightened, though he lowered his

voice. “Oh yeah, rough like a big dog. Rrrrufff. Not always, but

sometimes, right, Branigan?” he asked in all seriousness.

“You left little marks all over him, and he"s just a fuck buddy.

He"s not even spending the night.” Parker was alarmingly on

target, watching Ray with eyes that shouldn"t be so smart.

Ray tried to think past the strange flurry of sensations, to how

Cal"s father had promised his son was smarter than Ray

would ever believe, and how Ray hadn"t seen it until just now.

“What a lucky guy, though. I"m willing to overlook your

personal dislike of me, or is it fairies in general, if you"d ever

want to help
me
get that lucky, Branigan.”

He slid a hand to his flat stomach, just like that, pushing

up his shirt and then working a finger into the waistband of

his jeans. He tugged. Ray saw skin, pale gold and smooth.

“What—” Ray seemed to have lost his ability to focus on

anything but Cal. “I like fairies,” he admitted weakly. “They"re

fun. Good to drink with. I—” For a second he wondered if he

was dealing with some kind of incubus instead of the child of

a fairy and a human cop. He saw that skin and thought of the

marks, only a few, that he had left on Lex, and how he could

leave anything he wanted on Cal Parker and it would heal in

moments. He could grip his hips and suck him down and

drive him out of his not-so-ditzy fairy mind.

Cal would like that. Ray knew it without asking. Even

before Ray did anything with his mouth, Cal would be

reaching for him and begging for more. He didn"t know how he

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165

knew, his senses told him it was true, and so it was. It was

frightening, and Ray didn"t frighten easily.

He took a step back, scowling at the creature in front of

him, but Cal didn"t seem to notice.

“Well that"s good to hear, Detective. My dad said you

were one of the best. That you are understanding to Beings,

which makes sense, I suppose, because you are one, though

I"ve met a few self-haters. But you"ve been an unbelievable

hard ass to me for the past three days, so I thought maybe

you were a prick after all. You like fairies, huh?” Parker… it

wasn"t Ray"s imagination, Parker"s glitter was
shining
. “Ever

had a fairy lover? I"ve never had a Were lover, but I"ve heard

the legends….”

Ray normally held back with humans in his bed. He had

to. But tonight he had let himself get forceful, nipping,

pushing, gripping. Lex had been confused by the sudden

passion in their convenient arrangement, but had been turned

on, too, liking it, asking for more. This was the third night in a

row Ray had called him over, and yet when he"d pinned him

to the bed and slid his teeth over his skin, it hadn"t felt like

enough to Ray either.

He was almost hard again at the memory of shifting Lex

up beneath him and riding him until his come had splattered

on the headboard and Lex holding back his small moans until

the end. Something in the sound had been infuriating. It had

made Ray taste him again, over and over again, going deeper,

searching for something that wasn"t there, but Lex"s sweat,

otherwise clean, had suddenly lacked flavor, his scent empty

of anything but arousal.

Not like now. Ray rubbed his nose and tried not to taste

the needy scent of Cal Parker on his tongue, but he could.