Some Kind of Magic (7 page)

urges, Ray had let himself be lulled into curiosity, fairy-led

ever closer to that shimmering presence and had forgotten

that a fairy wouldn"t understand.

He shook himself out of it in time to hear the rest of

Cal"s question. “Like the bad guy?”

“I… no. I can only smell—”
You.
Ray stopped.
“The

people here. And maybe something like metal. Not blood.”

Something hateful, but he couldn"t quite name it and didn"t

want to around Cal.

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44

“Oh, well.” Cal suddenly released Ray and fluttered back

toward his best friend. “It was just a thought. Why don"t you

go eat? Benny and I are done anyway, aren"t we Bens?”

“Hell yeah. It"s creepy in here.” Ray exchanged another

look with Penn,
civilians
, and a sigh, then moved.

There was a wave of mixed feelings as Cal stepped aside

to let him go, and a
butter/syrup/pancakes
smell, driving

Ray crazy. It was Sundays and morning-after breakfasts and

everything that was
good
, even with the hint of very real,

very human sweat underneath it, and the soda on Cal"s

breath, and that popping rock candy just at the edge of his

lips.

What Parker had had for breakfast. Probably in the car.

There were shadows under his eyes too, like a late night, and

the vague trace of ink on his wrist that meant he"d gone out

in the past few days.

Ray couldn"t smell a man or a woman on him this time,

but he was so beautiful he"d be popular when he was out.

Exotic to humans and Beings alike. And as a fairy he would

have seen as little difference between them as men and

women, ready to sample anything and everything before

flitting off to try something else.

If only that were the way Ray"s kind worked.

He pulled back before he could lick candy from Parker"s

mouth and walked out with Penelope on his heels. To the

station—no, to get a bite—
then
to the station.

“That"s enough, Dandelion. We have work to do.”

He should have known he wouldn"t get the last word.

“One of these days, Branigan, you"re going to tell me

what it will take to get dragged off to your love cave!” Parker

called out at his back, so everyone could hear, and Ray

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45

closed his eyes, then opened them in time to catch Ross"s

scowl, but the man"s issues were the least of Ray"s problems

today.

Fairies.

AS LUNCH places hadn"t been open yet, he and Penn had

ended up driving back to the station, where word had been

waiting for them that Perretti would probably get bail and

would get out if the amount wasn"t set large enough. At this

point his scent was familiar enough that Ray could probably

track him down by that alone if he had to.

But when Penn had gone down to the M.E. for the

preliminary report, alone, to save Ray"s nose the aggravation

of the morgue, which was itchy death and chemicals and the

same fake sterility of the hospital to him, he"d stopped by the

courthouse to see a friend before heading out to get some

sushi.

It was the one food he and his partner could always

agree on, and the thought of raw fish was making his mouth

water. He put her order on her desk for her but paused at

his, inhaling the faint hint of
warm
and
welcome
, like fresh

cinnamon rolls.

He smiled as he took off his coat and sat down and had

about half a second to realize that his blood was pounding in

a familiar, uncomfortable way and that what he was smelling

all over his things was Cal Parker,
my/Cal/mine
, and then

that it was getting stronger because Cal was in the station

somewhere.

He lifted his head, listening, and heard their footsteps

and approaching banter before he saw Benedict and Parker.

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46

Of course. So he couldn"t eat in peace. He froze just the

same when he did finally lay eyes on them, on Parker, who

had lost that shirt in the past few hours and whose bare

skin fairly glistened.

And the bastard was sucking on a lollipop. Cherry.

Shining and wet and red.

Ray"s pulse quickened, and he set his jaw. That was all

he needed. His mother had tried to warn him it was like this,

but he hadn"t believed her. He suspected no one did until it

happened to them. Fucking hell. He was too tired to deal

with this. Tired like he"d been running for two years, which

wasn"t an inaccurate description.

He didn"t much care that he was growling when he

spoke, though if you knew Weres, it was a dead giveaway.

“Have you been around my desk today, Parker?” he

demanded. “Sitting in my chair?”

“Yes!” Benedict stopped in his tracks and answered. Ray

didn"t give a crap if it was fear or respect.

“Traitor!” Parker hissed as Benedict held up his phone

to show what looked like videos of Cal Parker wriggling,

wriggling
, in Ray"s chair, laughing and saying something and

rubbing his tight ass all over it as he wheeled the chair

around. Grinding that ass like he was about to do on Ray"s

desk now.

“No.” He barked when Cal"s ass was inches from the

desktop. “Off. Now.” He"d never be able to work otherwise. Or

stand up for that matter.

The lower lip came out for another pout, but Cal

stopped and pulled back. For about three seconds, and then

he plopped his butt right back down on the edge like he

always did. Like his ass belonged there. As though it wasn"t

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47

bad enough Ray"s reports sometimes shimmered and smelled

like double rainbow orgasms.

Like what Cal would smell like with him, Ray"s instincts

told him. He was almost fully hard just thinking about it.

Luckily, Parker broke the mood by dropping his sticky

lollipop onto the desk. Ray grimaced and carefully picked it

up to drop it in his trashcan.

“I am not going to ask why you"d do that,” he pushed

out and got waved away.

“Even you know why, Ray Ray, and you aren"t as smart

as Benny and I… me… I? Are.”

“Me.” Benedict corrected. Ray flicked his eyes to him. It

was safer.

“Okay.” He wasn"t going there. Not today. Cal could pout

all he wanted. “Why are you two here?” He looked away from

both of them and opened his takeout to gobble down some

fish.

“After much research from my grimoire….” Benedict

began, just a touch on the pompous side.

“You looked it up online!” Cal tutted. “Don"t be silly.”

Ray kept his head down, just listening. Even aroused and

furious, he wanted to smile.

“Cal!” Benedict was all wounded pride. “Half this

business is the mystery. What have I told you?”

“Since when are you the business expert? You"re an

accountant.”

“I am a financial wizard.” Benedict"s words were precise.

“An accountant who studies magic isn"t a wizard.” Only

childhood friends could talk to each other like that. Or an

old married couple. But not once had Ray ever caught a

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48

whiff of anything more than friendship between them. He

wished he knew how Benedict managed it, living around the

beautiful, brilliant, manic freak that was Cal Parker and not

wanting him. Or killing him.

Maybe it was simply a matter of not liking men. Or that

Cal didn"t want Benedict in that way. If he had…. Ray

couldn"t imagine anyone refusing him for long.

Ray looked up, not lingering on Parker"s ass or thinking

about Audrey Conti. Or himself.

“An accountant who studies magic who
also
handles

Beings cases with the police!” Benedict had pulled out his

wand and was using it to indicate imaginary bullet points.

Now that could get dangerous. Ray twitched.

“Are you done?” he asked sweetly, and they both seemed

to recall his presence. “And the „mystery" only matters with

humans, and I"m not.” That was the reason he"d been

assigned to work with Penn—and why he ended up working

with these two so much. “Now spill or get out.”

“Whoa, rough talk.” Parker scooted closer and touched

his food before Ray could yell at him for it. That was just

gross, but then fairies didn"t have to worry about germs, so

why would Cal care that he was getting his fingers all over

Ray"s lunch? It would be more shocking if Cal ate it, but he

didn"t even attempt it, just leaned in and pushed a piece

between Ray"s parted lips.

His fingers were on Ray"s mouth. Half hard was no

longer the problem. Ray breathed in and darted out his

tongue, tasted
sweet/salty/Cal
, and looked up. It was a

mistake. With Cal"s eyes on him, the growl slipped out.

Fucking fairies. They needed to learn about boundaries.

Especially
with a sensitive Were. Especially this fairy, with

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49

this Were. Parker might be bi-species and only part fairy, but

he had the same need to be instructed on what was and

what wasn"t public behavior. In fact, the only difference

between him and a full fairy, aside from his useless, if pretty,

wings, was that he could be serious for longer than two

minutes, for all that he liked to pretend otherwise.

Ray"s teeth came out at the thought, and he bit, sank

his teeth in
just
enough, not drawing blood but inflicting

pain, because he still had
some
control, but Parker needed

to learn what it meant when he did these things. Ray wanted

to teach him this and everything else there was to know

about Weres, every time he bared his throat or generally

offered up himself on a platter. The idea made Ray"s head

swim, and then he went even dizzier at the hot,
fake
little

“Ouch” that Cal offered him, even as he turned the hand

next to Ray"s mouth to expose his slender wrist.

Fairies were long-lived, disease-resistant, quick healers.

But they could bleed like anyone else, something Ray, and

Cal, knew only too well.

He was completely aroused by the display just the same,

scent and instinct and the heartbreak of feeling so helpless

making him release Cal"s finger and sway forward to exhale

over his bared forearm. He could see the rain of sparkles at

the edge of his vision, feel them land on his skin, and

thought
Why him?
for the thousandth time. Why was his

mate this man? This…
half-fairy
?

It couldn"t be more wrong. Fairies lived for sunshine,

not the light of a fat, silver moon. They couldn"t even sit still,

everyone knew that, and they had no concept of long-term

monogamy. Why should they, living for so long? Ray had

never heard of a Fairy/Were mating anyway. Cal might want

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50

him, did want him. But not for life, however long it ended up

being for a half-fairy.

Ray closed his mouth and leaned back.

“I can feed myself,” he managed, in just a whisper. He

forced himself to look away. He already knew Cal would be

pouting. He breathed through his mouth to avoid the scent

of
hurt
. His Cal, in pain.

“Dude.” Benedict looked incredibly uncomfortable. Ray

didn"t blame him. “Can we please get back to the case, if you

don"t mind?”

“Fine. The case.” Penn swept back into the group,

plopping down at her desk and digging into her food without

hesitating. “The white stuff on the floor? Lab says plain old

chalk. The metal smell, they don"t know, possibly table salt,

of which they found minute traces. They didn"t have

anything else to work with.”

As though Ray didn"t know the smell of table salt. He

frowned, then frowned harder when Parker pulled yet

another lollipop from… somewhere. It was his one

unexplained ability, pulling food from nowhere. He sucked it

noisily into his mouth.

Focus
, Ray reminded himself. He had a murderer to

throw in jail.

“Only a few dozen spells need that.” Benedict was

commenting. “If it was related to the murder.”

“Wow, you"ve really narrowed it down, guys, thanks.”