Some Kind of Magic (22 page)

Doubtless at Cal"s direction. Ray seemed to recall that

somehow.

“I could have….”

Penn"s mouth twitched. “I doubt that. You were in a bit

of pain.”

Still was. Even with the drugs, Ray was starting to feel

it. Demon claws hurt like Hell. At least nothing felt like it

was open, or still bleeding.

“But they gave you some doggy painkillers.” That voice

just couldn"t stay quiet. Penn made an exasperated noise.

“They were regular painkillers, Cal,” Benedict calmly

corrected his friend. “And normal sedatives. Just a larger

dose. He"s lucky my protection spell was still in effect,” he

added, and Cal"s very loud, “Are you serious?” got them
both

shushed.

Ray ignored them, studied Penn. He had to ask. “Ross?”

“In this very hospital, under lock and key with some

very determined and capable guards. Don"t worry. Steve"s

going to testify, of course. He was here too, for a while. Poor

thing. You did a number on his arm.”

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153

Only Penny would describe Steve as a poor thing. Ray

was a full-grown werewolf, and there had been a real chance

he wouldn"t have been able to stop him. “He has a crush on

you, you know.”

Penn gave him a carefully bland smile and then moved

to let the captain come closer. He coughed uncomfortably,

the way he always did when Ray had done some crazy Being

thing but caught the bad guy.

“Good job, Detective.” Though this time Murphy"s eyes

were sad, at the stain to the department, Ray assumed, but

then the captain patted his arm.

“Only the best, Detective,” he praised him in a tight,

emotional voice, and patted him once more. “The

circumstances are unfortunate, but I"m glad of the outcome

if someone like that is out of the department.” Of course, the

stain on the department wouldn"t go away either. Not for a

long time.

After a few minutes, Ray nodded but didn"t comment. It

was a talk for another time. With a nod in return, the

captain stepped back. Penn leaned in, grinning against his

ear.

“And nice ass. The rest wasn"t bad either.”

Holy crap, he had been naked. He"d forgotten.

“I agree!” Cal piped in, with better than expected

hearing. “I love that ass.” There was some grumbling from

the others in the room with them. And crinkling, like paper.

Or money being exchanged. Ray narrowed his eyes.

“
Dude
!” Despite Calvin Parker"s words, there were limits

to even Benedict"s patience it seemed. “I"m going to the

cafeteria.”

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154

“I"ll go with you.” Penn perked up, shooting Ray a

mischievous look before he could ask if there was a betting

pool about him and Cal. Of course there was. He shouldn"t

be surprised. “I"m thirsty. Air conditioning dries me right

out.” She moved lightly away from his bedside with another

pat, and Ray felt a few more—other cops that must have

been in the room.

Betting on him. He ground his teeth together.

They all left, with a series of, “Good jobs” and “Get wells”

and lot of footsteps, and then it was just Ray and the

hitching, excited sounds of Cal breathing.

Just when Ray couldn"t get away. He was going to kill

Penn later. Or give Steve her number. Or maybe do that and

then start a conversation about her mother.

Cal appeared in front of him, shimmering with so much

glitter that it was momentarily blinding. He was eating a

glazed donut with multicolored sprinkles but took half of it

and held it up to Ray"s mouth.

Ray considered it, breathing in sugar before realizing

that Penn was right, and he was
starving
. He gobbled it up,

carefully minding his teeth and Cal"s fingertips. He studied

Cal as he chewed, swallowed, looking him over, though any

injuries would have healed by now.

“I"m sorry,” he said after he swallowed, and Cal seemed

confused. “I couldn"t protect you from Steve… or Ross. I

couldn"t get him out of the circle, and….” He still wasn"t sure

what had happened actually. “I"m sorry. I wasn"t thinking. I"ll

fix your door.”

“What?” Cal hopped. “My door? The way I see it, you

were going on instinct. Because you were, weren"t you? And

you didn"t do too bad.” He smiled. It was almost… dreamy.

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“In fact, I didn"t think… you were…. I"ve never seen you as a

full wolf before. It was…. Whoa.” He flushed, then cleared his

throat. “Anyway.”

“You did good too.” Shockingly well. Ray tried to reach

out, got tickled with sparkles for his trouble.

“That"s me, a total badass.” Cal flexed a bicep, then

dropped the pose and shrugged. “I just… realized what you"d

been trying to do, and I thought… I should try it too. No big

deal, Ray.”

“You confronted a murderer in control of a demon,

Honeysuckle. It is a big deal.” The teasing tone came back

easily. Cal blinked, then fluttered his lashes, but Ray wasn"t

about to let it go. “How did you? How did you get him out of

the circle?”

“Oh,
that
.” Ray had a feeling he was being teased in

return. “I talked to him. You know. Granted him the fairy-gift

of truth. Which is simply noticing the
obvious
.” Cal hopped

again, then leaned against the bed, warm like melted

chocolate. His gaze was serious, for one moment, offering

Ray a clue to something. “I told him how that wolf he had his

eye on had been in love with me for a long time now, and

everyone knew it and really, the only mystery was why that

wolf hadn"t pounced despite all the green lights I"d been

giving him.”

“Were those green lights? I hadn"t noticed.” Ray growled

to cover his embarrassment. Of course Cal had known all

this time. Cal flicked Ray"s nose with his fingers and then

met his eyes without any embarrassment at all.

“Holding up traffic, Ray. Someone should have ticketed

you.” He was so soft. Ray couldn"t stop staring, but Cal had

always known that, so this time Ray let himself stare. Cal

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156

shrugged. “So then I went on about how I"d
finally
figured

out that it must be some weird Were thing holding you back,

and then how I"d gotten a clue from this other wer—anyway.

I should have met some other Weres years ago. I learned a

lot, though I still had to look up some stuff when I got home

that morning. The morning after that night, Ray. That night.”

There was pink in Cal"s cheeks. Not embarrassment,

more of a rush of heat. Pleasure. Glints of rapture in his eyes

that were stunning in every sense of the word. “That night,

Ray…. Then I
may
have mentioned how it was true about

werewolf lovers. In detail. Ross wasn"t pleased.”

Ray let that sink in for a few minutes. Then glanced up.

He still had to explain his “weird Were thing,” but Cal tutted

and moved his fingers to rest over Ray"s mouth.

“So, Ray Ray, was that a distraction, what you said? The

mate thing?”

Ray shook his head and scowled. He"d never lie about

that. Ever.

“No.”

“Then I want to know now, Ray. What that means.
Now
.

Not later or tomorrow. Now. What does that mean to you?”

Cal couldn"t seem to catch his breath, and directed his gaze

to his fingers against Ray"s mouth. “The stories, what I

found, they all said for life.” He must have read the answer

in Ray"s silence and suddenly looked up with a glare that

made Ray flinch. “You should have told me. This whole time

I"ve been trying to figure out why you wanted me, but didn"t

want me enough to….”

“Of course I want you,” Ray pushed out against Cal"s

fingers. He reached out, just for a moment, to hold Cal"s

wrist and feel his pulse. Years of holding back made it

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stream from him. “I want you. I want you more than

anything else, I….” Cal had to at least understand what Ray

felt before he left. “You looked up what Mate means?” He

knew he had before Cal nodded in response. Knowing Cal,

he"d looked it up in graphic and instantly memorized detail.

“Then you know I need you. Only you. Just you. But…

I"m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. I never intended you

to know. It"s why I didn"t—I"m not Ross. I"d never force that

on you.”

“Uncomfortable?” Cal wrinkled his nose. “Hold up.

Scroll back. I thought—you barely tolerate me. Despite being

madly in love with me that is. You growled at me the first

moment you saw me.”

“No, I—” Ray stared at him, watched Cal figure it out,

Ray"s pathetic attempt to protect himself, protect Cal.

“You son of a bitch.” Cal paused and pulled his hand

back. He looked absolutely devastated. “Oh, how could you?

How could you pretend to not like me?”

“You terrify me.”

His honesty seemed to have Cal perplexed. “But I"m a

fairy.”

“Exactly. I was sort of helpless in the matter,” Ray

admitted hoarsely, and then blinked dry eyes when that

statement made Cal snap out of his devastation long enough

to look even more confused, and then to preen. “You see, I

thought…. Well, I thought….
Fairies.
”

Cal"s scowl was starting to return, and Ray swallowed.

“Fairies don"t want…. They just don"t. But even with

that, there"s nothing I don"t love about… fairies… even when

you run out of my house without any clothes on, or put

yourself in danger when you shouldn"t have.”

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A murderer in control of a demon. He couldn"t believe it.

Cal was trying, valiantly, to hold still. Ray could not have

loved him more. “The rest… I"m sorry. I thought—I"m sorry,

Cal.”

He looked down.

“I can"t change how I feel, obviously, but if you don"t

mind, I"ll just continue to… want… you. Without pressuring

you or….”

“If I don"t mind?” Cal looked
extremely
disgruntled and

then climbed up without asking, clambering onto the bed,

which was already too small and settling himself up against

Ray"s side, his face in his face. “That is what I want, you

silly, silly puppy. I have been trying to tell you that since like

day one. Since day three. Since your bathroom. Since laying

eyes on you.”

“Really?” Ray could blame the drugs or the lack of real

rest for allowing himself to ask that. He felt stupid, but he

often did around Cal. “I thought you just wanted to sleep

with me. I didn"t think….” Cal"s face clouded, and Ray

quickly tried to move on. He tried to think over those

moments, but he was too used to pushing them away. “I

don"t understand. I thought you….” Because he hadn"t had

enough embarrassment for one day, he couldn"t stop talking.

“
Take me
, you said. Remember?”

Cal blinked, his expression clearing and then turning so

hopeful Ray already knew he was going to say yes to

whatever Cal asked him. But his heart was thundering so

loudly that he almost didn"t hear Cal"s question.

“Are you asking to see the truth, Ray Ray?”

Nasreen had been wrong. There was so much power

over Ray in the simple nickname Cal had given him. The first

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159

time he had said it, Ray had been naked for him, or almost,

but he always felt naked around Cal. That wasn"t new.

What
was
new were the questions he wanted to ask.

“Yeah, Cal.” But he was already flinching at the memory

of being alone with Cal, the realization, the panicked, raw

thought that Cal couldn"t understand and wouldn"t want

him in return. He looked over, saw Cal looking at him like he

was a bonbon, like he was barely holding on until he could

tear away gold foil. “What do you see?” His throat was so

hoarse.

“You.” Cal"s tone was both delighted and serious. “But

oh, Ray, not now. You"re not at your best right now. They

keep telling me you should be sleeping.”

“Yes, now.” Ray had a feeling he was frowning. “You"re

just like your father. You know that, right?”

“How dare you?” Cal"s hand left Ray"s side, then