Laura Wright - Eternal Sin

Her lip curled. “No, thanks. I’ve been there before, remember?”

“Do you mean, do I remember what a gigantic bastard I was to you? An unfeeling, uncaring bastard who wished he could block out everything and focus on the unending torture of the male who he believed had ended his life?”

Her mouth twisted. “Yeah, that.”

He grinned. “I apologize, Dani. I wasn’t myself.”

She may have grinned back. It was hard to tell with the hawk female. What she did do was stand up.

“You going to flash me?” she asked.

He gestured for her to come with him. “It won’t hurt a bit, shifter.”

She sighed and followed him to the door. “This had better be good.”

“Not good,” Syn said. “Just real and honest and true. For the first time in my life.”

“Ican’t wait for my transition so I can flash,” Petra said as she leaned over Dani’s back as best she could.

“My ride taking too long for you, princess?”

“My stomach’s growing bigger every day, bestie, and this position is uncomfortable as hell.” Petra laughed over the sound of the wind. The moonless night blanketed them in cool darkness, and though Dani’s feathers kept her warm, they did not cushion her backside all that well. “But you know, you just sounded like Lucian.”

“That whole family of males is weird,” Dani called back.

“I think they’re great.”

“They’re arrogant. Especially that hawk-vampire-combo male.”

Oh, yes, Petra mused, the crisp shot of air rushing over her face. She’d seen Dani checking out the mutore on more than a few occasions. “Phane.”

“And that. What kind of name is Phane?”

“Why do you care?” Petra asked, spotting a broad set of lights in the distance.

“He’s totally after me.”

“That’s ’cause you’re a hot piece of tail.”

“Feathered tail.”

Petra laughed into the breeze as the lights grew closer. Dani had said there was a surprise for her and the baby at the end of this trip, and Petra couldn’t help but feel excited. She hadn’t had much fun or frivolity since she’d found Synjon near the caves all those months ago.

But as they drew closer, and the light patterns became familiar, Petra realized just what city they were headed to. Her mouth went bone-dry and she gripped the hawk’s feathers. “What the hell are you doing, Dani?”

“Just hold on, baby girl,” she called, racing ahead, her hawk looking around for aircraft as they entered the city’s airspace.

“No,” Petra yelled over the sudden onslaught of wind and sound as they dove between two buildings. “We’d better be headed for SoHo. Dani, goddamn it. You, of all people.”

“Chill out, Pets,” the bird called back.

It wasn’t SoHo. Not even close. And when they landed easy and gentle, not on the sprawling balcony she’d expected but on the building’s roof, Petra was ready to kill her best friend.

She jumped off the hawk’s back immediately and stuck her finger in the bird’s face. “Unbelievable. Have you lost your goddamn mind or what?”

“Okay, listen,” Dani began.

“You hate him. You despise him. In fact, when I came back and told you about the room of torture, you wanted to fly to his place, pick him up in your talons, and drop him in the East River.”

“Too easy,” she remarked, glancing toward the brightly lit building next door. “And I think he’s a good swimmer.”

“Dani!”

The hawk jerked her head back. “Okay, fine. He was an asshole. When his emotions were stripped, he was without a conscience. He was a dog. No. I like dogs. He was a slug who deserved to be crushed—”

“Oh, my gods, Dani!”

“But now,” she said quickly, “I’m not so sure.”

Petra’s chest tightened, and she pulled her coat closer around herself. “Now?”

“Okay, don’t be pissed.”

Something close to anxiety started in Petra’s toes and began to move upward. “Oh, crap. What did you do?”

“He came to me,” Dani said, her hawk’s eyes softening. “We talked.”

Petra turned away in a huff. “I can’t believe this.”

“He’s different.”

Petra jerked back. “You didn’t just say that.”

“Not because of anything that was done to him, getting his emotions back and all that, but because he wants to be different.” She was quiet for a moment, then cocked her head. “For you.”

Sudden and irritatingly uncontrollable tears pricked Petra’s eyes. She shook her head, the winter wind thrashing her hair about her face. “He conned you. With his dreamy eyes and his piano playing and his accent, and that body, and—”

“No, babe. I’ve never seen any of that. I’m a shifter girl all the way.” Her hawk winked. “My male’s gotta have hair or feathers or scales. You get the picture.”

Petra sighed deeply. Yes. She got the picture. About it all. Synjon had gone to Dani and told her that he wanted Petra and the balas . He’d convinced the most impossible to convince creature on earth that he was all in.

Maybe . . .

Oh, goddamn it. “I’m scared,” she whispered. “I’m just so fucking scared to believe . . .”

The hawk lowered her head, nuzzled Petra’s face with her beak. “I know.”

“So what do we do now? What do I do?”

“Get back on.”

It was probably the most foolish move in the world, to believe, to hope. But it had come from Dani. The female who never believed in love. Inside Petra’s womb, Little Fangs kicked and squirmed, and maybe nudged her forward and onto her friend’s back.

In seconds they took off and then, a moment later, landed on the balcony below.

His balcony.

“Go in, Pets,” Dani urged. “He’s waiting for you.”

With shaking limbs, and fear gripping her heart, Petra climbed off Dani’s back. Behind her, she heard the glass doors open. She took a deep breath and turned around.

If it was possible, Synjon Wise had grown even more handsome in the week and a half since she’d seen him, and her fearful heart warmed without her consent. He was dressed all in black, his eyes impossibly dark, his mouth full and highly kissable, and his hair had that tousled look, like he’d just gotten out of bed. He was truly the male of her dreams.

He looked up at Dani then, and nodded. “Thank you.”

“Sure thing, bloodsucker,” she tossed back with a squawk. “Now don’t fuck it up again.”

It was just like Dani not to wait for an answer. She spread her wings and leaped off the balcony. Leaving the two of them alone. Leaving Petra to a fate she prayed didn’t once again lead to tears.

As he led Petra into the house, Syn felt like a nervous young paven . He loved this veana so bloody much, wanted her so bloody much, he thought he’d lose his mind over it. He needed her to see that, understand his heart and his hope through his actions.

“I’m glad you came,” he said.

“Didn’t have much of a choice. Dani tricked me.” She stopped for a moment and glanced over at the tree. It was fully decorated now, sporting small white lights, and beneath it were all the things he wanted her to have, all the things he’d found for the baby over the past week.

Her eyes cut to his piano, which stood to the left of the tree, then down to the child’s piano he had not only tuned himself but polished as he did his own.

He heard her quick intake of breath, saw her shake her head, and reached for her hand. For a moment, he was sure she was going to pull away. But she didn’t. Granted, she wasn’t cuddling up to his side or anything, but she wasn’t flinching at his touch either.