Chapter 8

Eight

E verly was not good at touching butts.

But as the bearer of the butt Everly was fixated upon, Bryn considered it a dubious privilege. He had a pretty good idea of who had given Everly the idea and was planning his revenge.

It was highly entertaining, the way Everly giggled and tiptoed into the kitchen or the study so he could creep up on Bryn. He would gingerly poke or cup one of his asscheeks, bursting into giggles and tickling everyone around him.

"Oh! You got me!" Bryn would catch Everly by the wrist before he could get away. If they weren't alone, Bryn would send Everly on his way with a soft scolding and a swat on the ass. If they were alone, Bryn would gather Everly in his arms and kiss them both senseless.

He went a little too far with Everly in the hallway and they were caught doing a lot more than playing grab-ass. Everly had grabbed Bryn's ass as he was headed for the stairs to leave for a run. Somehow, Everly ended up on the hall table, his legs wrapped around Bryn's waist and the collar of his shirt ripped. Fletcher interrupted them, his weekend bag slung over his shoulder.

"Back to Roanoke?" Bryn pretended it hadn't happened because he'd walked in on Arawn and Fletcher more times than he could count.

"Back to Roanoke," Fletcher said before skipping down the stairs. "Make sure you get in a good stretch so you don't pull something."

Bryn mimicked him and said goodbye, then kissed Everly on the cheek before setting off. He jogged out the door and through the front garden, changing course at the gate and deciding to run away from the school. Bryn turned, nearly crashing into Everly on the sidewalk.

"What are you doing?" Bryn gave him a shake. "You should be inside. Or in the yard with Merlin or Nox if you want some fresh air."

"I miss you when you're gone and it might not be safe." A few heartbeats later, Everly's eyes slid to the right, to the alley across the street.

"Ev…" Bryn rubbed the bridge of his nose, doing his best not to laugh. He didn't want to hurt Everly's feelings. "I appreciate it. Really. But how are you going to protect me?"

"Look!" Everly reached behind him and pulled the old garden shears out of his back pocket. "I can cut a bitch."

Bryn laughed, gods help him. He fell forward, grabbing his knees as he wheezed. "I love you so much, Ev," he said breathlessly. He pulled Everly close and kissed him before straightening and surveying the neighborhood. "Are you a strong runner?" he asked, but Everly was beaming up at Bryn, his eyes shimmering and his lip trembling.

"You love me?"

"Sure!" Bryn said loudly, his heart racing. He hoped he hadn't scared Everly or confused him more. So much had changed for him in just a few weeks. "When you're ready for that… We can talk about what that means."

"I'm ready now. I love you too, Bryn. That's why we're running together. We can be each other's purposes," Everly explained in a rush.

"That's all…wonderful." Bryn said hesitantly. "I don't have to be your purpose. Or your only purpose. You're just figuring yourself out and we need to figure each other out. But, do you run? I don't want you to push yourself and get hurt."

Everly's brows pinched as he stared up at Bryn. "I've run before. A few times. But I can't get hurt."

"You've run a few times?" he verified, earning a nod. "Okay…" Bryn considered Everly's jeans and sneakers. Nox had given Everly half a dozen of his least distressed jeans and two pairs of Converse. The jeans were cinched around the waist with a belt and the legs were rolled up because Everly still swam in them. Bryn sighed at Everly's sneakers. "You have cotton balls stuffed in the toes, don't you?"

Everly nodded again but smiled, not seeing the problem. "I can almost fit in them! I have big feet for someone my size!"

"Okay." Bryn didn't want to burst Everly's bubble. "Why don't you take off and I'll catch up. I want to check out your form," he said with an exaggerated wink, making Everly blush and giggle.

"Don't stare too hard or you might hurt yourself," Everly replied cockily and returned Bryn's wink but it seemed more like a threat, due to the delay. He took off at full speed, arms flailing like he was being chased by bees. Bryn cringed at the large pair of scissors protruding from his back pocket but decided he'd let that go, figuring Everly couldn't do any real harm to himself.

He'd have to hand over his First Responder card, though, if Arawn or any of Bryn's peers knew what he'd allowed to happen on his watch. Bryn waited, hands on his hips as Everly battled the breeze and his big feet, galloping like a baby horse until he began to run out of steam. His strides and the sound of his sneakers' soles smacking the pavement slowed before he reached the stop sign on the corner.

Bryn stifled a laugh as he set off at an easy jog. "That's one way to do it."

Everly was hanging onto the pole and his chest heaved when Bryn caught up to him. "How was my form?" he huffed and dabbed the sweat off his face with the sleeve of his hoodie.

"Interesting," Bryn replied. "I was more in the mood for a walk."

Everly brightened as he released the sign post. "I can walk!" he said, but stumbled when his toe caught on the edge of the sidewalk.

"Most of the time," Bryn said, laughing as he caught Everly and placed him on his feet on the pavement. "That's what I meant about not having to make me your purpose, Ev. You don't have to like everything I like and we're not going to care about all the same things in the same way. We're very different people and I think that's great."

"But you need more than duty and glory," Everly said as they walked and Bryn snorted.

"I bet I know where that idea came from…"

Even though Bryn wasn't sure if it had been one of his brothers or Nox or Merlin. Arawn and Fletcher were always on his case about never finding love because Bryn was too much of a player and a smartass to keep someone decent. A quick hook-up was so much easier and neater than pretending to want the things a decent guy would want. Family, kids, retirement, someone to grow old with… Aside from his weird family, none of that was for Bryn. And despite a few hundred years to come up with a good explanation, he didn't know how to handle the ‘big reveal,' and had simply avoided it at all costs.

Nox and Merlin would have a point too, in regards to Bryn not having anything but duty and glory. His request for leave had been approved despite a shortage in the county because Bryn never took sick days or went on vacation. He worked overtime and picked up shifts because it didn't make sense for Bryn to be anywhere but work. He didn't need to rest as often and there were people who needed help.

"I couldn't date regular people before because of what we are, but you understand and you don't mind that I'm a dick."

"I think you're really nice and brave but I like dicks," Everly said without a hint of awareness or sarcasm.

"I know you do," Bryn murmured when he noticed a stream of water running down the sidewalk toward them.

"I could be your purpose too and you could be mine…" Everly continued and Bryn hummed, distracted by a flash of khaki and bright white peeking through the bushes and the faint crackle of a radio in the distance. He hurried Everly along the sidewalk, then took off when he saw a set of sneakers peeking from under the hedge.

"A man's down. Call 911, then call Arawn or Nox to come and get you," he shouted at Everly and tossed him his phone as they came around the shrubs dividing the narrow lawns. Bryn swore at the man's pale skin and still body. "Hold on, friend," Bryn told the man when he slid onto the wet grass next to him and reached for his neck, to check his pulse. "Damn it!" He couldn't find it and could see that the man's soul had already left. "Don't go too far now," Bryn whispered, wincing as Everly rushed in to help and tripped on the hose.

"An ambulance is on the way and Arawn said he's less than a minute out. What do you need me to do?" he asked as he patted the man's chest and gave him a shake, but Bryn shook his head.

"It's too late. I have to go after him before he gets lost or draws a bunch of sluagh. Stay right here ." He caught Everly's cheek. "Did you hear me?"

"I heard you," Everly confirmed.

"Good. I shouldn't be long," Bryn said, rising and searching around them to make sure no one was watching. No one had seen the poor man go down while he was watering his lawn so Bryn assumed it was safe to run into the shadows between the house and the hedges. "Wait for Arawn or Nox!" Bryn called as he picked up speed and dove, crashing through the veil with a loud crack!

He gave himself a shake, kicking and stomping his paws as he acclimated to the slow, soupy cold. Bryn scanned the murky darkness until he spotted a pale gray blur, but whipped around when he heard another crack in the atmosphere. A bright blue blur in the shape of a hare came hopping after Bryn through the mist.

Everly?

But there was no mistaking that soft, pure blue soul and Bryn was momentarily stunned until there was another crack. A second smoke hound landed on the foggy plane, searched around him for a moment before charging off to retrieve the other man's soul. Confident Arawn had the matter in hand, Bryn ran at the hare, snatching it between his jowls before diving back through the veil with Everly. They tumbled into the backyard just as the sound of sirens broke the early afternoon peace.

"Thank gods!" Nox said as he jogged over, breathless as he held out Bryn's phone. "I panicked when we got here and you were gone but Arawn took a wild guess and went after you two. How did you do that?" he asked Everly. He was sitting on the grass with his legs spread wide, looking chilled and slightly disoriented, but otherwise fine.

"I followed Bryn. I don't like it when I can't see him and I thought he might need help," he said in his soft mumble, shrugging seconds later.

Bryn bit into his knuckle, baffled as to where to start. " How and are you completely—? Do you have any idea how dangerous and how and how and are you out of your mind, Ev?" he whispered as loud as he could, then ducked and spun when the ambulance came around the corner. "Okay! Later!" he said as he pointed at Everly, then turned to Nox. "We were out walking when we found that man and we were searching for anyone who knows who he is or what happened," he briefed them and waited until Nox and Everly nodded to run over to meet the medics as they parked.

Thanks to Nox's notoriety and Nelson's assistance—he arrived shortly after the ambulance—they were able to sneak Everly away from the scene. Nox and Nelson explained that he was too distraught at the sight of his first dead body and had observed very little after finding it. They were all cleared to leave and Arawn was waiting for them when they returned to Nox's townhouse.

"That was…interesting," Arawn said as he circled Everly in the study. "Learn any new tricks you'd like to tell us about, Everly?" he asked, his tone scolding. Arawn shook his head at Bryn but he held up his hands innocently.

"I didn't teach him that. I was just as ticked as you are," he said, earning a snort of agreement from Nox.

"First time he's ever been speechless as far as I can tell." His head fell to the side as he advanced on Everly. "How did you do that, you unfathomable little man?" he asked when another unfathomable little man came into the study, his emerald green cape fluttering behind him.

"What is this I heard about a dead man up the street?" he asked them, but Nox waved it off.

"Our condolences to his loved ones on his untimely demise from a heart attack. We have something more…improbable and profound to deal with. Everly followed Bryn through the veil. He went astral," he said as he pointed at Everly, making Merlin scoff.

"He did not," he chuckled and swatted at Nox, but stopped when Arawn and Bryn nodded.

"I saw him," Arawn said.

"I kicked his little hare ass right back over here," Bryn said as he swung back to Everly. "What were you thinking and how did you do that?" he demanded, only to receive a long, blank stare from Everly before he shrugged again.

They held their breath until he said "I don't know," many moments later. "I saw Bryn disappear but I could see a trail of his smoke so I followed it."

"You followed it?" Merlin parroted as he eyed Everly up and down, then did his own lap around him to see if he was somehow different. "Did you teach him?" he accused, spinning and raising a severe brow at Bryn.

"Fuck you!" he laughed. "I wouldn't know how and do you think I'd risk losing him or seeing him turned into a sluagh or a banshee?"

"I didn't," Everly said softly, interrupting Bryn's rant.

"What?" he asked impatiently.

Everly looked down at himself. "No one taught me and I don't know how I did it. I didn't turn into any of those awful things, though, and I feel almost the same. A little tired and I'm still cold, but nothing feels different."

"Remarkable!" Merlin said and offered his arm. "Let's get you some tea, you're still shaking."

"I'm coming with you," Nox said. "I want to make sure he's okay and see if I can figure out how he did it and why he was a hare." He followed Everly and Merlin from the study, leaving Bryn with Arawn.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Bryn asked him, earning a tight nod from Arawn.

"This ‘Abhartach' we're looking for might have been a changeling like ours before he turned himself into that horror. We've been stuck on who or what could cross the veil, but if changelings can do that.."

Bryn nodded, his gut aching as he looked toward the kitchen. "Why would a changeling hunt down his own kind and how did he turn himself into that monster?"

"He must have had help from a powerful witch. Even a gifted changeling would need to know very old, dark magick to transform himself."

"That's older magick than us," Bryn noted. "Everly was attacked by a young man or a boy, not someone Merlin's age with his kind of experience."

"Interesting…" Arawn nodded and considered. "Let's run it by Merlin and see what he thinks."

"We should get the word out, see if anyone knows of any changelings with grudges against other changelings," Bryn added.

Everly was happily sipping his tea while Nox and Merlin poked and prodded at him in the kitchen.

"Excellent thinking!" Merlin declared when they shared their theory and went to his carpetbag on the work table. He yanked it open and reached deep inside, making a muffled racket as he searched. "There it is!" he declared and pulled out a giant, dusty old book. "I found a passage in here about changelings having a natural aptitude for learning magick and I believe there was something about a changeling who could fly…" He went to the proper tattered ribbon marker and heaved it open on the work table. "Here we are… Just as I thought! Changelings have been known to acquire magickal skill and powers, but there's nothing about a changeling becoming a hellhound or a vampire."

Arawn opened the bag and gasped as he leaned to put his face into it. "There's nothing in here," he said, looking at Merlin.

"Because all you expect to find is nothing," he said simply and clicked his teeth at Arawn. "You're no slouch yourself, young man. What is the first and most important rule of magick?" he quizzed.

"Oh… Um…" Arawn clutched his forehead. "I don't learn things in order. Never have," he said as he stalled.

"It's true," Bryn confirmed. "He learned how to deliver babies and reassemble limbs on the battlefield before he picked up a textbook. And he usually starts at the end and works his way back to the beginning," he added, earning a dismissive eye roll from Arawn.

"The hardest and most important lessons are at the end. And if you work your way backwards, everything gets easier."

"Your poor professors," Merlin murmured in disbelief but Bryn shook his head.

"He's the smartest being I know and probably the best surgeon on the planet," he stated, making Arawn roll his eyes again.

"Not a lot of textbooks where we came from, when I started out, and I'm pretty sure I've had a lot more practice than every other surgeon on the planet. Although, technology and modern medicine has made it a pretty level playing field."

"Don't listen to him," Bryn said to the others, cutting his eyes at Arawn. "He's the best. What about you, Merlin? Are you the best or are there other creepy old know-it-alls out there? You all have a club?"

"Hmmm…" Merlin said, pressing his middle fingers together as they tapped against his lips. "I can't kill you, but I can make you wish you were dead for a few evenings," he mused and turned toward the pantry.

That got a snicker out of Nox. "Better yet: make some more of your special bedtime tea and send his ass to Mag Mell. He might come back with a better attitude after a little trip to the soul spa."

"Send yourself, clown," Bryn shot back. "See if you can find a real god while you're there and ask him how to start up the soul- mobile so you can do your fucking job." He pulled a face as he turned and jumped when he found Everly glaring up at him with his big, endless black eyes.

"We need Nox's help and I like being here," he said, his soft, flat voice rising angrily.

Bryn groaned as his head hung. "Fine. I'm sorry, Ev." He pushed out a hard breath as he faced Nox. "I'm sorry," he said tightly and Nox was beaming as he held his hand out to Bryn.

"Who's up for letting bygones be bygones?" he asked and cheered when Bryn took it and gave it a weak shake. "I'm feelin' the healin'. Want to hug it out?" Nox offered but Bryn shoulder-checked him on the way to the door.

Everly was on Bryn's heels as he stomped up the steps. "Where are you going?" he asked Bryn.

"Gonna take a long shower while the council of dickheads deliberates. They don't need me for that."

"Why are you still mad at Nox?"

"I'm not mad, Ev, just frustrated. Supremely frustrated," Bryn amended, stripping off his shirt as he headed down the hall and into the room where his clothes were kept and he showered. "Everything could be different. Anything could be different if he would get off his ass and do something, but for the first time in the history of the universe, we have a god who believes in minding his own business and letting bygones be bygones."

"What's wrong with that?"

"What's good?" Bryn countered while toeing off his wet sneakers. "I get not wanting to cause trouble or start the last great holy war, but come on! Imagine being the Terminator and holding down a 9-5 as an accountant."

"Accountants help people too," Everly argued, making Bryn scoff.

"Sure they do." He was chuckling as he kicked the bathroom door shut behind him and reached into the shower to start it. Bryn pushed down the waist of his joggers and boxers, muttering under his breath as he kicked them away.

"I thought about being an accountant," Everly said, causing Bryn to jump and spin.

"Fuck!" he whispered when he found Everly staring up at him. "Ev!" Bryn protested, but Everly didn't move a hair or blink.

"I'm not good at math and you have to be good at math to be an accountant," he continued in his soft monotone. His gaze slowly lowered and Everly's head tilted as he studied Bryn's hardening cock. It twitched upwards until it was pointing at Everly and he offered Bryn a curious lift of his brows. "Can we have sex now?"

"Can and should are vastly different things," Bryn said weakly, mentally scrambling and hanging on by his fingertips. For the life of him, Bryn couldn't remember why he wasn't fucking the sexy little halfling silly.

"Could is an option," Everly replied as he stretched toward Bryn, offering his lips.

"Yes, it is." Bryn didn't care anymore. He growled as he kissed Everly hard, like he was his. He was pure magick—sweet and bright like sunshine. He made Bryn's head spin as he was pushed back against the door. Everly jumped, his legs wrapping around Bryn's waist.

"We shouldn't be—" Bryn cut himself off, winding his tongue around Everly's and sucking ravenously. His hands were in Everly's hair and in the back of his boxers as they attacked each other's lips.

Bryn wrenched his free, swearing at how easily he'd lost control only to find himself swept up again as Everly wiggled and lowered to his knees. "Please." He pouted up at Bryn, rubbing a cheek against his bare thigh. "I want you to feel as special and as beautiful as I do."

"Ev!" Bryn's voice crumbled along with his resistance, completely under Everly's spell.

"I've wanted this from the moment we met, when I first opened my eyes." Everly sounded both awed and smug as he shared his confession, the words murmured through smiling lips as they glided up Bryn's shaft. He swirled his tongue around the head before opening wide and taking Bryn deep into his throat.

Hard, silken, sucking pressure wrapped around Bryn's cock and he heard angels. Although, it might have been his ears ringing because Everly was glorious. His head rocked back and forth at a steady, determined pace, making Bryn's toes curl on the tile.

He was acting like a complete animal, but Bryn was in ecstasy and hopelessly in love as his fingers swept through Everly's hair. And Everly didn't look all that sweet or innocent as his tongue dragged up Bryn's length. Or, whenever he took Bryn deep into his throat and gagged around every last inch with feral abandon.

"Gods, Ev! Oh, fuck!" He bit into a knuckle as Everly cupped and stroked, sending Bryn hurtling into the heavens as he shattered. The rush of joyful pleasure brought tears to his eyes and Bryn was in Annwn as Everly sucked every drop of cum from his shaft. He made the sweetest, sexiest sounds as he greedily licked Bryn clean and nuzzled his softening erection.

"My turn," Bryn said as he yanked Everly to his feet and turned them. He lifted Everly onto the counter, pulling the belt free and ripping open his fly. A ragged growl tore from Bryn as he lapped at Everly's hard-on. It was a sweet, slender mouthful, silky pre-cum making Bryn ravenous as he sucked. Everly didn't need directions or convincing, he rode Bryn's face and quickly came all over his tongue.

The golden, ethereal bliss lasted about as long as the clean, crispness of Everly's cum, regret grabbing Bryn by the scruff. He set Everly down, pointing at the door. "Out."

Everly turned and glided out, leaving Bryn. He shut the door, quietly locking it. He couldn't risk Everly returning in the state he was in. The doorknob jiggled, startling Bryn and sending him fleeing for the shower. Bryn stepped in and under the water and his mood plummeted when he realized he needed backup and there was only one person he could really trust.

"Fuck. I'm going to have to be nicer to Nox."