Chapter Seven

Seeing the warm smile that curved Trynche's full lips, Enrique returned his attention to his drink. He lifted the whiskey to his mouth and swigged back the last mouthful. As it was his third drink—and some pretty high-end stuff—it didn't burn nearly as much as some others he'd enjoyed.

Enrique realized just how his words had sounded... as if he were planning to be at Trynche's side... to give him a chance.

Is that what I'm considering? Or was it just the whiskey talking?

Just that morning, Enrique would have thought the idea ludicrous. Except, his dream that morning had been hella hot. The memories of Trynche blowing him had been even hotter, and the male seemed convinced they could make a go of it together.

Wasn't it just a few days ago that I took that couple out on their anniversary flight and was jealous? Wishing for the same thing? If Trynche was human, would I be fighting this attraction?

Enrique knew the answer to that, and the realization sickened him. If Trynche had been human and had asked him on a date, or come onto him in a bar, he would have acted on his attraction without a second thought. Frowning at his empty tumbler, Enrique could only come to one conclusion—he was being bigoted because of the paranormal aspect.

Except, I can change that. I'm not too sure about the whole mate thing and being the other half of his soul—that just sounds too damn crazy—but I'd definitely like to see where this attraction leads.

"Can I get you another drink?" Trynche asked, squeezing his wrist once more before releasing him and rising.

Lifting his attention to Trynche, Enrique hesitated only a second before nodding. He watched the big male rise to his feet and make his way around the bar. With his decision in mind, Enrique allowed himself to truly take in the male's features, and he had to admit, he sure liked what he saw.

Having served in the military, Enrique was no slouch at six feet with plenty of wiry muscles that he kept in shape with diet and exercise.

Trynche was on a whole other level, easy to see since his body was on clear display as he only wore a loincloth. The gargoyle stood at least six-foot-eight. His shoulders were extremely wide, and his torso tapered to a trim waist showcasing a fucking eight-pack. Trynche's limbs sported thick muscles that bunched and moved beneath his coral-colored hide every time he moved.

Enrique found his attention focused on Trynche's dark-red wings when the gargoyle turned his back to him to grab the liquor bottle. The gargoyle kept his wings tucked close, but Enrique recalled how they looked spread. They were massive, stretching perhaps eight or more feet in length. Enrique hadn't had the confidence to touch them the other night—or pretty much any of Trynche, for that matter—but he desperately wanted to know what they felt like. His fingers almost twitched with the desire.

When Trynche turned back around and leaned forward to slide his tumbler onto the bar, Enrique watched his long, light-blue hair slide over his shoulder. It was such a unique color, and he lifted a hand to touch it. Without thought, Enrique slid a strand through his fingers, finding it smooth, if a little damp, telling him that Trynche had recently showered.

Maybe that's why he smells so good—clean and masculine.

Realizing what he did, Enrique yanked his hand back. "Sorry," he muttered, fighting the heat that threatened to creep up his neck.

"Never apologize for touching me, Enrique," Trynche rumbled softly, his smile warm and heat filling his green eyes. "I'll always welcome it... anytime you want."

"Can I touch your wings?" Enrique blurted.

Yep, definitely the alcohol talking. Can't believe I said that out loud.

Trynche's smile widened to a grin. "Yes, my mate, you may." Then he sobered and told him, "But not here." He rounded the bar and returned to his seat, his focus remaining on Enrique the whole time. His smile could only be called... hungry. "A gargoyle's wings are sensitive. Touching them is very personal." Waggling his brows, Trynche winked. "And it turns us on."

Enrique gaped at that realization. "T-Turns you on?" He looked at Trynche's deep red wings, admiring the way they billowed along the gargoyle's broad back. His fingers twitched with even more desire to touch, but he wrapped his hand around his new drink instead. "Really?"

"Unless we're fighting, yeah." Ruacin stopped next to them and waggled his black eyebrow ridges. "Then the endorphins released by someone touching them is fuel for something else... adrenaline to take out our asshole opponent."

Trynche rolled his eyes as he swallowed his bite of burrito. "Oh, come on," he griped, frowning at Ruacin. "When we spare, I'm not an asshole just because I always kick your ass."

Ruacin scoffed, pointing the breakfast sandwich he held at Trynche. "Whatever, man. I kick your ass way more than you kick mine."

"Bullshit," Trynche stated with a snarl.

"Children, children." Enrique snorted as he shook his head while glancing between them. "You sound like squabbling brothers."

Enrique chuckled, realizing how true his statement was. It didn't matter that these huge guys were gargoyles. They acted just like any other friends joshing each other. Smiling, Enrique recalled how he'd had that kind of camaraderie with a few of the guys he'd worked with in the motor pool.

I wonder what a couple of them are up to.

If Enrique was going to have to battle rogue gargoyles, he thought having someone he trusted at his back might be a good thing. Then he wondered if the gargoyles would allow outside help. After all, they were supposed to be a secret.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Trynche once again reached over and gripped Enrique's wrist, startling him and dragging him out of his thoughts. The gargoyle appeared a little worried. "You were frowning into your drink. We were just joking with each other." Trynche glanced at Ruacin, who'd settled on Trynche's other side and also eyed him with concern. "We didn't mean to upset you."

Enrique scoffed and shook his head. "No, I'm not upset or anything." Resting his free hand on Trynche's wrist, he mirrored the gargoyle's hold on him and squeezed lightly. "I'm an only child, so I don't know what it's like to joke with a sibling, but I was remembering how I'd act with a couple of military buddies. I thought maybe I'd look them up to see if they could help against the rogues." Sighing, Enrique admitted, "Then I realized maybe I couldn't ask for their help because you wouldn't want me to tell them about, well"—he squeezed Trynche's wrist again—"you guys."

"Normally, no, we wouldn't allow that," Trynche replied, furrowing eyebrow ridges that were a slightly deeper hue than his face, making them look more orange. The gargoyle exchanged a look with Ruacin, who arched his black eyebrow ridge before shoving a bite of sandwich in his mouth. When Trynche returned his focus to Enrique, he told him, "But as a gargoyle, we do like to please our mate, so maybe we could work something out."

"But we'll discuss that at another time." Elder Bodb stopped next to them. The dark-purple-hided gargoyle offered Enrique a reassuring smile. "For now, Spieron has found something we all need to discuss."

Enrique could only nod, his attention riveted to the myriad of colored, winged paranormals.

They came in so many different shades, from blues, blacks, greens, blues, and more. All of them seemed to share one common factor. They were all huge—big, broad, with billowy wings, and plenty of muscles.

"Geez," Enrique whispered as his attention was pulled to a slender, auburn-haired man who appeared human—but he didn't know if that was actually the case—and was carrying a laptop. As the man began connecting cables to the laptop, Enrique muttered, "Are you guys all huge?"

Trynche chuckled as he rubbed his thumb over Enrique's pulse point. "No, actually. Gargoyles come in two basic designs. Large ones like us." He swept his gaze over the room, obviously indicating the myriad of males in the large room. "But there's also a smaller variety. They're quite a bit smaller, normally a few inches under six feet." Trynche motioned toward his sides even as he flicked out his large wings once before resettling them along his back. "Instead of large wings, they have folds of skin along their sides called wingskins. They stretch it out with special bone-spurs that extend from the back of their ribcage."

"Don't let their size fool you, though," Ruacin cut in before taking a swig of his orange juice from a plastic bottle. "They can be just as tough as any of us big guys and twice as wily." With a rueful chuckle, the large, lime-green gargoyle admitted, "I was stationed with one named Kratos while working with Elder Vermidian. I sparred with him once, and he took my ass down without any trouble."

"All right, guys," the man setting up the computer called. "I have some troubling news, and we're gonna need to brainstorm ideas."

"Who's that?" Enrique asked quietly, leaning closer to Trynche.

"That's Spieron Virche," Trynche answered, keeping his voice equally low.

Recognizing the name, Enrique nodded. "Acting-mayor Albert's partner." Finally, he had a face to put to a name. "I'd never seen him before."

In fact, until earlier that evening, Enrique had never met Albert face to face, either. There had been no reason for him to have. Until dealing with Sheldon, he'd steered clear of anything to do with those in politics.

"Right. Albert is Spieron's beloved," Trynche told him with a smile. Unfamiliar with that reference, Enrique furrowed his brows. Trynche must have realized that he wasn't following, for he explained, "Spieron is a vampire. Beloved is their kind's term for mate."

"Vampire," Enrique whispered, snapping his attention back to Spieron. When Jory had driven him to town, he'd touched base on the fact that there were vampires and shifters also in the world and living at the ranch. Looking him over, he never would have guessed him to be anything other than human. "Wow."

"Hiding in plain sight, remember?" Trynche winked at him while rubbing the pulse point on his wrist. "Anonymity and secrecy and all that."

"Right." Enrique spotted the two pictures that were up on the large screen that hung from the ceiling. "Shit."

One was a slightly blurry picture of wide wings spread in flight. Due to the darkness and trees, while the huge wingspan was on display, the body couldn't really be seen. Even the head was slightly obscured, but it could be made out enough that it was obviously not a bird's head.

The second picture was of the side of Trynche's head. His hair hid most of his face, but his pointed ear was on display. The hard angles of his jaw also made him seem not-quite-human.

"Sheldon has posted these pictures to a forum that tracks creature sightings this morning," Spieron informed the room. Sitting at a table, he pressed a button on the laptop. "He's already received dozens of responses. Some are heralding these as obvious fakes or screenshots from movies."

Spieron put up a screen with a number of messages on it. He'd highlighted a few of them.

That's the fakest cosplay mask I've ever seen.

Is that a LOTR wannabe?

That's just a screengrab from Jeepers Creepers.

"I don't look like that monster," Trynche grumbled, scowling.

"No, you don't," Enrique quickly reassured. While he found his sudden need to soothe the gargoyle unfamiliar, he couldn't help but act on it. "I love your pointed ears."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Enrique felt the heat starting to creep up his neck.

Time to lay off the booze.

"While most comments are similar to these naysayers, there's a few that are more supportive," Spieron continued, displaying a couple more comments.

A Jersey Devil sighting in Texas? It's a long way from home, if it's genuine.

Was it taken with a spectral camera? Looks like demon wings to me.

Spieron clicked the computer keyboard again, and another couple of comments popped up. "Then... there are these."

I can help you catch it. DM me.

Any labs out there? Maybe it's a secret government experiment that got loose.

Where there's one, there's more. You're going to need help exposing and eradicating that nest before they can take over. DM me.

Under the two messages that asked Sheldon to DM them, he'd responded with the words, message sent.

"Good grief," Lludd grumbled where he stood with his arm around Archer's shoulders. "Now we're going to have to deal with monster hunters, as well as rogues?"

A tick started in Spieron's jaw. "If only it was that simple." His green eyes flicked to red for an instant before returning to their normal color. "After all, monster hunters are easy to catch and send packing with a little tweak to their mind."

"What are you getting at, Spieron?" Bodb asked. He leaned against the wall behind him with his arms wrapped around Nicholas, who was leaning on him. "What did you find?"

"I hacked the system and discovered the identities of these User IDs." Spieron pointed at the two people who'd offered to help Sheldon. "This first one is from someone located in a government research facility." With a sneer, the vampire admitted, "It'll take me more than a few hours to hack into their systems."

"Government," another man muttered. "Never good to get on their radar."

"No, it's not, Vernon," Nicholas agreed with a sigh. "Any idea who the second person offering help is?"

Spieron turned in his chair and stared at Nicholas. "The account is registered to Grecian Doe."

"Grecian," Bodb snarled as low growls erupted from several people.

"Who's Grecian?" Enrique glanced around, the hairs on his nape rising as unease flooded him.

Trynche let out a deep breath, and he seemed to be trying to rein in the obvious ire his scowl betrayed. "He's one of the rogues."

"Why would he contact Sheldon?" Enrique understood their anger at the name of a rogue, but he couldn't seem to put it together.

"The rogues want to roust us from our secure position here at the ranch," Bodb explained, meeting Enrique's gaze for a second. "We can see them coming if they outright attack, and they know they'll never win that way." Then he focused on Spieron. "See if you can hack their accounts to access their direct messages. I want to know just how much trouble this is going to cause us." Pushing off the wall, Bodb took Nicholas with him. "Everyone be careful out on patrol tonight," the elder ordered. "We can't have any more exposure if creature hunters start coming out of the woodwork."

"Damn," Enrique mumbled, shaking his head. "I'm so sorry about this."

Bodb paused beside him and rested his hand on Enrique's shoulder, squeezing lightly before releasing him. "Accidents happen, Enrique." His smile appeared kind as he added, "Besides, that rogue is the one that attacked your bird. This is on them."

As Enrique watched the men in the room begin conversing in hushed whispers, he couldn't help that he still felt partly responsible.

Somehow, I'll find a way to help fix this.

Meeting Trynche's gaze, seeing the worry within their green depths, Enrique knew exactly how to start.