6. Lyndon

Chapter 6

Lyndon

I was imagining this. I had to be. Right? Because Darcy could not possibly be standing in front of me completely in the nude with two penises just . . . there. His two dicks lay there nestled between his balls just like you'd expect for a human. Except there were two of them. Just out there in the open for anyone to see.

I scrubbed my face, sure I was seeing things, but when I looked again . . . yup, still two of them. What in the everloving fuck?

I was staring, and that was rude. He wasn't naked in front of me in an attempt to seduce me. He'd shifted, which I'd asked him to do. From the little interaction I'd had with shifters, I knew most of them were comfortable with nudity since they had to be naked when they changed forms. That seemed to be the same for whatever Darcy was. He wasn't hard. He wasn't touching himself, though he wasn't covering himself either. He was just there. I should probably tell him to shift back until we got to the house. I'd seen his clothes still lying on a heap on the ground. He could shift once he had them again. Or maybe they were dirty? I probably had a long T-shirt or something he could wear to cover himself up until we washed his clothing.

Did I tell him to shift back? Of course not. Did I look away? Again, no. I just kept staring like the biggest pervert alive until Darcy started to fidget.

"Do you, uh, want me to ssshift back? I'm ssssorry. I didn't—I wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable. I just forgot?" I thought he shrugged, but I literally could not look away.

Besides the fact that there were two of them, his anatomy was fairly humanoid. Not that I was sure what lizard dicks typically looked like, but Darcy's were like a human's for the most part, except they were a bright pink and looked like they were textured. It scared me how curious I was about what that texture must've felt like, but I had to rein it in. I had already well passed creeper mode with the amount I was staring.

Why hadn't he covered up yet? Anyone being ogled like he was, would. But he just kept watching me like I was the strangest person he'd ever met. I probably was.

Finally, I managed to get control of myself and look away.

"Um, let's go. I'll find you something to wear when we get back to my cabin." I turned on my heel and booked it before I started staring again.

The thing that was bothering me the most was that it wasn't just shock that had me fascinated. I was curious . And maybe just a little turned on. Which pissed me off. I could not be turned on by Darcy. I felt nothing toward the man but annoyance. All he'd successfully done was interrupt my day and somehow get me involved with one of the goddess's plans. All I wanted to do was be left alone. Was that too much to ask? Apparently.

I risked a peek. Just to make sure Darcy was following me, okay? No other reason. It wasn't my fault that he was walking casually with his arms at his sides and his tail swinging low behind him. It also wasn't my fault that his tail wasn't the only thing swinging. Goddess . I needed to get it together. This was not the time for arousal. I needed to get Darcy home and covered before I lost my sanity.

Two dicks. Goddess.

We walked back in silence. I mean, what could either of us possibly say? When we passed the pile of Darcy's clothes, he quietly picked them up but didn't bother putting them on. They were disgusting, I didn't blame him. If he was going to be stuck here for a while, I should probably figure out a way to get more for him.

What was I even saying? A couple visions and I was already finding space for this man? I shook my head to try to clear all my thoughts. They were muddying my concentration, and I didn't need that now.

Once we got inside, I turned toward Darcy but then remembered he was still naked. Luckily, he had his dirty clothes covering his junk, and I was slightly less distracted. Not completely, but maybe I could talk to him without losing my mind.

"I'm going to see if I can find something for you to wear, then I'm going to take a shower." That made me pause. Should I offer him a chance to clean up? He'd been sleeping in a nest outside. "You can use it after me if you want."

Darcy's nose twitched. "Thank you." What did that mean? Did he not want to shower? Whatever, not my problem.

"There are a washer and dryer in the kitchen if you want to throw your stuff in there." Fuck. "You do know how to use them, right?"

I swore he just rolled his eyes at me. "Yesss, I know how to use them."

"Okay, um, good. Anyway, let me see what you can wear in the meantime."

I bolted out of the room before I made a bigger fool out of myself.

I rummaged through my drawers until I found an oversized, long-sleeved T-shirt I typically wore when I was gardening. Hopefully, that would cover everything. I was going to have to cut a hole in a pair of sweats or something for his tail. What a mess.

As soon as I gave Darcy the shirt, I escaped, this time to my bathroom. At least that wasn't an excuse. I really did need to shower. It hadn't been easy finding Darcy. I'd had to traipse over most of my property, and a lot of it was overgrown and wild. Nature was there for a reason, and I didn't want to disturb it more than I had to. Though, it was kind of irritating that the nature and vegetation on my lands hadn't helped me find him at all. It was like they'd adopted him as part of their family and kept him hidden for as long as they could. When I'd tried to probe, I'd gotten nowhere. It was like my land had gotten enjoyment out of watching me struggle through the vegetation.

I was filthy now and probably smelled, so the shower was much needed. I tried to keep it as quick as possible. The thought of Darcy waiting for me caused me to have feelings I didn't want to think about.

One thing was apparent. I was out of my depth. As much as I tried to distance myself from my coven and do things on my own, I was going to need help. But who? Not my mother. She would know immediately what Darcy supposedly was to me, and I was not ready to face that.

Ambrose made the most sense, but I was reluctant to call him. My cousin was a genius and knew more about portal magic than anyone I knew. If anyone could figure out what was happening, it would be him. He also might have insight on the visions since he was a seer.

The problem with calling him was that, well, Ambrose was Ambrose. There wasn't trouble within a hundred-mile radius that he didn't somehow find himself in. He thrived on gossip and drama and couldn't keep his mouth shut worth his life. Telling Ambrose was just as good as telling my parents, and that was low on my list of things that I wanted to happen right now. The only thing worse than getting a mate was my parents discovering I had one. So no, I would likely have to hold off on involving the coven for now.

There were other witches and magic users I could possibly speak to, but it was likely a bad idea. Most coven witches avoided the lone witches. We were taught from an early age that they were trouble and only looking for a dollar. Those were often the ones who had worked as fortune tellers and psychics before the Unveiling. They were scammers, plain and simple. But they also tended to know a lot since they didn't stay to themselves the way coven witches usually did. They traveled more often and dealt with other kinds of parahumans. It was possible one of them would know something.

I quickly washed my hair with my homemade shampoo and then scrubbed myself with my soap, that I'd also made, which assisted with muscle aches. The whole thing was probably five minutes. I shut the water off, relieved to hear silence.

I wasn't sure what I'd expected, but part of me kept waiting for someone to notice that something unusual was happening. I wasn't sure if it would be the Parahuman Detection Agency or my family, but someone was bound to come sniffing around. Luckily, it seemed I still had some reprieve.

I quickly dressed in simple clothes, anxious to get back to Darcy. I refused to look too hard at what that could possibly mean. I was ready to be done with all of this, that was all.

My hand just touched the door handle when I felt magic that hadn't been there before. Dread filled me. My reprieve was over.

"Oh! Oh my goddess, Lyndon. When I felt the strange burst of magic coming from here this morning, I knew something had happened, but if I realized you were hiding this—" Ambrose broke off with a rich chuckle. "This is golden. I can not wait to tell Aunt Zelda what her son has been up to."

I leaped into the room. It really wasn't much of a surprise to find Ambrose in my home. It wasn't even a surprise that he'd managed to get all the way here without tripping my wards. The only things Ambrose understood more than portals were wards and protection magic. He could break through just about any of them and loved to see how many he could get through unnoticed. It was still irritating though. I really needed to find a way to strengthen mine.

"You will do no such thing, Ambrose! You breathe a word of this to my mother and I swear to the goddess, I'll turn you into a tree!"

My cousin was lounging on the doorframe of my cabin, the door still wide open, I'd like to point out.

Human movies loved to portray any magic users as these eccentric, over-the-top beings that thrived on trouble and would never fit in with regular human society. Overall, that was exaggerated and heavily leaned on stereotypes of our kind. When it came to Ambrose, it was a dead ringer. Even his name was stereotypical.

He was grinning at me, his purple eyes bright with his magic and mischief. That was the one feature that showed we were related. Everyone in our coven had purple eyes. We weren't all related by blood, but the shared magic that flowed through all of us and united us as a coven gave us all the unique feature. Every coven had some kind of defining trait that united them all. Sometimes it was a birthmark or tattoo, and sometimes it was hair or eye color. I never quite understood how it worked, just that every one of us had purple eyes.

That was the only similarity between Ambrose and me, and we really were blood related. His white hair fell past his shoulders in thick, silky locks. He had bright gold hoops that lined both his ears, a matching one in his eyebrow, and two in his nose. It looked like he'd changed his lip piercings to bars now, instead of hoops, which I was sure thrilled my very conservative aunt, his mother. He was wearing a bright purple jacket that went down to his knees and had at least 100 gold buttons.

I blinked, completely distracted by that ridiculous jacket. "Where in the goddess's name did you get that thing? Aunt Belinda really allowed you off coven lands wearing that?"

Ambrose spun in a slow circle, showing off the gaudy garment, then flashed a diamond-encrusted tooth at me. Seriously? "Mother thinks I'm in my study working on a new security spell to keep the PDA away from our lands."

I rolled my eyes. We both knew Aunt Belinda, who was also head witch of our coven, knew exactly where her son was. She was constantly aware of everyone in her coven, especially her children. She just liked to feign ignorance when it came to Ambrose.

An uncomfortable hiss reminded me that we weren't alone. Darcy stood off to the side, thankfully dressed in my T-shirt, his eyes bouncing between us.

Ambrose seemed to forget all about antagonizing me and swayed toward Darcy, really putting on a show. He stopped just inside his personal space, his head tilted and a pout on his lips. I knew that look! It meant he was about to hit on Darcy!

"Well, hello, handsome. Where did you come from, and why was my cousin hiding you? I'm Ambrose and by far the more interesting and more attractive cousin. You scream bottom, but are you willing to top from time to time?"

I pulled forth my magic before I even realized what I was doing. Ambrose had just started to reach his hand out to touch Darcy when roots broke through the flooring of my living room and stopped him in place. Darcy gasped and stepped out of the danger zone, but he had nothing to worry about. My focus was solely on my prick of a cousin—who was laughing his ass off despite the tree roots that had encircled his wrist and were currently climbing up his arm.

"Ohhh, cousin . . . this is . . ." He couldn't even finish his sentence, he was laughing so hard. More roots broke through my floor and were tightening around his ankles, not allowing him to move. Ambrose was, of course, unfazed. Though, I guessed he knew I could never cause harm with my gift so he wasn't in danger, even if I was truly regretting that tidbit right about now. "Of all people, I never imagined you'd be the first one from our generation to find their mate. Oh goddess. This is gold. Aunt Zelda will be beside herself."

Darcy gasped, but I couldn't even worry about him right now. I was going to kill Ambrose with my bare hands. I didn't need my magic to wring his pretty, little neck.

"Ambrose, I swear on all that's holy, you need to shut your mouth." I was standing in front of him now, blocking his view completely from Darcy. How dare he flirt with my Darcy! Try to touch him! Ambrose flirted with anything with a pulse, but this was my mate! That was a line you just didn't cross.

My mate . The words hit me like a freight train. All the adrenaline left my system, and suddenly I was stumbling back, gasping for breath. I vaguely noticed the roots starting to descend back through my floors, but I couldn't focus on that, my panic about my own thoughts too great.

I could not be thinking about Darcy that way! What was wrong with me? It shouldn't matter who flirted with him or touched him. Darcy wasn't mine. Or at least, he wouldn't be for much longer. I didn't have a mate. The goddess could control a lot of things, but not this.

"Lyndon!" I felt more than saw Darcy run toward me, his voice filled with concern.

"Don't touch me!" I snapped, stopping the poor man in his tracks. He didn't deserve that, but if that little brush of contact had been enough to have my thoughts spiraling like that—I'd used my magic on my cousin for goddess's sake—then I couldn't even bear to think what would happen if he touched me again. I-I couldn't risk it.

"I-I'm sssssorry," There was a clatter, and a door slammed. I didn't need to look to know that Darcy had left. I missed his presence immediately. At least it seemed he'd run into the bathroom, not leave the house completely. I wouldn't have to chase after him again.

"Damn, Lyndon, I always knew you were an asshole, but that was harsh even by your standards."

I glared at my cousin. "Shut up."

Ambrose shrugged. "I'm just saying, fifteen seconds in the same room as that sweet baby lizard and I could tell he's goodness personified. He doesn't deserve you snapping at him."

My magic flared again, but I managed to stop it before I used it. Ambrose had better pay for a new floor for me, dammit. I turned my back on him and stalked to my kitchen. I needed some tea to calm my nerves. I was all over the place and couldn't think rationally.

Ambrose followed me. "So, what's the deal with him anyway? Was he the disturbance I felt earlier? Why didn't you tell me you had a mate?"

My shoulders heaved. I couldn't snap again. I wouldn't. "Is that why you're here? Because you felt something?" It was the easiest of his questions to deal with.

"Yeah." Ambrose sat in one of the kitchen chairs. "Do you have anything stronger than tea? Shifter wine, perhaps?"

I raised an eyebrow even though he couldn't see it. "Why would I have shifter wine? Why do you even know what shifter wine tastes like?"

Ambrose sighed like I was the most frustrating thing in the universe. "Because . . . unlike you, I actually try to enjoy life. Have you even been to one of the parahuman clubs yet?"

I ignored Ambrose, since the question didn't need answering. I'd never been to any club, parahuman or otherwise. That had been one of the positive developments, at least for many, since the Unveiling. Bars and clubs designed specifically for parahumans had begun popping up in all the major cities. They were highly regulated, and I'd heard heavily taxed, but it still gave us places to go and just be us. That was how I understood it anyway. I never had any interest in going to one.

"You really need to lighten up, Lyn. You have a mate now. I bet that sweetheart doesn't want to be stuck in this tiny cabin all the time. He looks like he knows how to have fun."

I slammed the kettle on the counter and whirled around. "First, he's not my mate. Secondly, stop talking about Darcy. I don't want you to look at him, speak about him, even think about him, understand?"

Ambrose grinned. Of course, I was playing right into his hands. "Darcy? That's his name? It fits."

"How could you possibly know that? You saw him for thirty seconds and he didn't say a word to you."

"His aura, little cousin. He shines so fucking brightly, I sensed it before I even entered your house. That was how I knew that disturbance I felt was real. Yours is not nearly as bright."

Times like this, I wondered why I even liked Ambrose. Though, like was a strong word. But he was one of the few family members who didn't seem put off by my attitude and continued to hang around. He was like a barnacle sometimes.

"You can feel his aura that strongly?" Truth was, I hadn't really noticed. I could tell he was harmless and generally a good person, but I'd been trying so hard not to think of Darcy, I'd hardly paid attention to that kind of thing.

Ambrose rolled his eyes. "Mother really did indulge you too much, allowing you to play with your plants all the time. Did you even attend any other lessons? You seriously can't read his aura?"

"Aunt Belinda didn't indulge me. Of course I attended all my lessons." That was a lie. My aunt had always had a soft spot for her only nephew.

Ambrose waved his hand in a "sure" type of gesture. "Whatever you say. Regardless, spill the tea. What happened and who's that fluffy lizard baby you want to pretend isn't your soul mate?"

There was no point in hiding it now. It wasn't like I could get Ambrose to leave without filling him in. Besides, I did need help. All I had seemed to accomplish was hurting Darcy's feelings and causing him to run away.

So once my tea was ready, I sat at the table next to Ambrose and told him everything from the moment the portal had opened up.

I was aware that Darcy was still in the house, but he seemed to be staying away. Not that I blamed him. He really didn't deserve me being a jerk to him. He hadn't asked for this anymore than I had. Honestly, it was worse for him. He was the one thrown into a completely new realm, away from his friends and family and the life he'd seemed to work so hard to carve out for himself. Plus, he'd gotten stuck with me. No matter how temporary that was, it was still rough and not anything I would wish on anyone. I learned that the hard way long ago. It was one of the reasons I'd chosen to live away from the coven. I understood how difficult I could be. My family might drive me crazy, but they were good people. They didn't need to deal with my surly ass regularly.

Ambrose soaked in all the details. As messy as he was, he really was brilliant and one of the strongest witches I'd ever met. He was more in tune with his magic than most. He would eventually be head witch, and his strength showed why. So even if he loved to torment me, he still took it seriously and asked good questions. By the time I was done, I felt a little better. Maybe he'd figure something out or at least understand what the goddess had been saying to me. Because honestly, I had no idea what I was doing anymore.