Twelve

Marie

The thing about living alone was you got used to the sounds of your own space. An apartment in the middle of a high-rise, especially located in the center of a large city, was never completely quiet. The muffled city sounds became part of the white noise around her, and she took comfort in the familiarity of them.

She was usually alone when she stayed here, so she was careful to be alert for anything out of the norm. It didn't take much to wake her, even when she hadn't gotten enough sleep. Besides, the person moving around her kitchen wasn't trying to be sneaky about it. She had told Kuro and Joe both to help themselves to anything in her kitchen. From the sound of it, Kuro was making himself tea.

Marie reached for her phone on the nightstand. The display read almost 4 p.m. She'd slept the day away, almost six hours. That was a lot longer than the nap she'd been planning. She normally never napped longer than a few hours, so she hadn't thought to set an alarm. With strangers in her home, she'd honestly thought she would be lucky to get in thirty minutes.

She wasn't quite ready to face them yet. If they needed something, the sliding door separating her sleep area from the living space wouldn't have kept them out. She figured they could manage by themselves for another few minutes.

There were notifications on the main screen of her phone. She pulled up the messages from the Darke Consortium first. Thomas had sent a message via their private chat.

Ashke filled me in. He's staying nearby. Ping me when you wake.

Of course Ashke had. Equal parts irritation and warmth filled her chest. On one hand, she was a perfectly capable adult, with very solid security in place. Security Ashke himself had added to that morning. On the other hand, she was only one person, and she needed to sleep. It was comforting to know that one of her colleagues from the Darke Consortium—more of a teammate, really, and as close to a friend as she currently had if she was being honest about the current state of her life—was near enough to help if anything caught her by surprise.

She hadn't made the request of Ashke. The fae had his own duties and interests back at the Consortium manor, hours away. She smiled as she sent a response to Thomas.

Ping.

Pong, Thomas responded . Sleep well?

She briefly considered tapping the icon to initiate a video call, the way she normally would. It was faster than text chats, but her guests would hear the entire conversation. Better to keep it to text for now.

Yeah. Thanks. I've still got company.

I heard. Ashke felt they weren't an immediate danger to you. But that could change if they stay.

Not sure if they're staying.

She started to type a half dozen different follow-ups to that statement but decided to just wait for whatever Thomas was going to say next. She really didn't know what was going to happen with Joe and Kuro. Based on what Ashke had said about the hex on them, she had a strong suspicion about what was coming in about an hour, once the sun had set.

K. Whatever you decide, keep me updated pls.

Will do.

We're spread thin with Punch and Bennett away. I've got a situation in the San Juan Islands. Duncan is keeping watch at the manor with Asamoah and Ellery. That's not enough for the Consortium, so Ashke is going to need to head back.

She waited. She could see that Thomas was still typing.

A witch using pain magic that close to you is a problem. We're not close enough to provide sufficient backup. Would feel better if you came back to the manor. Make it easier to keep all our people protected.

I've got a contract , she responded.

Normally, she'd have found a way to work remotely. After all, Thomas was right to be concerned about a witch that used pain magic. Marie had a healthy amount of caution for that type of witchcraft. Although it didn't always equate to evil, pain magic was definitely the kind of heady power source that came with enough temptation to attract a lot of morally bereft souls. There was no way to know for sure what personal code of ethics those practitioners kept. Marie wasn't about to find out if the other witch would jump at the chance to use Marie as a sacrifice for more power.

So she described to Thomas what she'd seen the day before: the dead guy, the suspicious plants, and the amulet. Any one of those things might have been able to wait a while. Well, no, the dead guy couldn't wait. They really needed to investigate that.

She finished with a single line: It's obvious there's at least one other interested party.

Babel. We need to know more about them, but most of our intel is shallow. Our resources do better with old history. Any chance your boys might share?

They're not boys. Also not mine.

K…

Marie scowled at the phone screen. Thomas was teasing her. Best to leave that alone and focus on the question.

I don't know. I'll ask.

K. Kick them out if you feel threatened in any way. Ping Duncan or Ashke and they can be there in an hour or two. Wish we could do better. I don't like any of us in the city without immediate support.

Marie grimaced. His concerns were valid. She wished they weren't. It felt better that he had the same concerns about any of their team alone in the city, rather than her specifically.

A longer message came through.

Seattle is getting more competitive for objects of myth and magic. It's a major entry and exit point for black market items going in and out of the country. There've always been some independent agents carrying these items or seeking them. But Babel is bigger, with resources and means to coordinate freelancers like your boys. Hiring a pain witch to hex them, though? That's behaving like organized crime and I don't like it.

Also a good point. Seemed like a good time to get Thomas's opinion on Kuro and Joe's proposition.

They want us to work together to investigate Socrates Industries.

There was a long pause.

I'd feel better if I met them, but I trust your judgment.

Well, that was good. It would be even better if Marie had a better handle on what she was feeling about Kuro and Joe, aside from a whole lot of attraction.

They're still under contract to Babel. It was an important note to keep in mind.

Even after the bastards hexed them? Thomas didn't do emojis, but Marie could imagine his scowl.

They took action in direct conflict with their contract a few months ago. Based on what you told us they said, they have their own moral compass. Could be they intend to fulfill the contract to their standards, but maybe there's some flexibility when it comes to exactly how. Doesn't hurt to work together until conflicting interests can't be avoided.

Marie studied that chunk of text.

You switched to voice to text, didn't you?

Had a lot to say. Besides, I'm driving.

That was fair.

I'll get going then. Will check in.

Please do.

She let out a soft laugh. He didn't type it, but she knew him well enough to know that if she didn't check in somewhat regularly, he or Ashke or both would come looking for her. It was comforting. There was something amazing about people who both trusted her and also didn't take her independence for granted.

"Hello?" Kuro's voice called low and soft from just outside her door.

"One second." She threw back her comforter and scrambled out of bed, reaching for the silk yukata she used as a robe. Pulling it on over her tank top and pajama pants, she pulled the sliding door open.

Kuro stood there with a mug of steaming tea. From the scent, he'd brewed some of her loose-leaf green tea with jasmine flowers. Behind him, on the chaise, Joe was still in his fox form, sitting up with a big yawn.

"Thought you might like some, since I heard you waking up." Kuro paused. "I wouldn't have bothered you, in case you decided to fall back to sleep, but I heard you laugh."

Ah. She nodded. "I was texting with someone."

Kuro nodded, holding the mug steady until she had it firmly in her own hands.

She lifted the mug to her lips, then lowered it. It was too hot to sip. The silence stretched out as neither she nor Kuro said anything, and even Joe just sat there looking at the both of them. It was so awkward. So awkward. Maybe it would be worth it to scald her tongue, just to give herself an escape from the tension.

"Did you sleep well?" she finally asked.

Kuro nodded. "The couch was comfortable, and you provided us with plenty of blankets."

"It's a chaise," she corrected, then winced. Who cared?

The corner of Kuro's mouth quirked. Her face warmed as embarrassment caught up with her. But she wasn't going to let it get the best of her. She forced herself to look up into his eyes.

His pupils were so dark a brown they might as well be black. The whites of his eyes showed on either side of his irises and even a tiny bit beneath. The effect was an intense gaze as he looked directly at her.

She realized, slowly, she'd been staring for too long. She should look away. Maybe say something clever.

"Hey! I'm back!" Joe exclaimed.

They both turned toward the chaise. Joe was standing in front of it, back in the same clothes he'd been wearing the night before. He was so incredibly hot. She glanced back at Kuro and swallowed hard. They both were. She'd managed to avoid thinking about it with Joe's shape change, but both men had invited her to share kisses and the potential in that was suddenly fresh in her memory.

Bad Marie. There were more important concerns to be thinking about. No cookie.

Kuro crossed the room and pulled Joe into a tight hug. Joe returned the embrace, laughing, then he fixed his gaze on Marie. "How long did it take for the kiss to kick in?"

Marie blinked. "What? Oh!"

She fumbled for her phone and swiped the screen to get to the timer, stopping it. She stared at the timer display, then back at the both of them.

"It was the whole day," rumbled Kuro.

"I don't think it was the kiss that did it." Marie looked past the two men and out her window at the sky.

Joe cocked his head to one side, then turned to follow her gaze.

Clouds were lit in colors of hot pinks and burnt oranges against a sky of blue and indigo. It was magic hour, the time right after the sun had set, when the light did indescribable things to everything it touched.

"Night and day, day and night," Marie whispered Ashke's earlier words. "I think the hex on both of you is still in effect."

"If you're right, I've only got an hour or less before I'm forced to change to my fox form." Kuro sounded grim.

She didn't blame him.

Joe let out a curse. "What do we do?"

"Babel is likely to lift the hex when we make good on the contract." Kuro's tone was flat, cold.

"Will they, though?" Marie asked. "A hex like this took a significant investment to fund. Will it be worth it to them to have it undone? Or will they just tell you how to undo it?"

Joe ran his fingers through his hair in a seemingly frustrated motion. Somehow, it only made him look even more like a K-pop idol straight out of a music video. "You probably have a better idea than we do."

"I don't get my power that way," she said quietly. She didn't think he meant to imply it, but she still had the urge to widen the distance between them. Not actually feasible since they were already about as far apart as one could get inside her apartment, with them standing by her chaise and her still standing in the doorway to her sleeping nook.

Joe muttered another curse. "I'm sorry. I meant to say you probably have a better idea of how spells work and what it would take to undo this hex. Not that you'd—"

"I'm a green witch." She decided it was better to push forward than wallow in emotional responses. "I draw power from the plant life around me and simple living things. It's a much more gradual thing. I have a longer-lasting reservoir of power, but it takes a lot more from me personally to do greater spells, and my recovery time is slow. I'm much more effective using my magic for subtler effects. I've never tried to break a hex, not like the one you two are experiencing."

"You don't have to," Kuro said quietly. His deep voice was warmer than it had been a minute ago.

A bit of the tension in her neck and shoulders eased. His words gave her the hope that he wasn't holding it against her that she couldn't just fix this.

Joe had tucked one side of his lower lip between his teeth, looking at Kuro. "We shouldn't bother you with this anymore. Pain witches like the one who did this to us get their sacrifices from somewhere. Don't some of them go after witches like you?"

She wasn't going to deny it. "Yes. But I'm also more exposed if I'm alone here in the city working on this thing at Socrates Industries by myself."

Both men stilled.

"You'd go back there? By yourself?" Joe asked.

A low growl rolled through the room and she thought it came from Kuro.

"It's what I do." She crossed her arms over her chest. "If it were just the contract to design the corporate gardens, I'd go back to the consortium and work remotely. But somebody from the Darke Consortium needs to investigate the dead man from yesterday and the item he was wearing. That person is me."

Besides, she also wanted to get a closer look at the plants she'd seen. It would take more than visual identification to be certain they were what she suspected.

She glared at them, daring them to try to argue with her. They barely knew each other, and she drew a hard line at people telling her what to do with her life. If they tried it so early in…whatever this was, it would tell her a lot about what level of respect they would have for her. Not enough.

It was Joe who let out a frustrated huff. "I don't want to compete with you. I don't think either of us does."

Some of the tension eased inside her. That was a better answer than what she'd been bracing for.

"Couldn't we work together?" Joe asked softly. His chin was tilted down so he could look at her through his thick lashes with those amazing eyes of his, all big and round.

Whatever defensiveness she had melted away. She let her arms drop and she picked her mug of tea up from the side table. Taking a sip, she let the fragrance of the jasmine fill her senses as the heat eased her throat.

"Let's explore investigating this thing together," she said finally. "Both of you mentioned teaming up, and I've been thinking about it. It seems like we all can benefit from it."

A happy grin spread across Joe's face, lighting up his expression. Kuro's features softened, and a small, lopsided smile pulled at his lips.

"Great!" Joe gripped Kuro's shoulder, leaning on his partner. Kuro stood there with his feet planted, solid as a tree, continuing to watch her.

Heat spread over her cheeks. Being around the two of them was a lot.

"I'm going to stay here this evening," she decided. "I've got to work on the designs for the gardens inside the building. They'll be my reason to go back."

Kuro finally stirred, sitting down on the chaise and pulling Joe with him to sit far enough to one side that there was room for her to sit on the end. "Whether I change or not, we should head back to our place to find out if it has been tampered with."

"It's just a temporary unit," Joe added. "We rent month to month."

"And I need to hunt," Kuro said curtly.

Marie didn't cross the room to join them, despite the unspoken invitation. It didn't feel quite right with the current discussion. "Ramen doesn't quite sustain you, huh?"

Both of them shook their heads.

"We both feed on life essence," Kuro offered.

"But we don't kill if we can help it," Joe added. "And we only prey on bad people."

"Define bad." She pitched her voice so it sounded like a suggestion. It wasn't like she could judge them. Supernaturals had to live their lives in accordance with their natures. What mattered was the choices they made while they survived. She'd worked alongside Bennett, the vampire steward of the Darke Consortium, long enough to understand that.

"People who do harm to others, mostly," Joe answered readily. "Physical stuff is the easiest to notice. Sometimes we encounter somebody that has been harming others emotionally or mentally. In places like this, cities mostly, it's not hard to find that kind of thing."

"And you don't kill them?" Marie felt it was important to be clear, and they weren't exactly giving details. "How do you feed? Not like vampires?"

Joe shook his head. "It's different. It would take a long time to explain, actually. I would offer to show you, but I don't know if that would upset you or not."

"By feeding on me?" Red flag.

Joe shot to his feet. "No, no, no. We wouldn't. I meant that we could arrange it so you could watch from someplace safe. Usually when one of us is hunting, the other is on lookout, just making sure nothing gets out of control."

Joe's face flushed. Marie wondered what he wasn't saying. Maybe it was too complicated for a quick explanation.

"But aside from the feeding part of it, watching might make you uncomfortable." Joe bit his lip again. "To an observer, it looks really sexual. I'm not going to say it's not, depending on which of us it is, but it's complicated."

Marie considered what Joe was saying, unwilling to press him more because he was so obviously struggling with discussing this with her.

"It wouldn't be as difficult if this were just a working arrangement," Kuro stated, drawing her attention back to him.

He stood slowly and approached her, giving her plenty of time to move back or tell him to stop. She didn't. Joe hesitated, then joined them until all three of them were standing within each other's personal space.

It was Marie's turn to bite her lip. She wanted to know, so she asked. "You want this to be more than a professional collaboration? Both of you?"

They both nodded.

"Is that something you'd consider?" Joe asked. His voice had dropped low and quiet, almost intimate.

"I have been thinking about it," she answered honestly. She wanted to know more about their feeding, because it felt like it could be a hard line for her. She'd been in open relationships before, knew the importance of discussing hopes and boundaries, but this was a whole different level of complicated.

"With the two of us?" Kuro asked. "We've been open about our interest, but want to be clear."

"Yes." She met each of their gazes. Complicated might be worth it, for them. She wasn't sure, but she also wanted to know and didn't want to regret not taking the chance. "I've been in polyamorous relationships in the past. Not many, but enough to know what I'm hoping for and where my hard lines are. I'd like to get to know each of you better, and hear more about what you want from me."

Both of them gave her smug smiles. Under the intensity of their regard, her body was responding. Her nipples tightened, and she resisted the urge to look down to find out if they could tell through the thin fabrics of her camisole and yukata.

"First"—Kuro paused, waiting for her to meet his gaze again— "we're not looking for a one-time thing."

"We're interested in getting to know you, too," Joe confirmed. "You can stop anytime, and we'll back off, but we're not just looking for a hookup. We'd like to spend time with you."

Marie started to answer, but then Kuro's eyes widened, and he quickly shoved his tea mug into her hands. Then he was shrinking. And there was a fox sitting at her feet.

"This is definitely going to impact the way we all get to know each other," Marie muttered.