Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

H yax finished his drink and ordered another one. Tonight had been almost like a proper date. He'd loved being so close to Gwil, being able to touch and flirt. People had gawped at them and it wasn't just because he was obviously dating a vampire but because that vampire was fucking hot. Gwil had looked amazing in his suit and Hyax had exerted more self-control than he thought possible.

But he must have overstepped a line because Gwil had hightailed it to the bathroom. He'd been gone a while and Hyax wondered if he should go and find him.

"Hyax, I thought it was you."

He glanced up, knowing the voice and not being pleased to hear it. "Metra."

His ex was a beautiful man, pity his personality didn't measure up. Hyax didn't need him interrupting tonight, nor any other night for that matter. They'd been good together for a while, when their relationship had been secret and forbidden because of the animosity between their families. It had taken him far too long to realise it was the sneaking around that had been the source of the excitement and not his attraction to the arrogant prick.

Metra sat without being invited. "I must be seeing things, or maybe one of us has had too much to drink, but it looked awfully like you and your vamp business partner were a lot friendlier than would be expected."

"My personal life is no longer anything to do with you."

"Something that could be rectified. Our tribes are now on good terms. If we wanted we could pick up where we left off. You were my world."

"I don't want to. You had a funny way of demonstrating how important I was to you—I caught you in the arms of another fae."

Metra tried to grab his hand but Hyax snatched it away. "I told you, it was just for show. If we'd have been discovered our parents would have gone ballistic, we'd been careless and he was a friend who played along."

What Hyax had witnessed was far too realistic to have been an act. "You're a liar, Metra."

"I just wish you'd give me the chance to prove myself to you. I'm on the official suitors list, your parents think me suitable."

Hyax tutted. He'd been none too happy when he'd discovered that little fact. His parents had added Metra to the list after their tribes had buried their animosities because trade deals were far too lucrative to be passed over due to a royal squabble or two. He'd learnt it had been part of sweetening the new standing between their tribes, but there were several others who were equally as unsuitable.

"That's because they don't fucking know you."

"Please. I can make this right. We could have a remarkable future together."

"I have a partner. Nothing you can do or say will change that, so take it as a hint and leave me alone."

"Partner? He's a vampire, not a future husband for a prince."

"I am not accustomed to repeating myself, but I will say it again—my personal life is not your concern."

Metra scooted closer. "Hyax, please."

The chair opposite was pulled out, and only then did Hyax realise Gwil had returned. Gwil did not look happy, but then in theory he'd just interrupted his boyfriend sitting close to his ex, but he doubted his expression would have conveyed it was a welcome conversation.

"If it isn't the man himself," Metra sneered.

"Nice to see you too, Metra. How's the stone you've crawled out from under this time of year?" Hyax had to admit that Gwil could do a good line in being an overprotective, jealous jackass.

"I'm sure neither myself nor Hyax appreciates your referring to the fae realm in that way."

Hyax sighed. "Metra was just leaving."

"Actually, I was here to ask Hyax if the insane rumour I had heard was true. Looks like it is. I was wondering if he'd lost his mind or if I should call the police to investigate illegal spellcraft."

"Or you're having a difficult time accepting that Hyax's taste in men has improved immensely since dating you."

"I doubt that."

Gwil smiled nastily. "I don't see who Hyax chooses to spend his time with is any of your business."

Hyax scooted along the bench, putting more distance between him and Metra. "That was pretty much what I said."

Gwil leant over the table. "You had your chance and you blew it years ago. So I suggest you go the fuck away and bother someone else."

"Yes, well, there were extenuating circumstances then, which aren't there any longer. So I am doing what any decent fae would do when they heard a friend has taken up with a member of the blood-sucking undead."

"What? Stick his nose in where it's not wanted?" Gwil bared his fangs. "Piss off."

Hyax didn't see Gwil bear his fangs that often—he'd been the cause of it on at least one previous occasion, but it was far more alluring than it had any right to be. Maybe it was because it unleashed a darker side that Gwil managed to keep under wraps most of the time.

Disappointedly, it didn't seem to have much of an effect on Metra who turned back to Hyax. "This is exactly what I'm talking about. You can't possibly be in love with this monster."

"As Gwil has already articulated, it's time for you to go."

Metra stood. "I'm going, but this isn't the end. We were good together, Hyax. The differences between our families have been resolved."

"My parents aren't aware of our previous liaison, they may change their mind that you'd be suitable to be on the list once they hear my version of why we ended things."

Gwil stood and stepped closer to Metra. "If you were so convinced that you were meant to be Hyax's one true love, why did it take our betrothal for you to act?"

"I don't answer to vampires." Metra shoved Gwil in the chest and stormed away.

Hyax puffed out his cheeks and Gwil sat next to him. "Where did you get to? Leaving me alone when we're on a date is not the sort of signal we want to send out."

"My sister's here."

First Metra and now Gwil's sister, so much for this place being exclusive. "What did she want?"

"We had a chat. Penelope says colleagues of hers are also involved in resolving the recent misplacement of one of your family's possessions."

That was the first Hyax had heard of the vampires being involved and it could be a fucking political disaster. He didn't think his mother would have been as calm and collected as she was acting if she knew. "You have got to be fucking joking me? My mother didn't say anything. Did Penelope say which of her colleagues knew? Because if this is being discussed at the Vampire Council then it might already be known by some of the other tribes."

"Not the Council directly." Gwil glanced around and leant closer, as aware as Hyax was that this wasn't the place for too open a conversation. "She's involved via the work she does for the executive search branch—which might sound like a headhunter for a FTSE500 company but it's an elite group of security officers who mop up the mess without asking questions."

"That doesn't sound good."

"No. But then none of this situation does, and the more people who know the harder it will be to keep this from getting out to the wider populace. On top of it, we now have your ex-boyfriend in the mix."

Hyax huffed. "I hadn't factored Metra into the equation. He's incensed that we're together and, while I could've predicted a bit of grumbling given his family, I hadn't expected such a reaction from him."

"I can understand it's an added complication. When I first met you things had been pretty intense between the pair of you, and you broke up not long after, so if the reason for your split has been removed, then it's only natural to re-evaluate what happened."

He hadn't known Gwil well enough at the time to confide in him about what had happened with Metra, and while the past relationship had come up now and again, he'd felt embarrassed to admit that his boyfriend had cheated on him.

"If it had only been our parents objecting we would have found a way. This outburst of Metra's isn't real or he's channelling the general dislike some of the fae leaders have for vampires. Metra's kinfolk in particular are anti-vamp. If he really wanted me, as you pointed out, he would have done something a few years back."

"It's all right to be upset."

He didn't want Gwil to think he was harbouring the idea of getting back together with Metra. "I found him half naked with a friend of his. He claimed, still does, it was just for show, that nothing happened and it was part of the cover to stop us being discovered."

"Oh, Hyax, I'm sorry. That's fucking a shitty thing for him to do, and you can't help still having feelings for him."

"I thought I was in love with him." Hyax rested his head on Gwil's shoulder. "But that was a long time ago now, and I don't think I really was."

"I've had all sorts of things happen to me a long time ago, doesn't mean they don't matter."

Gwil placed his arm around Hyax's shoulders. Hyax shifted closer. It wasn't as if he wouldn't have done this even if people weren't thinking they were together. Gwil felt good against him, and it was important he remembered this was all for show. Being in love with his best friend sucked pixie scrotums. And that wasn't the worst thing about the whole situation.