his smile wry. “Looks like you’re not the only one my brother and I will need to keep an eye on. Harrison is in a mood tonight. You look beautiful, by the way.”
She smoothed her hands nervously over the silky fabric of her unusual dress. A cocktail-length beige sheath that had, at first, looked incredibly plain for all the fuss Harrison and Madame Aubrey had made over it. Until she’d put it on.
As it warmed against her skin, it had become a halter dress, lifting and cupping her breasts to show them to their perfect advantage, the skirt loose for easy movement, reaching her knees. Even stranger, the dress’s color kept changing.
She chuckled as she looked down, noticing it deepen from cool blue to passionate purple as Tucker continued to stare. “I’m wearing a full-body mood ring. It’s a bit over the top, even for magical fashion.”
“It’s sexy.” Tucker jerked, standing straighter in the doorway, his expression telling her he hadn’t meant to say that. But he had.
Callie ran her fingers through her loose blonde waves, loving the new shoulder length cut, the shimmering look of it after Charity’s special rinse. She felt sexy.
“We should probably get going. Any last minute tips? One cop to another?” She turned for one last look in the mirror, and then he was there, behind her.
God, he was beautiful. He always had been. She was surprised some lucky Magian female hadn’t already swept him away and started raising perfect, dimpled, baby witches.
He stood close behind her, so close she could feel the heat coming off him in waves. She met his gaze and shivered as he licked his lips. “Callie,” he started, his voice rough. “You aren’t a cop yet. And you aren’t…you don’t understand the Magian mind. Our criminals think differently than humans, have different motives.”
“Bullshit.” She ignored his shocked expression and rolled her eyes. “I’ve known your family most of my life. You have the same motives as anyone else. Anger, boredom, greed…lust. Just because a Magian uses their powers instead of knives or guns, doesn’t mean their motives are any more or less complex than a human’s.” She turned around to face him. “You’re quieter than Tyghe, but you feel the same way he does, don’t you? Humans are inferior. Including me. Between the two of you, I’m surprised you ever let me in your house. Knowing such an insignificant species was under your roof must have driven you cr—”
His thumb pressed gently against her lips, silencing her instantly with the powerful spark that ignited at his touch. His eyes narrowed on her mouth, his thumb sliding across her lower lip, opening her mouth with the lightest of pressure.
“You have driven me crazy, from the moment Harrison brought you home. I cannot deny that. I also can’t lie and say that for a long time your humanity wasn’t an issue. But not for the reasons you think.” He leaned closer, studying her features so intently she could physically feel his gaze on her skin.
She wanted him to kiss her. Even as this man whom she’d always believed was different told her that her being human disturbed him. Even though she’d been with Tyghe a few days before, though he seemed to be avoiding his family home quite a bit since Tucker had returned.
“You want a tip?” His voice was raw, heated. “For tonight, you, Tyghe and I will play the part of a passionate trio. We’ll be at your side, touching you, caressing you, as if we couldn’t get enough of the feel of your skin, your smell.” His thumb left her lips, and he stepped away. “It shouldn’t be any problem for you with my brother. But for this to work you’ll have to be mine as well. For the Proxenos to allow us the kind of access we’ll need, you’ll kiss me as easily, as passionately as you do him.”
Callie tried to slow her racing heart. Did he think it would be hard for her? It would be harder to pretend she wasn’t craving him just as desperately as she’d begun to crave Tyghe. But she would give it her best shot. The last thing she wanted was for Tucker to feel sorry for her. “I can handle anything for a night.”
She could pick up the broken pieces of her heart when the magic was over.
“Where’s Jenner?”
“She’ll be around. She left a note for us to wear these. Mom obviously made me some of her special jewelry for the occasion. Knowing her, it’s no doubt rigged to notify her if I don’t wear it to Triune. Think of it as a lucky, nosy, maternal charm bracelet.” Harrison slipped a golden, snake-shaped bracelet on Callie’s wrist, a piece to match the necklace around her own. “Now do you understand how this works?”
Callie sighed, shivering beneath the thick coat Tucker had forced her into. They were standing in a freezing parking garage in Boston after dark, not exactly what she’d imagined when she’d gotten dressed up. But she played along. “Triune? I think so. Magian’s come from far and wide to seek out the perfect threesome so they can live kinkily ever after. Sounds fairly straightforward to me.”
Tyghe chuckled beside her. “Smartass.”
Their eyes met and Callie shivered at the knowledge and desire in his glance. He’d come to her three more times since his altercation with Tucker, sneaking in through her window and driving her insane deep into the night with his insatiable appetites.
She felt guilty, but not enough to turn him away. Not enough not to revel in his lessons, his masterful lovemaking. He’d taken her in the shower, in her guest bedroom… The last time he’d caught up with her in the upstairs hallway, a few, nerve wracking doors away from Tucker’s room.
He’d been angry. “I tried to get you out of my mind. Tried to prove to myself that I could stay away from you. I had a woman, ready and willing, dying for me to fuck her, and all I could think about was you.”
He pressed her against the wall, lifted one of her thighs over his arm and took her. There were no preliminaries, but then, she hadn’t needed any. The moment she’d seen him she’d been ready. Looking at him now, she knew, even with Tucker and Harrison beside them, she needed him again.
His eyes darkened, a turbulent storm, and she knew he was feeling the same intense longing she was.
“If you want me to be sick all over my mother’s dress, keep ogling each other.” Callie jumped and turned, red-faced, toward her friend. Harrison shook her head. “Thank you. Some things are too disturbing for me to witness. As to what we were talking about before you were…distracted…there’s a little more to Triune than sex. Three elder Magians called Proxenos, sort of a marriage counselor and judge rolled in one, must give their approval of the match. They usually do, from what I hear, since once a Magian finds their compliments, it’s nearly impossible to separate them.” She sent a telling look to the two men on either side of Callie. “But you still have to stand before them at some point for judgment, just to be sure. The Proxenos are found when they’re very young, trained to ensure the matches are not coerced or illusory. So, they would no doubt be able to sniff out our ruse. So, if we could just find the killer before the first round of drinks are poured, we can get the hell out of there before someone turns into a pumpkin.”
Callie studied her tense friend. “What if you don’t find your matches at one of these things? Or you only find one?”
Tucker’s voice echoed in the silent parking garage. “There are four gatherings a year. Magian’s are drawn to find their missing compliments, their matches. It’s part of who we are, and we know our magic will never see its true potential if we do not.”
Callie didn’t want to dwell on why his words made her sad. “I suppose you’ve been to tons of these things by now.”
“None.” Tyghe sounded resigned. “Tucker hasn’t been to a single one. He must be the exception to the rule.”