benevolent peanut gallery getting a chance to weigh in - not that anything would be said publicly. Privately, though? Pillow talk ran rampant through the household.
Something to envy.
Qhuinn started forward, then abruptly changed direction and walked allllll the way around to the other side of the table, to the only chair, other than the one next to Blay, that was empty.
For some reason, Blay thought of the conversation he'd had with his mother over the phone, the one where he had finally admitted to a member of his family who he really was.
Unease feathered across his nape. Qhuinn would never do something like come out, and not because his parents were dead, or because, when that pair had been alive, they had hated their son.
I see myself with a female long-term. I can't explain it. It's just the way it's going to be.
Blay pushed his plate away.
"Blay? Hello?"
Shaking himself, he glanced at Rhage. "I'm sorry?"
"I asked you if you were ready to play Nanook of the North."
Oh, that's right. They were going back to that stretch of forest where they'd found the cabins and the lesser with the special power for going ghost - as well as that airplane which was, at the moment, gathering snow in the backyard.
He, John, and Rhage were on deck for the assignment. And Qhuinn.
"I...yeah, absolutely."
The most beautiful member of the Brotherhood frowned, his Caribbean blue eyes narrowing. "You okay?"
"Yup. Just fine."
"When was the last time you fed?"
Blay opened his mouth. Shut it. Tried to do the math.
"Uh-huh. I thought so." Rhage leaned forward and spoke around Z's chest. "Yo, Phury? Do you think one of your Chosen can come here and fill in for Layla at dawn? We've got some blood needs."
Great. Just what he wanted to do at the end of the night.
About an hour later, Qhuinn took a sharp breath as he materialized in the cold. Flurries fluttered around his face, getting into his eyes and his nose. One by one, John, Rhage, and Blay assumed form with him.
As he faced off at the airplane hangar, the hollowed-out shell brought back memories of that fakakta Cessna, and the Hail Mary trip, and the crash landing.
Happy, happy, joy, joy.
"Good to go?" he said to Rhage.
"Let's do this."
The plan was to proceed at quarter-mile clips until they came to the first few cabins they'd already been to. After that, they would locate the other buildings on the property, using the map they'd found previously as a guide. Just your typical search/recon protocol.
He had no clue what they would find, but that was the point. You didn't know until you did the job.
As Qhuinn sent himself forward, he was acutely aware of where Blay was. Yet as he re-formed in front of the first cabin they came to, he didn't look over when Blay appeared about five feet away. Not a good idea. Even though they were on assignment, all he had to do was close his eyes and his mind was flooded with images of naked bodies intertwined in the dim light of his bedroom.
Further visual confirm that the guy was hot as fuck was not a help.
He was ashamed to admit it, but right now, the only thing keeping him together was the fact that Blay had promised to come to him at dawn. The aftermath-awkwardness at First Meal had made him crave the communion even more, to the point where he was shaken by the idea that someday, in the near future, Saxton would be back and Blay would stop walking over from next door - and then what the fuck was he going to do.
What a goddamn mess.
At least Layla was doing well: still nauseated and smiling constantly.
Still pregnant, thanks to Blay's intervention...
"East by northeast," Rhage said as he consulted the map.
"Roger that," Qhuinn replied.
And so they went on, going deeper into the territory, the forest fanning out all around them for hundreds and hundreds of yards...and then by a mile. And then by several miles.
The cabins were largely the same, roughly twenty by twenty, open-spaced in the center, no bathroom, no kitchen, just a roof and four walls to file down the worst of the weather's teeth. The farther in they went, the more dilapidated the structures became - and they were all empty. Logical. This was a long trek if you were on foot - and lessers, as strong as they were, couldn't dematerialize.
At least, most of them couldn't.
That had to have been the Fore-lesser, he thought. Only explanation