in the top two of the worst.
Wings fluttered, and a familiar weight settled on his shoulder. He managed not to flinch. Oh, my boy, Essus thought, pain and guilt reverberating in the link. I’m so sorry I failed you.
“Bullshit.” Conal said aloud, stroking a finger over his friend’s feathered head. “You ripped into those fuckers like they were field mice. If I hadn’t been so scared for you, I’d have laughed my ass off watching them dodge your claws and yip.”
“You did save his life,” Helena agreed, giving the eagle a smile. “If you hadn’t reached Maeve in the Mageverse…” She flicked a glance at Conal, and her mouth clicked shut.
“She’s right, my eagle,” Maeve said. “You served me well this day.”
“Which reminds me…” Conal turned to Helena. “I haven’t thanked you for saving my ass.” His gaze dropped to the holster around her narrow waist. “You and your friend ‘with the particular set of skills.’”
“Yeah, that’s definitely one way to describe him.” She laughed, her dark eyes sparkling. Something about the throaty sound made his battered soul relax into uncomplicated yearning.
Damn, Maeve’s troubleshooter was beautiful. Her black curls were shaved close on the side, even as they rioted in a mohawk of long, springy curls to form a four-inch crest across the top of her head. More curls hung over her forehead, emphasizing the delicate angularity of her bone structure. Her eyes were big and dark and beautiful, her nose a wide, gentle curve above the most sensual mouth he’d ever seen.
Her snug shorts revealed long, lean muscular legs, as her crop top showed several inches of smooth, taut belly. The sunrise yellow fabric contrasted beautifully with the deep, rich brown of her skin. Even the wide black gun belt only emphasized the seductive curve of her hips.
Following his fascinated gaze, Helena glanced down at herself, took in what she was wearing, and winced. Her extravagant mouth drew into a little grimace. “Didn’t have time to change before I…” Her lips twitched. “Changed.”
Conal inhaled to answer -- and out of nowhere, a wave of hot arousal rolled over him. Just like that, he was intensely aware of her. The way those full breasts tented the fabric of her thin top drew his gaze. He ached to touch them, to taste them… Oh, Christ, I’m getting an erection. Where in the hell had that come from?
One minute he’d been fighting the aftershocks of torture-inflicted PTSD. The next, he was sniffing pretty werewolves. He was going to make Helena think he was some kind of pervert. Fighting the blend of embarrassment and lust, Conal looked away, shifting from foot to foot. Essus, reacting to his emotions, rubbed his head against his burning cheek with a soothing churrr.
Conal heard a sharp inhale and automatically glanced back at Helena.
Her dark eyes had widened. And they were looking below his belt. Arousal flashed over her face before she, too, glanced away. She cleared her throat. “Liam, maybe I should be wearing something more… professional?”
“I believe I have just the thing.” There was a note of amusement in the death god’s velvet voice.
Light flared around her, and when it faded, she wore black slacks and a long-sleeved white shirt, low-heeled black pumps on her feet. There shouldn’t have been anything seductive about such a stern outfit, yet Conal found himself staring, enthralled, at the curve of her hips, the way the white cotton lay over her breasts.
Shit shit shit. Could she smell how turned on he was? He needed a pillow to hide his crotch. Time to get his mind on something else. Now. He turned away from Helena and focused his attention firmly on Maeve. “I’m afraid this isn’t over. While they were torturing me, they used an enchanted phone to video the scene for Siobhan.” He ground his teeth. “She definitely hired them.”
Maeve flinched, but turned to face him. “Did she say why?”
“Revenge.” Conal hesitated a moment, but there was no point in trying to sugarcoat it. “She told me once I was dead, she was going to target my sisters and burn Beltane to the ground.”
“Bitch,” Essus muttered in his ear.
Helena frowned. “Beltane? Isn’t that a Sidhe Summer festival?”
“Yes, but it’s also a New York neighborhood. Five thousand people live there, mostly Changelings, but some full-blooded Sidhe and people from other Mageverse races. I’ve been helping them buy homes and start businesses.” Conal’s lips tightened. “Which is apparently enough to make Siobhan want to kill every last one of them.”
Maeve’s eyes closed