I turned to Darcy, finding her expression feral and leaning forward to steal a kiss from her wild, snarly little mouth.
“There is no Fae in this world I want but you,” I said against her lips, soothing her and her shoulders relaxed.
Seth came running back over, drying himself out with air magic, his hair flying out about his shoulders as he straightened his cowboy hat and I noticed he was wearing a red leather vest, his shirt now missing and his muscles on display. Where the fuck did he get that?
“What the hell are you wearing, man?” Max asked him as he approached and Seth looked down, seeming to notice his attire for the first time.
“Woooah,” he cooed, and his jeans suddenly shifted into red leather chaps. He turned around with a gasp, shaking his butt to reveal that they were in fact assless chaps.
Caleb’s lips popped open as Seth wiggled his ass back and forth in them, admiring himself as spurs appeared on the back of his boots.
“What in tarnation is happening?” Seth said, his accent changing once more to something more country and he touched a hand to his mouth in shock. “Did you hear that?”
Leon hurried over through the crowd as he spotted Seth, laughing his ass off and smacking him on the back. “It got you!”
“What got me?” Seth asked in confusion.
“The hat. The guy who owned it was a Bull Shifter named Bo Vine. He had one dying wish and it got trapped in this hat when he went out of this world, trampled by his own Cow harem when they were startled by a roaming Lion Shifter.” He shook his head sadly. “Tragic.”
“Was the Shifter you?” I deadpanned and Leon looked to me, aghast.
“What are you implying? That I crept onto Bo’s land to steal his special leather hat and accidentally killed him?” Leon gasped.
“Yes, that’s precisely what I’m implying,” I said and he held a hand to his heart like I’d wounded it.
“Lance Orion, you have no proof and nothing to go on. I don’t know anything about Bo’s death, but I do know he was a mean asshole who liked to shoot pigeons from his window and once got arrested for molesting a drainpipe. So are we sorry he’s dead? Are we? Or is that unknown, nameless Lion a hero?”
I gave him a flat look as the Heirs sniggered.
“I think I suit this look.” Seth continued to wiggle his ass. “Can I keep all of it?” He looked to Leon with big eyes, but Leon shook his head seriously.
“Bo breathed his final wish on his dying breath – not that I was there to hear it - but apparently, he said he always wanted to ride a Pegasus in his finest red leather attire, and sing Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex as loud as he could.” Leon frowned at Seth. “And if you don’t live out his wish the leather will bind to your skin, turn to acid and melt away your bones.”
“Ah!” Seth yelped and Caleb shot to his side, reaching for the hat.
“Take it off,” Caleb growled, but Leon shoved him back with a cry before he could get hold of it.
“No! The wish must be fulfilled!” Leon yelled. “If you take any of the clothes off, you’ll set off the curse and the leather will bind to your-”
“My skin. Got it,” Seth ground out. “So what do I do?”
“Fulfil Bo’s wish,” Leon breathed mysteriously, pointing dramatically at Xavier who sighed, getting to his feet.
“Come on then.” Xavier started stripping and Seth hurried forward, hitching a leg up over his hip before he’d even shifted, his ass cheek popping fully out the side of the chaps.
“Dude.” Xavier batted him away. “Gimme a sec.”
Seth whimpered as he stepped back, waiting as Xavier leapt forward and shifted into his Pegasus form, and Seth hurried forward to climb onto his back.
Tory ran over to the Oscuras who were playing the music, speaking with them and a second later Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex started playing and Xavier took off, flying over us as a lasso popped into existence in Seth’s hand and he started swinging it as he belted out the lyrics like his life depended on it – which I guessed it did come to think of it.
I glanced at Darcy as she cracked up beside me, snorting a laugh myself at the ridiculousness of this situation. Tory came jogging back to our group, laughing at Seth as he circled above and dropping back into her seat.
“Will that shit really burn his skin off?” I asked Leon as he stepped closer to us, grinning from ear to ear.
“Yep,” he said. “I wear the hat on my birthday every year. I swear I can hear Bo singing along too from the grave. You could say I gave him the greatest gift a person can give someone.”