The flight attendant had, quite rightly, freaked out, and the onboard marshal had been forced to frisk her.
“Yeah,” Nessa added. “Thank God for Jessie keeping her head and calming things down.”
“She didn’t find it as funny as everyone else did,” he said. “Cyra is a nut. I love her antics.”
“Me too. I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my face.”
“Hey, Weird Mage.” The shifter who’d been shouting directions walked over to them with a hard expression and no-nonsense vibe. He held out a key. The scratched red plastic attached to it read 3.
“You and your gal pal are in the first batch to get showers. Get freshened up.” The shifter paused with a slight sneer. “Dress shirt, slacks, combed hair… You do have a comb, don’t you?”
In their territory, only the newest shifters tended to show signs of animosity toward Sebastian.
He’d proven himself in the pack multiple times over by now.
Apparently old habits died hard. Now that these shifters were heading into battle with mages, they
were letting old misgivings resurface. Sebastian had wondered how he’d be received in Kingsley’s pack. He’d probably just gotten his answer. He hoped it wouldn’t escalate.
“He doesn’t, actually,” Nessa quipped, always quick to come to Sebastian’s defense. “Not since you borrowed it to comb out your bush.” She looked down at his crotch pointedly. “You might try to trim that down, by the way. I’ve heard it helps make things look bigger, though I doubt there’s much of a point with you.”
Fire kindled in the shifter’s eyes. Nessa always knew how to cut to the quick of a person.
“And what about you, Gal Pal?” The shifter leaned into her a little, dominating her with his size.
“You always walk around looking like a little rat. Did you have to raid the lost-and-found bin for this trip?”
“The lost-and-found?” she asked innocently. “No. I needed something nicer. I grabbed the date-night clothes you use on your sex doll. I was surprised you had so many outfits. Never felt the touch of a real woman, huh?”
His body bristled, and his arms flared away from his body, the dominating posturing turning aggressive.
“What did you just say to me, mage—”
“Cam!” Tristan’s voice was a whip crack. The shifter leaning into Nessa jerked away. “What’s the delay? Get moving.”
Tristan wasn’t in charge of the shifters, but it didn’t seem to matter. Cam straightened up quickly, pulling back on the aggression. Without a word, he turned and headed back toward the vans.
Tristan stood a little removed from the others, his blank gaze on Nessa. In a moment, he went back to scanning the goings-on of everyone else.
“How gross would that be?” Sebastian asked as he grabbed his carry-on. “His sex doll? Ew.”
She grabbed her bag, and they walked toward the motel. “I know, but he’s a dimwitted grunt. I knew he’d miss the details. I would’ve had a field day if someone had said that to me.”
“I’m still stuck on ew.”
She laughed as they entered the shabby room that hadn’t seen an update since it was probably built in nineteen-too-long-ago.
“See anything?” she asked, jerking her head in the direction of the street.
“Only looky-loos so far. Our outfit is turning heads.”
“Of course it is. There’s a bunch of hard-eyed stacks of muscle standing around outside of luxury vans. Half of them have capes, for goodness’ sake. Everyone in this tiny town is going to know within the hour.” She affected an older man’s voice. “Hey, Ethel, there’s a bunch of guys dressed up as Batman at that motel on the strip. Damndest thing I ever did see.”
“Yeah, true. None of these people have probably seen gargoyles before. Even the Dicks who are used to turning a blind eye will talk about that. If Momar has people monitoring the towns bordering Kingsley’s territory, and he’d be a fool not to, they’ll know we’re here in no time at all.”
“I’ll shower first,” Nessa said, putting her suitcase on the double bed nearest the little table in the corner. “I need to do hair and makeup and all that. It’ll take forever.”
When she’d finished showering, he quickly rinsed off the airport cooties and dressed in smart attire. He’d asked around to find out what everyone else planned on wearing before picking out his threads. No flashy dressing this time around. He needed to fit in.