“What? Why?” Heath straightens. “Is he hiding something about how he feels again? What’s happening?”
I place a hand on his arm to quell his panic. “Joss is fine. Mostly. He told me about a vision he had, but doesn’t want to talk to you guys about it.”
“Why not?”
“You know Joss; he’d rather keep things light.” I pause. “I know you have visions too, but Joss said his was clearer this time.”
Heath drags a hand through his hair and closes his eyes. “Yeah, we don’t talk about those. It’s an unspoken agreement between us all because it fucks with our heads. I prefer to ignore them.”
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned this, but I don’t want another situation where you hide things from each other.”
“It’s all good. If the vision reached a stage where it bothers Joss, I need to talk to him.”
His anxiety reaches me, and I pull Heath’s head towards me and kiss him again. Heath’s kiss is less insistent and gentler, and I hug him to me. I hope I did the right thing by sharing Joss’s problems.
We head back to the main room and are met with concerned looks and words by the others. Joss slides an arm around my waist and kisses my hair, always the most tactile of the four he often does this without thinking. I glance around the room. Charlotte stands a few feet away, and I catch her eye before she quickly looks away.
The temptation to kiss one of the others edges in, but I resist. I can’t help the little jolt of smugness at Charlotte’s poor attempt to hide her shocked expression.
19
XANDER
I straighten my shirtsleeves and scan the room, taking another good look for Alasdair. Vee's in the centre of our group, relaxed and smiling as she jokes with the other guys. People's reaction amused me when we walked in earlier, Vee holding Joss's hand and Heath's arm around her shoulder. There are dozens of people in the room, and their arrival shut down much of the conversation happening around us. Because of the guys? Or the girl clearly indicating “back off, they're mine”?
Vee keeps asking Seth if he's okay, and her concern for him annoys me still. I share Ewan's opinion he's not one hundred percent what he says, but I'm biding my time. I watch Seth’s every move, have done since he joined us, despite Vee chastising me to give the guy some breathing space. I sense genuine discomfort from him at being in tonight’s social situation, and he seems physically weak, but what's happening behind the facade? The longer he's with us, the more my suspicion grows.
A girl dressed in a white shirt and black skirt approaches and offers us drinks from a tray. I swig mine and look around for a table to place the empty glass on. There's a guy opposite with a beer. Where do I get one instead of this mouthful?
"I don't normally come to this kind of thing," says Seth in a low voice. "I'm not big on social events."
"I can tell. Just have a few drinks, you'll relax," I say. "I'll keep an eye on you."
Seth snorts. "Yeah, I'm sure you will."
The number of people here makes it difficult to study them all without wandering the room and staring at them all like a lunatic. At least two of us need to get out of the room and explore the place; if demons are here I want to know how many and why. This isn't a big surprise, nor is the fact we've been lured here for a reason. Yeah, well, they'll be sorry when the five of us start on them.
Alasdair hasn't shown his face again, and more than ever, we need him to answer questions. More than that, we need Joss or Vee close enough to him to be able to detect if he's a demon too. The red-haired girl exuded the demonic presence, and she's connected to somebody.
Someone in this room?
Breanna's here now, dressed in a tight-fitting green dress, distinctive red hair spilling down her back. She works the room, chatting to group after group, adding in smiles and touches. The sight sickens me, as if she's taunting us that she can get this close to humans. What worries me more is Breanna’s with a human guy, young and attractive, and stuck to her like a guard dog. I’m holding onto the thought demons are unlikely to kill anybody while we're here and draw attention to the place, but what else are demons doing here? If they’re not killing, are they looking for new people to possess?
I lower my voice and tell Heath, “I’m gonna find Breanna and talk to her.”
He nods and continues his conversation with Joss and Vee.
I walk across the room in another attempt to corner her, but Breanna steps to one side and into a new conversation.
I halt next to a group, and after ten minutes forced to chat about their boring lives, I catch sight of Heath staring at me from across the room. I frown as he holds his hands at waist height and subtly points to the right, and the doorway. Turning my head, a sure of adrenaline joins my surprise.
Logan.
He's with his wife again, immediately and enthusiastically greeted by a younger couple who evidently know him. If we stand out, Logan eclipses us in his tailored suit. He’s taller than the average human, and the fae has made no attempt to disguise his unusual appearance. Gazes are drawn to the unusual man with bronze eyes and pale blond hair. I make a hasty excuse to the man droning on about hedge funds—which I've finally figured out isn’t a business related to gardening—and weave through the people back to the guys and Vee.
"What the fuck?" I whisper.
"This is good," replies Ewan. "This proves there's a link between them all. He obviously knows people here."
"And Alasdair," puts in Heath. "He must do."
"Has Alasdair arrived yet?" I crane my head, watching Logan approach the red-haired demon as I scan the room. "Whoa. Okay. Could he be any more public?"
The familiarity between the two is confirmed when Breanna greets him with a warm smile, and he kisses her on the cheek.
"Why behave like that when they know we're here?" I ask. “Right in front of us all.”
"Because they want you to see, of course." Seth steps from where he's hidden himself in the corner of us and pushes his glasses against his face. "Who is this man you’re all staring at? The fae I've heard you talking about recently?"
We haven't spoken about Logan, or what happened with Mac, in detail, but he's heard the name. I suspect Vee has shared who Logan is, because she looks at the floor rather than at me. I can't blame her. Seth is smart at extracting information.
I nod. "Yeah. Logan. Portia's adviser."
"But you said the girl was a demon. You told me fae don't like demons." A woman a few feet away throws Seth a curious look, and I make a hand gesture to indicate he should keep his voice down.
"Correct. Joss? Vee? Any others here?"
Joss shakes his head. "Honestly, I can't feel any more demons around."
"What the hell is this Alasdair guy doing? Do you think he knows he's working with demons?"