Archangel's Enigma (Guild Hunter)(43)

“Down.” She pushed at his shoulders.

Going under, he washed out the grass from his hair. This time when he came back up, she was paddling over to grab his pants so she could wash them out. Her wings were spread out on the water, the blood having sluiced off, and he really, really, really wanted to touch. Sidling closer, he ran one hand over her primaries.

She jerked and shot him a look over her shoulder. “You know that’s bad behavior.”

Heading to the bank, he reached up and grabbing his wet but clean T-shirt, threw it at a tree. It hooked on a branch and opened out. The night air would dry it a little at least. “I’m often bad,” he said honestly. “I like your wings.”

Instead of continuing on the topic, her skin suddenly flushed red hot. “Um, here are your pants. I rinsed them out.”

“Thank you.” He knew it was polite to say that when someone did a nice thing for you. “Why are you red?”

She swam away instead of answering. Throwing his jeans toward a tree and managing to get them hanging over a branch, he swam after her, his pulse racing. Was she playing with him? But when he came up beside her after having dived under the water, she gasped. “You said you wouldn’t look!”

“I didn’t. I closed my eyes.” It had been tempting to break his promise, but promises were to be kept. It was one of the first things Dmitri had taught him—by keeping his own promises.

“I’ll bring you the cured meat you want when I return.”

“Promise?”

“Yes.”

Dmitri had been gone a long time in the child’s mind—it must’ve been three months at least. Naasir hadn’t forgotten the promise, but he hadn’t really expected Dmitri to remember. He’d just been excited at the return of the man he saw as his father.

“Dmitri!” He pelted out the door, escaping the hapless vampire set to watch over him. “Dmitri! Dmitri!”

Strong arms grabbing him tight and lifting him off the ground, Dmitri’s dark eyes sad even though his mouth smiled. Naasir didn’t know why Dmitri was sad but he’d seen the way Dmitri’s eyes began to warm after they were together for a while, so he knew he wasn’t what made Dmitri sad.

“Have you been behaving, Naasir?”

Naasir ducked his head. “No.” He’d eaten the school’s pet bunny. He hadn’t meant to—but it was right there in front of him and he’d been so hungry. “I’m in big trouble.”

“Ah.” Deep male laughter that made him look up and bare his teeth in a feral smile because he could see Dmitri wasn’t angry. “You can tell me about it while you eat this.”

Naasir took the package and tore it open to find the gift for which he’d asked. “You remembered!”

Sadness in his eyes again, Dmitri ruffled his hair. “A man keeps his promises, Naasir.”

“Naasir?”

He shook off the memory of childhood to hold Andromeda’s pretty, sparkly gaze. “I didn’t look,” he repeated. “If I look, it’ll be because you invite me.”

Cheeks hot, she smiled at him. “Want to race?”

“I’ll beat you,” he warned. “Your wings will slow you down.”

“Give me a head start to make it competitive. You don’t start until I’m halfway across.”

Delighted at the idea of a private game with her, he nodded. “Okay.” Elena had told him cheating was allowed when one party was weaker than the other in some way. As when they’d sparred, Andromeda was cheating, but it was the good kind of cheating. It meant they could play together.

When Andromeda struck out for the opposite end of the pond, he saw she was more graceful and faster than he’d expected. His mate had been keeping more secrets. Laughing inside at her trickiness, he waited until she was at the halfway point, then began to slice through the water. He’d been born knowing how to swim.

Having reached Andromeda, he could’ve overtaken her at any point, but he did something sneaky. He lowered his speed as if tired, so he could swim with her. And when they reached the end of the pond, he let her lunge out and grab the bank first. “I win!” she said, her whole face alight. “You owe me a forfeit.”

“What do you want?” he asked, bracing his arms on the bank as she did the same beside him. “I have a treasure of shiny things.”

“Really?” Her eyes widened but she shook her head. “I don’t want a shiny thing this time—maybe next time I win.”

Naasir liked the idea of more games.

“I want you to do something for me,” she said.

“What?” He moved surreptitiously closer, so that her wing brushed his arm.

“Go with me to a dinner held by my parents.”

Naasir blinked. Women liked to rut with him, but he’d never been invited home for dinner, and since Andromeda didn’t want to lie with him, he didn’t understand her request. Unless . . . “Do you want to shock your parents?” Naasir was different and unique. Many in the world wanted him for his skills, but he was also deeply other.

He accepted himself. His mate would have to accept him, too, not treat him as a freak.

Andromeda laughed as if he’d told a great joke.

Scowling, he began to get out of the water.