Serpent's Salvation Ch. 03

***

Aurel was almost hyperventilating by the time he got back to the car. Mych held the door open and helped him in before taking the seat opposite. Ruvn was up front; Cai and Alex were in the back with them. Mych nodded to the driver before turning back to Aurel. He waited until the car was moving before initiating conversation.

"He knew we were there," Mych said. Aurel just nodded, still shaken by the brief encounter.

"Aurel, are you Ok?" said Alex.

"We have more important things to worry about Alex. He's fine," Mych snapped.

"Fuck you," said Alex. "I have a mate. I've gone through this and I can tell you that his reaction is definitely not normal. He shouldn't be freaking out just seeing him, at least not like that."

"Mych is right Alex. I'm all right. I just..." Aurel paused to put his head between his knees and take another deep breath. "I wasn't freaking out because I was near him. I freaked out because I couldn't go to him. I can't be with him." He raised his head. "I wanted to. I still do." He lowered his face again. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"He knew we were fucking there. I told you this was a bad idea." The look on Mych's face was stoney as he told them what happened, the way Sebastian had whipped around, seeking them.

"But how? Did one of you give him a signal?" Alex said, blatantly ignoring the thunderous look on Mychael's face.

"Of course not. I would have known if a member of my team had connected with him. And he isn't one of us," Mych snarled, anticipating Alex's next question.

"How can you be sure? You've admitted that you can't even smell him. None of you could," Cai said. "I even tried. Didn't get a thing." Mych was about to explode when Aurel cut in.

"He isn't." They all got quiet as Aurel sat up, obviously more in control. "I can sense him just fine. He isn't like any of us."

"Mych, do you have any ideas?" Alex said.

Mych sighed, unable to maintain his anger. "When they first told me I had thought, maybe, Vampire, but no. Not possible."

"Why not?" Cai said. Mych slanted him a look before addressing his answer to Aurel.

"You can smell him. The undead have no body odor. What few vital signs they still possess are almost impossible to detect, even for us. In any case, they're extremely rare, despite the stories you may have heard. I've only ever met two. Besides, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's no Count Dracula." He looked at Cai again and smiled without humor. "He was just standing in the sun."

Cai colored but said nothing.

"Hell. I'm sorry. It wasn't a bad idea. I just don't want to admit that I don't have a clue," Mych said.

"Join the club. He's no shape shifter that I've ever met," Alex said.

"Nor I." Aurel had scented him and still didn't know. "I had assumed he was human. I didn't realize the upheaval that he'd caused with his visit until this morning."

"Afternoon."

Aurel smiled slightly at Alex's correction. "Afternoon then," he said. "You know, you are all taking this fairly well."

"Are you demented? I'm not taking this well at all," Mych said.

"Not that. My, well..."

"Lifestyle readjustment?" Alex offered.

"Something like that."

"You aren't mooning over me, so I'm cool," Alex said.

"I think my problem stems more from your taste in men." Cai grinned as Aurel's brows began to gather in a frown.

"How would you know what my taste is like?" Aurel said. Cai removed a small pair of binoculars from his coat pocket and waved them.

"What can I say? I'm nosey."

"And what's wrong with my taste? I thought he was quite attractive." That was the understatement of the millennia. He had never been so overcome with lust. One glance at Sebastian had blinded him to all. Not even the fact that Seb was a man could stifle the earnest need he felt just being near him. He had felt it in every pore.His other half.

"Well, he was a bit of a geek, wasn't he?"

"Geek?" Aurel's glare effectively silenced the few chuckles that escaped suppression.

"Geek? He's doing a series of guest lectures and fieldwork. Did you really expect him to wear club clothes? And besides, he was quite...muscular." His face heated at the thought of just how muscular Sebastian's ass had been. You could calibrate sensitive scientific equipment using the arc of that perfect, perfect ass.

"TMI!"

"What?"

"T. M. I. Too. Much. Information, "Alex said.

Aurel couldn't believe that he had said that out loud. He blushed. He never blushed! But then again, he'd never accidentally commented on the glory of someone's posterior either. "Sorry." He sounded anything but.

"No doubt. Stop getting so wound up. You know we're teasing you," Cai said. But he couldn't help adding, "I guess he's just not my type."

Just the thought of Sebastian being anyone else's type was enough to make Aurel's blood boil with barely suppressed jealousy. Something else to agonize over. Could his mate have a lover?

Aurel turned on Mych. "What about you? Do you have a problem with it?"

Mych barely stifled a snort of laughter. "I've no problem with it. In fact..." Mych quickly caught himself and fell silent.

"In fact, what?" Cai said.

Mych sat up abruptly as a thought struck him. "We could be thinking about this all wrong. Maybe he is human."

"A human able to get past your men?" Alex said. "Don't get me wrong, you're a jerk, but you're my kind of jerk. I respect your abilities. No way is he human."

"No, hear me out. Humans know almost nothing of us. Why should we know everything about them? Why couldn't certain myths hold a grain of truth just as ours do? Witches. Psychics. Hell, he could be a grey alien in disguise for all we know. There is more under Heaven and Earth and all that."

"Great. My boyfriend: space cowboy," Aural said.

Cai threw an empty water bottle at him. "You know what he meant."

"Yes, I know. I also know that I should've never gotten cable."

Cai cocked his head as he studied Aurel. "He's good for you."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Blindingly. You were a stuffed shirt. I haven't seen you this loosened up in; I don't know, a long time."

"Is that a good thing?"

"I'm happy for you." Cai studied his fingernails. "Almost jealous in a way. You and Alex are in a very exclusive club." He looked up. "I've missed you. The real you."

"I don't know if I'll have a happy ending Cai."

"And that's what concerns me," Alex said, turning solemn. "If any of our speculation is true, you realize what this means?"

Mych nodded.

"He's valuable. An asset to the wrong hands, or a way to strike at you at the very least. He could be in real danger," Alex said. "Too many people were there last night. Too many of our own people witnessed what happened, let alone guests that might have caught on. Maybe he isn't detectable cross country, but boring detective work would find him fast." The fact that one of their own could have betrayed them remained unspoken.

Aurel closed his eyes and leaned his head against the back of the seat. "I've already thought of that Alex", he said. "Mych has men protecting him now. Trusted men. I can't be with him but I won't leave him alone. I just had to see him at least once."

"There is another possibility Aurel, and you need to hear it," said Mych.

Aurel cocked one questioning brow at him. "This sounds serious."

"Dead serious. This Sebastian has a gift. He can get in through any radar. Ours. Yours. I didn't put men on him to protect him, though that is a secondary consideration. I put them on him to protect you. You're too trusting where he's concerned. You need to prepare yourself for the fact that he might be a tool working for the opposition."

Thank you for the kind emails, you have no idea how inspiring just one can be, so keep sending them. Chapter four is almost finished.