Raev was trying to keep her tone light, but a growl entered her voice at the last sentence.

  Boyd’s tail slipped under the table to seek out hers, where they pooled around the legs of her chair. His open hand reached across the table, the invitation clear and matching his gentle smile.

  Raev smiled and placed her hand in his before continuing. “I didn’t stop flirting, but it became a game. I would see how far I could lead them on, what promises I could get them to make… and then leave them high and dry.”

  “Sounds fitting,” Boyd agreed with a nod and light chuckle.

  “It was fun.” Raev laughed and he sensed relief that he didn’t think it inappropriate across their Bond. “I toyed with boys until I was out of the PAC, but that sentiment didn’t end there… and on the teams I joined, the guys just got better about hiding it.”

  Boyd sighed, seeing where this was going. He began to gently rub the back of the hand she had placed in his with his thumb while his tail carefully stroked the soft fur of her tails so as to avoid mussing them.

  “I won’t get into numbers, but I fell for the bullshit of more guys than I’m proud to admit. Enough that I started to believe what they said behind my back, that I wasn’t the kind of girl that deserved a happily ever after… just a series of good times.”

  Raev frowned and shook her head. “I tried to be careful. To weed out the guys who were only taking me on a few dates to get me into bed, but I never seemed to get it right. There were a few times when I thought it might be karma for messing with the boys in my PAC.”

  “But… then I found you. And I got to see what you thought of me on the inside.” She grinned at him, a familiar heated glint entering her emerald eyes. “I got to feel how much you wanted to possess me… to make me yours until the end of time. You want to share a billion good times with me, so I don’t have to worry about any of that anymore.”

  “A billion doesn’t sound like nearly enough. We may have to delay the end of time to fit some more in.” Boyd returned her grin, then continued more seriously, “I’m sorry you had to go through all that, but I’m glad it led you to me. Thank you for sharing, I know it wasn’t easy.”

  He let go of her hand and leaned across the table to stroke her cheek. “I love you, Raev.”

  “Me too,” the heat that was slipping into Raev’s eyes morphed into a gentle warmth. “I mean, I love you, too.”

  His Gestalt made Boyd pay attention to the conversation again, and then shared something of himself to further build their connection before giving her the present he had prepared. Then, he would take her out onto the dance floor.

  Boyd took another sip of his quickly depleting but pleasant cocktail before he began. “I can relate, in a way. I think why I’m just figuring out that I’m attractive now is because…”

  “Absurdly attractive,” Raev cut in with a wink. “Attractive alone isn’t a strong enough adjective.”

  Boyd smiled and shook his head as he continued, “is because of all the anti-Changed rhetoric we grew up with. I pretty much hated myself for going through my Change until just, what… a month ago?”

  Time had been moving quickly of late.

  Boyd’s life had been frequent bouts of excitement in the form of near-death situations—which always seemed to happen in a flash no longer how long they actually took—interspersed with moments with the women he loved that never lasted long enough. Time seemed to fly by even faster since his foxy love had walked in on him and Silvie enjoying one another in the kitchen.

  Had it only been a few short weeks ago? So much had changed.

  “Since you entered my life, actually. I didn’t accept myself, even during those couple of years when it was just me and Silvie.”

  Raev bounced her head from side to side, her ears perking and flattening to match the movement. “While sweet, and I would love to take some credit, we both know that it was Mindy who got that started. I did my job… just a little sooner than expected. She thinks that I strengthened your Gestalt, which is one of the reasons everything is taking weeks instead of the years she predicted initially.”

  “Seems even Mindy says you deserve some of the credit.” Boyd smirked while reaching into his jacket to withdraw her reward for being open with him.

  His Gestalt informed him he was being overdramatic—they were giving it to her because they really wanted her to wear a piece of them. Always. So that other men knew she was taken, and to stay away.

  “Either way, I wanted to give you something for everything you’ve done for me, and to fulfill a promise.” Boyd slid the simple black necklace box across the table to her.

  Raev’s nimble fingers snapped it up in a flash, clutching it to her bare chest where her dress parted. “Is this what I think it is?!”

  She scarcely breathed; eyes locked on his with such a hopeful gleam in their depths that it made him feel a little bad about making her wait. It had been ready for over two weeks; he had just been waiting for the right occasion to give it to her.

  “Open it and find out!” He made sure his broad, toothy smile confirmed that it was.

  She set the box down in front of her and stared at it for a moment. The box was, of course, obsidian. It appeared to be a solid piece without a seam. Reaching down, Raev gingerly tried opening it in the most obvious way. It wasn’t designed to be a puzzle, and her red-painted fingernails got the top third of the box to swing up on hidden hinges with her first attempt.

  She gasped, hands shooting up to cover her mouth as her emerald eyes widened as she took it in. Boyd had left his tail resting among the nest of her amazing fluff, so he felt the tips of all four tails as they literally began to quiver.

  “Oh, Boyd, this is… it’s beautiful.” She glanced up at him before reaching into the box to carefully touch his gift.

  “It’s even better than I hoped.” She sighed as her fingers traced the surface of the choker he had crafted for her. “I don’t even know what I expected, but this is better than anything I imagined.” She lifted it from the box and held it up to admire.

  It was thinner than the one he’d made for Mindy, about half as wide, just like he’d planned. At the choker’s center was an obsidian heart, personally carved by Boyd’s own hands, polished to a glossy sheen. Around this dark heart, he’d set a sequence of three emeralds to each side, shrinking as they moved away from the top of the heart. They glinted a verdant green, matching Raev’s own eyes, and creating an exquisite contrast against the dark obsidian. He’d used silver settings to complement the black leather and the obsidian heart.

  “Come, put it on me,” his kitsune said eagerly, after running her fingers along the crimson interior and finding it to her liking.

  Boyd smoothly rose and moved around behind her as she held it up to her throat. After he took the ends from her, Raev moved her hands to lift the curled pile of red curls that covered her neck.

  As he carefully fastened the choker, Boyd’s fingers brushed lightly against her skin, sending a shiver down her spine and a little thrill across their Bond. The material had some give to it, allowing him to make it snug—which he sensed she’d prefer—without being constraining, as he also knew she would wear it regularly. The fastening was designed to break away and be replaced, as opposed to choking her, if it was subject to notable tension, just like the one he’d made for his gothic lover.

  The catch was tiny in Boyd’s big fingers, so he’d practiced the deft motion required to join the two ends together until it was easy. Soon, he had it secured. Brushing his thumbs up the nape of her neck, the big demon elicited another shiver and thrill before taking a step to the side to inspect the final effect.

  “How does it look?” she asked. Her eyes sparkled brighter than the silver-backed polished emeralds on the thin choker that now graced her slender throat.

  “Like it belongs there,” Boyd replied warmly. “It’s almost as pretty as the woman it was made for—strong, yet delicate… bold, yet beautiful. Just like you.”

  “It’s like… it’s like I can feel you through it,” Raev breathed, her cheeks heating with a rare blush as she lifted a hand to her throat, fingertips brushing the bottom edge of the choker. “I actually feel you…” Her eyes went a little out of focus as she stared up at him, lips parting in a content little smile.

  “I’m glad you like it,” Boyd replied.

  For some reason, his Gestalt was making them pay a little more attention than usual. Something was strange, which he sensed across their Bond. Raev wasn’t feeling him, she was sensing his energy as it flowed into her. It was not nearly as much as when he’d initially Enhanced her, or the several times a day he ‘maintained’ their Bond. Nor as quickly.

  His Gestalt drove him to pull their Black Flame to his eyes and Boyd let out a single, “Huh…” in response to what he saw in the simultaneously bright and murky world it revealed.

  The leather of the choker was behaving exactly as it did when still a part of him—soaking up each and every mote of bright energy in its vicinity, transforming it in an instant to a dot of pitch blackness. Only now, those black specks slipped into Raev through the choker around her neck, quickly joining the streams of emerald and fiery red energy running through her.

  Boyd followed the black motes on their journey as they flowed into her lowest core. There, it behaved like nitroglycerin did when added to a fuel-air mix, igniting an explosive process that caused her core to burn just a little brighter than it did a few days ago. There was a noticeable difference since he had last looked at his foxy love with his Black Flame Vision.

  His Gestalt thought that they would need Tinker to confirm it, but his impression was that the choker alone was not a viable replacement for his weekly ‘maintenance’ requirements. Nor did he believe it would notably strengthen her Powers. But it might make being apart from him easier, if they were ever separated.

  “What do you see?” Raev asked as Boyd dismissed the vision.

  He could look around with his Black Flame Vision a little more now, but still had to be careful to avoid becoming disoriented if he moved to fast with it pulled up.

  “The choker is collecting and feeding you a small amount of my black energy motes,” Boyd replied, using the team’s official term for the energy responsible for Powers.

  He wasn’t quite sure how Silvie had gotten that vote past Tinker, but she had—only for the rest of the team, though. Tinker was still torn between Powereons and Luminons as far as using the terms in any publications, should they ever be in a position to release her notes.

  “Mmm,” Raev smirked, running her fingers along the gems set around the obsidian heart over her throat. “It’s really nice… kinda feels like the love trickle you’re always sending me these days, just more… tangible. I sense your love when you do that, but this? This I feel. I guess it must work like my suit, but feels so much better. Wait till we tell Tink, she’s going to flip her shit.”

  Both ears twitched as she got an idea. “I wonder if I could have Tink add Silvie’s hair to my suit and gain laser eyes?”

  “I doubt it, but it’s worth looking into.” Boyd bobbed his head from side to side. “For one thing, Mindy’s collar… err… chocker doesn’t have the same effect. But that’s a topic for work, and we’re off duty tonight. Now that your wardrobe is complete, would you care to dance?” he asked as he gracefully stood, stepping back as he bent to extend a hand to her.

  “I would love to,” she said as she took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet.

  Raev let his pull carry her forward until she leaned heavily against him, lifting up to whisper, “And just you wait until we get home. Scratch that… till we back in the grav sled.”

  Boyd let his pleased grin show for all the world to see as he escorted Raev to the stairs that would take them to the dance floor. He had been practicing in secret and wondered if he might not earn himself an even better reward before the night was done.

  Chapter 47

  Boyd was what could only be described as giddy. It was two days before the duel, and his date with Mindy was set to begin, now that the day’s training was over. Between him and his Gestalt, he couldn’t say for sure which of them was more excited.

  Unlike with the Last Dragon, there was very little anxiety related to the next day around the base. He made sure there was just a little… pride came before the fall, after all. Making sure to always keep that in mind, he regularly reminded everyone—including himself—that Archangel was an S-Ranked Powered with a particularly dangerous Powerset. Plus, although Boyd absolutely could not afford to accidentally kill his opponent, Archangel would definitely be trying to murder him.

  While Hero Duels were officially meant to be non-lethal, accidents happened when those with Powers fought. Archangel’s image had already been muddied, but the majority of his supporters remained loyal. Most of those would view him killing Boyd as something to celebrate, not scorn.

  Boyd’s image, however, needed to be spotless by the time it was done, to avoid losing support in these critical early days. Killing Archangel would only confirm that Boyd was the monster he appeared to be in the eyes of too many citizens. This meant his hands would be partially tied while his opponent would be free to go all out.

  The Blonde Buffoon had started taking his training more seriously and was happily broadcasting some of his sessions for the world to see. It was a fairly basic tactic, likely adopted to ensure the continued support of his slightly diminished but still strong fan base. He was sloppy as sin about it, though, allowing Boyd to track his progress in near real-time. He prepared to counter the new tricks Archangel showed off.

  In the Blonde Buffoon’s defense, Boyd was also broadcasting his training sessions regularly in order to grow and solidify his own fan base. The difference between them was that the sessions Boyd showed the public were just that—a show.

  He practiced with weapons he had no intention of using in the real duel, and went through moves that looked good but weren’t all that efficient. Instead, he laid a false trail of data for his current and future opponents to study and draw the wrong conclusions from before they faced him. It was a much more advanced tactic that his opponent didn’t have the groundwork to emulate.

  Boyd knew that Victory Seeker would see through the ruse, being the one who’d taught Boyd to employ it in the first place. The effect would, therefore, be diminished on his opponent unless the fool completely disregarded his handler. But it still worked on the general public.

  He dedicated somewhere between two to four hours a day to his upcoming duel and general anti-porter tactics, the rest of his ten-hour training schedule being spent on either individual or team-based training that fit their general roles as Heroes. Two hours in the morning were spent staying up to date and tracking changes in the political arena of his larger mission.

  The other seven of his waking hours were used for more leisurely pursuits, typically in the company of one or more of his loves, in addition to any shared training time. And Laura, who Boyd still maintained didn’t count as his—not yet, at least—had started joining him in the gym during his daily maintenance lifts. She didn’t always engage with him, as she used the equipment herself. But she stayed in his line of sight the majority of the time, often checking to ensure he was watching her.

  Daisy still maintained her distance. If anything, she seemed to have withdrawn a little further into her shell, at least with him. She’d found a friend in Laura, and he often heard them planning how to spend their evenings together. She also called her brother regularly, so Boyd wasn’t too concerned about her not getting enough social interaction. He attributed Daisy’s backsliding behavior to Connor subtly bringing up Boyd the way the young boy had been bringing his sister up whenever Boyd spoke to him, which was a couple of times a week.

  Kayla showed up for meals and happily chatted with the team about anything she was allowed to whenever she had the chance. Mostly, she kept to the press room and set herself up in the office attached to it. Her career had taken quite a leap forward, and now she was the one being interviewed on her experiences and time with The Devoted.

  This suited Boyd fine, as it let him channel most of the press’s questions through a single, embedded member of that notoriously needy slice of society. All in all, life was good. It would be even better after he won his angel’s freedom and brought her home.

  Davis had come through for him, wielding that influence board of his to good effect and preemptively securing Hope’s transfer to The Devoted the moment she became a free agent. Boyd did his best to avoid stressing the man out in exchange—well, as much as he could and still do his job, that is.

  He’d felt an excitement growing within him throughout the week since his date with Raev, culminating in the low bubbly feeling that filled his stomach today. It wasn’t the butterflies of nerves; it had been a while, but he’d experienced that sensation enough to tell this was different.

  He’d seen depictions of an Old Earth holiday called Christmas. In it, the kids got really excited and had a hard time sitting still or sleeping the night before this familial gift-giving day. He thought that most closely matched what he felt.

  With a wry sense of amusement, his Gestalt thought that they wouldn’t have to worry about sleeping, asserting that Mindy made for a fine glass of warn milk to soothe their excitement. She had the creamy skin, after all, and was very warm and inviting.

  Boyd chuckled to himself as he approached the door to the smaller living area between his office and the cavernous ‘medium-sized’ bedroom. He had been told to meet Mindy in the entertainment area that had seen some use over the last month when Silvie, Raev, and he had wanted some privacy that didn’t involve a bed—though things almost always ended up there, anyway.

  ‘Kuh-he! You make it tempting to burst your bubble, my little shit.’ Mindy’s mental voice contained enough mirth that he was fairly sure it was an empty threat, ‘It doesn’t have to be an empty threat, you know. Nobody likes being thought of as a sure thing.’

  Of course, Boyd didn’t think Mindy was a sure thing, not tonight at least. He hoped because… well, duh… anyone who saw the gothic beauty with the mysterious demeanor and shining amethyst eyes would hope that every night could be spent with her. He was committed to showing her what she needed to see and would prove himself worthy—if not tonight, then soon.

 

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