Read Online Bonedust by Xoe Xanders - Free Book Online Page B

heart skipped a beat, realizing what this feeling meant. No. Love was a four letter word. Lust he could handle, companionship was great. But love… He shook his head, drawn out of his thoughts.
    The cashier smiled a crooked grin at him as he slid coins across the counter to her. She counted them, rang him up, and he headed back outside. Pandora stood at a hedge of bushes, having spied something in them. She gave a low uttered bark. “Let’s go,” he said, and she just stared at him, then glanced back at the bushes. “Pan, move it.” There must’ve been something urgent in his voice, because she sprinted to his side.
    It took a little cajoling to make the Aerbus driver accept a dog on his bus. He thrust a finger at the ‘No Pets’ sign and shook his head. “She’s not technically a dog,” Urban said, patting Pandora’s head. “She’s pureblood dirgehound from a Cork breeder. I can get you her papers.” Weren’t all buses supposed to allow hunters the ability to travel with their hounds in case of emergency? What if there was a Level Five? He’d have to get there, pronto.
    “Does she bite?”
    “Small children and old ladies.” Urban smirked at him. The man missed the joke, obviously, and Urban heaved a sigh. “Only vamps, werewolves, and anything I sic her on. She won’t be trouble—look, I’ll even pay a few extra zaels.”
    That seemed to make up the driver’s mind. Of course, it didn’t make up Pandora’s mind. He tried coaxing her up the steps, reminding her that she’d been up hundreds of steps in her lifetime. She merely whined and thrashed in his grip. “Halcion,” he grumbled, wrapping his arms around her torso and hauling her up into the bus. He deposited her on a seat and flopped down just as he realized the small crowd of bus goers was staring at him. “She won’t pee on the seats,” he promised them, flashing a little red-headed girl a smile. She blushed and ducked behind her mother.
    He relaxed into the cracked seat, stretching his legs out in front of him as far as they would stretch, and he let his mind wander. Gabriel. Gabe had called him, needing his help. Needing a bodyguard, first and foremost. Urban smirked; he would do more than guard the other man’s body. He shooed the dirty thoughts out of his mind—last thing he needed was a hard on in the middle of a public bus—and it wandered to other things.
    Battery City. It meant nothing and everything all at once. He could still remember the smell of the city streets, still remember the creamy taste of the sundae he’d gotten at a little home owned shop called Haven. He could still remember looking into his boyfriend’s eyes, their depths dark and contemplative; remember tracing the slice of a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose earned from one of his various hunts.
    Urban’s heart gave a pained twist and he shook his head, trying to rid himself of the memory. That was a path better left untread. That was the past, this was the present. The present was: Him, riding an Aerbus, headed to Battery City to meet Gabriel. Him, with butterflies in his stomach, feeling like a high schooler with a silly crush. It had nothing to do with love.
    The familiar landscape zoomed through the windows in gleaming lights and he reached up to caution his stop. The bus slowly slid to a halt, the doors swinging open. Pandora was up out of the seat and clawing her way down the steps while Urban paid the driver and hopped down onto the curb. The bus sent up a pocket of air as it whooshed away and left Urban in a cloud of exhaust.
    Pandora, her bus fears forgotten, padded along the sidewalk, her nails click-clicking with each step she took. Urban took a breath, telling himself once again that this was a fresher start than any, and squared his shoulders. Then he followed the mental directions Gabriel had given him to a tiny little motel with a brick front and dirty windows. Two of them had bullet holes that were taped over. His eyes skimmed