Darkest Misery Read Free Page B

lived with this curse for the last ten years, and only now are you seeking me out?”
    â€œSorry,” I muttered. “All my fault for alerting them to our existence.”
    Mitch rubbed his chin. “I guess I should thank you since I have an answer finally. But I don’t get this part about actually being a kind of satyr. If that’s the case, I’d think my dating history wouldn’t suck so much.”
    I shrugged. “I always figured it was hard to date when other people’s misery makes you feel good.”
    â€œThere’s that.” He swigged his beer thoughtfully. “But I don’t have any satyr-like abilities besides emotional feeding. Do you?”
    I cast a wary glance at Tom, but he already knew this much about me. I merely disliked reminding him. “I can create addict-like bonds of lust in people and use the lust to influence them. I wouldn’t be surprised if you can too. Maybe no one’s ever showed you how.”
    Mitch blinked at me over his beer. “No, definitely no one has ever shown me how. I’ve never even told anyone what I can do. You have?”
    Tom was staring at me. “So that ability didn’t come naturally, Jessica? I assumed it had.”
    I reclined in my seat, trying to act like none of this was a big deal. “Nothing about this power is natural, and it’s not like I could have discovered it by accident. I’m not giving off a cloud of lust-inducing pheromones wherever I go. A satyr taught me.”
    Tom chewed his lip thoughtfully, but Mitch gaped at me. “You talk to satyrs?”
    â€œSometimes.” Talk to them. Sleep with them. Live among them.
    Tom cleared his throat. “Jessica’s example isn’t one we advocate following. In fact, given the situation and the gravity of what we believe is on the horizon, we’d like you to return to Boston with us. We want to provide you with the training you never received and make you part of the alliance we’re forming.”
    Mitch set his beer down and stood, shaking his head. “I can’t just pick up and leave. I understand what you’re saying, but the Gryphons dumped me. After that, I moved on. I have a life here. A job. I’m a nurse. I can’t forget my other responsibilities.” He paused his pacing in front of the window. “Unless you’re going to arrest me, after all. Force me to go.”
    â€œWe’d rather not force you,” Tom said, also standing. “But this is a matter of global security. Whatever you need the Gryphon World Office to do in order to make it possible, we can and will.”
    And did.
    Over the next hour, Tom persuaded Mitch to come to Boston, at least temporarily. A few phone calls later and the phrase “global security” tossed around like it actually meant something, Tom had also made sure Mitch’s leave of absence from his job was not only approved by the hospital, but encouraged.
    It wasn’t surprising, but it was rather infuriating. The world was full of people who believed Gryphons were saviors. If only they knew what I did.
    By the time Mitch was ready to go, darkness had settled outside. He dumped his small suitcase in the living room and scanned the place. Worry lines were deeply etched on his face, and anxiety rolled off him in great spearmint waves. I understood the sentiment and tried to forgive him for it, but I hated that flavor.
    â€œSo this is it?” He sounded like a man who expected never to see his home again.
    â€œI’ve booked us on a red-eye to Chicago,” Tom said. “We should get going.”
    â€œI thought we were going to Boston.” Mitch stuffed his phone in his back jeans pocket.
    â€œDetour first,” Tom said.
    I hung back while Mitch locked up his house. “Remember what I told you earlier? There are three of us left. The third is in Chicago. Tom’s plan is to pick her up on the way.”
    â€œSo I get to