Free Hitched by Mia Watts, Katie Blu

whacked out as his statements seemed to make him, then distancing from him and Willow would be a lot easier. Kane would just chalk it up to insanity, and better off without them.
    “I know. It’s part of the reason I’m here talking to you.”
    Kane started to walk back toward his desk. Bruce grabbed his forearm stopping him. Kane instinctively looked toward the closed door. No one could see them, he knew it. Still didn’t keep him from checking.
    “You don’t strike me as the kind of man who hides behind fear,” Bruce noted.
    He wasn’t. This also wasn’t a typical conversation and there was security in using his desk as a barrier. But Bruce was right. Kane didn’t hide and he wasn’t going to hide now. He turned to fully face Bruce.
    “Start talking,” Kane said.
    “There isn’t a lot that gets under Willow’s skin. I don’t, but I plan it that way. I’m not the kind of guy who sticks around and she knows it. You are. You’re the kind of man who looks at women in terms of right now , or forever . I don’t see right now on your face when you touch her.”
    Kane pressed his lips together. Bruce’s assessment was too accurate for comfort.
    When Kane didn’t respond, Bruce continued. “She looks at you the same way.”
    “That doesn’t make you jealous?” Kane asked.
    “It doesn’t matter. She wouldn’t settle down with me if I wanted her to.”
    “Why?”
    “She doesn’t like my kind very much.”
    Kane lifted his brows waiting for an explanation.
    “I’m a faery.”
    Kane shrugged. “So you like dudes. Big deal. Doesn’t seem to slow you down when it comes to making love with Willow.”
    “No, Kane. I’m actually a faery.” Bruce dragged his shirt over his head and turned around.
    So Bruce was insane. Kane felt oddly disappointed that he’d have to permanently break off any relationship with him, and with Willow for associating with him. How sane could a woman be who readily played along with Bruce’s delusions?
    As he watched, the dip beneath Bruce’s shoulder blades glowed then stretched toward his spine. Kane stared, trying to make sense of it. The glow expanded, widened, unfurled into gossamer blue wings, more delicate than a dragonfly’s, but with the same double wing construction.
    “What the fuck?” Kane backed up, hitting his desk. He gripped it as though it would hold him upright.
    “Wings. See?” Bruce said casually. “I’m a faery.”
    “She knows?”
    “Of course she knows. Willow is part faery.”
    Kane tried to form a question but failed miserably. Thoughts about Willow, her siblings, faery existence in general, incredulity, tumbled together in a cognitive hurricane that left little ability for speech.
    “Her mother is full faery,” Bruce answered seeming to know the question he wanted answered most.
    “Sage?”
    Bruce turned around. He kept his shirt off, but the wings behind him vanished like smoke in the wind.
    “Half faery, just like all the other Harper kids.”
    Kane tried to pull himself together. Depending on the mantle of an agent usually got him through and he prayed it would this time too. He stopped leaning on the desk and stood up.
    “What does that mean?”
    “Not sure what you’re asking there. Are you asking if there are differences?”
    “Sure,” Kane agreed. “Let’s go with that.”
    “Some. As far as I know, they don’t have wings. That’s their mortal half. They each have a particular gift that the faery realm gave them when they were born. Although, to ask them, they think of it as a curse.” Bruce chuckled. “It kind of is, actually. But also a blessing.”
    Kane’s brow furrowed. “What kind of gift?”
    “They can each do something mortals can’t. Sage reads minds. Dill freezes time. Flora transports from place to place. Fauna disappears. Willow transmogrifies. Specifically, she turns into wooden things.”
    Kane struggled to absorb what he was being told. Wooden things? “Like an apple blossom tree, or a coat rack,