Wild Tiger Chase | Book #2 (Complete)

21: your deadly nightshade

— Rob — 

Rob rolled his eyes. He prepared himself to reveal who the young man was, but....

"Anhangá!" Léon opened a wide smile. He jumped, more than sidestepped towards him, keeping the rock between them to hide his naked body. "What are you doing here?"

Rob's eyebrows shot up. "How... how can you recognize him?"

"How could I not?"

Léon's already-wide smile became even bigger when Anhangá's human form reached the lakeshore. He held Léon's pants up and smiled. "Is this yours, sweet one?"

"It is! Toss it for me."

Anhangá stepped forward and his shape warped, disappearing through an invisible curtain. His loafers stopped on top of the rock behind Rob and Léon. Anhangá looked down and smiled.

Rob gritted his teeth. That smile wasn't sweet, welcoming, or anything but predatory.

"Well, well, well. Aren't you two lovebirds simply profane?" Anhangá looked from Rob to Léon, the bags under his eyes bulging to cover part of his bottomless black eyes. "What are you two doing here?" He offered the dark jeans in his hands to Léon. "Actually, you don't need to answer. It's plastered all over your faces. And on Léon's chest, too."

Rob woke up from his shock and laced an arm around Léon's waist, pulling him behind his broader frame. "Stop gawking at him. What are you doing here? Why did you come?" He snatched Léon's pants from Anhangá's hands. "I thought I had told you to stay hidden."

A hand reached from under Rob's arm and tugged at the jeans. Rob released it.

"With all due respect, bitter one, nothing you said would keep me away from this place during this moment." Anhangá sat down, crossed his legs, and rested his elbows on his knees. Thanks to the form he was wearing, so much smaller and leaner than his real one, that pose made him look like the human, amiable, harmless intern he was supposed to be.

The one he wasn't.

Rob shifted in place. Under The Mayor's care, he was raised to believe Anhangá was evil and only wanted to control him—and as ironic as it sounded, considering that's exactly what The Mayor did to him, Rob still had his reservations about the ancient Entity who acted as his guide... sometimes. Anhangá had never actively tried to make Rob trust him. He was unfazed most of the time, taking one step after the other and doing nothing but whatever he wanted.

And yes, sometimes he wanted to help—or that's what Rob thought—but other times, all he seemed to want was to seed chaos and harvest entertainment. Rob didn't get him.

Léon stepped away. "The water level is too high here; I'll dress up at the shore."

"Should we go too?" Anhangá got up, eyes glimmering.

"No." Rob's reservations doubled when Léon was involved. "You should've stayed in the precinct to keep an eye on things." He inched closer. Rob made sure to keep Anhangá's amused expression focused on him while Léon splashed away to dress up. "You said you'd keep me informed about the shite happening in Cidade Santa."

"The only thing worth keeping an eye on in this dimension stands right before me." Anhangá's smile widened; his outstretched arms showed Rob and, a few meters away from them, Léon. "I'm eager to discover how you two will deal with what's to come if neither of you have your full powers."

Rob sighed and turned around. Léon had his pants on—and mostly wet—and now struggled to put on his shirt. He looked thinner, sadder, and more lost than ever before. Four years had passed since their fight against The Mayor, but the consequences were still there.