by RJ Blain
“Let’s just get this over with, please.”
“Don’t worry, Vicky. Richard’s going to be happy. You have nothing to worry about.” Alex tapped in a code and opened the front door, ushering us inside. “Let me open up asking about Nicole’s condition; they did brain scans on her earlier today, so the results should be in.”
I ditched the snowsuit in the foyer closet before helping Dante and Elliot escape theirs. Pressing a button on the intercom, Alex said, “I’m home, and I brought a few hitchhikers with me. We ran out of things to do in Georgia, so I kidnapped the Shadow Pope. How’s Nicole?”
We weren’t left waiting long before the intercom beeped. “Already?” Richard asked. “Come upstairs. I’ll fill you in. I haven’t changed the codes recently; too many people in and out of the house to do it yet.”
“Okay. We’ll be up in a few minutes.”
“You better have my bitch with you, and she better be in the same condition as when I left her with you,” our Alpha growled.
“What about me, Richard?” Elliot crossed his arms and glared at the intercom. “She bit me so hard she knocked me out. Again.”
“Well, what did you do to deserve it?”
I clapped my hand over Elliot’s mouth. “The next person who suggests he should continue to antagonize me so he gets bit is not only being tossed in the pool, but he will also find himself with a long list of things I need done.”
“Just get your asses upstairs,” Richard ordered.
I released my mate, and placed my hand between Dante’s shoulders, ready to push him along if he decided to become stubborn. Alex chuckled and guided us through the large house to the fourth floor. The temptation to push the Anderson twins got the better of me, and I circled both, checking their pockets, retrieving their wallets and phones and giving them to Alex. “You can jump in, or you can be pushed in.”
“Your bitch has gotten really feisty,” Dante complained.
“I noticed. She was bad before, but now she’s so much worse. Isn’t it wonderful?”
“You’re utterly smitten.”
I pushed them both.
They didn’t budge an inch, and they smirked at me. Narrowing my eyes, I pushed again. “Is there any reason you’re resisting this?”
“I’ll get my suit wet,” they chorused.
I hung my head.
I should have paid more attention to my mate, because he grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder into the water. I landed on my back, yelping before submerging. Scrambling for the surface, I spit out salt water, glaring at my mate. “That was not nice, Anderson.”
“You need sleep. That was far too easy for my liking.” Elliot frowned, shoving his hands into his pockets. “If you want to toss me into the pool after, I’ll hack into Richard’s system and lock us down here by ourselves for hours.”
Alex snickered, crossed the room, and set the wallets and phones by the door into the men’s locker room. “No hacking required. I would be pleased to lock you two on the third floor for any nefarious play you two may wish to be involved in in my brother’s pool. An eight-hour timer should be sufficient.” Pressing the button on the intercom, he said, “Richard, can you bring Evelyn down to the third floor, please? Vicky was helped into the pool, and I thought she might enjoy some company. Bring Jacqueline as well.”
My eyes widened, and I stared at Dante, who shifted his weight from foot to foot but stayed quiet.
“Sure. We’ll be down in a minute. Jackie wanted to go swimming anyway. She’s been begging her mom all day.”
Alex smirked and returned to us. “You may as well just relax, Vicky. The water’s nice, isn’t it?”
“Very,” I confessed, swimming to the edge and resting my chin on the epoxy-coated concrete, which was painted to resemble sand. Reaching out, I snagged my mate’s slacks and gave a tug until he came closer. When within easy reach, I yawned and used his shiny oxford as my new, improved chin rest. “If we’re going to be staying up here often, we’re going to need our own suite, and our puppies will need a suite of their own.”
“What’s this I’m hearing about renovating the fourth floor?” Richard boomed from the locker room, peeking through the door a moment later. “I app—”
Our Alpha’s eyes widened, and he first looked at Dante before shifting his gaze to Elliot. He spent several long moments staring at each in turn, until Richard’s attention turned to Alex. “You have got to be kidding me.”
Alex grinned and pointed at me. “She figured out our Snowflake was none other than your witch, so you can thank her later.”
I yawned and waved at Richard.
Richard turned around and murmured something, then stepped out of the way. Jacqueline barreled out of the locker room and slammed into her father’s legs so hard the pair tumbled into the pool beside me.
Sighing, I snagged Dante’s daughter by the back of her shirt and lifted so she wouldn’t drown. “No running near the pool, Jacqueline.”
“Sorry, Miss Vicky!” Jacqueline squirmed in my hold and stretched her arms out towards her father. “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”
Dante wiped water off his face and spluttered before taking his little girl from me and holding her close to him, peppering her cheeks with kisses. “I’m sorry I worried you, baby girl.”
“Asshole,” his daughter replied.
No one corrected her, not even Evelyn, who eased down to sit on the pool ledge beside me, wincing when she moved. Maybe she lacked Jacqueline’s rambunctious enthusiasm, but it only took one look to see the truth. Evelyn’s joy and relief reflected in her eyes, and I pretended I didn’t notice her tears.
Dante’s mate waved her hand in Richard’s direction and said, “I told you so.”
I laughed first, and I laughed the longest, and when I laughed so long I annoyed my mate, he dislodged my chin from his foot, stepped on my shoulder with his pristine shoe, and dunked me in the water. While I clutched at the edge of the pool and snarled curses at my mate, Dante waded over still holding his daughter, snagged his brother by the leg, dragged him in, and said, “Be nice to Vicky.”
Swimming to my side, Elliot wrapped an arm around me and snuggled close. “I’m always nice to Vicky. Right, Vicky?”
“Why are you bringing me into this?”
“You’re the one I’m nice to, that’s why.”
I drew in a few deep breaths, and while everyone seemed so restrained in their reunion, my nose didn’t lie to me. The scent of joy filled the air, one clean of the taint of grief and mourning. I glanced at Richard and asked, “How’s Nicole?”
Richard’s smile lit his eyes. “The scans came back great. There’s a lot of activity consistent with someone asleep rather than a deep coma. The neurosurgeon says she might show signs of waking up as early as tomorrow, but it could be up to a week. She’s upstairs with Amber, Lisa, and your puppies. They’re taking turns reading stories to her in case she’s semi-conscious and capable of hearing. The doctor said that was a possibility.”
“So she’ll be all right?”
“She’ll be all right,” Richard confirmed, crouching beside Evelyn and reaching out to cup my cheek in his hand. “And we have you to thank for that.”
Instead of arguing it had been my fault in the first place, I swallowed my regrets and accepted his words with a nod. Basin would have found some other way to try to ruin our lives. If their first trap had failed, they would have set another, and another, and another until they succeeded at their twisted goals.
We had won, and should another hate group rise from the shadows, we would win again. The Inquisition would never be perfect, but for a time, we would be able to live in peace. Should anyone try to take that from us again, I would be ready for them with my mate and pack at my side.
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About the Author
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When she isn't playing pretend, she likes to think she's a cartographer and a sumi-e painter.
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In her spare time, she daydreams about being a spy. Should that fail, her contingency plan involves tying her best of enemies to spinning wheels and quoting James Bond villains until she is satisfied.
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RJ also writes as Susan Copperfield and Trillian Anderson.
If you enjoy using bookbub, you can follow RJ and her alter ego Susan there.
http://thesneakykittycritic.com
Magical Romantic Comedies (with a body count)
Playing with Fire
Hoofin’ It
Hearth, Home, and Havoc
Whatever for Hire
Serial Killer Princess
Owl Be Yours
Fowl Play
No Kitten Around
Blending In (Nov 2018)
Cheetahs Never Win (Dec 2018)
Saddle Up (2019)
Grave Humor (May 2019)
Dragon Her Heels (2019)
From Witch & Wolf World
Series: Witch & Wolf
Inquisitor
Winter Wolf
Blood Diamond
Silver Bullet
* * *
Series: Wolf Hunt
Wolf Hunt
Wild Wolf (2019)
The Edge of Midnight (2020)
* * *
Series: Nature of the Beast
Pack Justice
Dual Nature (TBD)
* * *
Series: Balancing the Scales
Karma
License to Kill (TBD)
* * *
Standalones
Beneath a Blood Moon
Shadowed Flame
* * *
Tales of the Winter Wolf
(Short Story/Novella Collections)
Omnibus - Volumes One-Five
Volume Six (Aftermath to Winter Wolf.)
Other Stories by RJ Blain
Jesse Alexander Novels
Water Viper
Steel Heart (late 2018/early 2019)
* * *
Requiem for the Rift King (Epic Fantasy)
Storm Without End
Storm Surge
The Tides of War (TBD)
Witch & Wolf World Reading Order
The Witch & Wolf world is all over the place. I’m sorry about that—really. I’m worse than a gnat sometimes, flitting from project to project, excited to write my next story. Here’s my preferred reading order of these books. While I wrote Inquisitor first, it actually happens after Winter Wolf.
Note: You can jump in on any series with the exception of Blood Diamond, Silver Bullet, and later volumes—they are dependent on events that happen prior in the series.
Winter Wolf (W&W #2)
Tales of the Winter Wolf Vol. 6
Tales of the Winter Wolf Vol. 1-5
Inquisitor (W&W #1)
Beneath a Blood Moon (Standalone)
Blood Diamond (W&W #3)
Silver Bullet (W&W #4)
Wolf Hunt (WH #1, W&W #5)
Wild Wolf (WH #2, W&W #6)
The Edge of Midnight (WH #3, W&W #7)
* * *
The following books can be read at any time:
Nature of the Beast
Pack Justice
Dual Nature (TBD)
Balancing the Scales
Karma
License to Kill (TBD)
Standalone
Shadowed Flame