by RJ Blain
Crossing the room, Dad examined the equipment, reached down, and began unplugging everything. “I swear I only left him alone for three minutes.”
“You can’t take your eye off the puppies for even a second. I thought you would have figured this out by now, Ralph.”
“Apparently not.”
Sniffling, I held up my hands. “Look, Dad. I have hands.”
“So I see. They’re looking much better.”
Ryan made a sound suspiciously like a giggle. “The doctors encourage rigorous exercise, Mr. Evans.”
My dad closed his eyes and sighed. “Heaven help me.”
“Heaven’s busy right now, so they sent me instead.” Dalton chuckled, helping to untangle me from the mess of cables and hosing. When I was freed, he grabbed me by my elbows, hauled me to my feet, and gave me a push in Ryan’s direction.
I tripped over my own feet, yelped, and twisted so I wouldn’t collide with my mate. With no sign he’d been injured, Ryan hooked his arm around me and pulled me onto his lap. The sound he made was a throaty cross between a purr and a growl, and he nuzzled his nose against my neck.
I closed my eyes and relaxed against him, taking deep breaths of his scent. Without my wolf awake to guide me, I couldn’t distinguish half of what I was smelling, but I recognized Ryan’s contentment as the strongest scent of all, which was good enough for me.
“And now that all is right in the world, I need a stiff drink,” Dalton announced. I cracked open an eye in time to watch the Alpha loop his arm around Dad’s neck and pull him into a headlock. “I’ll come by to check on you later, you two. No attempted escapes, no fires, and no trouble.”
“How about you don’t come by later and check on us. We’re going to be very busy,” my mate murmured, his breath warming my throat. “Too busy to escape.”
The Alpha heaved a sigh and adjusted his hold on my dad, who tolerated the Fenerec’s handling with a shake of his head and roll of his eyes. “That leaves no fires and no trouble.”
A single sniff was all I needed to know what Ryan had in mind, and I slapped my hand over my mate’s mouth before he could say another word. Touching him stung, but my hands no longer throbbed or hurt nearly as badly as they had even an hour before. “I think we’ll be just fine.”
I had to admit Dalton was correct; all was right in the world, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Afterword
I am often asked about how the Witch & Wolf world relates to our own. In many ways, the Earth from the Witch & Wolf novels is very much like our own. However, it is not Earth, not exactly.
While some of the events in the Witch & Wolf world overlap with our version of Earth, they are not the same. While certain events still happened, rather like fixed points in time from a certain time-traveling series, the specifics are often altered. The years and exact dates may not be the same. Some technologies have developed later—or sooner—than in our Earth.
Motivations and the execution of certain events, including terrorist attacks, have been changed. The inclusion of the supernatural would alter a great many things, including how wars are waged.
As such, there are discrepancies between the Witch & Wolf world and our Earth. No matter how hard the supernatural community tries to hide their presence, they have the power to change the world—and they do.
As always, all errors are my own, but some of those errors with history aren’t actually errors at all—they are deliberate alterations to Earth’s history to better fit with the inclusion of witches, werewolves, and the other supernatural.
Thanks for reading!
Titles by RJ Blain
From the Witch & Wolf World..
Series: Witch & Wolf
Inquisitor
Winter Wolf
Blood Diamond
Silver Bullet (2016)
Series: Nature of the Beast
Pack Justice
Dual Nature (TBD)
Series: Balancing the Scales
Karma (May 2016)
License to Kill (TBD)
Standalones
Beneath a Blood Moon
Shadowed Flame
Tales of the Winter Wolf
(Short Story/Novella Collections)
Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Omnibus - Volumes One-Five
Requiem for the Rift King (Epic Fantasy)
Storm Without End
Storm Surge
The Tides of War (2017)
The Fall of Erelith (Fantasy)
The Eye of God
Royal Slaves (2017)