by RJ Blain
At least holding the five gorgon eggs kept me distracted and busy while Quinn kept the young whelp entertained in the backseat. She wore the shreds of Quinn’s shirt as a blindfold and scarf to keep from petrifying anyone.
All in all, she handled it a lot better than I expected, spending most of the ride back to civilization giggling and laughing at Quinn’s antics.
Quinn’s grandmother met us at the police station. She claimed the eggs from me, cradled them in one hand near her chest, and snagged his grandfather by a handful of his snakes and dragged him off.
I really didn’t want to know why my grandfather-in-law grinned like a maniac on a sugar high.
The next couple of hours tested my patience, and I cursed the CDC and the police in equal measure. I snarled at every single delay, gnashing my teeth together so I wouldn’t say something I’d regret later.
When we finally escaped the break room, which had been functioning as an interrogation room, I grabbed Quinn’s hand and dragged him to the nearest bathroom. “You, me, and a bed. Now. I’ll accept a hallway, or the wall, or I’m sure we could make use of a bathroom stall if necessary…”
With a gleam in his eye, Quinn pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “Hey, old man. I’m taking my wife to a hotel now. She’s tired, she’s cranky, and we’ve both had a long day. Can you get those pesky CDC agents and the Vermont State Police off our backs for a while? Just tell them I kidnapped her and we’re going on our honeymoon. If they really need to know how many feathers each phoenix had, they can ask us when we return to New York.”
I had forgotten Quinn had been planning something for a honeymoon. Would he accept a delay for the nearest hotel room?
Stupid incubi. Stupid incubi realizing they were in the same room with a succubus.
Quinn hung up. “Can you survive thirty minutes?”
“If I have to.”
“Got everything you need?”
I nodded.
With a grin, he pulled me in the direction of the staircase. “Let’s bail before the cops catch us.”
I laughed. “You’re such a bad cop.”
Vermont sucked.
While there were hotels near the police station, none of them met Quinn’s standards, and we had to drive thirty minutes to find one he could live with. He wanted a room with a jacuzzi, which was unavailable. I swore if he delayed my shower any longer, he’d die a slow and painful death.
I won.
While I meant to do a lot of things to and with Quinn, hot water, relaxing in the tub plenty big for two, and sedative equalled an instant nap. I didn’t mind, especially when Quinn woke me with gentle kisses, which led to far better things.
Later, after I made myself comfortable using his shoulder for a pillow, I murmured, “I’m still mad you ran off without me.”
“Yet you still managed to show up and scare a few years off my life. Really, Bailey? Phoenixes? Since one wasn’t bad enough, you had to go and wake two of them. Next time, I hope the CDC rethinks their tactics and just gives you the napalm. It’d be safer.”
I giggled. “If you think that’s bad, wait until you find out my vanilla human ranking is being revoked. If surviving ambrosia contamination wasn’t sufficient, my new magic rating will bump me off the list.”
“So what is your trick?”
“Wayfinder, apparently.”
Quinn didn’t seem impressed. “So?”
“When I use my magic, bad things happen, like resurrecting two phoenixes at the same time.”
“And?”
“How do you think I found Audrey?”
“A lot of good things happened because of that.” Quinn held me closer and kissed the top of my head. “It just took a while is all.”
“My apartment was bombed when I tried to find out what McGee was up to.”
“You got to move in with me.”
“120 Wall Street.”
“I seem to recall you earned a spanking because of that, which led to one of the best days of my life. In case you’ve forgotten, I spent it worshipping your body.”
He sure had. “Incubus in a bar.”
“We got married. I think I like this. Every time you try to convince me your magic causes some sort of catastrophe, you mention things that directly benefit me. I think that means the best is yet to come. Of course, now that you’ve had your well-earned nap, I think you need to feed me a little powdered joy, then we’re going to be very, very busy for the rest of the day. Tomorrow morning, I’m stealing you away for a while, and we’ll enjoy even more time alone together with no one around to bother us. Then, next month, we’ll get to beat up a bunch of gorgons trying to prove they’re worthy of parenting whelps. It’ll be therapeutic. Best of all, we’ll be at my grandfather’s house. I know firsthand his guest suite is soundproofed and well away from any watchful eyes, so I won’t have to transform before we go to bed. We’ll have a great time. What do you say to that?”
Was he really expecting me to refuse? I wiggled out of his hold and reached for the tiny vial of pixie dust waiting on the nightstand. “Convince me.”
He did.
Titles by RJ Blain
From the Witch & Wolf World..
Series: Witch & Wolf
Inquisitor
Winter Wolf
Blood Diamond
Silver Bullet (2017)
Series: Wolf Hunt
Wolf Hunt (2017)
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)
Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Volume Six (Aftermath to Winter Wolf.)
Omnibus - Volumes One-Five
Other Fantasy Stories…
Magical Romantic Comedies (with a body count)
Playing with Fire
Jesse Alexander Novels
Water Viper (2017)
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 (TBD)
Hey! Thanks for reading. Some of you have noticed the release date for some of my books have been pushed back—I’m so very sorry about this! It happens. Sometimes, life gets in the way, and I have the choice between releasing a book that isn’t ready for release or delaying the release.
Whenever possible, I will choose to delay the release—I’d rather take the extra time and release a better book. Thanks so much for your understanding.
If you want to know when my next title releases, there are two ways to find out. First, you can sign up for my newsletter. I only mail when I have a new release, and every newsletter includes a short story I haven’t released anywhere else. (For those of you who don’t like newsletters, I will be compiling the short stories for sale eventually—but only when I have enough stories.)
Alternatively, you can follow me on Amazon. Just look at the left and click the yellow ‘follow’ button. That’ll mail you when I have a new title out. If you’re like me and enjoy stalking authors on facebook, you can! (I don’t bite—often.)
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.
Winter Wolf (W&W #2)
Tales of the Winter Wolf Vol. 6
Tales of the Winter Wolf Vol. 1-5
Inqui
sitor (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)
The following books can be read at any time:
Series: Nature of the Beast
Pack Justice
Dual Nature (TBD)
Series: Balancing the Scales
Karma
License to Kill (TBD)