by Lyn Brittan
Whelp, not trusting hadn’t worked. She threw up her hands and kissed her brother’s head.
She and her brother walked out of the car together, arm and arm toward the house. Channeling his hope, she let her trust lead the way.
That became harder when armed men stormed out, guns leveled at their heads. One kneed Manny in the back, but he didn’t cry out, and so, neither would she. Instead, she concentrated, holding on to that trust and the soft, quiet patience that she’d come to learn from her brother ... and Fazil.
She held on to that as they dragged her into the house where she saw her husband, her beautiful Fazil, handcuffed and purple, lying on his side. A choked, ragged sob escaped, one impossible to hold back. “Baby?”
“It’s all right, Rosa. I’m fine.” Fazil licked at the blood pooled around his bottom lip and winked. “No biggie.”
One of the men, obscured by a large helmet and glasses, stepped forward, shoving Fazil back down. “He won’t tell us what we need to know. You will.”
“Or?”
The agent unholstered his weapon to rest the metal against her love’s head. “Or this. You choose. Tell me what—”
“I killed him.”
“Shut up, Rosa! Ignore her, officers. It was me. I killed him. You know I’m right. No way could that woman have killed a man that strong. Let her go, and I’ll come peacefully.”
A boot to Fazil’s chest met his confession. Metal clinked on metal as handcuffs cinched into place around his wrists.
The helmeted men turned to each other and nodded toward the door, dragging Fazil behind them like a golden prisoner. She couldn’t let it happen. His eyes begged her to stay back. No, not begged. Pleaded. Hoped. Prayed. “I love you, Rosa.”
“Fazil—”
An agent’s gun slammed across Fazil’s nose. Her scream met Fazil’s forward lurch. He looked back but didn’t stop. “Get out of here, baby.”
“Manny.”
“He’ll go with you. You know what to do. It isn’t safe to stay here.”
“But—”
“Damn the consequences, Rosa. Do it,” he screamed as two uniformed men pummeled him with fists and batons. “I’ll figure something out.”
She couldn’t. The consequences he suddenly didn’t care for were everything. He’d just offered to out his kind to save her and her brother. She couldn’t let that happen. He’d go to jail and stay young forever. It wouldn’t take long before they brought in their scientists and doctors.
She, however, would age faster. If not, she’d ask for the death penalty early and refuse to fight it. She’d age far faster than he ever would. She’d done enough to hurt him already.
“I did it. Let him go.”
“No!” Fazil fought and screamed. He kicked and swore, all the while proclaiming his guilt for a crime he didn’t commit.
She ignored him.
So did the agents.
Temporarily. “Explain, woman.”
“I just have.”
The lead agent, identified by more badges on his shoulder than the rest, stepped around her struggling husband. “Maybe we’ll take you both in.”
That was a start. Once things settled, Fazil would have to agree with her for the good of their kind. This was for the best. He was worth the sacrifice. “Can I say goodbye to my uncle? That would be the elderly man in the corner you insisted on roughing up.”
She didn’t wait for a response and ignoring the screams of her husband, turned to Manny for the last hug she would ever give him. She snaked up her hand, and when she was sure no one else could see, she wrenched free the lamp and necklace from around her neck, dropping it into Manny’s hand. “Look after him.”
Tears ran freely down her brother’s face, but his smile beamed with adoration.
Then she turned around. “Let my husband go.”
“Rosa, stop it. Stop it right now.”
She paid him no mind. “I killed the man who tried to assault me.”
“Rosa—”
“I don’t know what happened to the body in the end.” And that was all she could say without implicating Fazil.
Her husband screamed that she was lying, that he’d been the one to do it, and she screamed just as much that she had.
Fazil’s shoulders collapsed. His lips trembled as he fought his way to her. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I love you, Fazil. I love you as much as you love me.”
That’s when shit really hit the fan.
Chapter Twelve
It’s one thing to have feds up your ass and threatening to take your wife away. It’s something else when those motherfuckers just disappear into thin air. That settled it. He was killing somebody today. The question was who.
Before he could sort it out, Rosa jumped into his arms. Tears, which ought to have shamed him, ran free.
The banshee-esque howling split them up.
Rosa whirled around in his arms, and together they saw Hogwarts: The Golden Girls Edition. Manny and Janet Dickey were locked in a fight he wasn’t stupid enough to get in the middle of. Rosa tried to run for them, but he wrapped his hands around her so tight she gasped from it.
“Let me go.”
“Pretty sure they’re playing for keeps, Rosa.”
“Did she do this?”
“Must have. The witch charmed us to get information. Can’t believe I fell for that. It’s the magical equivalent of a banana peel in the hallway. We weren’t in any real danger.” He massaged his cheek and grimaced. “What are you staring at?”
“Your face! Every bruise and cut is disappearing.”
“Yeah, I ought to have seen it coming.” He scooted them back a little, putting more breadth between themselves and the pugilists.
Rosa settled into his arms, but her breathing was still irregular. “If that was a banana peel, what’s this?” she asked, pointing to the green light surging from Manny into Janet Dickey.
“Thunderdome.”
“But if she wasn’t trying to kill us, then why are we trying to kill her now?”
He took a handful of hair, gently pulling her sweet face up to his. “We’re not. He is. And I’m not going to stop him.”
“I wish...”
“Don’t do it.”
“I wish...”
“C’mon, baby. Please let him kill her.”
She leaned back and whispered, “I wish for a moment’s peace.”
As it wasn’t a permanent cessation of Manny sending Janet to the invisible choir, he granted her wish. For now.
Janet froze and then stomped her feet. “It ran out. You going to kill me now?”
“Ran out?” Rosa asked, voice pitched higher than any he’d heard in years.
Manny wiggled his finger and laughed. “Stolen magic. You don’t even know what you’re doing. I’m not going to ask where you got that power from, klok gumma, but you’re too weak for it to be yours.”
“No, I’m not.”
Manny waved his hands in front of her and snorted like a ten-year-old. “You are. Your magic comes from a book and blood that’s not your own. Evil. Dirty.”
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not the monster here. The foal died naturally, and well, it was just there. No point in having it go to waste.”
“Mine comes from here,” Manny said, thumping his chest. “Why all this? Why hurt my Rosa?”
Janet looked from Manny to Rosa and came resting on him. “You’re a warlock, Fazil? Like the old man?”
“You’re one to talk,” Manny interjected. “And he only wishes he were. My family’s power goes through me. Our side and into my niece. He’s just her thing. A toy. Little more than a golem, really.”
“I’m right here.”
Rosa elbowed him. “Ignore my husband. Quick question, kinda a biggie. What stopped this?”
He elbowed her right back but softened the blow, taking her into his arms. “Even a troglodyte like me knows the answer to that. An act of unselfish, true love can break just
about anything.”
Janet’s eyes narrowed and shifted back and forth. “But he feels powerful. He feels ... more.”
“That’s me, dummy,” Manny said with a chuckle. Fazil locked eyes with the old man and felt the weight of his love too. Manny wasn’t done, either. “My family blessed their union. We prayed that she’d be happy. Every family member put everything they had into it. Whatever magic you think you feel from him, it is nothing in the face of that. I can only imagine the power their children will have.”
“Children?!”
Who said it louder, he or Rosa, Fazil wasn’t sure, but Manny shrugged and patted at the lump in his pocket. “I trust the stones. As for you, Ms. Klok Gumma, can I assume we won’t have any problems? We are on the same side of things.”
“He’s a demon.”
“He’s a man. And one who loves my sister. He’ll kill for her.”
“I liked her better when you were killing her, Manny.”
“Hush, Fazil. Keep going, Uncle.”
But Janet’s eyes glimmered with a hope all her own. She turned to Emmanuel and leaned in. “They stole my oil. Make them give it back.”
Rosa turned and brought him close for a much needed hug. Then she nibbled at his ear. “I wish...”
Aww, hell no.
Chapter Thirteen
Five months later
Rosa kicked the dust off her boots while Fazil paid for next month’s necessities at the feed store. Ted Nederson sauntered in and tipped his hat before filling it with peanuts from the barrel. He popped a squat next to her and handed over a few.
“Thanks, Ted.”
“No problem, ma’am.”
Then he did it. Of course he did. Like every other no-boundaries person in this town, he leaned over and rubbed her growing belly. Then he started singing to it. Fazil tucked his thumbs behind his belt buckle and laughed, taking his own sweet time interrupting this foolishness.
“I don’t think my wife likes that, Ted.”
Nederson shot up straight as a post with a good-natured, wide-mouthed smile. “Just trying to get that city out of the baby. I know you’re doing your best man, but...”
The laughing fools followed her outside. The cackles crescendoed when a red Ferrari came squealing down the street. The owner threw it in reverse in front of the store and eased it into place. The driver stepped out, cane first.
Fazil groaned behind her as her brother walked to the other side of the vehicle and opened the passenger door. Janet stepped out, smiled at her, grimaced at Fazil, and rolled her eyes at Ted before helping her Manny up the steps.
Her little brother had warmed the ice witch’s heart, saving her along with them. And while it was very likely true that hell would actually freeze over twice before Janet and Fazil had anything close to friendship, it was the klok gumma’s knowledge of plants and herbs that had soothed her brother’s years-long cough easily and without any wishes. He’d have many years more thanks to the woman, and for that Rosa would love her always.
Ted excused himself before the duo got too close, throwing his hand up to Manny and then scuttling away.
“Nice car, Mr. Emmanuel.”
“Gift from my baby’s oil money,” he said, giving a Janet a smack on the bum. Fazil mimicked a hurl but otherwise behaved. “You two kids wanna join us for some lunch? We need to settle up for the month first and—”
“Actually, Manny, I’d like some time with my wife today. I hope you don’t mind. Maybe tomorrow?”
“Okay.” And her brother, in that sweet and powerful way he had about him, smiled out his love. “You have all the time in the world, and it’s still not enough, is it?”
Fazil’s hand latched onto hers, and he brought her palm to his lips. “Never.”
*
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Did you love The Cowboy Genie's Wife? Then you should read Moonlit Embrace by Lyn Brittan!
When a new werewolf comes to town, shy desk clerk Johanna does everything she can not to fall for him. The cute fool is ruining her life - starting with publicly declaring Johanna his Mate in front of her shocked coworkers, her overbearing sister and anyone else close enough to hear his growl.
Embarrassing.
The sensible thing is to leave Baron Wyatt alone, but when dangerous forces from his past put them both at risk, they must work together to find a murderer, and maybe even true love, along the way.
Sweet/Steamy/Spicy/Scorcher Heat Rating: Spicy
Read more at Lyn Brittan’s site.
Also by Lyn Brittan
Cape Elizabeth Series
The Prince
The Traitor
The Chosen
Alecto
Lightning Saga
Rafe's Reward
Qiang's Quest
Juan's Journey
Scott's Solace
Outer Settlement Agency
Solia's Moon
Anja's Star
Quinn's Quasar
Lana's Comet
Outer Settlement Agency Omnibus
Vin's Rules
The Djinn Series
The Genie's Witch
A Genie's Love
The Cowboy Genie's Wife
Waters of London
The Clocks of London
The Doctor of London
Standalone
Moonlit Embrace
Watch for more at Lyn Brittan’s site.
About the Author
Lyn grew up in New Orleans and decided to live like her heroes, James Bond and Indiana Jones. She wasn't totally successful and never had to shoot her way out of a hotel bedroom. She's still coming to terms with it.
Read more at Lyn Brittan’s site.