Ricky scraped his plate clean and announced, “I’m ready for dessert.”
“Dessert is Halloween candy,” Tina told him. She turned to Diana, “Would you help him put his costume on and paint his face?” she asked through Emily’s wails.
Pierce watched his woman leave the kitchen without a backward glance. He rose to his feet and began to help Ray clear the table.
“What did you do?” asked Tina.
“Blessed if I know,” Pierce said. “Other than let that piece of excrement hit her, of course.”
“Of course,” said Tina. She rolled her eyes. “Think harder,” she advised dryly.
As if Pierce hadn’t spent the day doing just that.
Ray put the last of the dishes into the dishwasher and closed the door. He tossed Pierce a wet cloth. Pierce wiped the table down. Ray set two plastic mixing bowls on the table and took bags of candy out of the highest cupboard. He handed one to Pierce. “We mix them up in the two bowls,” he said.
“I’m on it,” Pierce said. He was glad to have something to do. “What do you think I should do?” he asked. “I apologized, but it didn’t help.”
“What did you apologize for?”
Pierce shrugged. “Everything. Nothing. I don’t know why she’s mad.” He took the box Ray handed him and opened that. He dumped the chocolate bars on top of the suckers and M&M’s packets.
“Stir them,” Ray advised. He tossed his bowl and the candies began to mix in the air.
When Pierce tried it, he showered the table with candy and had to retrieve some from the floor. Where had the D’Angelo luck gone?
Ricky raced into the room. His cape flowed out behind him as if he were in a stiff breeze. A black nylon cap with stiff black ears covered his head. The usual peak and eye mask had been filled in with black paint.
“Hey,” said Pierce, “It’s Batman.”
Ricky shouted. Emily jumped. Ray said, “Indoor voice, sport. You ready to hit the road?”
“Yes,” Ricky yelled.
Rather louder in Pierce’s opinion. He filed away the failure of this parental reminder.
“Can I have dessert first?” Ricky asked slyly.
Tina burped Emily on her shoulder. The baby made a small noise and went limp. Fast asleep. With her curly black hair and plump pink cheeks she looked like a little angel. Yet ten minutes ago she had been frantic and red-faced. Women. Who could understand them?
“You want to take the kids down to Stella and Burt’s place to start?” Ray asked Tina. “You guys won’t mind handing out candy by yourselves for a while?”
Diana looked like she wanted to object, but Pierce had been trained to think on his feet. “Not at all. Here.” He thrust a bowl of candy into Diana’s hands. “You guys take your time.”
“Thanks,” Tina said. “I want to show this dumpling off. And it’s always nice to hang with the neighbors on Halloween.”
“Yeah, there’s guys I only see once a year,” said Ray. “Rest of the year they’re MIA.”
“I remember when Window Rock was small enough, we knew everyone in the community,” complained Tina.
Pierce moved a side table to the entryway and set his bowl of candy on it. “Should we light the pumpkins?” he asked.
“We should get Ricky to help.”
“I can do it,” the boy shouted.
“Sure you can. Where are the matches?” asked Pierce.
“Here.” Ricky clutched a foot-long box.
Pierce had been wondering how the kid could help without getting burned. “Did you help carve the pumpkins?” he asked.
“I drawed the faces and Daddy cutted them out,” Ricky said importantly.
“Good job.” The Jack-o’-lanterns boasted wide toothy grins and lopsided eyes and noses. Pierce lifted the lids. Inside of each were three tea lights. Pierce took out a match. He put it through the mouth of the first one and checked to see if it could easily reach the wicks.
“Let me!” demanded Ricky.
Pierce lowered the box from the top and held it so Ricky could graze the strike pad with the end of the match inserted through the mouth. “Do you know how to light a match?” he asked.
“You can’t teach him to light matches,” Diana said angrily.
“My daddy teached me!”
Pierce smirked at Diana. The boy flicked the match across the box. Nothing. “Try again,” encouraged Pierce.
It took three tries before the match caught. Ricky got two of the candles lit before the match blew out. Pierce showed him how to light a match at the flame, again using the mouth for access. Behind them Diana hovered on the verge of an explosion. He shouldn’t be enjoying her frustration this much, but he was only human. Or partly, anyway.
Ray and Tina came out with the baby. Emily was fast asleep on Ray’s shoulder. But now she was wearing a white bunny suit. Her pink-lined ears drooped and her cottontail stuck straight up. She looked even more adorable, but Diana wasn’t paying attention.
“I lighted the Jack-o’-lantern!” cried Ricky.
“Good job, buddy,” said Ray. “Were you careful?”
“I was!”
Pierce and Ricky repeated the trick on the other pumpkin. Pierce went inside to put the matches as high up as possible. Temptation was easier to resist if you never felt it. When he came back to the door, a witch and Harry Potter were asking politely for candy. Dracula and Morticia waited at the end of the path. When the kids ran back to them, they waved cheerfully and moved on to the next house.
Pierce drew in a deep breath. He gauged the approach of a clump of ghosts and decided he had time to speak. “I’m sorry it was such a shock to learn that I’m a little different,” he began.
Diana snorted. “Is that what you’d call it?”
“I was born this way. But there are lots of great things about being a phoenix. I can fly. I can control fire. And I am a faithful lover.”
“Did I ask for a list of your virtues?”
The ghosts hesitated at the end of the path.
“Happy Halloween,” called Pierce. He was ready to throttle his mate. It was official. Diana had driven him around the twist.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Phoenix Three confirmed it was the same subject that did the V/C in Tussock and in our Complainant’s apartment here in Window Rock,” Ames said.
“How sure was he?” returned Bear One.
“Absolutely certain. He got up, close and personal with the subject,” Ames reported drily.
“Body?”
“We found the snake’s shed skin in the ashes, nothing else,” Ames replied. “Looks like he tried to escape the fire by molting. But nothing could have survived that inferno.”
“How sure are you that Venom died in snake?” asked Holden.
“Moderately. We caught a whiff of snake shifter. Couldn’t pin it down, everything was too thoroughly burned. We did a search. Didn’t find anything but ashes. Sealed the site under rubble anyway.”
“Hmm. I’d prefer a corpse,” Holden said thoughtfully. “Any chance he escaped? What does Phoenix Three say?”
Ames laughed. “You didn’t see that fire. If Venom escaped, he didn’t last long. Phoenix Three has got his hands full. His woman was madder than a wet hen in a thunderstorm. He’s spending all his time sitting outside her apartment building singing to the stars.”
Holden made a non-committal murmur. “What about the cameras in her apartment?”
“We retrieved them this morning.”
“I want you to join the team looking for Venom in the Florence system.”
“Sure.” Ames cleared his throat. “You know that the V/C’s ex is in Florence?”
Bear One made an affirmative growl. “What about it?”
“Maybe, Venom was tracking our V/C on her own account and not because he had made Phoenix Three.”
“Check it out. I’ll so inform Phoenix Three.” Bear One terminated the call.
“Looks like we got us an assignment, partner,” Ames said
to Gardiner.
“What are we waiting for?”
* * *
The aerial on the flat roof of Diana’s apartment building was unlikely to actually be providing a signal to anyone anymore. Everyone had cable nowadays. Or digital. It nevertheless made an excellent roost from which to guard Diana’s building.
Pierce had tried to sleep in the cabin and given it up as a forlorn hope. He didn’t feel as if he could rest without her beside him. Not when there was anger between them.
In phoenix, he could go a long time without sleep. Of course, once he returned to human, he would be forced to play catch up. There was always a price to pay for using talent. Always. Although he had to admit that his regeneration seemed to have done him good both body and soul. His left arm felt stronger than ever. He no longer felt as if the black pit might open at his feet if he wasn’t vigilant.
The moon was full tonight. The parking lot was peaceful except at the edges where the eternal battle between mice and owls continued unabated. The mice were more cautious on a moonlit night, but eventually hunger forced them into the open and the owl swooped down and took dinner home to his mate. Lucky owl.
Pierce had seen Diana come home. Her face was yellowish now and the swelling mostly gone. But she was still mad. His calls went to voice mail. But she never returned them. His texts were also ignored. He had considered email, but she had not given him her address, and there were limits. He didn’t know why or how she didn’t feel the bond between them. To him it felt like chains of forged steel.
The wind blew down off the chaparral and brought the dusty smell of the desert. He sniffed appreciatively. Sagebrush. Creosote. Pines. And deer. Those must be close by for their smell to be so strong. His brain was so busy sorting out and enjoying the different scents, for a long time he didn’t register that the smell of the desert triggered no fear. Well that was one less scar.
Inside her apartment, Diana finished her call to her mom. She had had to answer no questions about her new boyfriend or her injuries, so Pierce deduced she hadn’t thought their relationship important enough to tell her family. And didn’t that say it all? He was insane with longing, and she was blind to their bond. How the hell could a phoenix be so unlucky?
Pierce stood on his toes and raised his throat to the moon. He began to sing, pouring out his despairing, lovelorn heart into his evening lullaby. His song rippled out of his deepest passions and filled the air with the loveliest melodies of which he was capable. Tunes designed to melt the hardest of female hearts.
The owl skimming the night circled back to his mate and began to croon and click to her.
In 12A, Mrs. Kodiak turned over and reached for her long dead man. She sighed a little and went back to sleep.
In 23B, Mrs. Benoy cocked her head to listen. She smiled a secret smile. On the television set she could no longer see, Lawrence Welk continued to conduct long dead musicians.
In 24B, Diana slammed her slider shut against the haunting song that abraded all her nerves.
* * *
Her dreams were dire — full of death and grief. Diana woke cold and chilled. Her comforter was on the floor. Her beautiful new silky nightgown was soaking wet and snarled around her sweating body. The breeze blew rippling birdsong in through her open window. She clutched her belly against the memory of her dream. Pierce had fallen down the hillside and turned into an incandescent ball of fire that burned away to ash. It felt as if those ashes were clogging her throat.
Her bedside clock informed her it was nearly four. She knew she would not be going back to sleep. She got up and stripped her bed and stuffed the sodden sheets in the washer. She remade the bed with clean sheets. Once her room was clean she felt better, although she still trembled and the icy dread made her cold to her core.
Diana stood under a hot shower until the shaking stopped and she could breathe again. She had had dreams like last night’s or worse after she had lost the baby. The dream of losing Pierce seemed in some intangible way to be connected to the death of her baby and her dreams. Already she missed him. The way they were together. The way they harmonized while they did chores. But who was foolish enough to fall in love with a big fiery chicken?
She dried herself carefully. The black and blue marks on her hip and back were faint yellow now. Her face barely smudged. Soon all trace of her adventure would vanish. Pierce would go away. And she would be alone again. It was better so. She was cut out to be a normal woman. Normal women didn’t have hot monkey sex with guys who could turn into legendary birds. Almost invisible, paranormal birds. Talk about weird.
But in the stillness of early dawn, she couldn’t hang on to her anger. She made the coffee and dressed in her workaday scrubs. But tears ran down her face. They ran harder when she realized she had bought no food. The cream was still good. But the milk had been dumped last week. The fruit bin was empty. The freezer held a tub of chili. She didn’t feel like chili for lunch. In fact, the thought was disgusting. She put it back. She would have to go to the Bluebonnet for lunch. And hope Pierce wasn’t there.
She opened the slider and went out onto the balcony to breathe the clean dry air. Above her that damned bird started yodeling to his lady love. His anguish broke her heart. She fished tissues out of her pocket. But she left the screen in place when she went back inside to enjoy the coolness pouring down the hills. She would watch the last of the stars wink out as the sun rose.
She sat drinking coffee. Blotting her tears with a series of tissues. She might as well check her email. She booted up the laptop. Answered the one from her sister. Opened the one from her good friends at Amazon telling her about a book she might have missed. She nearly dumped the one where she didn’t recognize the sender’s address. But the subject line seemed harmless enough. Did you get dessert?
What she read froze her heart. She screamed. A ball of fire burst through her screen door and landed on the carpet. She screamed louder. The fire turned into six foot six of lean, hard, naked D’Angelo.
“What’s wrong?” Pierce asked.
She looked between the flapping mesh of the screen door to Pierce’s half-erect cock and gave up. “I got a nasty email,” she said pulling down the tunic of her scrubs. As if covering herself hid his waving flag.
“Let me see,” he strode across to her computer and seated himself at the table. “Do you know who sent this?” he asked.
“My guess would be Cody,” she said. “But prisoners don’t get access to email.”
He showed his teeth. “There are ways if a felon is determined enough — stupid enough. If he paid Venom to attack you, that son of a palsied strumpet is going to do hard time.”
“He already has a fifteen-year sentence.”
“He’ll do every minute if I have anything to say about it.” He looked around. “Is there more coffee?”
“Help yourself. But you do know you’re naked?”
“Yeah.” His smile was a different this time. It made her heart ache. “I’ll find a towel or something.”
He came back with a striped beach towel wrapped around his hips. His dick tented the terrycloth, but Diana looked away. He strode into the kitchen and poured himself a mug of coffee.
“How come you were around to hear me scream?”
“I was on the antenna. Didn’t you hear me serenading you?”
“That was you screeching all night?”
He winced. “You’re my mate. My one and only. I need to be near you.”
As if. Diana cleared her throat. “I’m sure there are lady phoenixes out there.”
“None of them are my fated mate. None of them are my destined bride. None of them are the mother of my children. Only you.”
“About that. I can’t have children,” she confessed. She looked down at her hands.
He sniffed the air as if something smelled off. He chuckled. She raised her head to glare at the insensitive brute. He was laughing when she had just told him her most shameful secret?
“Don’t you get it, Diana?
Nothing matters. You are the woman destiny designed for me. If you throw me out again, I will just sit on that old antenna and sing until you have me back.”
“Your family — your rich family isn’t going to be thrilled with me as your bride,” she pointed out wearily. He needed a reality check. “Particularly when they find out her ex is a con and she is barren.”
The words hung between them. He stopped laughing. His chiseled features looked grave. He seemed to come to some decision. He stood up. “That’s that then,” he said.
He was leaving — as she had always known he would. Her eyes filled and she blinked hard. Strong arms lifted her from her chair.
“Don’t cry, darling,” he said against her head. “I love you.” He drew in a deep breath and sighed a warm gust into her ear. She quivered. “Why do you think you can’t have a baby?”
“I’m too heavy,” she said trying to get him to put her down.
He rocked her like a baby. “You ain’t heavy, you’re my woman,” he crooned. “Tell me,” he coaxed
“I had a miscarriage. The doctors said I couldn’t have a baby after that.”
Pierce sat down with her on his lap. “I’m sorry,” he said still hugging her tightly. “That must have been awful.”
“It was. Cody gave me chlamydia. The baby died.”
“Didn’t you get antibiotics?” he asked.
“Of course. But they said no more babies.”
“Hmm.” Pierce sniffed her again. “And you kept having unprotected sex with that asswipe — pardon my language — you were married to?”
“Of course not. I made him use a condom. Which pretty much dried up his interest in his fat wife.”
“What a creep,” he said pleasantly. “Diana, heart of my heart, light of my life, will you marry me?”
Her head caught his chin squarely. There was an interlude of shouting and comforting and when it ended Diana was being kissed quite thoroughly. In the confusion, she participated quite enthusiastically for a woman who had definitely decided she wanted nothing to do with a shape shifter.
“Is that a yes?” he rumbled.
“I can’t marry you!” she protested.
Phoenix Ablaze (BBW / Phoenix Shifter Romance) (Alpha Phoenix Book 1) Page 15