Beneath a Blood Moon (83 page)
“Me?” Desmond blurted.
I couldn’t help myself; I smiled and giggled. “I like Wendy, so I can’t shoot her.”
Wendy laughed. “The Shadow Pope finally told you where your house is? Took him long enough.”
“There’s someone there now, waiting to give us the keys.” I headed into the kitchen, grabbed my purse, and dug through the bowl of trinkets on the counter for the keys to my car, which I tossed to Sanders. “Hurry!”
“The house isn’t going anywhere, Sara,” my mate replied, smiling at me.
I headed for the door. “One can never be too careful about these things.”
The house was so new the stench of fresh paint lingered in the air. Like Desmond’s home, it was three stories and was surrounded by a large porch. Empty flowerbeds waited for my mate’s attention. The yard was freshly tilled and also needed a lot of care—and grass.
Dustin, Holly, and Barry were sitting on a porch swing protected from Seattle’s incessant drizzling.
“The love birds arrive with their chaperones,” Dustin said, hopping to his feet. “How convenient. Both bitches I need to check are here. I’m under orders to check all of you over. The Shadow Pope wants to ensure none of you came to any lasting harm. I keep trying to tell him I’m not a vet or a doctor. I do not see any of the Murphys here. Where are they?”
Desmond laughed. “They went home last week. Richard was anxious to return to his pack. There’s an armed guard around, so he didn’t feel like he was needed any longer.”
“I was told they were still here.” Dustin scowled. “He’s going to get cranky, Mr. Desmond.”
“You’ll survive, I’m sure. I’ll even be nice and stand still for you so you can at least say you looked at me. That’s something. Either way, you better deal with the newly mated first. I have a feeling they may join forces and murder us if we don’t give them some space.”
“You are the cause of it,” I reminded him. “Keys, please.”
Holly grinned and tossed me a keychain. “Finally got tired of sharing space with the Desmonds?”
“That was over a week ago,” I informed her. “They’re very nice, but I have plans, and the only person they involve is Matthew.”
“I think you delighted in interrupting us,” my mate murmured, glaring at Desmond. “Go home, and take these three with you when you go.”
“Yes, go home now. Go away,” I said, shooing the Desmonds away. “You can walk that far, I’m sure.”
“We can drop you off,” Holly offered. “When we’re done here, we’re heading to the airport to catch a flight home. Hurry up, Dustin. Do your part so we can get out of here.”
Sighing, Dustin grabbed my hand. He let me go moments later and repeated the process with my mate. “They’re fine, let’s go.”
“Did you even check?” Holly demanded.
“Cursory glance. Leave it, Holly. I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I want to go home,” the witch complained.
Clucking her tongue, Holly tapped her fingers at her side where her holster typically would rest. “Whine, whine, whine, Dustin. At least take the time to look Sara over carefully. It won’t take you more than twenty minutes to look them both over. Let’s go inside, then we can take the Desmonds home and head out ourselves.”
Narrowing my eyes, I pocketed the keys, unzipped my coat to draw my Glock, and pointed it at Dustin. “Inside, Dustin. You aren’t going anywhere until you check on my puppy.”
Dustin laughed, held his hands up in surrender, and opened the front door. “Okay, I know when to take a hint.”
Sanders scowled at me, disarming me and returning my gun to its holster. “Our puppy.”
“Possession is nine-tenths of the law, and my puppy is in my belly stealing my food—or making me throw it up. You can have a turn making claims in a few months,” I informed my mate, faking a sniffle.
Catching me in a hug, my mate pressed his nose against my neck. His breath warmed my skin. I pulled away and rewarded him with a kiss before heading inside.
Instead of empty rooms, I stepped into a living room furnished with a couch, armchair, a coffee table, and a love seat. A television hung on the wall, along with a cable box and some other equipment. I twisted around to glare at Desmond before turning to my mate. “Neither one of you will destroy anything. There will be no wild romping in this house. Am I understood?”
Desmond grinned at me. “I will limit my romping to my property, although I’m not responsible for any romping on Wendy’s part.”
The glare Wendy leveled at her mate made me laugh.
At Dustin’s gesture, I sat on the couch. It was made of suede, and I was so distracted by the soft texture I stopped paying attention to the witch.
He tugged on my hand to regain my attention. “You’re terrible at maintaining your weight, Sara. Eat more. Puke less. No more adventures for a little while. Your puppy seems fine to me, and you’re not in too bad shape yourself. Better than before by a notable margin.”
I smiled. “Thanks for coming out, Dustin.”
“Just don’t shoot me with your cute little toy,” the witch replied. “Your turn, Stud Muffin. The sooner I confirm you’re still alive, the sooner I’m out of your hair until next month. I swear, I’m going to find an actual doctor and make them come with me. This is way over my pay grade.”
My mate didn’t bother replying; he held out his arm to Dustin.
Making a thoughtful noise, the witch examined my mate. “You’re still leaner than I like, Uncle. Your muscle density is even lower than it was after you ran wild for a month. You need exercise, and you need a lot of it. Go to a gym if you can’t find any hard physical labor to keep you busy. Don’t make me ask Mom to come up here and feed you.”
Desmond frowned, watching my mate from the doorway. “I’ll take care of it, Dustin.”
The witch nodded, rising to his feet. “Good.”
Deciding I wasn’t going to interfere with Desmond’s posturing or his bossy ways, I asked, “You’re not a vampire, are you? Are you waiting for an invitation to come inside? Come in or stay out. Don’t hover in the doorway.”
Desmond smiled, stepped inside, and prowled around the living room. He disappeared down the hallway leading to other parts of the house, returning shortly later. “This’ll be a nice place.” After a moment, his smile widened into a huge grin, and he tapped his foot against the hardwood floor. “I don’t think you’ll be at any risk of falling through for at least a few years.”
I pointed at the door. “I changed my mind. Get out of my house.”
He laughed.
After staying with the Desmonds for so long, the house was quiet—too quiet. I struggled to believe the home was ours; while it was furnished with the basics, nothing about the place had our touch, not yet.
Excitement coursed through me. The grief my mate wore like a second skin in his old home didn’t cling to him in our new one. He prowled, and I followed after him, enjoying the way his amber eyes took in every detail as he inspected every last item in every single room.
“He went overboard,” my mate complained, returning to the kitchen for the fifth time since he had started his inspection.
The kitchen connected to the dining room. One of the kitchen walls had a wall to wall window at counter height, overlooking a tilled yard ending in a forest. I pointed at the window. “Excessive.”
“Perfect,” my mate countered, kissing my cheek. “I can keep all sorts of house plants on the counter. A garden in the back would be nice. Maybe I can appease your wretched vegetarian nature that way.”
“Wretched!”
“Terribly so,” he murmured, snaking his arm around my waist to tug me closer to him. “But seeing as you like those horrible vegetables, I will provide them for you. Of course, I will insist you have a proper diet, including a lot of meat. I will even hunt for you in our forest. If you’re really nice to me, I’ll steal prey from Desmond’s territory.”
I laughed. “He’s going to come over here and beat you for your insolence. Haven’t you had enough of him chasing you around his house since I told him you’d call him Dad? You haven’t cracked yet. I have to admit I’m impressed.”
“I certainly have not. He’s going to have to do a lot better than that. Maybe he can trick Alex and Richard, but there’s no way he’s tricking me.” Smiling at me, my mate kissed the tip of my nose. “I’m sorry my house tried to kill you.”
“I’m afraid until you fix every single board in that place, you’ll just have to live with me in this nice house. I’m sure I can keep you amused, somehow. You can make a nice yard for our puppy. It needs to be better than Desmond’s yard. You can do that for me, can’t you?”
“Oh, so when you want me to make a nice yard for you, it’s our puppy? I see how it is. You’re such a naughty little bitch.”
“That’s why you love me,” I informed him.
He laughed. “That’s only one of the reasons why. So, you want a yard for our puppy. What else do you want?”
I considered the tilled soil outside, pulling free of Sanders so I could turn around and take in the kitchen and dining room. In time, our house would become a home. Before I had met Sanders, having a home had been nothing more than a fleeting dream.
The most important thing in my life was right in front of me, and he was mine. “What else could I possibly want? I have you.”
He smiled, caught me in a hug, and said nothing.
No more words were necessary, which made me happiest of all.
Titles by RJ Blain
Witch & Wolf (Urban Fantasy)
Other titles from the Witch & Wolf World (UF)
Tales of the Winter Wolf
Beneath a Blood Moon
(UF, Standalone)
Requiem for the Rift King (Epic Fantasy)
The Fall of Erelith (Fantasy)