The last wound was all the way down past the bend of my hip.
Alessandro stared at the curve of my body.
"Do you need a minute ?" My voice was so sweet.
"No."
He reached over and gently slid his hand down my hip, nudging the narrow strap of my white panties down. Heat pulsed through me, and it wasn't any arcane venom.

He leaned in, brushing his fingers over me to better apply the gause. His whole hand settled on my waist. He paused. His fingers lingered on my skin unmoving. He swallowed.
Oh my god. It wasn't just me.

"Don't hold your breath" he said quietly. "It will hurt you more. Breathe through it."
"You breathe to it". Wow. What a stunning display of wit.
"I'm trying", he said. "Believe me, I'm doing my best"

Once I mentioned Alessandro, the family had ganged up on me. [...] Grandma Frida promised to hit him with a wrench when he came over

Alessandro nodded. "I would characterize it as an unforgettable experience."
I pivoted to him. I couldn't held myself . "Really? Was that you? So that's were I knew you from. I couldn't quite recall."
Alessandro opened his eyes wide and put his hand on his chest. "I'm crushed. Am I that forgettable ?"

Jim was ringing the doorbell.
Help. Help me.
“Don’t say anything up front,” I murmured. “We can just let them sort of come to terms with it . . .”
The door swung open. An older African-American woman stood in the doorway. She wore an apron, and she had big dark eyes, just like Jim.
“Dali, this is my mother,” Jim said. “Mom, this is Dali. She’s my mate.”

The doorbell rang. Who could that be? I slid off the bed and glanced out of the window. My mother, my aunt, Komang, and her daughter stood on my doorstep.
Oh no.
“My family is here,” I hissed. “Do not make noise.”
He laughed at me. “Jim! I’ll strangle you.”
“Okay, okay.”
[...]
We sat at the table. “About that boyfriend . . .” my mother said.
“There is no boyfriend,” I said. “It’s someone from the Pack. He was helping me and he was just being funny. He’s a practical joker.”
[...]
My mother frowned. “What is so special about that property?”
“I don’t know. I’m checking into it. It is likely that . . .”
Jim walked into the kitchen. He was wearing a white towel around his hips and nothing else. His skin glistened with dampness—he had obviously just taken a shower. I stared at him in horror. He nodded to my aunt, my mother, and the two other women.
“Ladies.”
Then he walked to my silverware drawer, got a fork, took a plate out of my cabinet, walked to the breadbox, speared the steak with his fork, put it on the plate, turned around and walked out. This did not just happen. It did not happen.
Aulia looked at me with eyes as big as dessert plates and mouthed, “Wow.”
All four of them stared at me.

For a while we stayed just like that and then slowly he slid his big body to the side and pulled me to him. “Mine.”
I blinked at him. “What?”
“You’re all mine.” He grabbed and hoisted me onto him. “Mine, mine, mine.” I laughed and sprawled on top of him.

My answering machine blinked with red. I pushed a button.
“Dali, this is your mother.” Like I wouldn’t know. “Komang called. She says you were there with a man.” I leaned against the island. “She said the man was very dark and said he was your boyfriend! I want to kno . . .”
I clicked the next message. “This is your aunt Ayu . . .”
Click. “Dali!” My cousin Ni Wayan. “My mother told me that you have a boyfriend . . .”
Click. “Boyfriend? What?”
Click. Click. Click. “Dali,” my uncle Aditya said. He was all the way up in North Carolina. The magic has been down for an hour. How did they even get ahold of him this fast? “I am so happy for you.”

“What was the plan, telling Komang that we’re dating?” I demanded.
“Just keeping the record straight,” Jim said.
“You just told my mother’s BFF that I have a boyfriend. I’m going to get a call from her.”
“You can handle one phone call,” he said.
“And then the phone calls from my uncle and my aunt, and my cousin and my other cousin, and my once-removed cousin’s second daughter, and my roommate from college whom I haven’t seen in four years . . .”
Jim smiled.
“It’s not funny.”
“If you called them all together and made one big announcement, it would save you some trouble,” he said.

My mother stared at the ceiling. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” I asked, my eyes wide. I would kill Jim. He could sit completely motionless for hours when on stakeouts. I’d seen him do it. He had to be dropping things on purpose.
Thud!
“That!” My mother turned predatory like a raptor. “What was that?”
Lie, think of something quick, lie, lie . . . “I’ve got a cat.”
“What kind of a cat?” My mother’s eyes narrowed.
“A big one.”

She put her hand on my chest. When she touched me, her fingers warm, something passed between us like a spark of static and my pulse spiked. I took her hand gently and brought it to my lips.
Easy boy, take it slow.
She pulled her hand free and moved closer. Her lips played upon my throat. She was driving me crazy. I had to have her.
"What are you doing?" I growled, wondering if she was just teasing or if she wanted me too.
"Pulling on Death's whiskers," she breathed out softly.
She kissed me again. I had to let her take the lead. Don't push her, don't scare her off. If we were going further with this, she would have to make the next step. Her hands moved over my body, chest, and shoulders, down to my biceps. I flexed a little and tried to remember to breathe.
Oh, yeah, this was totally happening.

"Unfortunately, I can't make my eyes glow the way you do," she said.
"Like this?" I asked, my mouth only a few inches from her ear, my arms on either side of her.
She was so close, warm and wet. Her eyes popped open and I could read the surprise and something else. Could it be an invitation?
"Don't make me break this bottle over your head," she said, her voice soft.
"You won't. You don't want to see me hurt." I searched her face. Yes or no? Come on, Kate, give me something to work with.
She moved toward me and I grabbed her.
Finally.
She wrapped her arms around me. I slid my hands over her body, feeling the strong, smooth muscle. She didn't lay back and wait for me take the lead. She pressed against me, strong, supple. It was exciting. She wanted me. This wasn't passive acceptance, this was active involvement.
I kissed her. I was already hard and this was fuel to the fire. God, I wanted her, more maybe than I'd ever wanted anything.

Later, as I started to put the pieces together, she had called to tell me that she and Jim were running off together and even offered me an erotic dinner if I could find them in three days. Kate short-circuits my brain. In my head we always have these clear coherent exchanges, but once we meet, what comes out is "Kate, do what I say or I'll kill you." Her default reply is "Fuck you!" and we go downhill from there.

What could possibly cause a cat, a wolf, a hyena, and a middle-aged medmage honey badger to risk my wrath? I couldn't figure out the what or the why, but I had a damn good idea of the who. Kate Daniels, professional fuckup. Yeah, she was employed by the Order, humans who happened to despise my kind, and did jobs for the Guild, but I swear her mission in life was to make mine miserable. She defied me publicly, challenged me privately, and God help me, she bounced around inside my head like a bull in a china shop.

I leaned back. "You know what I like about you? You have no sense. You sit here in my house, you can barely pick up a spoon, and you're telling me 'no.' You'd pull on Death's whiskers if you could reach them." She didn't know it, but at this moment she was close. Damn close.

I smiled. "Doctor, do you think she might enjoy some nice hot chicken soup?"
There was a tiny pause before Doolittle answered. "My lord, I think she would like that very much."
Oh yes, she would sit in bed and eat the soup I had gotten for her like a good little girl. The best thing would be watching her gulp it down, clueless as usual to the consequences of her actions.

What I needed was a shower and some shut-eye. I'd be damned if she saw me looking tired or disheveled. When she finally did wake up, feeling like half a mile of bad road, I wanted to stroll in looking fresh and clean, as if I hadn't a care in the world.

She was arrogant, impulsive, and failed to recognize my authority or respect my position. She challenged me in front of my people. If anyone else ever... But she was funny, sometimes, and never boring. God, it would almost be worth it to see her face when she realized I had saved her ass again. Actually it was quite a nice ass, come to think of it. In fact, my memory of the ass and its owner seemed to be remarkably clear.

Kate motioned to the waiter while pretty boy looked at me. He was actually trying to stare me down. I hid a smile. Dear Doctor, you don't want any of this. Trust me. He kept looking. I returned the stare. I was kind of curious if he would have the nerve to come over and do something about it. Then again, who knows, maybe he just was wondering if he could fix my nose. Believe me, Doc, you don't wanna see my other face. I thought about giving him just a quick peek. Just a hint of a fang. A waiter approached our table, carrying a silver tray with a bowl on it. Now what? The waiter deposited the bowl in front of me. Milk. Ha!
"Compliments of the lady at that table, sir."
Oh, this was too good. I locked eyes with Kate and picked up the bowl. While she was looking, I raised the dish and drained it.
Salute! Your move, baby.
She smiled.

Kate's date, a handsome man in an expensive dark suit, stared at her, his mouth hanging slightly open.
You and me both, brother.

Kate circled the table, giving me a lovely view of her backside. Mm. She stood by a chair that would let her see the door. Ha. I wondered for a moment if she would flip it over and sit cowboy style, with the back of the chair protecting her stomach.
"Is something funny?" Myong asked.
"No."

I kissed my husband. We sat together on the porch and watched our son play with fireflies.
“We should have another one,” Curran said. I smiled at him.
“Maybe.”
“Don’t you want a little girl?”
“I do. Once Conlan grows up a little. We have time now, right?”
Curran grinned at me. “All the time in the world.”

"Conlan is probably traumatized for life because he watched me kill a woman in front of him.”
“Your kills are usually quick,” Rowena pointed out. “Maybe he didn’t notice.”
“He noticed.”
Conlan raised his hand, fingers outstretched, as if they had claws, and slapped the vampire upside the face. The undead remained unmoved.
“Your son doesn’t look traumatized to me,” Ghastek observed.
“I’m sure this will surface as a repressed memory fifteen years from now.”
Conlan smacked the vampire again.
“Stop,” I told him.

Curran loomed next to Teddy Jo. His eyes had gone completely gold. I hadn’t even heard him come in.
“Uh-oh,” Conlan offered.

My son shrugged the shreds of his clothes off himself and showed Robert his lion fangs.
“Rawrrawrrr!”
“Is he challenging me?” Robert’s eyes sparkled.
I put my hand over my face.
“Rawrwrwa!”
“That’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.”