“Damn it. Okay. Which god?”
“Crow.”
“Tell me he hasn’t been hiding the weapon all day.”
I glanced over at him.
“I’m offended.” He pressed fingers to his chest.
“When was it delivered?” I asked.
“About an hour ago. If you want the box, it’s at my place.”
“We want the box. See you at the Crow’s Nest, Myra.”
“I’m already on my way.”
“Of course you are.”
I ended the call.
“You still going out to find Bigfoot?” Crow asked.
“Yep. I’m like the postal service. Neither ghoul nor demon nor stolen page of a god spell book, will keep me from finishing my rounds.”
Chapter Seventeen
I hadto pick up dragon pig for part of my rounds because I’d never been very good with the languages of some of our most reclusive citizens. Still, I was pleasantly surprised when dragon pig acted as interpreter when we came across the family of Vodianoi. The human-ish, frog-like, fish-scaled water folk were delighted dragon pig knew their language. So delighted, they dragged a nice, tasty anchor up from the rocks as a thank-you snack.
Finishing my rounds took until one o’clock in the morning. Even though Ordinary was small, we had hills and forests and miles of beach and cliffs. Lots of supernatural citizens lived in those places, sometimes not leaving their homes for years.
Ryder hadn’t texted the whole time that I had been out. I was worried about that, but tried not to let it distract me. Ryder was doing the very important job of keeping an eye on the monster hunter. I hoped he was squeezing her for all the information he could get.
I yawned my way into our house, dropping my keys in the dish and pulling the band out of my hair. Spud looked up from the fireplace bed, spotted dragon pig and bounded over, whining and wagging and happy. Dragon pig grunted, then allowed Spud to lick its snout.
I opened the door and let Spud out to do his late night business. I wondered if I’d eaten dinner, remembered it had been pie, and decided I was too tired to eat something more nutritious.
Spud scratched on the door, and I let him back in. He and dragon pig sprinted to the fireplace, burrowing into the huge pile of toys, until the dragon pig came out perched on top of the mountain, with Spud and the toys spread out below. Spud licked his paws a couple times, then his eyes closed and he was snoring.
The dragon pig watched me as I headed toward the stairs to my room. “You’re good,” I said. The dragon pig grunted. “Yes, I’m good, too. See you in the morning.”
I didn’t even have the energy for a shower, so I stripped, pulled on one of Ryder’s T-shirts, and crawled under the covers. I checked my phone one more time for a message from him, but the only text was from Jean telling me Hogan had taken a sniff around the motel and hadn’t smelled ghoul.
I sent her a thumb’s up emoji, dropped the phone on the night stand, then stole Ryder’s pillow. It still smelled of his shampoo. I hugged it to me, inhaling his scent, then fell asleep.
* * *
The door opened quietly,so I knew that wasn’t what woke me. It might have been the very soft grumble from the dragon pig, more of a greeting than a warning. Or maybe it was just that I knew those footsteps, the tread of those boots, thethunkof keys landing next to mine on the little shelf in the hall.
Maybe it was because my heart was tied to that man. When he was near, I could feel him, the shape of him, from his breath, his steps, his movements through our house. His palm on the back of the chair he always touched when looking in the living room at the dragon pig and Spud. The drag of his fingers along the wall as he climbed the stairs.
I breathed in, breathed out, everything settling in me.
Knowing he was here. Safe. Mine.
I waited with my eyes closed as he bumped into the dresser, then shucked out of his boots, his pants, his shirt.
He grunted softly as he stretched his shoulders and back. Then the covers lifted and a soft sound of laughter came out of him.
