Orrin, however, snorted into his clay cup of tea. “Who could call you anything but an obsessive romantic? You made me go back to the store three times because the giant canvas you’d ordered of Jade’s face didn’t ‘properly print as the green of her eyes wasn’t quite right.’”
“You should feel honored, minion, that I trusted you to transport that canvas print,” Considine said. “Also, your complaints would be a lot more effective if you hadn’t spent all last week telling me I needed to purchase new gold frames because Jade is ‘warm-toned’ and gold better suits her than the silver frames I already had.”
“If I’m going to be surrounded by enormous photographs, I at least want them to be beautifully displayed,” Orrin then bowed to me. “No offense meant, Jade.”
I smiled and waved him off.
The duo made interesting housemates. Considine thought nothing of dropping money on whatever fit his fancy—something Orrin had learned early on and used to his advantage. He returned the favor, however, by willingly serving as Considine’s errand boy, weekly magic shield installer, and—on the rare occasion Considine had other business—my cooking/baking aid.
It took me a few weeks to figure out Orrinlikedthe chores Considine charged him with, because he was rather nosy and enjoyed finding out everyone’s business.
This suited Considine fine, as he was a bit of a micromanager. I’d visited their apartment on more than one occasion to find the pair swapping work gossip while sipping at their individual beverage of choice.
“Glad you’re back, Blood.” Brody reached over Considine to give me a friendly, werewolf pat that would have knocked me out of Considine’s arms if he hadn’t held me so securely. “You too, Considine. We missed you while you were off on your slayer mission.” He grinned broadly at us.
“Yeah, where did you go this time?” Grove asked. “Orrin-the-less-handsome-fae-of-the-squad wouldn’t tell us.”
“Iowa.” I cleared my throat awkwardly when everyone in the squad directed their gaze at me. “To help the Klein slayers.”
“Iowa?” Binx repeated.
“Yes, I questioned the location, too, as it hardly seems to be a hotbed of vampire corruption,” Considine chuckled. “But, as it turns out, Iowa is a regular pain to stalk ravenous vampires in, as they can run for miles across accursedly flat farm fields.”
“What?” Juggernaut leaned forward and slapped his hands on the table. “You can’t just leave us hanging like that—what happened? Why were there ravenous vamps?”
“An elder tried to punish five of his offspring for attempted patricide by starving them. They turned ravenous and the Kleins were brought in,” Considine explained.
Juggernaut still looked confused, so I added, “Ravenous vampires can be…tricky, so they called in their favor with me.”
“I hope that settles the debt in full,” Clarence said.
Tetiana snorted. “If not, allow me to say you got cheated.”
“Sounds like a fae bargain,” Medium-Sized Robert rumbled.
“Or worse,” Orrin muttered.
I smiled as I listened to my squadmates chat.
It was only because of them that Considine and I were able to keep our jobs with the task force and still take off whenevernecessary to answer the favors the slayer families called in for my stake.
Already they’d covered us for two different slayer trips, and it wasn’t quite spring yet.
The task force still held me in more respect than I deserved, but that space between us had disappeared in the days after Gisila died and we arrested the Tellier wizards.
On occasion, Brody and Juggernaut even teased Considine and me about being task force sweethearts.
Considine moved his right leg, tilting me against his chest. “Do you recall we have a video chat with your brothers about the Klein favor tomorrow morning?” He murmured into my ear.
“Yes,” I said. “Do you remember we’re scheduled to have dinner at Drake Hall our next day off?”
“Of course,” he purred. “I do so look forward tothosekinds of days.”
I was afraid one of our teammates would realize I was blushing bright red, but Sarge entered the meeting room with Sunshine tagging along behind him.
He made eye contact with me and motioned at us. “Blood, Ruin. Come on.”
I rocketed out of Considine’s lap and hurried to the front of the room as Sunshine waved to me.
