Oh, motherfucker is going to die. You call my sweet Gran’s smell foul and I kill you.
I backed up two steps and dropped to pick up my gun, silver bullet loaded, and pointed it at his chest.
He looked genuinely shocked for a moment.
“Get. Out!” I roared.
He took one last, lingering look at my naked body—the bastard didn’t even bother to hide his lust—and left.
I was so enraged that my hands shook as I dialed my lawyer.
“Barnell and Croft,” a sweet secretary answered.
“I need Croft. It’s Evie Black,” I spit out, trying to control myself so that I wouldn’t go into the hallway and blow the werewolf’s brains out to hell.
The vampire’s voice came on the line, smooth as butter. “Evie, what’s going on? I’m expecting you soon.”
I swallowed hard. “Change of plans. The alpha is going to bulldoze my Gran’s cabintoday.”
He hissed. “How did you find out? The wolves around here are especially secretive.”
I sighed.You’re supposed to be truthful with lawyers, right?This might come around to bite me in the ass, so best to tell him now. Croft had been my Gran’s lawyer for the past century; I should be able to trust him.
“I just fucked the alpha. Meet me at the cabin in twenty?” I tried to sound nonchalant about the bomb drop.
There was a pause. “Oh, Evie…” He sighed, and I’d never heard a vamp sigh considering they didn’t need to breathe. "Yes, I’ll meet you there.”
After hanging up the phone I didn’t even bother to shower. I just brushed my teeth and reapplied deodorant. If that asshole was on his way to destroy my Gran’s home, I needed to get there first.
‘Wake up, Cass,’I shouted, and then snickered a little. Not quite the wake-up call one wanted after being hung-over.
‘I hate you,’the imp said in my head.
‘Ditch whatever fae you’re with, and meet me at the car. That werewolf from last night is the one trying to destroy Gran’s house.’
There was a bristle between our bond as the shock of my message hit him. Sometimes, if the emotion was strong enough, we could sense each other’s feelings. I’d been partnered with Cass since I was sixteen, when we were both fresh-eared noobs at the Hunter Academy. No one else wanted the tiny beer-bellied rascal, but I saw his potential. He was the most loyal friend I’d ever had. Who was I kidding? He was the only friend I’d ever had. Only real friend anyway, even if he was grumpier than a banshee before she’d had her breakfast.
‘I told you not to sleep with him,’he replied before there was a hard knock at my door, right before he used his demon magic to unlock it.
Cass walked in wearing tiny, gold, glittering Speedo bottoms, a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth.
I grinned. “Fun night?”
He shrugged, rubbing his pink fuzzy chest fur. “Mostly satisfactory.”
I shivered a little. Cass was a nymphomaniac, and preferred the fae, the taller the better. I didn’t want to know how they worked it out, so I purposely tried not to think about it.
I hooked my gun and badge onto my belt. “Remind me never to sleep with a werewolf again.”
He just glared at me, shook his head, and followed me down the hall.
Thisalphawas about to regret the day he’d been born.
* * *
As we pulled up to Gran’s cabin, nestled deep in the woods of Eugene, Oregon, Croft’s black Mercedes was already in the driveway, but thankfully no bulldozer. Yet. My blood pressure settled a little.
There, in the open green valley at the bottom of the hill, sat Gran’s little white and blue cottage, built by my grandfather’s own two hands, with a little help from his warlock magic. I was a Black, descendant from one of the most powerful witch clans in North America, even though I was born without magic. A human for all intents and purposes, everyone else in the magical community shunned me. But not Gran. She said I was perfect, and didn’t care that her family’s famous magical lineage was going to end with me. There was no way in hell I was letting what’s-his-face alpha tear down my best memory of the only woman who’d loved me.
