She huffed, faced forward for half a second, then spun back to face us again. “What about just dousing him? A quick little dip. Just to remind him not to mess with you?”
“That’s not necessary.”
“What if I want to? You’re my friend, Declan. Friends do things for their friends.”
If Tulip kept this up, it’d be a long trip. But I got to cuddle with Gideon, which was always nice, so it wasn’t all bad. In fact, there was only one thing that’d make this excursion better.
“Can we stop to grab coffee on the way?”
Chapter Fourteen
A Body… Because of Course There Is
Gideon
After a short stop at the Thistle Café for coffee—seriously, my man had a problem—Elwood coaxed the microbus onto the road. The whole vehicle gave a lurch like it was on its last leg, but in the old girl’s defense, we’d crammed half the Misfit Monsters Support Group inside.
Declan sat pressed against my side, knee bumping mine, his magic humming just soft enough that I could feel it. Or maybe that was just the caffeine. I wrapped my arm around him, more instinct than thought.
Tulip twisted around from the seat in front of us. “Declan, sweetheart, if you tell me where Josh is staying, I promise I’ll only drown him a little.”
“Absolutely not.” Elwood looked up in the rearview mirror at Tulip. “And there’s no such thing as a little drowning.”
Declan groaned. “Nobody’s drowning anybody. Please stop offering. Josh is my past. I don’t care if he’s here in town or not, but I don’t want anyone to hurt him.”
“Just a splash then,” Tulip said. “I could at least get him a little wet. It wouldn’t hurt him at all.”
Declan let out a sigh, but he didn’t respond to her. Tulip could be a lot, and I actually wouldn’t put murder past her, not if the offending party hurt someone she cared about, and she cared about Declan.
We hit the stretch of road out of town, and the microbus rattled over a pothole, and we all felt it. I knew Elwood loved this old microbus, but seriously, there was something to be said for modern suspension.
Declan leaned forward a little, peering out the window. “Do you see that?”
My gaze followed automatically. At first, I saw nothing but trees—then a shadow peeled off the air. Licorice swept low beside us, huge wings beating slow and sure. And right beside it? A bat, flitting along, trying to keep up.
“Is that Mellgren?” I asked. I thought our resident vegan vampire was supposed to be at work at the convention center today.
Az leaned over and looked out his window and nodded. “I believe it is.”
“It looks like they’re following us. Should we stop? If that’s Mellgren, he shouldn’t have to fly all the way.”
“It’s not that far. Besides, he can only be out in the sunlight as a bat, not in his human form,” Hazel said.
“Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that.” Declan looked thoughtful for a second. “Have you known him for a long time?”
“Oh yes.” She nodded. “I’ve known Mellgren forever.”
Declan watched the two fly alongside us with a big smile on his face.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s nothing. I’m just so glad to have Licorice as my familiar. Can’t believe it wasn’t that long ago that I believed magic wasn’t real, and now here I am with a raven as a familiar and a wolf shifter boyfriend. My life is awesome.”
I laughed and pulled him closer. “You’re awesome. And you deserve all the good things.”
He snuggled in closer, and we rode like that the rest of the way to the brewery. A short time later, Elwood parked beneath the trees, and we all piled out of the bus. Licorice and the bat we assumed was Mellgren—it was hard to tell one bat from another—swooped around us until Licorice peeled upward and perched in an oak tree near the drive, feathers gleaming. The bat shot straight through an upper window of the brewhouse and vanished inside.
“I guess Mellgren will be waiting for us inside then,” Declan said with a shrug.
