Page 29 of Wicked Deeds

Now, that I could get on board with. “I’ll start thinking of how.”

“Oh, I have plenty of ideas.” His grin returned.

I matched it. “Then we’ll need plenty of time to get through both lists. Maybe you could get Madge to clear your schedule tomorrow,” I said, wishing we could get started on those lists right now. I could tempt him into coming and scrubbing my back in the shower. But no, he had to work and I sadly had no time for shower sex. Tomorrow was Saturday. Damon usually worked at least a few hours every day but we usually had us time on the weekends. “Doyou have anything on your schedule tomorrow?”

“Nothing major.” He stretched his arms out, cracking his knuckles. “But I should finish this.” His gaze flicked back to the nearest screen. “Did you need me for something?”

I knew the signs of a geek wanting to get back to the job at hand. “One quick thing and I’ll get out of your hair.”

His expression turned instantly wary. I hated that when it came to news from me, these days his mind seemed to go straight to worst-case scenario.

“You’re not hurt? You were training, weren’t you?”

I shook my head and then did a quick twirl. “All in one piece. Nothing bruised but my ego. As usual. But Callum came up with an idea for a solution to our nixling problem.” Hopefully I sounded like I was happy about it.

Damon raised an eyebrow. “Am I going to like this solution?”

“I don’t know? How do you feel about, er, a guest?”

“A guest? Who?”

“Easier if I just introduce you.” I went and opened the door. Lianith was still sitting outside.

“Come on in,” I said.

Lianith strolled into the room, twin tails curving question marks over her back.

Damon shoved back from the desk, coming to his feet. “That’s anixling.” He raised his eyebrows, huffing out a surprised breath.

“Yes.” I filled him in on Callum’s basic theory that Lianith would be able to scare off other nixlings.

“So she’s like, what, a nixling warrior or something?”

“I’m not sure. We didn’t really get into the details. Callum seemed confident, though.”

Lianith took a few steps forward and sprang onto Damon’s desk from about ten feet away, landing lightly enough not to disturb anything. To his credit, Damon didn’t so much as flinch.

“Impressive,” he said drily, looking down at her as she settled herself on a pile of paper. “Right. So she’s up to the job. But what are we doing about the whole…not really looking like a cat or a dog situation?” He gestured at the tails now curving over her front paws. “She’s going to upset the neighbors.”

I pulled the collar out of my jacket pocket and held it up. “This.” I came over to the desk and fastened the collar into place.

Lianith morphed back into a cat.

This time Damon did flinch slightly before he caught himself. He narrowed his eyes at me. “You could have warned me. But I see that works. She looks like a what…Maine Coon, is that what those big cats are called?”

“I think so. Callum picked the biggest cat he could find to model the illusion on.” These days, of course, people had all sorts of designer pets. Gene coding and DNA manipulation were tightly controlled, but cosmetic changes to fur color and pattern and size were allowed, if expensive. “It’s only an illusion, so you don’t want something too small. It would be strange if she appeared normal cat sized but could reach things a normal cat couldn’t for example.”

“Okay,” he said. “And you said ‘guest’. So not a permanent addition to the household?”

Seriously, he was taking this way better than I thought he would.

“No,” I said slowly. “She’s volunteering to help us out for a while.” Lianith was cute but I didn’t think she would want to live outside the realm permanently, even if Cerridwen would allow it.

“What’s her name?” Damon asked.

“Oh,” I said. “Sorry, it’s Lianith. Lianith, this is Damon. He’s my…er, mate?”

That got me a response. Not really a word, more a sensation of amusement.

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