Page 32 of Forbidden

“Over here,” Ira said, flapping a hand in the air.

Wolf strolled across the floor, glancing around at everything. “This place is a dump.”

“Ouch,” Luke remarked. “We’ve been working on it for hours.”

“Oh, so it looksbetterthan it did?” Wolf asked.

“Unfortunately, yeah,” Ira said. “Ididsay it needed a lot of work. We haven’t even been in the bathrooms yet.”

“I pissed outside,” Alex said without shame. “I was too scared to see what it looked like in there.”

Talon barked out a laugh. “Did you?”

“Hell yeah!”

Ira giggled. Wolf knelt down beside him, smiling fondly.

“You’re dirty,” he noted, brushing a finger along Ira’s cheek.

“Ifeeldirty,” he said. “It’s gross in here. Those storage rooms were disgusting. We’ll need to remodel some things and update even more. But it’s gonna be great once we get it all in working order.”

“How about we head home for a while? We’ll order food and you can shower.”

“And then come back?” Ira asked hopefully. “Those two are going to sign the papers for the place soon, and then it’ll be all ours.”

Wolf looked around. “Oh good, just what I’ve always wanted,” he deadpanned, and Malachi sniggered.

Ira held out a hand, and Wolf helped him to a sitting position. He followed Wolf’s gaze around the room. It looked better than it had, but Wolf was right, it still wasn’t filling anyone with confidence like this. Itwould, but they were going to look like jokes until they managed to at least get the lights and water working.

He must have looked a little forlorn, because Wolf chuckled and dropped a kiss to the top of his head. “Food and shower first,” he instructed. “I’ll bring you back in a few hours so you can keep working. I also promised you a cell phone, remember?”

“Oh, right. Can I have one of those cool touchscreen flip phones?”

Wolf pulled him close. “You can have whatever you want.”

He slid into the space under Wolf’s arm, leaning against his sturdy side. “Actually, I take that back. Those phones probably aren’t very durable. I need something that can survive a demon attack.”

“One ancient Nokia, coming right up.”

Chapter 8

Wolf insistedon getting Ira the latest iPhone—albeit in a sturdy case, because the man was right, their lives were perilous at the best of times. After a hearty breakfast and a shower, he even convinced him to get a few hours of sleep. But that afternoon, Ira was awake and ready to return to the Rink, so they picked up a stack of pizzas on their way there for the others.

Everyone else was already there when they arrived, along with a white work truck that neither of them recognized.Ramirez Constructionwas emblazoned on the side.

“We come bearing food,” Ira announced as they strode in through the front door. The air smelled far less stale than it had when they first arrived in the middle of the night. Lemon-scented cleaner tickled his nostrils, and there was significantly less grime around the room than he remembered. There were plastic booths on a checkered-tile floor to the right, with the old snack bar on the left. Wolf deposited the pizza boxes there on the glass case. Someone had taken the time to polish the glass, so it was at least a clean surface.

The power was on. Over the skating rink floor, rows of multicolored lights glowed in between the mirrors—though only about half of them seemed to be working—and an old disco ball hung at the apex of the dome, twinkling in the lights. It was all very… eighties. He absolutely loved it, and he could tell by the way Ira beamed up at the disco ball that he did, too.

Talon, Alex, Luke, and Malachi all stood in the area near the half-wall where a handful of old arcade games remained. The largest, an air hockey table, seemed to have become a catch-all. A couple of jackets were hanging over one corner, and multiple papers were scattered across its freshly wiped surface. Probably the most surprising additions to the room were a teenage boy and girl, both with chocolate brown curls and brown skin just a few shades lighter than Ira’s.

“Oh god, yeah,” the boy cheered, bounding over to the pizza boxes. “I’ve got you beat, though. I brought an inspector.”

“Your cousin, right,” Ira said, drawing the kid up short.

Wolf leaned in. “Who are the kids?”

Ira smiled up at him. “Zachary and Angela Alvarez. They were here when we found the place. It’s something of a sanctuary to them. They kind of come with the place.”

---