Page 34 of Pleasantly Undead in Dark River

After a slow, languorous kiss that made me mewl happily, I drew back and sighed. “I’ll miss you while I’m gone. And I’ll try to do better about giving you one on one time.” He went to protest, but I covered his lips with my finger. “I want that time with you too. If we are going to do this seriously, I need to carve out one on one time with you. Nico has time with me at the cafe, and Tex has me at home. Judge has me, but he also has Tex, so he doesn't feel like he’s missing out. Brody isn’t here as often, so when he is I always make time for him. And X…” I shrugged. “X makes his own time whether I want it or not. But you?” I kissed his cheekbone. “You just stand by me in the background, not overloading me but ensuring that I feel safe and supported. You don’t demand anything and I’m guilty of not giving you what you need despite that.” I kissed his lips. “So prepare yourself, Walker Walton, because I am going to woo the shit out of you until you are perpetually horny every time you look at me.”

He laughed and squeezed me in a hug. Held tightly to his chest, I let out a contented sigh. This. This was why I loved Walker. “Too late for that one. You walk into a room and I’m hard as a rock.” I wiggled on his lap to make sure he wasn’t lying to me and he groaned as he pressed his hard cock into my ass. “See?”

He pushed me off his lap. “You better go before I fuck you over my desk. It would scatter all my case files and you know how I feel about filing.”

He did love everything to be filed neatly. I eyed the stacks of paper wistfully. I wanted to throw them in the air and let him fuck me on their scattered corpses. He nipped my lower lip. “I don’t like that devious look in your eye.”

I grinned. “Liar. You love it.”

He laughed and stood, tipping me off his lap but keeping me in his arms. “Nope. I just love you. Every cheeky, mischievous part of you.” With one more kiss, he let me go. “Be safe up there in Nîso.”

He seemed a little hesitant and I couldn’t blame him. My last foray to Nîso had ended, uh, not so great. “I promise no more houses will explode on me. Besides, Nico will be there too.”

Walker nodded. “That's reassuring. If there is any being that I trust with your welfare, it’s Nico. He loves you more than he should.” Because of the succubus blood. It went unsaid, but it hung between us. He leaned forward and nuzzled my neck. “Just… take care of yourself, okay? And take care of our pups.”

My heart swelled and I moved toward the door before I could do something embarrassing like throw my naked body at him, or worse, cry.

“Look after Judge and X for me?”

Walker snorted. “They are big enough and scary enough to take care of themselves.”

He wasn’t wrong. “Well, apparently they are having sex. So make sure they don’t have some kind of lovers quarrel and demolish half the town?”

Walker blinked in surprise. Then he shrugged. “Makes sense. Those two have enough sexual tension to suffocate a mermaid.”

He was not wrong. Except maybe about the mermaid thing, I hoped.

I put my hand in the crook of his elbow as he walked me down the front path and across the road into the square. Nico was sitting on one of the benches, staring at the stars. The soft fairy lights shone down on his blond head, making him look a little like a fallen angel. He turned his face towards us as we approached, his smile so heartbreakingly genuine. “Ready?”

I nodded, leaning up to kiss Walker’s cheek one last time. I stepped away “Yep. Thanks for waiting for me.”

He pulled me into his arms. “I’d wait for you forever, Raine Baxter,” he said, kissing me softly.

Walker snorted. “Smooth bastard.” He looked at his watch. “I better go and get X. It’s time for lunch and I can keep an eye on him better if he’s in the diner causing havoc.”

I grinned. “I’d, uh, make sure you knocked.”

Walker screwed up his face, but blew me a kiss goodbye and headed toward the Doctor’s office. Nico laughed. “Brave man.” He looked down at me, his dark brown eyes like sinking into the abyss. He held out a hand. “Are you ready?”

“Always.”

Chapter Eighteen

The run to Nîso was the most fun I’d had in weeks. Just running as fast as my legs could go, testing my limits, was exhilarating. Throw in Nico, whose playfulness meant that we got sidetracked climbing trees and racing up sheer rock faces, and it was just freeing. The wind in my face, my hair streaming in a tangled mess behind me, I just felt… alive.

We made it to Nîso only a little ahead of Brody and Tex, and we raced the car for the last half a mile, making the pups laugh. I stopped out the front of Brody’s temporary house. His was being rebuilt after the explosion. I stroked my hand down my hair, running my fingers through the silken red strands. I didn’t appreciate it until I was rocking a Sinead O’Connor, and I do not have the face shape for that.

Brody and Tex climbed out, but the back doors stayed firmly closed. I walked over and opened the rear door. The pup’s eyes were wide and fearful, heartbreakingly so, and I reached in and held Carmen’s hand. It was a testament to how scared she was that she didn’t pull away. “Come on now. I’ve got you.”

Christopher climbed over Carmen’s lap, exiting the car first, looking around for threats. Always the Alpha that one. He was going to make a great one, one day in the distant future. First he was going to live, and love, and do whatever he wanted.

He looked over his shoulder and nodded at Enit and Carmen, who was still holding tightly to my hand.

Brody stepped toward them. “Welcome to Nîso, guys. You are safe here.” He walked toward the front door, but before I could usher the kids inside, two people walked around the side of the house.

Ghost and Annie.

Annie grinned widely when she saw me. “Raine! It’s so good to see you.” She raced toward me before she halted suddenly. “Uh, Brodes? You seem to have three wolf pups. Is there something you wanna tell me?”

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