Page 64 of Incubus with Benefits
How the man could be so relaxed and carefree all the time considering his stressful job was a mystery. I was just glad that we were dealing with these two and not those judgmental asshats from before.
Since the case was technically solved and the women were safe at home, Julian was no longer a suspect, and they removed his ankle monitor.
“Does this mean this block is back in your patrol?” Julian asked once the notebooks and recorders were put away.
“Actually no, Delerium is still technically out of our beat. We were responding to a kidnapping at the cemetery, remember? It just happened to be linked.” Hazel turned sly. “Which means we can visit all we want when we’re off duty.”
I made sure to try to convince Liam to bring her out sometime.
When they all left, I quickly texted Penny and Gigi to let them know I was okay and thank them for everything. Then Julian brought out an entire heart attack breakfast, complete with eggs, bacon, sausages, potatoes, pancakes, and enough syrup to drown everything in.
That was when I noticed the envelope left on the table addressed to me.
“What’s that?” Julian asked, sliding a plate over.
“I think Officer Cooley left it for me.” I opened it and read it.
“They’re going to secretly close The Breach. Alfonzo says it should be easy now that the portal is weak. They’re asking me for my help.”
“Secretly?”
“EA headquarters can’t know. But it seems Alfonzo has been convinced that the thing is better closed than open.”
“I see. I never did meet the guy.”
“He’s not bad. He’s hyper-focused on whatever he’s researching and a bit weird, but who isn’t.”
“And who’s they? I mean the people asking you to help.”
“Chief Henderson and Desmon.”
He frowned. “Can’t say no to Desmon.”
“That’s what I thought.”
We dug into our breakfast and the conversation slowed until it was clear that there was no way I could finish what was on my plate.
“What’s the plan now, Vixen?” Julian leaned back in his seat, his plate empty. “Are you going to let Mr. Kim know you’re moving? There’s plenty of space for you and Shadow here.”
“I still have several months left on my lease. I’ll let him know I won’t be renewing, but I don’t want to get out of it because he and Mrs. Kim have been nothing but wonderful. Did you know they put in extra wards to try to keep me safe? Landlords like them are rare. But that reminds me,” I said, my mood dropping, “I still need to find a source of income.”
“That’s easy,” Julian said, waving a hand.
“You better not tell me to sell feet pics on the internet.”
He laughed. “No. You know how you got my cameras to detect certain magical signatures and follow them around? Or alert me when magic is being used or if certain magical auras come close? I know quite a few businesses that would benefit from that, and they’d pay handsomely too.”
That had been something Penny and I had talked about that day in my home. “I am comfortable with the tech part of it and the linking of the systems, but my magic’s not good enough to set wards for anyone other than myself.”
“It doesn’t have to be. You can work with another practitioner to do that part. A woman named Sybil does mine.”
“Oh, from Auntie Syl’s Wards & Witchery! I know her. This might actually work.”
“Of course it will,” Julian said smugly. “It’s my idea.”
When my phone rang, I considered ignoring it until I saw the number on the screen. It was Witches International calling.
“Hello?”
