Page 1 of Coven Relics
Chapter1
Ravyn
This wasn’t happening to me. I needed a drink. And lots of dicking. Someone robbed the museum on my watch. Not just someone—my fucking ex, who I didn’t even want here in the first place. I let Gertrude Von Stein talk me into it when she said he had the find of the century. Fucking Gertrude. She was going tolovethis. That dragon had been trying to get me fired since I cursed her husband’s dick for trying to indecent proposal me when I was interviewing for the job.
I was just sitting at a desk in the warehouse with my face in my hands. I’d already called Kaine, the board, and my twin. Ripley was putting her foot down and demanding they train someone to take over her library if she ever wanted to go on vacation or got kidnapped to another realm again. I fully supported her with that. I never wanted to find out my twin was kidnapped again, but she deserved a day off now and then.
Ripley was still interviewing people, and I knew they would have to be perfect for her to trust them with her library, so she couldn’t be here right now. I wasn’t super surprised when Reyson appeared with Felix, Gabriel, Balthazar, and Bram. Damn. She sent all her dicks to help me out.
Reyson and Loki locked eyes, and they both lit up. Since that puzzle box opened, I hadn’t had time to catch my breath, but my sister was sacred, and I’d already texted her to let her know who Doctor Key was. Apparently, Loki and Reyson went way back, and I knew the only reason he hadn’t just appeared himself in my cottage to say hello was that Ripley threatened him.
“I was so excited when my witch said you were right next door. When I was forced back to my vessel, I was angry about it at first, until I laid eyes on the librarian who raised me. I started thinking about who I wanted to find that wasn’t in the Aether, and you were always the first. I’m not shocked it was Ravyn who drew you here. My witch is with child. I see you’ve been reunited with your young.”
Reyson was about to up and lose his shit in the middle of my warehouse. It was adorable that he was so excited to see his friend and I guess Ripley had dropped the bomb on everyone she forgot her birth control spell while she was in Hell.
“It’s way too soon to tell if she’s pregnant,” I pointed out.
“Not for me. You’re going to be an aunt, Ravyn,” Reyson said.
Well, shit. Thatdefinitelybrightened my day. Ripley and I always wanted kids when we met the right guy, and I couldn’t think of better partners for my sister. I almost forgot Valentine robbed my museum for a crazy, dead hybrid until Gertrude Von Stein flounced into my museum with a triumphant look on her face. She wasn’t alone. She was the museum board president, but she had the vice president, Troy Crane, with her.
Troy was this wizened warlock who I loved to death. He’d always supported me and sometimes acted like a buffer when my dragon nemesis was trying to pretend like she could take on a witch. I was glad Troy was here because Gertrude was going to bepreciousabout this, and this might be the one time I cursed her worse than I did her pervy husband.
She opened her mouth to unload on me when Kaine burst through the door, with Beyla tagging along behind him. He looked extra grumpy today, and Beyla seemed ecstatic she got to ride with him on a case.
“Why can’t you twins ever have normal drama, and why do you always have to have your emergencies when I have a sixteen-year-old in my car?”
“We could have canceled my doctor’s appointment,” Beyla said. “I don’t need X-rays to confirm anything when a literal god healed my feet.”
“I like this child,” Loki said.
Kaine narrowed his eyes on Loki. He wasn’t hiding anything with his shapeshifting abilities and pretending he was a warlock. Gertrude and Troy probably had no idea what Reyson and Loki were, but Kaine went to battle with Reyson and knew damned well what a god felt like.
“So, you picked up another god. Which one are you?”
Loki gave Kaine this ridiculously theatrical bow and introduced himself. Gertrude looked like she was about to fall over herself trying to get an introduction and kissing his ass, and Kaine looked like he just sucked an entire basket of lemons.
“Chaos and a trickster. Beautiful,” Kaine muttered. “Tell me what happened and how the world will end this time.”
“It’s not,” Gertrude snapped. “I can’t say the same for Ravyn and her job.”
She was so focused on firing me that she hadn’t even asked what was stolen. It wasn’t me that was wrong for this job. Gertrude practically made it her religion to tell anyone who could fire me that. The person who wasn’t suited for their job was this dragon who knew damned well we kept dangerous things in this museum and was more focused on getting rid of me than finding out what got stolen. Troy hadalwayshad my back, and he did now.
“If I remember correctly, Ravyn was against Valentine returning to this museum. She said so several times, and we all know about a witch’s intuition. The rest of the board was prepared to back her decision, but you talked her into it.”
“You give her too much credit. Valentine had the find of the century, and he chose our museum to reconnect with Ravyn. I can guess why she didn’t want to see him.”
I’d only seen Loki get angry once, and he’d punched Valentine so hard that his lights went out. He was pissed. I’d never seen Loki break out his god magic, but I’d seen Reyson in action. There was probably a ninety-nine percent chance Gertrude would no longer be the dragon she was so proud of and might end up a big, giant rat. Loki got right up in her personal space.
“You’re in the presence of two indestructible gods right now. We like sex, and we’ve done way more experimenting than you ever have. You might want to skip the slut shaming in my presence because I care about Ravyn, and I’m amuchbigger slut than you think she is.”
“So am I, and I’m in love with her twin sister. My witch would be upset with me if I let it slide when a dragon insults the honor of her twin.”
“That’s unnecessary,” Troy said. “Valentine is a well-respected archaeologist. He’s worked with this museum before. I can’t say I’m a fan of the books he writes about his digs, but he’s made some amazing discoveries. Why would he throw away his entire career to steal something from this museum? What could possibly be that important? Everyone here knew it was him that stole something. I wasn’t expectingtheKaine Dragovich to make an appearance for this, but the Paranormal Investigation Bureau would have caught him.”
“Valentine was always such a polite, young man. I’m sure this is all just a misunderstanding. Maybe he took something he found to an outside source to verify it because he didn’t trust Ravyn.”
Sleipnir let out a little growl.
