Page 81 of The Rebel Witch

He leaned over and licked me. Like really licked me.

“It’s cool. These aren’t venomous.” Lee stood over me, too, grinning down. “I think they’re pets.”

“Uh, what’s going on, Mom?” Fenrir was out of his wolf form, and he didn’t have pants on. I’d been so concerned with the hellhounds, I hadn’t seen him join us. He was standing there in all his glory, hands fisted at his hips. “I caught their scent and realized they were coming for you. I didn’t expect to find them trying to lick you to death. Come on, man. Have some dignity. You’re a hellhound.”

The hound did that doggy grin thing, and then he was all about Fen.

All three of the hounds surrounded my wolf king son like they knew he was the leader. Even if he wasn’t wearing pants.

“Yeah, calm down, guys. I’ll figure it out.” Fen looked to Lee. “You got any treats?”

Lee gave him a what-the-hell look while Casey helped me off the ground. “My best friend is a wolf a whole lot of the time. Course I have snackums. Here you go.”

He tossed Fenrir a small bag from his pocket.

I saw the moment my baby boy considered not giving them away. “You are not that hungry, Fenrir Owens. They have been through something terrible.”

“Fine.” He opened the bag and started passing out treats.

I moved in beside Liv, watching the beasts who’d tried to murder me frolic around my son. Who needed pants. “That was a nice save. I thought you didn’t care about small creatures anymore.”

“I never said that.” She was back to frowning and looking broody.

“No. You said something about Myrddin is the way and the only way and he’s also light and dark, and all things should bow to the master.”

She snorted. “I know I never said that.” She sniffled. “I didn’t want to have to clean up the blood.”

“There wouldn’t have been any blood. That sucker would have swallowed Puff whole.”

“Oh, there would have been blood when the princess went in after her dog,” Liv assured me.

“Thank you for sparing me that.” Evan turned toward the stairs. “I’ll go grab him some pants. He’s too used to being naked, and I see we already have prying eyes. Yeah, she-devil. I see you, and I can use a bow and arrow.”

There was a rustling from the bushes and then something running away.

“Hey, baby.” My wolf had joined us. Like our son, Trent was standing there in all his glory. “Sorry I’m late. Fenrir is fast. It looks like you have it handled. What happened? Did the hounds scare it away?”

“The hounds were it. Evan, grab some pants for Trent, too.” Trent was also accustomed to being naked, and he was superhot. Normally I liked to look at him, but there were a lot of hungry eyes around this place, and I’d been told things could get freaky here. “Someone spelled the hounds.”

Liv walked to where one of the collars was on the ground. She picked it up and examined it while Casey moved in around her, obviously keeping watch. “There’s a symbol.”

Casey whistled. “It’s the same as the brand we found on the Hell cat. We were in the library trying to figure it out when…”

“We did,” Liv announced. “We found the symbol. It belongs to the Daybreak Kingdom not far from here. It belongs to Lilith’s kingdom.”

Well, shit. I’d only just learned the woman existed, and she was already a pain in my ass.

* * * *

Liv

“Hey, what’s going on? I tried to get to you, and this fucking house kept me out. What happened in that library?” Casey asked the question quietly as we stood to the back of the salon where everyone in our party seemed to be meeting.

How many times had I stood in a group like this, offering up my advice as we tried to figure out some mystery or the next best step because some asshole demon was coming after us? We would sit and eat and argue and work it all out.

When I was in conference with Myrddin, I sat silently. I agreed. I praised. Nothing more. Nothing less.

“It led me to the right book.” I wasn’t about to tell Casey I’d made a deal with the embodiment of the house to smuggle her to the Earth plane and have no regard whatsoever for what she intends to do there. I was sure she’d live a fun, safe-for-humans, never-criminal life.

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