Playing with Fire: A Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count)

by RJ Blain

  “Quinn!” I squealed.

  Kissing was his favorite way to shut me up, and the desperate heat of incubus-inspired desire flooded through me. I needed him, and I whimpered, struggling to pull free of his hold on me so I could reach for him, pull him closer, and make him mine all over again.

  Breaking our kiss, he brushed his lips against mine, released my wrists, and unwound his tail from my legs. I strained to reach for him, but something cold and hard held me in place. I twisted to see what was stopping me from getting closer to Quinn and ripping off the rest of his shirt so I could touch his bare skin.

  Stone encased my arms from wrist to elbow and trapped my ankles and feet.

  “Quinn, you fr—”

  He covered my mouth with his and swallowed my words, smothering my protests. Another surge of heat washed through me, and as always, he left me breathless. When he pulled away, I panted, and a soft, desperate moan slipped out of me.

  “How did you get here, you sneaky woman?”

  I wanted to kick him for being so far away. I wanted to run my hands over his chest, stroke his wings, and explore every inch of him. A sane woman would’ve been at least a little concerned about being close to twelve cobras. I had no idea if their crimson hoods signified anything, but unlike his gorgon grandfather, Quinn’s skin remained a rich golden tan.

  When I broke free, I’d give him a piece of my mind about tying me up and leaving me hanging. “If you hadn’t left, I—”

  Damn him and his kisses. I closed my eyes, and without the stone holding me up, I would’ve melted into his arms.

  Quinn’s grandfather cleared his throat. “Little Samuel, perhaps now is not the best time to be doing such a thorough examination of your wife’s mouth with your tongue.”

  No, it was the perfect time for Quinn to do a very thorough examination of me with his tongue, and I groaned when Quinn pulled away. He cupped my face with his hands. “They hurt you. They took you from me.”

  “You have a one-track mind, little Samuel. Bailey, it might be easier if you let him have his way, especially since he went through all the effort to tie you to the wall. While it’s a good idea on how to keep her out of trouble, you may want to move her upstairs where the air is fresher, little Samuel. You might want to know she has sedatives in her pocket along with a vial of pixie dust. The sedatives in particular might help keep her from doing something we regret.”

  “Traitor!”

  “I view it as pursuing my grandson’s interests.”

  Quinn smirked, gave a playful lick of his lips that made my toes curl in my shoes, and peeked down my shirt. “I see you haven’t used your beautiful breasts as a most royal treasury this time.”

  “Quinn!”

  A single touch of his lips to the side of my throat left me whimpering and needing more. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured.

  His hands skimmed down my sides and dipped into my pocket. He retrieved the vial and bottle of sedatives. “This could work nicely. Sedatives for here.” He paused, leaned towards me, and whispered in my ear, “How does a little bit of dust and a whole lot of lust later sound to you?”

  Yes, please.

  Quinn’s grandfather chuckled. “Save your loving reunion for later, little ones. Have you learned how many of them are here?”

  “Audrey has five sisters. They’re all in torpor. Audrey’s awake, and she’s caring for the hive’s sole young, a female, maybe two or three years old.” Something about Quinn’s tone changed, and the growl I so loved took on a frightening edge. “There are at least ten petrified surrogates who may be with whelp or child. The phoenixes avoided them. I can’t say the same for the incubi and succubi on the roof. I suspect they were infected with dust.”

  Quinn’s grandfather sighed. “Our family will take care of the whelp and the unborn. The sins of the parents are not the sins of the child. What else do you know?”

  For a long moment, Quinn’s dark eyes stared into mine, and he lifted his hands to run his fingers through my hair. “They tried to take her from me. They meant to try again, and again, and again, until they succeeded. They won’t.”

  “You have her safely trapped now. Separate her from the wall so we can take her to a better—safer—place. Where are the females nesting?”

  “Upstairs, top floor. Their nest is there. They might have eggs.” Quinn’s snakes hissed and flared their hoods. “New eggs. It looked like Audrey was settling in to guard the nest.”

  “The eggs will be safe. If you ask your bride to hold them and keep them warm, I’m sure she won’t mind. After all, she mothered a pair of phoenixes. You chose well.”

  “The little bastards pecked me,” I mumbled.

  Quinn’s gaze snapped to my arm, which was still stained with my blood. The orange tint to my blood hadn’t faded. “The phoenixes did that to you?”

  “They’re phoenixes, little Samuel, and she has a hint of ambrosia in her blood.”

  “Ambrosia?” Quinn pulled away, turned to his grandfather, and tensed, his feathered wings rustling and his tail lashing from side to side. “She’s been poisoned with ambrosia?”

  “She seemed rather distant for a while but hasn’t suffered any harm as far as I can tell. Either her immunities are far stronger than I ever imagined, or someone in her ancestry had a romp with a god. All things considered, I suspect one of her relatives wasn’t truthful on the identity of a father. Perhaps a grandfather or a great-grandfather? It would explain where her immunities came from.” With a chuckle, Quinn’s grandfather stepped on my husband’s tail. “Do settle, little Samuel. We have work to do. If there are live eggs, we need to get them into a proper nest and soon. This place is far too cold for healthy eggs.”

  Quinn growled. “I don’t know if there are any eggs, only that the five females are in torpor on the nest.”

  “Remove your bride from the wall so we can take her somewhere safer and warmer. It’s chilly and damp here. It wouldn’t do to let her get cold.”

  The stone released me, and with a startled cry, I fell against Quinn. My wrists remained bound together with bands of glossy stone. Wrapping his arms around me, my husband pulled me close, pressed his nose to my shoulder, and breathed in deep.

  His cobras vied for the right to nuzzle me, snapping at each other and hissing until they all had a turn rubbing their scaled heads against my cheek.

  “Quinn?”

  “All you have to do is hold the eggs in your hands for a while and keep them warm. Would that bother you?” he murmured.

  “What? No, of course not.” I had held two phoenixes. “That’s it? I just need to hold them?”

  “That’s all.”

  Quinn’s grandfather released my husband’s tail, and it coiled around my legs. “Bailey, what little Samuel isn’t telling you is that gorgons are like birds in some ways. Our young require warmth while they are still in the egg. When they’re young, they’re very small. Their eggs grow as they do. I suspect he didn’t kill the hive because he refused to risk hurting any live eggs. We’re like that. We’ll do almost anything to prevent the death of the unborn.”

  “Yes,” Quinn hissed, as did his cobras.

  “Be calm, little Samuel. There are four male humans in the truck outside. We’ll have no problems keeping even a full clutch of eggs warm.” My grandfather-in-law pulled out a bottle from his pocket. “Should heat become a concern, we can have a unicorn in short order.”

  “No.” Pulling me closer, Quinn dug his fingers into my back hard enough I held my breath. “Mine.”

  The possessiveness in his tone and hands startled me almost as much as my reaction to him. The grandfather-in-law needed to go away, and the fool gorgon kept distracting Quinn.

  My mouth on my husband’s throat recaptured his attention, and I mimicked one of his growls. His, far more sensual than mine, spread intoxicating heat through me. “We need to get rid of those gorgons so I can take you.” I gave him a light lick to give him an idea of what I had in mind. “Home,” I added as
an afterthought.

  “You’ll have plenty of time to stretch your wings after the hive’s been dealt with. We must rescue the living eggs and the little whelp.”

  Quinn chuckled, a low, breathy sound, and nipped my ear. “Soon,” he promised in a whisper. “Soon, I’ll take you.” I felt him smile. “Home, of course.”

  Of course. If we could ditch the grandfather-in-law, the tunnel would do, too. So would the cavern, and the entry, and the woods, and…

  Quinn cheated.

  How had I not noticed him pop a sedative until after he kissed me? The gel capsule hit my tongue, and with a throaty chuckle, my husband stroked his hand down my side to my hip and dug his fingers in hard enough I gasped and swallowed.

  I wouldn’t blame myself. Any sane, hot-blooded American woman with functioning ovaries would have fallen prey to him. It hurt to pull away from him. “You bastard.”

  A smile curved his lips. “You should have been paying more attention to me then, my beautiful.”

  Why had I asked the CDC for sedatives? At least I’d been careful in the dosing; according to Kevin, within a minute, the pill would numb me and leave me pliable but conscious—perfect for what Quinn wanted. A tingle spread from my stomach, and as it reached my extremities, the slow burn of my desire winked out, and my breath left me in a sigh. I slumped against him, surrendering to the inevitable. “Cheater,” I mumbled.

  Quinn worked his arms beneath my back and knees and lifted me up. The stone bands circling my wrists parted. The clever man used his downy-soft tail to arrange me to his liking—and my comfort—in his hold. Useful thing, his tail.

  I’d have to remember that later—and find out if he could take on his wings and beautiful crimson cobras without the help of gorgon dust. As though aware I admired them, the serpents cooed at me.

  If real snakes didn’t coo, I’d be greatly disappointed. I loved their sounds, from the rasp of their scales to their soft hisses.

  “I will keep you safe,” he promised.

  I didn’t want to be safe. I wanted to help him. “Not fair. I want to help.”

  He ducked his head and kissed my brow. “You’ll be able to help soon. You’ll have the most important job of all. You’ll protect the eggs. You’ll keep them warm. You’ll help the petrified surrogates, and should any of them have eggs, you’ll save them. I can’t do that.”

  Unable to understand why he couldn’t hold them, I asked, “Just hold them?”

  “That’s all you have to do.”

  Quinn’s grandfather cleared his throat. “Are there any bedrooms upstairs? If so, that may be the best place for your bride until we’re finished.”

  “No. She should watch. She should be nearby in case any of the eggs live. The little whelp may be afraid of us males, too.”

  “It won’t be safe with her drugged like this, little Samuel.”

  With his cobra’s hissing and spitting venom, Quinn shot a glare at his grandfather. “I’ll keep her safe.”

  Score. Who knew I’d enjoy the idea of someone wanting to protect me? When I could get my body to do what I wanted, I’d have to remind him I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself. For the moment, however, I’d enjoy every minute of his possessive protectiveness. “Your snakes can’t do that,” I informed my grandfather-in-law.

  “I’m aware. Believe me, little one, there are few things little Samuel does better than me. He has good reason to be proud of his snakes. Even his father is jealous. While asps are plenty lethal, crimson hooded cobras are fit for a future king.”

  “Ha, you won a round against your crazy family, Quinn.”

  He rewarded me with another kiss. “And to think I was worried about how you would react.”

  “Are you serious? My husband can become an incubus. I have no problem with this.”

  “Most girls don’t like snakes—or gorgons.”

  “Are you going to make me clean up after you?”

  Quinn bristled. “Of course not!”

  “I don’t see what the problem is. Okay, I see one problem. You sedated me, you bastard!”

  “You weren’t paying enough attention to me. If you had been paying enough attention to me, I wouldn’t have gotten away with it.” With a smug smile, he shifted me in his arms. “You’re so pretty when you’re angry.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “For you.”

  I blushed.

  Quinn’s grandfather sighed and cleared his throat again. “Instead of standing here flirting, we really should deal with the nest. You’ll have plenty of time to seduce your bride later, little Samuel. First, you must take her somewhere safe, then you can deal with the females.”

  “No one will hurt her.”

  “And should they try?”

  “I’ll rip their heads off.”

  Sexy or creepy, sexy or creepy—I went with very sexy with a side dish of creepy. “That sounds messy.”

  Quinn’s chuckle had a rather villainous quality to it. “I’ll petrify them first, if that’ll make you feel better.”

  While breaking a statue would be a lot less bloody, I wasn’t sure the thought of Quinn being able to tear stone apart with his bare hands helped any. The tension in his body and the way he tightened his grip warned me he meant every word.

  A flash of resentment partnered with the rekindling of my desire to strip him of the shredded ruins of his shirt and make certain he understood he belonged to me and only me. A frustrated sigh burst out of me.

  “Shh, my beautiful. Soon.”

  Quinn carried me upstairs to the main entry hall, across the room to the opposite door, and hesitated at the hallway lined with archways. Judging from the flame-scorched walls, the phoenixes had blasted the doors into ash. “Their ‘guest’ suites. Most were occupied by statues, but I suspect they were infected.”

  I heard the warning in his voice, but I looked anyway.

  If there had been statues in the chambers, very little remained of them, and guilt clawed away at my chest. I had been the one to bargain with the phoenixes. They had agreed to abide by my wishes.

  I had asked them to destroy the dust and spare the living, but the statues, technically, hadn’t been alive when the birds had destroyed them. How many could have been saved? How many would have become carriers?

  If I had thought things through a little better, things would be different. Now, no one would ever know.

  “Did you get a count?”

  “Yes.” Quinn didn’t elaborate, for which I was grateful. He shifted me in his arms and carried me down the hall to a spiral staircase, which opened to a massive room littered with the naked statues of women, a few incubi, and a single succubus. At the center of the room, six gray-green figures curled together in a nest of torn mattresses, shredded sheets and blankets, and clothing.

  Snakes hissed while scales scraped on stone, but only one of the figures moved.

  Audrey. I curled my lip in a silent snarl. Quinn eased me out of his hold and leaned me against the cold stone wall. It shifted behind me. I struggled to escape so I could beat the hell out of my husband’s ex-wife for everything she had done.

  Without any sign of noticing my efforts, Quinn forced my arms to my sides and brushed his lips to mine. A blend of fury and desire swept through me and stole my breath.

  Stone crackled and covered my wrists before banding across my chest and spreading, imprisoning me from hips to knees. “You wretch. Let me go!”

  Quinn kissed me again. If misbehaving got me more of him and his touch, I’d have to be a very bad girl, often. With a low chuckle, he trailed kisses along my cheek and down my throat. “She’s watching, and she’s jealous. She wants you, but she doesn’t dare leave the nest while there are males here. Of course, she may also see a use for us males. You know what they say about blind squirrels and nuts.”

  Yeah, I knew all about blind squirrels find a nut every now and then. I’d managed to con Quinn into marrying me, after all, with a little help from his insane family. After I figur
ed out how to get free of the stone pinning me to the wall, I’d teach Audrey a lesson or two, then I’d deal with my husband for pinning me to the wall in the first place.

  I clacked my teeth and swallowed a frustrated scream. “Let me go so I can kick her ass, Quinn.”

  “No. It’s my turn. You already had your chance. Don’t worry. She’s not going to touch me—or you.”

  I wasn’t worried about Audrey stealing my man. She’d already messed up her chance with him, and he seemed perfectly content toying with me, making me hot and achy with desire, and leaving me tied to a wall.

  He’d regret that, later—and I’d enjoy every moment I spent punishing him.

  Quinn gave me a final kiss before turning to face his ex-wife. He brushed the tip of his downy tail beneath my chin, and I shivered at the sinfully soft touch. Maybe I’d amend my initial plans and schedule a great deal of time cuddling with his tail and wings. Soft things were meant to be enjoyed, and I could see myself spending hours stroking my hands over him just for the pleasure of the plush texture on my skin.

  Unable to do anything to free myself, I voiced my frustration as a hiss through clenched teeth.

  Quinn’s grandfather stayed with me and watched his grandson, his arms crossed over his chest. “I understand why you’re angry, but he needs to do this, and you need to watch. He needs to prove himself to you. You can blame my side of the family for this. Gorgons are well-known for posturing, and while us males may have many females, we only have one bride.”

  I hadn’t known, but that was what I got for sleeping through my gorgon biology and sociology classes. “He doesn’t need to prove anything. He needs to untie me from this wall so I can kick that bitch in the face.”

  “What can I say? He’s a man, and as my queen and bride says, men are stupid. Especially me, for having taught our son to be a man, too, who in turn taught his son. We’re a plague, us men. At least we’re handsome enough to keep around despite being stupid enough to tempt our women to murder us.”