“Mom,” Leah said, her tone filled with derision. “I was over Blue’s Clues before Grandma took me away.”
“No. Well, okay. Kinda, yeah. You were. I guess. But I wasn’t. I loved Dora.”
“You did love Dora.” Leah shook her head and crossed her arms over her slim chest.
“And now I’m looking at you and I’m asking myself, ‘Has she had her period yet? When did you have your first period? Is she getting boobs? Holy crap! When did you get boobs? Are you making her older than she is? Hell if I know! I can’t remember that far back!’ I mean, I can, but—”
Leah screwed up her lips in a “yuck” face.
Paige tried to stall the next words coming out of her mouth. She didn’t know what they would be exactly because her mind wasn’t in control as much as her heart was at the moment, and those moments rarely ended well. “—my life wasn’t complete until you were in it.”
Leah blinked. Her arms dropped to her sides as she shifted her weight from one foot to the next. “Then…” She shook her head, dropping her gaze. “Why didn’t you fight for me?”
Leah’s voice was so lost and that tone pinged every heartstring in Paige’s stone cold heart. “I did.”
“You didn’t.” Leah met her mother’s eyes. “I didn’t hear your voice for five years. You didn’t call. You didn’t write. The cards were from Aunt Leslie. They were never from you.”
They stared at each other for a long moment.
Paige swallowed. “I raised a demon to kill Rachel.”
Leah’s eyebrow twitched.
“I was so angry and so—” Paige couldn’t force the words up her tear-clogged throat. She didn’t want to admit this to her daughter. She didn’t want her daughter to know just how badly she’d fucked up. Somehow, it was easier for Leah to think Paige had just not fought for her for five years. But…the words pushed through anyway. “I hurt so badly, Lee. You weren’t—” She brought up her arms, her painfully empty arms. “—here and I got pissed. I wanted to destroy that woman. I wanted to kill that woman. I wanted to maim her and heal her so I could maim her again.”
Leah’s expression relaxed.
Paige gritted her teeth, her head bowed. “The demon I raised went to Grandma Alma, told her what I’d done, and they banished my memories of you and warded off my gift. I’d done something horrible and—” Paige swallowed the snot brought on my her unshed tears “—the justice they met out was…well, it was just. You can’t raise a demon to kill someone else because you’re pissed and hurting. She was horrible to me, Lee. She—” Paige shook her head violently. “No. You love her. I have to respect that, but I loathe that woman. I want her off my planet so damned bad.”
Leah was silent.
Paige raised her head and looked at her daughter. She wasn’t going to push. She wasn’t going to prod. The girl deserved some time to adjust.
“So,” Leah said finally, her voice small, “you really did fight for me.”
Paige nodded. “Yeah. Just in the wrong, worst way.”
“And Great Grandma made you forget me.”
“Yes, but, to be fair, she didn’t really know what else to do, Lee, so don’t blame her.”
“I’m not going to like her.”
Paige had to put herself in Leah’s shoes. How would she react? “Well, just don’t raise a spirit to kill her. That’s all I ask.”
Leah ducked her head with a hint of a smile. “And you don’t call anymore demons to kill my grandma.”
Paige smiled. “Deal.” She frowned. “I just told you something horrible.”
Leah shrugged. “That was better than what Grandma told me.”
Paige wanted to point out that that was a bad thing and made Rachel a bad person, but she bit her tongue. She wasn’t going to do to Leah what Rachel had. Leah would have to discover things on her own and make her own decisions.
Leah seemed to understand that. She took a step toward Paige, a ghost of a smile on her lips.
“Well, anyway, we won—I won temporary guardianship. You have to go to therapy. There’ll be supervised visitation with Rachel, but it can’t be here. She just pisses too many of us off. I’m sorry, Lee. I really do hate her, but I’ll try to keep that off of you. I realize you love her. I don’t quite understand how, but you get to see a different side of her.”
Leah shrugged again, her expression dimming. “I don’t know. She…sometimes, she kind of scares me.”
“You’re not just saying that, are you?” Paige had a pretty good idea she wasn’t. Otherwise, she would have told Rachel about her abilities.
“I don’t know.”
Now, that was something Paige had expected a twelve-year-old girl to say.
“And I do still like My Little Ponies, except that they changed the head and I don’t like that. I don’t like Barbies, but I love Monster High.”
Paige bit her lip and ducked her head, a warm whisper of happiness swirling in her chest. “I have looked at them. They look pretty cool. There’s that one that’s a pirate?”
“Yeah. I would love that one. Also, there’s a few in the movie that I would love to see made into dolls because they’d totally rock.”
Paige tempered the happiness growing inside her. She needed to establish rules and boundaries. “I’m not going to pretend that staying here is going to be awesome every day because, well, we live in a zoo now. So, it’s really not going to. But.” She swallowed. “Would you at least give us a chance? Would you at least think about the possibility of staying?”
“You did see I brought all of my stuff, right?”
“I did see you brought a lot, but I thought that was a ploy on Rach—your grandmother’s part.”
“No.” Leah glanced over Paige’s shoulder and raised her hand to wave in greeting.
Invisible people.
“That was Uncle Nick. You see, he kinda gave me the head’s up that this might happen and that this would be a good thing for me. So, yeah. He told Rachel it was a good idea for me to bring all my stuff and made it happen.”
That was a surprise. “And you went along with it?”
Leah frowned, her head jerking toward the left, her hand moving as if to shush someone. “I’m not as blind as you might think I am, Pai—Mom.” She rubbed her cheek. “I see what’s going on. Uncle helps when he can, but—he’s not always—I mean, she doesn’t mean to—I just—”
Paige stood. “Did she hurt you?”
“Are you going to summon a demon again?”
“If you’re serious and not playing me, I’ll make sure that woman never gets custody of you again.” Though, should she even have said that? That way? Out loud? To Leah?
“Or your son?”
Quiet rage rolled through her. “Or him.”
Leah licked her lips. “Good.”
Huh. Had something just clicked into place for Paige? Were things finally going right?
Leah gestured to the room. “Everyone’s here. Can you show me how to send them back without murdering the house?”
Paige chuckled and pushed off the chair. “I don’t know how you murder a house, but, yeah. Let’s give it a try, huh?”
Righting the house took most of the day. Sitting around and vegging took up the evening. No one wanted to do much else. Mandy, Paige, Tyler, Leah, and Dexx played a game called Munchkin. It was slow going for the first hand as there were a lot of rules and you had to read all the cards to make sure you were using them correctly. Paige had been caught twice trying to use the peg leg—it was a plus four against monsters, so, yeah, she wanted to play it—but it was only good if you were a pirate and she’d lost her class twice. Twice. She’d ended up winning with a laurel wreath—plus one against monsters—and no class, while everyone else had tons of items, giving them power against monsters. The game was quite rowdy as well. She was a little afraid that Leah wouldn’t get out of her shell to enjoy the game.
Leah was brutal. Brutal and the reason Paige was left with only a laurel wreath. Leah had been hande
d, like, all of the curses. Dexx had lost his head gear and had to sing a song in order to play twice. Dexx had a pretty okey-dokey singing voice when they were in the car and the radio was on, almost blaring him out. He wasn’t so awesome when sitting at the dining room table making up a song. He had zero rhythm and had no clue what a melody was even like.
Bed time wasn’t a struggle. The older kids took care of themselves; brushed their own hair, teeth, changed into the jammies.
Bobby and Kamden went down with ease.
“We’re keeping these two together,” Leslie said, tucking both boys in. “I mean, Bobby will have to get a crib soon, but we’re keeping them together.”
Paige chuckled. “Why?”
“He sleeps.” Leslie stared up at Paige with wide eyes. “Kamden sleeps.”
“Okay.” Paige ran her fingertips along Bobby’s head. The magnitude of the moment hit her. Happiness filled her. She was content, complete. She had her daughter. She had a son. Her sister, her niece, nephews, brother-in-law, grandmother. She had Dexx. “I’m happy.”
Leslie chuckled. “Don’t sound so surprised. And,” she added, guiding her sister out of the nursery, “imagine how much happier you’ll be after you shag your man.”
“Shag.” Paige snorted and rolled her eyes. “Is your mind always in the gutter?”
Leslie headed toward her bedroom on the opposite end of the hall. “My husband is back. I am going to show that man just how much I missed him before he pisses me off tomorrow and makes me want to kill him.”
Paige laughed. “What’s he going to piss you off about?”
“I don’t know.” Leslie turned with a shrug. “He’ll find some way.” She turned back around and kept walking. “He always does.”
Paige wanted that. That happiness, that contentedness that Leslie had with Tru. They were partners. They did not get along all the time, but she couldn’t see one living without the other.
Turning, she headed to her bedroom, gathered her stuff, and took her turn in the bathroom. When she was done, Dexx was in the room, clearing off the bed.
She leaned against the doorframe. Could she really make a life with that man? He wasn’t anything she’d wanted, or thought she’d wanted. The only thing they had in common was demons. She summoned them. He hunted them. Well, and the animal spirit, but he was a shifter and she was just a witch with a spirit.
Cawli was either gone or chose not to take offense at that comment.
Watching Dexx move made her feel comforted, warmth spreading through her limbs.
“I’m beginning to feel like a piece of meat right now.”
She smiled. “I’m feeling a little like a lioness right now.”
He raised an eyebrow and tipped his head to the side. “Really.”
“Really.”
“If I let you put your hands on my body, I don’t want any more excuses or interruptions.”
“My kids are right down the hallway.”
“One of them is ours.”
She snorted. “Do you even realize what you did?”
His gaze met hers for long, still moment. “Yes. I do.”
Solid reality. “And if this doesn’t work? You’ll find a way to con the child support?”
“Nah.” He blinked slowly, his dark eyelashes feathering against his cheek for a moment. “I’ll find other ways to get to you. I’m sure.”
“Get to me.”
“Get you to stay.”
“Like?”
The corners of his lips rose. “Why don’t you put your hands on my body and find out?”
She felt like a school girl. How did that man make her feel inexperienced and giddy? Closing the door, she walked up to him slowly. Stop thinking about that. Start thinking about what you want to do to him, with him.
She wanted to take off his shirt. Feel the man-fur on his chest. Feel his tight muscles. Feel his thighs.
Feel those thighs wrapped around her.
She wasn’t feeling like a school girl now.
A light burned in Dexx’s green eyes, feral and hungry.
Warning! “You sure you’ve got this shift thing under control?”
“We’re about to find out.” His breathing changed, deepened and quickened. His hands flared as they reached out for her, though his arms remained at his sides.
That wasn’t the response she’d been looking for. “And what about Grandma’s house?”
His voice deepened. “You told Leah it was okay if she destroyed the house.”
She had. “I was trying to get her to relax.”
A slight tremor of calm cascaded over his expression. “It seemed to have worked.”
As long as he stayed in control of his animal spirit, she’d be okay. She really didn’t want to know what it would be like to have sex with a saber-toothed cat. “It did.”
“You were interacting well with her during the game.”
If he was under control, she was tired of talking. “Shut up.” She pressed her fingertips along his collarbone. She’d touched him so many times before, but this time, it was different. The tips of her fingers blazed with electricity that shot up her arms, into her shoulders. She trailed her fingertips up his neck, luxuriating in his warmth.
The gleam entered into Dexx’s green eyes again, but calmer this time, more controlled.
She gripped his hair, watching his eyes.
Heat. Fire. Control.
She brought his head down to hers, claiming his lips.
A growl rose in his throat. He took over the kiss, deepening it. Their teeth clanked together.
No fangs.
His tongue invaded her mouth.
A wave of ecstasy coursed through her. She ran her tongue along his, tasting him, feeling him. She pressed herself to him, needing more of him, needing his body along hers, needing more.
Skin. Blessed Mother. Paige fumbled at his shirt.
He grabbed the bottom of it and ripped it over his head, then reclaimed her lips, devouring her as if he was starving.
She felt equally desperate. She couldn’t touch enough of him, couldn’t taste enough, couldn’t get enough. She wanted all of him, wanted to feel him buried deep inside her. She grasped at the button of his jeans, sliding down the zipper, careful not to snag anything. She’d had enough bad experience to recall that delicate things resided just on the other side of that zipper, fragile things that refused to come out and play if they were caught in the zipper.
And Paige wanted to play.
She pushed his pants off his hips.
He caught the pant legs with his feet and walked them off. That only left his boxers, which amazingly hadn’t left with the pants.
How that man was able to take off his pants without removing his underwear was a bloody fucking wonder that was irritating the ever-loving shit out of her. She growled and pushed at his boxers.
He cursed, pulling away to remove his boxers and socks.
Paige took a step back and just looked at him, naked and lovely, and fully erect.
Mine, her mind whispered. Her hands reached for him to claim him.
He held up a finger and hooked a crooked smile “Uh-uh-uh. Your turn.”
Five minutes before, she would have been self-conscious, but now? All she wanted was that man’s skin against hers and those kinds of thoughts tended to make a grown woman brazen.
She smiled and raised her eyebrow. She released the first button on her blouse, fire smoldering at the pit of her soul as she watched him.
His nostrils flared and his penis jerked. “Woman.”
“Man.” Paige undid the remaining three buttons one at a slowly painful time.
He raised his chin, his gaze glued to her hands.
She spread her shirt open, her hands on her abdomen, running along her red cotton camisole.
“That’s cruel.”
“You have no idea.” She slowly slid the shirt down her arms, letting it fall to the floor at her feet.
He raised his chin, his eyes focused.
She worked the button on her pants, sliding the zipper with painful slowness.
He narrowed his eyes.
She smiled. His penis throbbed for her. His body wanted hers. She could see it in the coiled spring of his muscles, in the set of his jaw, his eyes, his lips.
“The shirt,” he growled.
“Such a boss.”
He grabbed his penis, rubbing it’s base. “We’re rather impatient, Pea. I’m just saying, it’s impolite to tease.”
“Ah, but it’s so much fun to watch you.” And it was. She grabbed the bottom of her camisole and lifted it inch by inch over her head.
His lips rose. His crow’s feet deepened. His free hand flexed. His manhood twitched and throbbed.
She hooked her thumbs on her bra, working the hooks, then let her bra fall to the floor.
He took in a sharp breath. “I want those.”
“Ah, but they’re mine.” She massaged them, more for her benefit than his. Bras were painful. “And I’ll tell you when you can have them.”
“Woman.” His breath quickened.
“Man.”
He took a step toward her.
She took one away.
He growled, his jaw clenched.
She really shouldn’t tease him so bad, knowing he didn’t have as much control over his shift as he should, but it made her feel wonderful, empowered, in control of this sexy, powerful beast. She pushed her panties to the floor and stood before him naked.
His gaze raked over her body. “You’re so beautiful.”
She’d never needed those words. She’d always been comfortable in her own skin, but hearing them uttered from his lips, watching those lips form those words, was amazing. She raised her hand and beckoned him to her with her fingers.
In two quick steps, his palms slid across her skin, first her abdomen, then her waist, her back, her shoulders, the nape of her neck. His lips caressed her shoulders. His teeth nipped along her collar bone.
She gasped, fire flaring through her, bringing parts of her body to life she’d nearly forgotten about. Her fingertips ached to feel him. She touched him, roamed across his flesh. Her fingernails dug into him.
He pushed her onto the bed, his lips finding hers. He didn’t ask. He didn’t request. He took, claiming momentary dominance with his tongue.
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