Lie Down with Dogs (3 page)

“You are Black Dog’s daughter,” Kerwin said snidely.

Ah. So this was a test. Too hard, and they would suspect my judgment was compromised. Too lenient, and they would know it was. The trick was in determining proper recompense.

“A two-week suspension...” I swallowed hard, “...without pay.”

Two weeks without a check. I would be lucky to afford ramen noodles after my bills got paid.

Kerwin smirked. “Only two?”

“Kerwin,” Evander warned.

“Last year a new hire—a transfer from another division—helped himself to a file off Mable’s desk. He brought in the collar and was suspended for a week without pay.” At their expectant stares, I elaborated. “The case was earmarked for me, so when I showed up to collect the file, Mable explained why I was being reassigned.”

Evander made a thoughtful noise.

“Since my word should be worth more, I doubled the amount. Besides, I had Righty and—I mean, my guards with me. I wasn’t in imminent danger, or they would have brought me straight here.”

Where they would have used the tether between realms to ship me straight back to Rook aboard the
Faerie Express
.

“These are dangerous times,” Evander admonished. “Your predecessor’s murderer has not yet been captured.”

My father was on the killer’s trail. That meant whoever offed King Moran was as good as caught. Until then, I was stuck with the guards and with light duty.

“I am well aware.” I tried sounding contrite. “Though I do appreciate your concern.”

The magistrates exchanged glances.

“We accept your ruling,” Evander said.

I pinched my lips together to hold back a whimper. This was going to suck. I had a small nest egg to help during lean times, but Mom’s house payment was a drain on my savings, and payments on her new car made my eye twitch.

I ought to woman up and tell her the conclave had cut off her stipend for raising a magically gifted minor after I turned eighteen, but she wouldn’t be living in Wink, under the watchful eye of the fae, if not for me. I owed her for giving up her life in exchange for mine. I had given up my right to complain the day I turned thirteen and the powers I inherited from the father I had never met jolted to life and killed five of my best friends.

I had been chasing my tail since I got back from Faerie. Two weeks away from the job might do me good. From here on out, I was calling this suspension a vacation. A much-needed one.

“I’ll let Mable know on my way out.” I stood on numb legs, flashed them a smile and then got the heck out of Dodge.

M
ai found me in our apartment hours after the magistrates dismissed me. I was curled up on our old brocade couch wearing Eeyore pajamas with a melting pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy on my lap. She walked through the door as episode fourteen in season eight of
Supernatural
ended, just in time to catch me wiping drool off my chin from watching Dean slide on his Clark Kent-style glasses.

Life didn’t get better than this. How had I forgotten Netflix was my soul mate?

Mai stepped between me and the television. She plucked the soggy carton from my lap and set it on the coffee table. “Do you want to talk about it?” She brushed her hands off on her pressed khaki pants.

“No.” I leaned around her. “I would like you to get out of the way, though.”

“You’re self-medicating.” She perched on the couch beside me. “What happened? Did Shaw—?”

“No.” I cranked up the volume. “I haven’t heard from him in days.”

“Then what’s with the pity party?” She tugged my ponytail. “And why didn’t I get an invite?”

I licked the melting goo off the spoon I refused to surrender. “I got suspended.”

“For how long?” She hooked her arm around my shoulders and pulled me down until I slumped over her lap. After resting the side of my face on her thigh, she popped the spoon from my mouth. “Tell Auntie Mai all about it. What happened?”

“Two weeks.” A tear leaked from the corner of my eye. “Without pay.”

“Damn.”

“I took a case without clearing it through the magistrates. Consider my wallet—I mean wrist—slapped.”

“Double damn.”

I sniffled. “Exactly.”

She slid the hairband out of my hair and combed her fingers through the tangled strands. “Look at it this way. In a year, you’ll be queen and no one will be the boss of you. In the meantime, might I suggest having Righty or Lefty snap off the magistrates’ arms and beat them with their own hands?”

I sob-laughed at the mental picture.

“So,” she asked casually, “what are you going to do for two weeks?”

I lifted my arm. The tiny Roku remote hung from my wrist on its purple nylon tether. “This.”

“Yeah.” Mai rolled it—and the topmost layer of my skin—off me. “No.”

“Freaking monkeys.”
I rubbed the angry red line until my healing abilities kicked in and the mark vanished. “Not cool.” I rolled onto my back. “You don’t mess with a girl’s season pass to oblivion.”

She tossed the poor remote across the room, where it bounced onto a sand-colored rug and hit the stained-white tip of a bleached cow skull’s horn. Don’t ask. Mom went through a Western Gothic period after we moved to Wink. Cow hides up on the walls, skulls on the tables, horn coat hangers...

Between Mai’s cherry-blossom hand-me-down furniture and my death-to-all-bovines accents, the apartment was clash of floral and macabre. We had a
love blossoms in the desert
theme happening.

“I have a plan,” she announced.

“The last time you said that, we woke up in a Minotaur herd’s bull pen with no pants on.”

She jostled my shoulder. “But we had fun. Right?”

“They pierced my nose.”

“Come on.” She waggled her eyebrows. “It looked sexy.”

“Mom almost killed me.”

Leaning over me, she examined my nostrils. “You can’t tell it ever happened.”

Thanks to my healing abilities, and not my best friend.

I clamped a hand over my nose. “Do you mind?”

“Not so much.”

“What’s your plan?” I slapped my hands up over my eyes. “Say it fast, like ripping off a bandage.”

“You. Me. Daytona Beach.”

“That’s it?” I peered through my fingers at her. “You want to hit the beach?”

“Why not?” She ticked off reasons on her fingers. “It’s hot. We’re hot. We’re both off work. We both—”

“Back that up.” I tapped her second finger. “Why are you off work?”

“You really thought I would let my best friend sulk home alone for two weeks?” She rolled her eyes. “Well, technically, you’re on your own for week two. I’m still rocking the wannabe internship thing, so all I could manage was five days off plus the weekends. That gives us nine whole days together.”

“How did—?” I levered up onto my elbows. “You acted like you didn’t know.”

“I wanted you to
confide
in me.” She palmed my forehead and pushed me back down. “I swung by your office on my lunch break since you have a tendency to be kidnapped and weren’t answering your phone. Mable told me what happened, so I made all the arrangements before I left work today.”

“Sheesh.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Get kidnapped once, and you’re branded for life.”

“You came home married, crowned, with a DayGlo prehistoric cat and two Unseelie guardians.”

I mashed my lips together. She had a point. Several in fact. “You are—”

She glared at me. “Don’t ruin the moment, Tee.”

“I was going to say you’re the best.”

“Oh.” She preened. “Then you may continue.”

“Nah.” I elbowed her in the thigh. “The moment’s passed.”

A soft growl rumbled under her breath.

“Two questions.” I tilted my head back. “Where will we stay? And how will we get there?”

Fae like me weren’t allowed to fly without special conclave sanction, not that I could afford the ticket even if they cleared me, which they wouldn’t. Neither magistrate wanted me out of their sight.

“I have an idea about the first.” She patted my forehead. “As to the second, I’ll drive us.”

“No offense, but your ideas usually end in nakedness and/or in tears.” I chewed over safer, more budget-friendly options. “We could always hit up roach motels like we used to during spring break.”

“Um, no.” Mai wrinkled her pert nose. “I’m older now, and wiser. Plus, I saw one of those specials involving a black light and hotel sheets.” Her shudder shook my shoulders. “Stop doubting my brilliance and listen. My mostly middle sister, Aimi—” she had fourteen siblings, “—just moved to Kissimmee. Her new husband, Jon, is the reynard of the largest kitsune skulk in Central Florida.”

“I’m all for staying with family to cut costs, but that’s an hour or so drive from the beach, isn’t it?”

“Yes,
but
—” she lifted a finger, “—his family owns a condo on Daytona Beach.”

“They won’t mind if we crash there?” Given my current predicament, I had my doubts.

“Truth?” She pursed her lips. “Kitsunes are aligned with the Seelie. There’s a good chance even for Aimi’s sake, because of his position, that Jon would be hesitant to shelter the Unseelie princess.”

“I can’t blame him.” Dreams of condo crashing burst. “This princess thing is a royal pain.”

“Ha ha, funny girl.” Mai absently wove locks of my hair into tiny braids I would never unravel without her help. “For his sake, I’ve decided it’s best not to tell him
you
are the friend I’m bringing.”

Foreboding clouded my thoughts. “Is that wise?”

She shrugged. “Plausible deniability.”

I worried my bottom lip with my teeth. “I don’t want to get him into any trouble.”

“I’m not
totally
irresponsible. I’ll tell Daddy. He’ll vouch for you if it comes down to it.” She gathered my hands in hers. “This might be our last chance for a girls only getaway before you have to go.”

Go.
As in back to Faerie. Where I would be crowned and have to play house with Rook.

“I know.” My heart wrenched. “But I’d be dragging the guards, and then there’s Diode.”

She glanced around as if she had forgotten he should be here. “Where is he anyway?”

“I haven’t seen him since I got home.” He prowled the fae parts of town unless I was home to keep him company. “It’s got to be hard on a cat used to living in the forest to stay cramped up inside an apartment in the city all day.”

She made a commiserating sound before her brow puckered. “The guards don’t like cars, right?”

I shrugged. “Not mine anyway.”

“What about Diode?”

“He’s managed to avoid getting in one so far,” I admitted.

“It’s just—my car is new and the seats are leather...”

“I’ll ask him what he wants to do.” I foresaw a feline hissy fit in my future. “So far he’s been content guarding the apartment.”

“Sounds good.” She looked relieved at the prospect of leaving him home. “What about Shaw?”

I picked at the applique on my shirt. “Like I said, I haven’t heard from him in a few days.”

“Can he last a week without—” she rolled her hand, “—you know?”

“I’m not sure.” I tugged on a string. “He’s getting stronger now that he’s being fed regularly.”

Mai popped my hand before I unraveled the embroidered patch. “You can’t feed him forever.”

But I couldn’t let him die, either. Not when I was the one who broke him in the first place. “I’ll figure something out.”

“You better do it fast,” she warned. “He can’t follow you to Faerie. Your hubs would gut him.”

I rolled my eyes so hard I heard rattling noises. “My husband can suck it.”

“Don’t give him any ideas.”

I snorted, grabbed a pillow and bashed her over the head with it. “Hussy.”

“What?” She cackled. “You said he’s hot, and you two
are
married.”

“We’re not that kind of married.”

“Pfft.” She sighed. “How can I live vicariously through you if you never do anything even remotely naughty?”

“Sorry, sugar paws.” I reached up and patted her cheek. “But your future husband will thank me. After a lifetime of suppression, when your soul mate passes your foxy test, he’s in for a sexplosion.”

“God yes,” she agreed. “He’ll be lucky if it doesn’t kill him.”

I grinned up at her. “He’ll be lucky either way.”

A slight flush pinked her cheeks. “So, and I expect total honesty here, because I will know if you’re lying. Tell me, are you ready to give up your ice-cream-gorging ways and embrace the light?”

“Yes.” I rose onto my elbows. “I guess I should tell Mom, huh?”

“That’s your call. Literally.” She considered me. “A trip to the beach is innocent enough even she can’t take offense.”

“Mai,” I said in a warning tone too tired to fool either of us.

“Okay, so, you make your calls. I’ll make my calls.” She slid out from under me, hopped off the couch and left my head to bounce on the cushions. “Car leaves at seven a.m. Be there or be square.”

The goober was backing toward her bedroom, holding her thumbs and index fingers in a square shape, when she tripped over the sneakers I’d kicked off by the door.

“I am so sorry.” I jumped to my feet. “Are you okay?”

She held two thumbs up. “I meant to do that.”

I was still grinning when my phone’s caller ID flashed Shaw’s number.

M
y thumb hesitated over the green call icon. As cranky as I was, as bad as my day had been, Shaw would pick this moment to check in. He was the needle pricking the balloon of happiness Mai had inflated for me.

“Well, color me pink and call me a tutu,” I answered. “You do know how to use a phone.”

His husky voice rolled across the line, giving me shivers. “I heard about what happened.”

I groaned and shifted onto my side. “I love her, but Mable’s mouth needs an off switch.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” I was done rehashing my stupidity over and over in my head. I didn’t want to go for round three out loud.

“Are you sure?” he pressed.

I ground the heel of my palm into my eye. “I forgot I sucked at math and took a calculated risk.”

“Are you sure you don’t mean chemistry?” Mai chirped. “Since it blew up in your face?”