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I recovered enough to grin at her. “If ya didn’t laugh at the chaos Zeno causes, ya’d go mad from it.”

Zara looked around. “Rasmus tried to explain what you did and how you worked together. I couldn’t imagine it until I saw it for myself. If I can fix the demon wolves, would you consider letting me join your team while I’m here?”

I chewed and almost choked again. If I didn’t stop eating, someone would have to perform the Heimlich maneuver on me. I set down the rest of the sandwich and gave the female guardian my full attention.

“Each member of our team brings a unique skill set to our work. Sometimes the work is mundane. Sometimes it’s exciting and dangerous. The main point is that we get paid for doing what we’re sent to do. The best part is we get to help save people. We don’t kill any creature if we don’t have to and we don’t hurt them unless it’s in self-defense. Bad guys are collected and turned over to our boss. The Shadow Breakers get to decide what to do with them.”

Her head moved up and down. “I assumeyouare the leader of your team.”

“Only because I have seniority in the work,” I said. “We collectively decide which jobs to take and then we work out who is doing what. Conn and I did this work for years, just the two of us. So did the fairy and I. It’s not fun to have to do what I just did to a former co-worker.”

My gaze drifted over to Mulan. “What we’re doing this afternoon is a freebie. Mulan’s family is more incorrigible than Zenos. The Wu Shaman has to fix their situation to keep them from being completely possessed by the jiangshi. It’s her sacred duty to honor her powerful gifts and use them to rescue herfamily. But most importantly, we want them to leave and never come back.”

“Are you going to all this trouble simply to get the Wu Shaman’s parents to leave? Couldn’t you turn them into small animals and set them loose in some field? It would be less trouble.”

I chuckled. “Do you seriously think forcing them to shift into animals is an answer?”

Zara shrugged. “I would think being possessed might provide a good reason not to let them stay in their human forms.”

Mulan turned and lifted an eyebrow. “Would you do that to your brother?”

Zara looked at Rasmus. “I’m not sure how to answer that.”

“She means yes she would,” Rasmus said.

Zara chuckled again. “What do you get out of the work, Aran?”

I leaned back in my seat to study her. She was serious about not understanding. That was what she hadn’t understood the first time they’d talked.

“Let me see if I clarify it for you. I get the satisfaction of helping a friend. Mulan hopefully gets the gratitude of her family, not to mention peace and quiet after they’re gone. Conn gets a less broody girlfriend. And your brother gets to sleep with a happier version of me. And if you eventually help us with our work, you will get a chance to see how amazing humans are because I know you think we’re not worth our free will.”

Zara’s mouth twisted into a smirk. “I knew my remarks hurt your feelings. Rasmus told me they didn’t, but I could tell.”

I waved that away. “Don’t make too much of it. All guardians bother me. It’s not just yer brother and ya. I don’t feel all warm and fuzzy about any of yer kind.”

I got lucky then that Conn brought up the need for us to make a communal gathering spot. We had talked about the blue house being turned into a meeting space before. I again suggested we build a spot behind it to gather socially. It already had a gardening space. We just needed to add some outdoor furniture, a fire pit, and perhaps a place to grill.

“All I ask of whoever ends up buying the furniture is that ya buy some to fit Mulan and me. We don’t want to have to sit in giant chairs with our legs sticking out like a child’s.”

“I’ll buy the furniture,” Conn said. “I’m the most motivated to keep the shorties among us happy.”

How could I argue with that when he was right?

Chapter Twenty

Rasmus quickly removed his magickal hold on the jiangshi before returning to sit by Zara. I used Conn’s energy to create my normal armor for fighting demons. I called an energy sword as well.

I’d had a brilliant idea at the last minute for Conn in large high demon king form—crown and all—to be the first thing the jiangshi saw when released.

Mulan’s family huddled on the stairs watching what we did. They refused our offer for them to sit on one of the leather couches near what was happening. A terse Mulan barked at them whenever they started complaining.

All noise stopped the moment Conn called his crown. They stared at him and then looked at her. Mulan glared back and shook her staff until they cringed away. I had no idea what they all said to each other, but all of us noticed when her family finally shut up.

“Are ya ready, Mulan?” I asked.

The last magick holding him was hers.

Conn looked the Wu Shaman’s way and smiled at her with all his pointed teeth. The Wu Shaman stared back for a moment before rolling her eyes at his show of both prowess and support.