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Chapter One

Iwoke up naked and shivering. Why wasn’t I naked and warm? I spent most of the night wrapped around Rasmus and enjoying his heat.

What did he do with the bed covers? Uncovering me wasn’t very gentlemanly of him.

Glaring up at the garage door opener reminded me of why the room was so chilly. This wasn’t a real bedroom.

Memories of what Rasmus and I had done last night—alllast night—were instantly validated by the effort it took to simply roll from my back to my side. My groans echoed off the metal and concrete walls but there was no Rasmus there to laugh and feel proud of himself.

Finally, I stopped trying to move and instead took stock of my many aches and pains. They’d been worth getting but every relaxed muscle in my body hurt this morning. Overworked muscles rebelled when I slid my knee a few inches up the cold sheets to bend one leg. Both Rasmus and I had gotten tossed across the yard and against the house during my stand-off with Zara.

Indulging in sex before I’d healed had been foolish, but I was fresh out of prison and deprived. My willpower had disappeared the moment he’d opened his eyes and asked me why I was fighting Zara. Rasmus claimed he had waited centuries for me. I felt like I’d waited an equally long amount of time for him.

Was I irritated this morning about unleashing my lust? No. I was only mad because the man I’d wrestled with all night had left me again without even so much as saying goodbye. It made a woman feel used and not in a good way.

Fully awake now, I also could tell Rasmus was gone from the entire house. I couldn’t explain how I was so certain but I was completely sure. The guardian who’d ravished me was no longer on the premises. When he was here, I felt him. I was pretty sure my normal awareness of him had grown after what we’d done last night.

Groaning and feeling sorry for myself, I grappled my way to the edge of the queen-sized bed. I peered over the side to see how far away the floor was and happily discovered a discarded blanket there. Sighing, I pulled it up and covered myself before struggling to stand.

The clothes I’d worn yesterday had to be somewhere in the room, but I was in no mood or physical shape to search for them. Thank the Goddess my daughter wasn’t here to witness my state. My semi-nude walk of shame would only be down the hallway to the bedroom I usually shared with her.

I opened the door leading from the garage into the house and immediately encountered a demon-sized wall blocking my way.

Conn grinned as he raised his voice. “Mulan, you need to see this. Aran has a sex hangover and can barely walk.”

My swearing was low and vicious. “Do notsneak up on me today, Conn, unless ya want yer arse zapped,” I said, pointing a finger at him.

Conn looked around and laughed. “We’re standing in a small hallway, Aran. There’s no room for me to sneak up on you. I was innocently walking from my bedroom to the kitchen when you snuck out of the garage like a drunken frat girl.”

“I was not sneaking. Keep yer freaking logic to yerself,” I grumbled before shoving past the chuckling troublemaker.

I trudged to my room with the loosened blanket trailing behind me like a hairy demon-wolf bridal train.

Conn chuckled at my griping. “Was the guardian that bad? Or that good?”

I stopped at my bedroom door. “Where is Rasmus anyway? I can tell he’s not in the house.”

Shrugging, Conn innocently blinked at my question. “I don’t know where he is today, but I know he was here last night. Either that or some incubus was giving you the workout of your dreams. Even Mulan and I laughing hysterically over the noises you two were making never slowed things down. You were never that vocal with Jack.”

Conn was right about me and Jack, but I didn’t want to hear it this morning. “Don’t be teasing me about my ex-husband. I’m still mad at ya for letting Jack through my wards.”

“Inattentive rats often lose their chance for cheese,”a loud voice chastised from the kitchen.

Conn smirked down at me. “We’re having grilled cheese sandwiches and Chinese proverbs for lunch. Come join us after you’re dressed.”

I closed my eyes and prayed to survive the next few minutes without releasing the rage I felt at Rasmus for not being here. “Keep yer teasing to a minimum until I’ve gotten hold of myself. I need a shower—and then food.”

“It’s nearly noon. Why are you wrapped in one of the blankets Fiona gave to the demon wolves? Did the guardian rip the clothes off your quivering body and hide them from you?”

He had done exactly that. Honestly? I was working hard not to remember, thank you very much.

I glared at Conn. “Keep asking me questions about last night and ya’ll be spending the next three days regenerating body parts.”

Amused and very loud feminine laughter drifting from the kitchen made me sigh. But it also comforted me. I loved having my daughter around—I truly did. But it was nice having anothermaturewoman in the house.

Grateful for once that I was short, I gripped my hairy demon-wolf blanket with one hand and the doorknob of my bedroom with the other. I had no idea where the original blankets for the bed were or where my clothes had gone. This was the least dignified I’d felt since I let the demon hunters take me off to prison in cuffs I could have easily gotten out of.

I grasped for sanity one more time. “Are ya going to tell me where the cowardly bastard ran off to or not?”