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Mulan held up her hand. “I have add-on question. Where will female guardian live?”

Mulan was right to ask. My opinion was that Jack could die and rot in an alley, but Zara needed to be kept close by. Orlin said he could make her forget her true self but what if his memory binding came undone? The original memory blocks hadn’t lasted on her or the other female guardians. It hadn’t even lasted on Rasmus, who had fully cooperated with the entire process.

I turned and looked at the little chocolate cottage. It was located closest to the fancy barn, which was every bit as nice as any of the other buildings. Where would the demon wolves sleep? Should I give Zara the whole second floor of the main house and try to befriend her? Or stick her out here alone?

Thinking about my foolish offer to babysit her always gave me a headache. I rubbed my face again and groaned. When had my life turned into this complicated mess?

Conn chuckled as he grinned at me. I’m sure he enjoyed seeing me so overwhelmed. “You’re hungover from your sex fest, Aran. This property won’t seem nearly so daunting tomorrow, and Mulan is right about the increase in value when we finish updating. I’m sure a good meal and a solid eight hours of sleep will work wonders on your viewpoint.”

I shrugged. Maybe it would. Or maybe I’d spend a sleepless night wondering where Rasmus was and who he would be when he returned. But did Rasmus even matter in the long run?

It had never occurred to me I might keep the guardian—not really. He would stay until he was done with me and then he’d leave. Maybe that had already happened. His normal guardian life was too big and too complicated to limit his human interference to merely harassing me.

I frowned as I looked around. This place would never be my actual home. It was a business investment. Real estate was supposed to be a safe bet and we had five years to make this worth more than we paid for it.

I blew out a breath. “So, are we doing this?”

Mulan raised a hand. “I see much profit here, so I vote yes.”

Conn lifted a hand. “Your vote is my vote, Aran. We’re always going to be a team.”

I grunted as I pointed between him and Mulan. “Mulan and ya are also a team. Checks and balances are what will make this work. Truthfully, the idea of taking on this place scares me. But it has all the space we need. Five years from now, when my contract with Ben is done, anything we have put into it will undoubtedly make it vastly appealing for the next buyer. We’ll probably make our money back, which means we lived five years for free. I’m not a math person but I get how it works.”

Conn looked at Mulan. “That’s as close to saying yes as Aran ever gets when it involves spending money. Once you meet Bridget, you’ll understand why. Her mother’s middle name isfrugal.”

Mulan wrinkled her brows as she frowned. “Irish names areveryodd.”

Conn snickered and never even attempted to correct her. I glared at him before looking at Mulan. “Frugal is not her middle name, Mulan. Conn’s yanking yer chain. When Conn says my Ma is frugal, he means Bridget O’Malley hates spending money.”

Mulan shrugged. “I too hate spending money. It is necessary evil, though.”

“Agreed,” I said, turning to glare at Conn who now hid a smile. “I can see I’m the only one with reservations about this place. So, who’s going to make the deal?”

“Conn and I make deal together,” Mulan said. “You two pay your half—I pay other half. We get clear deed on date of sale. Then we fix things.”

I nodded and felt my phone buzz with a text message. It was Fiona asking if we were going to buy the house. I wrote back that we were going to think about it until tomorrow.

Hopefully, by then, the deal would be done, and I could tell my daughter to come home.

Chapter Two

When we returned to our rental home, there was a notice from the neighborhood HOA saying we needed to re-sod our backyard or otherwise repair the grass. I ripped the notice off the door and stomped inside with it gripped in my hand.

Complaining neighbors were nearly enough to convince me that buying a million-dollar property with some privacy was the smartest thing in the world.

I tacked it to the refrigerator with a magnet so I wouldn’t forget.

Conn stood in the kitchen with his hands in his pockets. “We have another bit of news to deal with. I’ve been charged with telling you.”

“They erased Rasmus again and he has no memory of last night.”

Conn laughed before wincing. Mulan watched us like she had a front-row seat at a tennis match. Her head swung to whoever spoke.

“Goddess forbid that ever happen again,” he said with a growl.

I knew it was bad when my familiar evoked the one deity we both equally respected. The fight left me completely. I needed a shot of Jamieson’s and a nap.

“Just tell me, Conn. I’m no longer at risk of blowing up the house. I shared magick with Rasmus.”