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A haze of black ooze covers the cage the dog is in, and the shrieking sound of tearing metal is followed by grinding teeth and heavy swallows. Is he eating his way out? That’s not a snack doggo. You’re going straight to the vet after this. Bae would never forgive me if I didn’t take care of you. My throat tightens and burns at the thought.

He makes it out and steps on GV’s body on his way to my wifey, his form shrouded by darkness. That sound, what is that? It makes my head hurt every time he emits it.

No, don’t pick her up. She’s hurt.

But he does it. He holds her and makes that sound for the longest time, getting louder and louder. I’m surprised Mal hasn’t woken to tell him to shut up.

It stops abruptly, and he straightens with her in his arms. I can see the top of her head through the smoke surrounding them. A stone step appears in front of him, and they both disappear as he steps onto it.

I’m left alone, staring at the pool of blood where she was lying. That’s a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. This isn’t right.

I don’tlikethis.

King takes a deep breath from the floor, and I watch him get up absently. He goes straight to Mal and pulls the keys from his pocket. He seems really upset. Like his old self but more emotional. He pulls Mall out of the cage. I didn’t even realize he had the muscles for that. He’s so small. He slaps at Mal’s face for a long time before he sits upright with a snarl. Mal backs away from him, teeth bared in aggression, and King slowly shuffles away.

Then he goes to Mitri, unlocks him, removes his collar, and waits. Mitri does his neck crack and wakes a stone-faced killer. He takes one look around and sits up straight. As I watch, I swear what little life he gained hanging around sugartits washes right out of his face. Hubby two is not happy right now.

I should be laughing about that, but I can’t. Laughter has stepped out of the building for a moment. Please leave a message after the tone.

Mitri stands and looks around the mini battlefield. I watch him note GV’s headless body before he looks back to King. He paces over to the dog’s cage, and, shit, he totally chewed his way out of there. The bars aren’t bent. They’re serrated by teeth with huge missing pieces.

He’s a shark dog. Or is that dog shark? Whatever he is, I know the gas worked on him because he’s a half-breed. He may say he’s a dimensional being, but a part of him has to obey the laws of this dimension, too. That’s gotta suck. As a pure-blood dimensional being, I wouldn’t know.

Mitri paces in front of my cage and stares down at me, seeing that I’m no longer chained. I lean around him to stare at the pool of blood behind him.

“She wasn’t the Goddess.” Why is my voice monochrome?

Mitri turns and walks over to the blood puddle stiffly, studying it from all angles before his eyes land on the rock that used to be his gun. When he picks it up, it shifts back into a revolver, and he holsters it. Then he tilts his head and thinks for a long time. His face is blank, but his breathing is becoming ragged, and his head turns slowly to look at GV and then King.

Then he walks out without a word.

Mal gets up and slowly offers his hand to King. He takes it, and they start quietly talking for what seems like ever. Time passes as they reach whatever peak in the conversation signals the conclusion, and they hug it out. Mal doesn’t seem very happy about it, though.

Mitri comes back in, tosses a handful of marbles at each corner of the room from a box he’s holding, and then leaves.

This causes both Mal and King to freak out. They begin to leave and then double back for me, each taking a side of my cage and hefting me up. My cuddle bear and the sex King never leave me behind.

I blank out the words they’re speaking. I don’t want to hear. I do notice that Mitri has spread marbleseverywhere.

They’re in the halls and the rooms we pass, the kitchen and the sage-filled hallway, rolling down the stairs of the second floor. Man, he works fast. And where did he get all these marbles? Has he been collecting his wholelife? Is he in a midlife crisis right now and getting rid of all his old hobbies? So weird.

Once they get outside, they set me down, trying to catch their breath. They’re out of shape if that’s all it took.

Mitri walks out behind them, lighting a cigarette as they yell nonsense at him. He has a suitcase carried loosely in his right hand. I guess the box of marbles is empty now.

He goes to the garage, and I hear Bae’s truck start before I see it pull up to the steps.

Mitri leaves it running as he gets out and walks between a yelling Mal and a now silent King. He stands above me, cigarette hanging from his lip as he says something to them. Whatever it is, they look at each other and then run for Mitri’s car that was left in the driveway before pulling away in a shriek of wheels that I should probably cringe at.

Mitri leans down and hefts the cage into his arms, carrying me to the truck and dropping me roughly into the bed. I tumble around a bit before righting myself to stare at the house as he pulls away.

We’re just passing the gates when the concussive force of the blast shakes the truck, causing it to slide and shimmy in a dance I’d like to recreate sometime when I can laugh. This is bucket list worthy, for sure. I can feel the heat and pressure pounding at my skin as my eyes close.

The truck rights itself, and the heat begins to fade, so I open my eyes again. What was once a manor is now a fireball tinged green and purple. A mage fire mixed in with dragon fire. So cool. Mitri has all the best stuff. I need to steal from him more often. I should get that stamped on the other arm.

“Bye-bye, TGT. I won’t miss you.”

09. Gun in My Hand