Page 18 of Bitten By Chaos

The knock sounded as I was still rocking slowly over him, wanting to savor the moment. I hissed in response, which surprised me as much as it apparently amused Julian. He lifted me off of him and rolled over me, kissing me as he climbed from the bed. In seconds he had me covered with a blanket and had pulled on his pants, forgoing his shirt. It was fine with me, as I loved ogling his perfectly chiseled abs, broad shoulders, and pecs. He pulled a hand back through his hair, making his dark curls fall instantly back into place before tugging open the door.

Outside stood a short and stocky man with a nervous yellow aura and a clipboard. He wore blue overalls and a matching hat that read DEB. I doubted it was his name so much as a strange acronym.

In seconds, I’d tied a satin robe over myself and joined Julian at the door, not bothering to hide my own messy locks. The man with the hat glanced at me, eyes sliding from my head to my breasts, clearly loose beneath the robe and he blushed before looking back to Julian. At the look on my fiancé’s face, the man blanched and took a step backward, Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.

“Can we help you?” I asked, shouldering Julian aside so I was between them in case he decided to kill the poor guy for checking me out.

“Yeah.” He shifted his weight, took a breath, and tried again. “Yeah, sorry to disturb you nice folks, but I have a delivery here for a Lieutenant Julian Carver?”

“What sort of delivery?” Julian asked, back to his stoic self.

“Well, see, it seems you put the order in months ago, but you know, it’s hard to get things through with all the red tape. The address you originally listed on the requisition belongs to a house that’s…well, it’s deserted and roped off with crime scene tape.” The guy glanced toward me for help, blushed again, and went back to speaking to Julian. His heart pumped so fast, I found myself salivating.

“What. Is. The. Delivery?” Julian punched each word out as though the poor man was stupid.

I elbowed him lightly in the ribs. “You found us anyway,” I offered with a smile, noted the tiny nametag pinned to his shirt and nearly covered by the strap of his overalls, “Stan.”

“Yeah. This is Lieutenant Carver’s official residence, and since he—you’re the one that put in the request, I brought her here.”

“Brought who?” I pressed, becoming impatient enough myself to debate using glamour.

“The unicorn.” Stan waited, clutching his clipboard as he glanced between us, both frozen on the spot.

It was my mother’s unicorn. The one Julian had bribed her with to get her to come to the island in the first place. She’d always wanted one, and he’d come through. But it was too late. She’d never get to see it, much less know it.

My heart sank to my feet as I fought the blood tinted tears that wanted to break through at the thought of her murder. I didn’t want to frighten the poor man into a heart attack.

“Thank you,” Julian said, taking over with his debonair smile. He switched places with me to sign the clipboard, which seemed to relieve Stan.

“Where is she?” I asked as he handed a copy of the receipt of acknowledgement to Julian.

“They wouldn’t let me bring her inside, so she’s in the back,” Stan said, removing his cap to wipe the sweat off his brow and revealing the pointed ears of an elf. “Don’t worry though, she won’t go anywhere. She scented the empty house, so if you all were in there at some point, she’ll keep within a mile or so.”

She’d been meant for Mama, but I supposed she would have scented myself and Zoe at the very least. Did that mean she was imprinted on us or something? I squinted at the writing on the upside-down clipboard. DEB apparently stood for Department of Endangered Beasts.

“Here, Mrs. Carver.” Stan reached in his pocket and handed me an apple. “That ought to guarantee her loyalty.” I opened my mouth to correct him on my name but stopped myself. I kind of liked the sound of it.

“Oh, and don’t be startled if she shows up unannounced. Unicorns can instantly portal themselves within a mile of whomever they decide is a companion.”

“What if she picks someone who doesn’t mean well just because they have an apple?” I asked, vision turning scarlet. I blinked away the red in my eyes, but Stan had shrunk away from me already, sticking his hat back on as he hit the wall opposite our door.

“No! No way. We are here to protect animals. That’s why we vetted the good lieutenant. It’s why the paperwork took so long. I swear.”

I bit down on the inside of my cheek and nodded. “Thank you, Stan. But maybe this isn’t the best place to keep a creature like that after all.”

Julian spoke over me, “Thank you for the delivery.” He pulled some money from his pocket and handed it to Stan, who licked his lips and took off.

“Why did you do that?” I asked, turning on him. “Mama’s gone, and what am I supposed to do with a unicorn at the vampire estate while demons are after me?”

Julian gave a wicked half-grin. “I have a hunch she may be the horse we’ve been waiting for.”

Chapter 6

A Royal Pain in the Ass

Idon’t like the idea of leaving her out there when we know the demons are watching the property, I insisted through the bond as we hurried down the stairs hand in hand. Well, hurrying by human standards as we were due in the dining hall in two minutes. I gripped the decorative top corner to the balustrade and swung us around to take the next flight to the ground level.

Demons would have no interest in unicorns, Julian insisted. Nor would they know it belonged to you by default. We will figure out where to keep her safe until this is over. Don’t worry.

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