Page 58 of Bombshell

Everything about living with Effie was so damned domestic that it made me choke up every time I did little things like this. From the skincare products in our bathroom to the constantly bubbling potions bench in the living room, this was what I’d been longing for for years and now it was here.

Sometimes I worried it was all one big dream or hallucination and that one day I would wake up alone in my bed without her.

“Dallan, are you listening to me?” Effie asked as I made it to the top of the dress.

I grinned dopily up at her. “No, I was too preoccupied with staring at my gorgeous mate.”

Effie rolled her eyes, but a pretty pink flush still filled her cheeks as she repeated herself. “I asked if anything strange has been happening out in the water. I know you’ve got your monthly meeting with your people tonight.”

I shook my head. Everything had been disturbingly normal on that front too. The weather had evened out to where it was supposed to be now that it was June.

Not only that, but the currents had shifted back to normal and the tourists had stopped drowning.

It was almost as if Arsenio had found a different Guardian for the Source and that had made everything go back to the way it was around Port Haven.

I hoped we were that lucky, but I also wasn’t much of a betting man. “I haven’t noticed anything, but I’m sure they’ll tell me if they have. In great, never-ending detail.”

“They only do it because they trust you and respect your leadership,” Effie said and she put a hand on my shoulder and leaned down to give me a kiss.

“I wish they’d respect me just a little less.” I huffed a laugh before deepening the kiss, our tongues sliding together as I felt my cock stir again. “Any chance I can interest you in a second round?”

“I wish,” Effie said before straightening up. “But I promised Odette I’d come by today. She sounded so strange in her text and I’ve barely seen her since that afternoon with Cash, so I’m a bit worried.”

Effie had told me all about the sketches that her friend had drawn and we’d both come to the conclusion that the faerie woman probably had some sort of prophetic ability which was exceedingly rare for her kind.

Unfortunately with prophetic abilities also came things like paranoia, anxiety, and sometimes even death as that kind of magic tended to leech at one’s lifespan. It wasn’t something I would wish on my worst enemy let alone the sheltered woman that Effie cared so muchabout.

“Okay, well call me before you’re about to head back,” I told her, tugging her down for one last kiss. “And please be careful.”

“I’m always careful, Dallan, careful is practically my middle name.”

I frowned. “You don’t have a middle name.”

Effie just grinned and shot me a cheeky wave before heading for the door, leaving me still naked in bed with nothing but a half-hard erection and the need for a very cold shower to make it go away.

“This is quite nice, Dallan,” Henri said as he examined his bicep where I’d just finished an all black and white stained glass window piece. It was based off of some chapel in the French countryside, so I’d had to do what I could with the grainy polaroid he’d brought it.

“Thank you, I tried my best to get it as close to what you brought in as possible,” I told the vampire as he began digging in his pockets for the gold coins he usually paid with. Effie would throw a fit as she was really trying to get our clientele to pay with modern currency like the American dollar. But I wasn’t even sure if Henrihada bank account or even knew what a dollar bill was.

He rarely came down from his home deep in the mountains surrounding Port Haven and the usual crazed look in his eyes told me that he wasn’t sure what year it was let alone whatcountry he was in. It was a wonder he managed to make these tattoo appointments at all.

“Your best is more than enough. Now, come here for a moment,” he said, his accent growing thick as he spoke and I had to lean in a bit to understand him. “The waves are going to swallow us all up today, did you know that?”

The vampire giggled, flashing a pair of yellowed, chipped fangs at me.

A chill skittered down my spine. “What does that mean?”

“The Guardian wasn’t dead yet, no, no,no, he held on longer than anyone thought possible for her. But the king was starting to grow weary of him and so he said‘off with his head!’She’s very angry now and will swallow us all whole.”

How had a vampire who rarely spoke with anyone come to know about the Guardian? And who was the woman he was speaking about?

But Henri just gave another crazed snicker before folding my fingers around the gold in my hand. Then he got up and started to leave, forgetting the magical cloak that he wore to protect his skin still hanging on the hook on the wall.

“Wait! Don’t forget your—” I called but he ignored me.

Cursing under my breath I snatched the cloak off of the hook and hurried after him before we had a barbecued bloodsucker on the Wharf.

I made it into the lobby where Daphne was frowning at the door.

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