Page 33 of Myths and Shifts

I was going to have to talk to the sheriff about the welcome party, but it would wait since killing me didn’t seem to have been their goal. I was fairly certain Merritt would’ve been more frustrated if they’d tried that.

“Not tired, Daddy.” Somehow he managed to say that halfway through a cartoon about a confused turtle when his eyes wouldn’t even open all the way any longer.

“That’s fine. I like cuddling with you.” Yes, I was fucking with him about the sleep thing, but I did like holding him, so he couldn’t call me out on bullshitting him.

He must have heard that in my voice because he sighed as he snuggled lower on the bed so he could rest his head on my chest. “Daddy likes cuddles.”

Yep, and there was no way of getting out of it without hurting Daddy’s feelings, so he stayed put. I didn’t feel bad about manipulating him, though, because before we got to the end of the show he was out for the count.

When even shifting him to the pillow only seemed to help him sink deeper into unconsciousness, I climbed off the bed and started getting the room ready for the night. We had a busy day tomorrow and I wanted both of us to get a good night’s sleep but that would require a bit of prep.

Like undies that weren’t sticky and setting the alarm.

But before long I was back in bed with my boy snuggled up beside me, ready for the chaos of our first official meeting about the portal.

It was going to be fine.

Professional.

Organized.

Logical.

Chapter 10

Merritt

I knew ways of putting Daddy’s hair back in place if he pulled it out, but I was kind of hoping we could keep it attached to begin with.

That was probably asking for a lot, though.

“This is not a meeting.” Frowning, Daddy let out a quiet sigh as he moved us through the crowded room, not really caring who heard him. “They brought cupcakes and I’ve been asked three times which vanilla cupcake I like best.”

He was doing his best to be polite, though.

Maybe.

“I won’t leave you alone again.” Clearly going to the bathroom had been a bad idea, but I hadn’t been gone that long. “I will handle the cupcake people.”

Even if it meant eating all the offerings for him because somehow the baking idea had gotten out of hand.

It’d probably started with that artistic dragon named Kenzie and then the sparkly one had made it worse. According to the men at the diner, that was always how it started. But I didn’t know how Kenzie probably wanting to bring refreshments had turned into a bakeoff where half the town brought cupcakes and we were supposed to pick the best.

It was chaos, and even though we’d been here fifteen minutes already, we hadn’t talked about the portal yet.

Most of the people didn’t even seem to know why the meeting was being held, because as we made our way around a group of confused-looking businessmen, they started talking about some kind of chamber of commerce event.

“I would appreciate that.” Standing straighter, Daddy seemed to be trying to talk himself out of eating all of the annoying people. “I’ve run out of polite ways to say no to more cupcakes.”

Laughing would’ve made the situation much worse, but I had to remind myself of that several times.

“No problem.” I was positive I could help with that part at the very least. I just kept saying yes. “Let’s not actually kill anyone, though. I don’t have a spell to bring people back from the dead.”

There were a variety of spells that could be used for healing, but nothing that workedthatwell.

“Noted.” Daddy’s dry tone probably should’ve worried me, but I just liked that he understood boundaries. “I’ll go over the specifics of the rest later.”

I was starting to think I needed to ask Daddy more questions about what kind of lawyer he was exactly. “Okay.”

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