Page 78 of Magic and Muffins

“I thought this room was soundproof,” I said. “How did you hear?”

“The vibrations of her ramming into it,” Shepard said.

I pulled up the covers. “Open the door before she hurts herself.”

Shepard padded over to the door with a stretch and opened it. “Did you hurt yourself?” he asked Vena.

“No,” she said, rubbing her shoulder.

“Next time, wait for someone to open the door,” Shepard said.

“I didn’t hear the doorbell, so I wasn’t sure if you heard it.”

Shepard slid back into bed, and Vena grinned at us.

“A little Supernatural Everly Sandwich again? Anything interesting happening under those covers? I need a S. E. S., too, but with a V in the middle. Get it? Cuz my name starts with a V, and it’s in the middle cuz?—”

I chucked a pillow at her. “Nothing is happening here. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

She frowned. “I knew you weren’t having kinky sex. Seriously, Everly, you need to try it. I need to live some of my unfulfilled fantasies through you. I mean, you got both. A vampire and a wolf. The first time that’s happened in history. Get on it so you can give me the deets.”

I heard Anchor say her name from the living room.

“Don’t worry, babe, my S. V. S. will stay unfulfilled. At least by people, but sex toys are still game, right?” she called.

He didn’t answer. She grinned. “He loves me.”

“Is there a reason you’re here this early?” I asked.

“Yeah. Your men have been holed up in here with you, and we need to talk about what happened last night.”

“You mean how you cut Everly in a vampire nest?” Shepard asked. “I thought we agreed a pin poke in the thigh.”

“I did do that, and it didn’t work.”

“It worked. We were delayed,” Cross said.

“Oh. Sorry about that, Ev. But we need to talk about how Orphia has all our pictures and shows them to new recruits. How long until the protesters know that Everly and I are public enemy numbers one and two for vampire oppression, along with all the werewolves and Cross.”

“I’ll call Hugh for an update and see about what we can do,” Shepard said, slipping from the bed and revealing a bit of my bare hip in the process.

Vena grinned. “Nice bruise, Ev. I know how you got that one. I can even tell you the page number of that position in The Joy of Sex.”

“Get out before I ask Cross to toss you out.”

She shrugged and followed Shepard out the door.

“Was there anything that happened at the meeting we don’t know about?” Cross asked me.

“Not that I can recall. It all happened very fast.”

“Many things happened fast yesterday.”

“Yeah, they did.”

“You seem okay, and you say you are, but I’m not sure many people would be if it happened to them. Both at Effora’s house and at the meeting. And it all happened in one day.”

“It did. And I’m not okay with what Effora did or the people who were killed. But like Vena said, avoidance is my specialty. So, I’m going to focus on what I am okay with. I’m in an amazing relationship with the two men I love the most in the world. My dream of opening a bakery is coming to life because of the people who love me. And my best friend is going to try to become a vampire hunter.

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