Chapter Four
Dex looked at her little domain and saw the smeared blood from the attack. The shoe she had been working on was still on the workbench, and the dancers had left a series of cards wishing her well on the bench.
“Tosh, can you do a cleansing?”
“No. It isn’t in my skill set.”
She looked to Etienne. “You?”
“No. I don’t have advanced skills.”
Dex took her phone and sent a text. “Now we wait.”
Dex moved around the area, and there was a light tinkling on her desk before a small orb glowed and settled. There was a tag taped to it.
“She says she was going to put Drink Me on it, but she didn’t want to be mean. We all need to hold it, and that’s it.”
She held the orb up, Etienne cupped her hand from below, and Tosh touched it on top. A song and light began to swirl, and Dex smiled as the brilliance burst past their fingers. The music whirled and purged all traces of the attack, leaving only hope behind.
Tosh and Etienne were looking at their joined hands in wonder. Tosh whispered, “Can you tell me who did that? We don’t have a lot of folk who can anchor that kind of charm.”
Dex smiled. “You still don’t. She’s mage born.”
Tosh blinked. “What?”
“You heard me. There are all kinds of folks out here. You have been keeping to your own or to humans. There is more than that, and thanks to Regis and Avor splashing a ton of magic out, those who have skills have perked up a little.”
She laughed at their expressions. “If you are very good and very polite, you can meet her. She likes food. Big fan.”
Tosh smiled. “Do you think she would like to go to Halor Denith?”
Dex smiled. “I think so. I will have to ask her. She is not the kind of lady that you want to ambush. She doesn’t like it, and she curses things.”
“Oh. Got it. So, she’s not in customer service?” Etienne chuckled.
Dex laughed. “No, she isn’t.”
Tosh asked, “What happens if she curses things?”
“Businesses go out of business. People split their pants; tires go flat. You get the idea. No one dies, but folks are uncomfortable.”
She looked at both of them and put the orb back in her purse. “She prefers it if I recycle. Apparently, priming things to hold a spell is the hard part. She hates extra work.”
Etienne smiled. “But you won’t give us a name?”
“Not until you meet her. Her name is hers to share.”
Tosh smiled. “Fair enough. Now, let’s continue our errands.”
Dex smiled brightly. “Okay. We can do that. Home is safe. We can go.”
Etienne looked at her in surprise. “Home? This is home?”
“Well, sure. My apartment is burned. I am not sure about your place yet, so if you aren’t there, this is home.”
Dex looked at the pack house again and saw her car parked in the drive. “Oh, I had forgotten about it.”
Tosh chuckled. “We will get someone to deliver it to the house.”
“Oh. Right.”
Etienne put his hand on her back as they walked up to the door. It swung open, and Vincent was there with his expression hopeful, and it turned into a bright grin when he saw her with Tosh and Etienne. The hug was intense.
“Hey, Vin. You are looking good.”
“I was so worried when he charged at you. No one actually thought he would hit a woman, but then he kept coming.”
“Well, he got what he deserved. He’s recovering or not. I am done with him.”
Vin leaned back. “Did you do it?”
“No. I called on family.”
His eyes widened. “Oh.”
“And he tried to kill her, and the result is the result.”
“Mom was arrested.”
“She set my apartment on fire with my roommate inside.”
Vincent blinked. “You don’t have a roommate.”
“Don’t tell them that.”
He stared. “So, Mom lit an apartment on fire with a woman in it?”
“Yes. A friend was acting as a decoy, and she got everyone and everything out of the building before anyone could get hurt. Fire and rescue were called along with the police, and Mom got arrested for arson. She claims that the person in my apartment was me, but it wasn’t.
Arwell looks the same in a certain light. ”
He blinked. “Oh. That’s a good friend.”
“She really is.”
Emery chuckled. “Vincent. Invite them in.”
Vincent blushed and hauled them into the house, and the two packs met and had cake and tea.
Tosh nudged her arm.
“Oh, Emery, I have something for you, as thanks for making sure I survived that night.” She got up and handed him the thumb drive. “It has been cleared for you to do whatever you want with it for fundraising or whatever. I think it turned out super cool.”
He looked at it and nodded, getting a computer from the kitchen counter before settling next to Vincent again. He opened the laptop and, a moment later, plugged in the drive.
The familiar music began, and Emery stared as the song about an exhausted cleric belted out. Wizard had blended live-action and AI figures, switching between live scenarios where wagons turned into trucks and back again.
Emery was grinning. He looked at her with shining eyes. “We can use this for charity fundraising?”
“Absolutely. My gift to you for figuring out the internal bleeding and getting me a ride so I didn’t crash out behind the wheel.”
He grinned. “How did you get this so fast?”
“Well, our half-sister works for a gaming company and got permission to create the video and use the AI for image generation so that there aren’t any needed permissions for the actual emergency personnel. The woman is another friend. Ax. She’s really good at the leaping around in costume.”
Emery played it again, and Vincent watched it. “You know her?”
“Yes. I know them both. You might have a nice time if you actually talked to Wizard.”
Vin frowned. “The parents wouldn’t like it.”
“They can be blocked, and they look to be going to prison for attempting to kill me. A few times.” She smiled.
Emery shared the laptop with the other two alphas, and they were both grinning as the music poured into the room again.
Dex sighed. “Sorry about that, Vin. Hopefully, they will tire of it soon.”
Vincent chuckled. “Emery is stoked.”
“Good. I was going to send him the permissions, but I don’t have his email and didn’t want to be creepy about it.”
Vincent laughed and got Emery over. A minute later, he had the permissions for the video that Wizard had forwarded, and the video was attached to the email.
Vincent finally asked, “So, Dex, how did you meet your mates?”
“Um, Tosh is in the ballet, so I met him at work, and Etienne is Dr. Aquilar’s son, and he rejected me when he was introduced to me a few years ago. He has since changed his mind.”
Etienne snorted. “She just needed a slight makeover, and I realized what I had been missing.”
Vin blinked. “You showed him that face?”
“Sure. Always best to be honest. Though it was his dad who dragged him to the hospital after my surgery. I was stuck in my big form.”
Tosh and Etienne took on their elf forms, and the room went quiet. Vincent stared and then started laughing. “You look like a cookie.”
Etienne chuckled. “Not right now, but there are moments.”
Dex turned hot pink.
Vincent laughed again.
Dex glared at him. “Stop laughing.”
He sobered. “Right.”
Tosh asked, “What was that about?”
“Oh, Dad would beat the hell out of me until I was lying on the ground, and he would force Vincent to laugh at me. I can only withstand one cascade of laughter before I get ready to fight back.”
Vincent nodded. “I am sorry, Dex.”
Etienne asked, “Is Dex your full first name?”
Vincent answered. “Mom and Dad swore she was going to be a boy, named her Dex and just pretended that she was a boy until her period started. That’s when the beatings started.”
Dex sighed. “Yeah, I have issues, but they couldn’t pretend I wasn’t a girl anymore, and that is when I got the dance lessons and met Wizard.”
Tosh rubbed her back, and Etienne kissed her temple. She laughed and patted their thighs. Both guys got instantly tense.
Vincent looked at them and said, “Dex, have you and your mates had sex recently?”
“Not technically, no. Just some prolonged foreplay.”
“Oh, jeez. Take them home, and take care of them.” Vincent was appalled.
“Well, I spent just about every moment since I last saw you in hospital. I am not really in the mood for a lot of frolicking.”
Emery smiled. “I am sure that they can do most of the work.”
“Oh, I couldn’t ask them to do that.” She was serious.
Dex wasn’t sure what happened, but she was picked up and back in the car in under a minute.
Tosh was driving, and Etienne was in the back seat, cuddling with her, nuzzling at her neck. Dex whispered, “What’s going on?”
Etienne chuckled against her skin. “We are going to do all of the work.”
“Aren’t we meeting with the lawyer?”
“We already did. That was my father’s guest at lunch. The paperwork is being drawn up for your protection.”
She blinked. “My protection? I can protect myself. Mostly.”
“In case Tosh or I pass and leave you undefended and without resources. It is a form of insurance to keep you safe. To keep you financially secure when one of us is gone. Tosh handed over his asset list, and I did the same.”
“What about mine?”
“Do you have any assets?”
“My skills and wits?”
He sat up and grinned. “Devastating and highly valuable, but the point of the contract is to identify you as our mate and partner and to pass all funds and properties to you if we pass on.”
“That seems to be motivation for me just to bump you both off and collect the cash.”
He booped her nose. “That isn’t possible, and it was why the link came first. You could try to bump one of us off, but our energy would swirl and equalize. A sudden death outside our home is all that would enable a loss.”
She grimaced. “When was the legal consult?”
“While Mom was talking to you about a fancy wedding.”
“Oh. That was distracting. She always wanted a girl?”
Etienne grinned. “Yup. The fact that you can dance is giving her all kinds of ideas for the reception.”
“Yeah, she was mentioning a converting dress.” Dex looked at him, and he stroked her cheek as Tosh drove them home.
“Converting?”
“Part for the ceremony and part for the reception.”
“Why not two dresses?”