Steal the Night (2 page)

“Shut up, Donovan,” Dev shouted, looking like a five-year-old who was about to be told on. “We’re not supposed to tell our wife about that.”

Neil looked up from his wine, gasping in anticipation. “Oh, god, Dev and Daniel are experimenting. Someone get a camera. I’ve waited for this day all my life.”

Dev snorted as he laughed. “Not that way. He would always have to be in control. I would always have to catch. He would never let me pitch.”

I snapped my fingers. “Focus. What experiment?”

Previous experiments had included shooting Daniel to see how quickly he would heal, Daniel flying Dev into the upper atmosphere to see how fast he passed out from oxygen deprivation, and the infamous “is Daniel really faster than a speeding bullet” incident. I had lost a good set of china to that experiment. I blamed
MythBusters
.

I turned to Zack, who all too often was the guy making notes as Dev and Daniel acted like idiots for their version of science. Zack pressed his lips together in a mulish show of male solidarity.

Shaking my head, I played the brand new card I had against Zack. “I’ll just have to ask Lisa. I’m having lunch with her tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll have lots to talk about.”

Zack’s eyebrows formed a perfect
V
in the middle of his brow. “That is so…how am I supposed to respond to that?”

“Don’t tell her, Zack,” Dev said as he found new ways for minis to fornicate. “Don’t give her the upper hand. You’ll never get it back.”

“Don’t tell me, Zack,” I repeated with a grim resolve. “I’m sure Lisa would love to hear about all the dangerous stuff you have to do. You know women. We need to vent every now and then. I’m feeling the need to bond with your girlfriend.”

Zack’s eyes widened in desperation. Yeah, I had him on the ropes. “Zoey, I can’t go against my master.”

“Your master passed out.” Neil pointed to Daniel, who was drooling a little on the table where his head was currently resting. “I don’t think he’ll even remember tomorrow.”

Sighing, Zack stood up and stared down on his vampire master. “It was just a little experiment. Dev can’t get drunk and he thinks it looks like fun. So Danny had the brilliant idea to, you know, take a little too much blood when he fed. Danny got more alcohol. Dev got a nice buzz.”

“From blood loss!” I was astounded at the idiotic lengths men would go to for a little high.

“I’ll build it back up,” Dev said nonchalantly, standing up. He swayed a little and Neil got to his feet to catch Dev’s six foot five inch, two hundred pound body should he fall—from blood loss. “I think it was a successful experiment. We’ve proven that you can get buzzed if a vampire takes one pint too much. Make sure you write that down, Zack.”

“Zack, carry Danny back to our bedroom, please,” I requested as the werewolf lifted Daniel easily over his shoulder. Zack was solidly built, but I doubted he would have been able to handle Danny’s powerful two hundred twenty pounds of pure muscle had he not had all that werewolf strength to back him up.

I walked around to my faery. He swung his arm over my shoulders and leaned heavily against me. I peeked back at Nim and Neil. “Why don’t you guys have another glass of wine? I’ll be back after I get the boys settled down in bed.”

“Don’t expect her to be back anytime soon,” Dev shouted over his shoulder as he shuffled along. “I intend to prove that I can still perform. I’m sure I’m even better like this.”

Groaning as Dev stumbled along, I seriously doubted he would be able to waylay me for a little sexy fun. Even if he had enough blood to get hard, he would almost certainly pass out because his brain needed blood, too. “Are you sure I shouldn’t call a doctor?”

Dev shoved me up against the wall outside our bedroom door.

Zack walked out of the bedroom. “Do you need a hand with him?”

“No, she doesn’t need a hand with me,” Dev protested as he crowded me with his inebriated affection.

I sighed and sent Zack on his way. If Dev fell, he could just sleep where he landed. As soon as Zack was out of sight, Dev proved that he actually could function with all his available blood in his penis.

“Baby,” he groaned in my ear, grinding that hard part of himself against me. “I want you. I love you so much. You’re so fucking gorgeous.”

I had to smile. At least he was a sweet drunk. “I love you, too.”

“I don’t need anyone else.” He cupped my face in his hands and stared down at me. “You and Daniel. You’re my family. You’re the ones who understand me.”

“We love you, Dev.” My heart ached for him. Our trip to Faery hadn’t gone the way Dev had hoped. He’d looked forward to reconnecting with his brother and mother, but it all fell apart when he sacrificed the ascended god inside him to save Daniel.

Bris, the fertility god Dev had bonded with, had made the sacrifice willingly and was still hanging around waiting for the strength to reintegrate, but it hadn’t been enough for his brother. Declan had been so angry Dev was willing to risk his people’s fertility that the twins hadn’t spoken more than two or three words since.

Dev leaned down and kissed me, his tongue playing softly along my lips. “Let’s make a baby, Zoey. I want a real family for us. I want a whole bunch of kids. I want little boys who look like me and little girls with red hair and sticky fingers.”

I pushed against him and he glanced down, surprised I had stopped the play. “Dev, we talked about this. It isn’t the right time.”

“I know. I just…” He stopped for a moment but then got his footing back. His lips tugged up in a seductive smile. “Well then, my wife, I’ll just slip into something a little uncomfortable and then we’ll be safe to practice all we like.” He kissed me again, his hand wandering down to cup a breast and rub my nipple until it was a hard little point. “Come on, Zoey. Let’s go to bed. I rolled a ten last, so I owe you ten orgasms.”

“Okay.” I was fairly interested to see if he could pull it off. I could consider it my own little science experiment, though I had no desire to call Zack back with his clipboard. Dev turned and made his way into the bedroom, pulling his shirt over his head while he walked. I followed, hoping he didn’t fall down.

The bedroom to our penthouse apartment was a magnificent blend of natural beauty and modern luxury. The back wall of the room was covered in greenery. Shiny green vines, ivies, and ferns dominated the room. It was a fitting domain for a fertility god.

Daniel was already asleep on the enormous bed Dev had ordered when the three of us had committed to being together. It was covered with a huge downy comforter and a whole lot of pillows. I never felt safer than when I snuggled down in that bed between the loves of my life.

Dev threw his big body on the bed, landing beside Daniel. Daniel was still dressed in his T-shirt and sweatpants. Dev smiled up at me, his perfectly cut torso on full display. He looked crazy sexy with his black hair down.

“You want to have wild, drunk sex next to Daniel’s unconscious body?”

“He won’t care.” Dev patted the spot next to him, and his smile promised all manner of dirty pleasures. “If he manages to rouse himself from his stupor, he can just join in, lover.”

“All right.” I was game for a little pleasure. I would need to get that protection we had talked about earlier, though. I walked into the bathroom and found Dev’s stash of condoms. I pulled out a couple to put beside the bed in case he proved to be up for more than one round. I was beginning to get a little excited at the prospect of what drunk Dev might come up with, and there was a smile on my face as I entered the room. “All right, big boy, I’m ready for whatever you can dream up.”

My face fell and I laid down the little packets because I wouldn’t need them. Dev had fallen asleep with his cheek pressed against Daniel’s chest. Before long, Dev would be curled around him because Dev just pressed himself up against whatever was in bed with him. I shook my head. They were awfully cute lying there cuddled up. I pulled Dev’s shoes off and tossed them in the closet before covering the boys with a blanket and letting myself out on the balcony.

The spring air was cool on my skin. I could probably use a sweater over my tank top, but I didn’t want to bother with it. The lights of Dallas twinkled all around me. It felt so good to be home, but I couldn’t ever forget what I’d left behind in Faery. I needed a minute to compose myself before I rejoined the others. Dev had done the one thing guaranteed to get me emotional. He mentioned babies.

I thought about the child I lost all the time. If I hadn’t lost the baby, I would have been just about to start my second trimester. How would my body have changed? Would I be getting a curve to my belly? Daniel would be able to hear his heartbeat much more clearly. Dev would have his hand on my belly almost constantly, I was certain of that.

When you combine my miscarriage with the revelation that Daniel and I had a child somewhere on a Faery plane, the subject of children was just a touchy one for the time being. My best girlfriend, Sarah Day, was pregnant with her first baby. She’d recently moved to Seattle with her husband, Felix, who was going to college there. I missed her, but I was self-aware enough to know that watching her glow with happiness might hurt my heart a little.

I didn’t begrudge her the joy, but it just seemed so far away for me. I expected resolution to be at hand when we returned from the Faery plane. Daniel was supposed to get that thing off his heart. With the help of the wolves and the Unseelie, we would take down the Council and then the three of us could get around to some serious baby making. It didn’t work out that way.

Daniel seemed perfectly happy with the delay. I was beginning to think he didn’t really want to go on this little quest. He didn’t think there was anything that anyone, even a sorcerer like Merlin, could do. He didn’t want to hear that he was screwed. He didn’t want to even contemplate that possible reality, so he was hiding away. I knew Daniel well enough to know that he was genuinely happy for the first time in a long time, and he was also waiting for something terrible to happen to destroy his satisfaction.

Dev was still getting over the fact that his people had rejected him again. He was still coming to terms with giving up his post as the Seelie High Priest. He’d been welcomed by the Unseelie, but I knew all those shattered dreams of being able to go home haunted him.

We were all hiding, and I worried the time was rapidly coming when that would no longer be an option.

“Oh no, sister,” Neil said as he opened the door to the balcony. He managed the door despite carrying two glasses of wine. “There will be no self-contemplation for you. Thinking never made anybody happy.”

He always knew how to pull me out of a mood. I took the glass and enjoyed the fruity taste of the wine. Dev really did buy the best. “I was just getting a breath of fresh air.”

“No you weren’t, sweetie, but that’s okay.” Neil put an arm around me and brought our heads together. “I’m sure it seems like it won’t happen, but I know it will. You and Dev are going to make the prettiest babies, who are going to turn into the wildest ass kids. Can you imagine Dev’s sons as teens? Are you just going to start putting aside a bail fund now?”

I laughed and punched him in the arm gently. “They won’t be that bad, Neil. Maybe they’ll rebel against their parents and be perfect, law abiding citizens.”

Neil shook his head. “I would start that fund if I were you. Daniel won’t be any help. He can barely muster up the strength to discipline those vampires of his. Can you imagine how the kids are going to walk all over him?”

I shivered a little and Neil started maneuvering me back into the bedroom. I laughed again when I saw that the boys had been strategically maneuvered around. Daniel had his arms around Dev and Dev was cuddled close to his vampire.

“Neil, they’re going to kill you.” I chuckled, feeling better than I had all night.

“Not if they don’t want the pictures to hit the Internet,” Neil replied with a bright smile on his handsome face. “I could start a whole website about their unrequited man love.”

I switched off the light, promising myself I would fix them before I went to sleep, and Neil and I returned to the living room.

“Hey, Zoey,” Nim said from her comfortable perch on the couch. “I was hoping we could catch up on that model show.”

Nim had really taken to reality television. It was her second favorite thing about the Earth plane. The first had been barbecue. Girlfriend was tiny, but she could put away some ribs.

“I’m really hoping that the tall, skinny one will start a fight with the even taller, even skinnier one,” Nim explained. The legendary Lady of the Lake liked to watch catfights.

The phone on the table started to ring. “Fine, we can watch some TV, but I get to pick the second show.” I was surprised to see it was the phone that rang directly from Ether. I picked it up. “Hello.”

“Good evening, Mrs. Quinn,” Roman, one of Dev’s employees, greeted me. He’d been running Ether while we were on the Faery plane. Dev trusted him implicitly. “Could I please speak to Mr. Quinn?”

I wondered briefly if I could even wake Dev up. I seriously doubted it. Even if I could, there was no way I wanted him handling any kind of business in his current state. “I’m sorry, Roman, Dev is…not available and won’t be for the rest of the night. What’s the problem?”

A long sigh came over the line. “There’s some trouble with the VIP room. I have two parties insisting it is theirs for the evening. My records show that the Hansen party booked the room, but the others are very…persuasive.”

“You can’t just kick ’em out?” That would be my solution, but then I’m not known for my diplomacy.

“We tried. They said they wanted to talk to the owner.”

I found that intriguing. We employed some badass werewolves as bouncers. I wondered what the hell could be down there that the wolves couldn’t handle.

“All right. I’ll be right there.” Dev was a great believer in community property. He liked to share. He got part ownership of my boobs and I’d taken a share of the club. I hung up the phone. “The show’s going to have to wait, guys. There’s trouble downstairs.”

“Okay,” Neil said gamely. He helped Nim up. “Let’s go check it out.”