A Wolf at the Door

“Honestly?”

Y’know, it probably says a lot about him that he had to keep asking if I wanted the truth or not. “If you can without choking, sure.”

He smirked at that, chuckled even. “Because you’re the only one I can trust not to steal those souls for himself. You’re the only honest man I know.”

And how do you argue with that, really? “I’ve never been to L.A.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll have someone meet you at the airport. Everything’s arranged, you just have to get on that plane.”

And explain to my possibly pregnant—Holy crap, possibly pregnant!—wife why I was running out to guard the body of a really hot movie star instead of staying home with the family for Christmas break. There was no way this was going to end well for me. No way out of it, either.

“Will I be seeing you out there?”

“No. I need to be as far away from that city as possible. Establish an alibi, that sort of thing. I can’t be connected.”

I snorted. “If you didn’t want to be connected, you shouldn’t have sent me.” Somewhere, in some big demon library in Hell, my name was down, with Axel’s right next to it. He’d marked me as his soul to claim, if he could. We were definitely connected.

“Desperate times.” He shrugged. “I’ll see you when you get back.” And with a gust of sulfur-tainted air, he was gone.

The bastard took my coat.

3

I hollered “All clear!” as I came back in the door, stomping the snow off my sneakers, but they already knew. Chunk had fallen silent, and in fact the puppy came galloping out on his dinner plate paws to jump up on me, tail wagging happily. “Good boy, Chunk. Very good boy.”

The fawn mastiff rolled his eyes in ecstasy as I scratched his favorite place under his chin. I didn’t care if he raised hell every time Axel showed up. That’s why we had him, after all. He’d protect my daughter, no matter what. Y’know. Once he got bigger.

Annabelle wasn’t very far behind the pup, waddling her way into the kitchen all decked out in her snowsuit. “Ready to go play in the snow, Daddy?”

“I…uh…button, I gotta run out and do some stuff.” Her face fell and my heart broke. I crouched down to look her in the eyes. “I’ll try to get back as soon as I can, okay? We’ll have hot chocolate and go out again this afternoon.”

It obviously wasn’t enough, but she nodded a little. “Okay, Daddy.”

I stood to find Mira in the doorway, one brow raised. “What stuff?”

Before I could answer, Esteban barreled through the room, scooping Anna up and bolting out the door with her, leaving only shrieks of little girl laughter behind. Chunk followed with a surprised “growf!” leaving Mira and me alone. I slid the door shut behind them to keep the cold air out.

Mira was still looking at me expectantly, so I handed over the plane ticket. “Los Angeles? What for?”

“Some bodyguard work. I’ll only be gone a week, he said.”

“He said. That thing.” She slapped the ticket down on the table and planted both hands on her hips. I was in so much trouble. “You’re going out there for that thing.”

“I owe him, baby—”

“Don’t you ‘baby’ me!” Her green eyes flashed. “Dammit, Jess! You promised to spend this week with Anna and Esteban. I need to be at the shop, remember? You promised Anna you were going to do all kinds of things this week!”

“Esteban can watch her…”

“That’s not the point, Jesse! Explain to me just why your promises to him mean more than your promises to us.”

That hurt. That hurt a lot. “Mir, he saved Cole. He saved Marty and Will. I owe him.”

“Never make a deal, Jess. Isn’t that what you always said? What Ivan taught you? One small deal, one harmless little arrangement…”

“Should I have let them die? I’d be without three of the most important people in my life, but gee whiz, my soul would be lily-white spotless!” Instantly, I regretted snapping. She didn’t deserve that from me.

Mira just glared at me, grinding her teeth together for a few moments. Finally, she shook her head. “Go. Just…go run your errands or whatever. I’m too angry to talk to you right now.”

I started down the hallway, then came back to try to kiss her. She turned her head and it landed on her cheek instead. “I love you.”

“Mmf.”

Ouch.

She was right, though. We weren’t going to get anywhere in this discussion if we were both pissed off. One of those things you learn as you try to get through married life.

See, I was the hotheaded one, quick to anger, quick to forget. Mira was the calm pool, the steady force. Once