Blood and Blade (Goddess with a Blade #6) - Lauren Dane Page 0,3

mind poking at him to get him agitated. He’s way too uptight. He needs that. But I certainly don’t like it when something is hurting him. But I can’t kill it until I know just what it is.”

“Very true. Pull into that parking lot over there.” He pointed.

Rowan realized they’d only gone about five miles. Being with Carl often meant she lost track of time. Or he bent it. Or took them outside it. Or something.

When she did and parked in the spot he’d indicated, Carl removed his seat belt and turned to face her.

“Seriously. You can’t give me a dog. That’s not a present.”

Carl cackled and gave Star a scratch behind her ears that made her groan. She tipped her head to look at Rowan carefully before snorting and giving her shoulder a headbutt.

“Course not. She’s not a present. Star gave herself to you. I only introduced you.”

“Are you some sort of magic dog?” Rowan asked Star. Intelligent and curious amber eyes blinked back at her. She had a black coat with golden markings on her face and chest. Including the star shaped one that’d most likely given her the name.

“A cat would have been a very bad choice for you. And a lot of them were wary about you. Star here, well she knows her mind.”

“Is that so? I do like a lady who knows her own mind. It’s sort of my jam.”

Star licked her nose and it wasn’t disgusting.

“I’ll be seeing you soon enough. This one is going to take some work,” Carl said before he got out of the car.

“Where are you going?” Rowan called out after him.

“I’ll find my way. You do the same and let the dog and your little supernatural friends watch your back.”

He did a little jig and like a heat shimmer, faded from sight.

“That’s a really cool trick.”

Clive wasn’t going to go easily into the box marked dog owner. She bet in the old days he had those English wolfhounds other people took care of.

Star jumped into the front seat and made herself at home.

“Okay then, magic dog. Let’s go home. I’m going to have to do really dirty things with your new daddy to ease your transition into the family,” Rowan muttered as she pulled back out to the road.

Chapter Two

“Here’s a thought,” Rowan said while she took in her very grumpy spouse.

He’d just touched down in their backyard and had sauntered into the house all smooth and debonair but the line between his eyes and the set of his mouth told of his ruffled feathers.

Her super competitive, hyper achieving alpha Vampire had been used to being the best at everything he tried for so long, he was decidedly averse to anything else. His inability to access what had always been a unique and powerful Vampiric gift was eating away at him.

It was time to get this situation in hand before she broke furniture over his increasingly grumpy head because she rather liked fucking him but being crosswise with him—in truth seeing him distressed—was uncomfortable for her.

Ugh. She was sappy now. That was what love got you.

“This never ends well for me,” he grumbled.

Rowan rolled her eyes at him. So spoiled.

“Listening to me always ends well for you. It’s when you don’t that there’s a problem. So. Back to my idea so we can remedy that. Guess who I ran into earlier tonight?”

“I need a cup of tea for this, I can tell,” he muttered as he started toward the kitchen of their beautiful new home complete with a freaking butler slash house manager and his wife, a fantastic cook and housekeeper.

“Elisabeth, Clive would like a cup of tea,” Rowan called out.

“Of course he would. And who wouldn’t after a long night of work?” Elisabeth replied as they entered her domain. “There’s dinner soon but the teapot is already out on the table there for after you’ve changed your clothes.”

Clive looked down at himself and corrected his trajectory, heading to the side of the house their bedrooms were located in. His was a light tight vault where he spent his daylight hours. Not in a coffin or anything like that—though she teased him about it from time to time. A super luxurious bed with one of those mattresses that was perfection naturally. He liked his comforts, did her Scion.

They shared a communal sitting room connecting her bedroom to his. The space was super comfortable, sporting a television that tucked away into a cabinet and a fireplace. It was a