The Flame Game (Magical Romantic Comedies #12) - R.J. Blain Page 0,119
at me and told me I needed to chill out and stop giving you venom, as you’re now considered to be venom addicted.”
“Well, duh?” I snorted laughter. “He miss out. Poor Yale. Okay. Be sick and miserable, make grandfather flip switch. Or father? Think father flip switch?”
“I have no idea.”
“We find out soon.”
“That sounds remarkably like a threat, Bailey.”
“Because is? Father scary. Not as scary as swarm of gorgon-mice-rat doohickeys.”
“Yeah. And you invited the entire lot of them to move in with us.”
“Can’t help it, stupid and love animals.”
“You’re not stupid, but if there is someone in need of rescue, you will rescue them. That is part of what makes you beautiful. Now, prepare yourself. Yale is cranky because he’s too damned old for these jobs.”
Eighteen
He’s not the brightest crayon in the box.
I gorged on noodles and sea bugs, courtesy of a man who cooked for a living. Before I could declare my eternal love of his cooking, I passed out so hard I couldn’t remember anything about the trip to Long Lake.
It took my husband convincing Sunny to lick my face half off to wake me up.
Sunny’s breath reeked of seafood and bones and rancid dog slobber.
“You’re mean, Quinn.”
“We have twenty minutes before showtime, so I need you to go put on your fur coat and enjoy the entire bucket of napalm I made for your enjoyment. While you’re doing that, I’m checking my guns over, as I’ve decided we’ll compete to see who gets to kill him first. I made the better blend Tiffany gave me the recipe for, so try not to get too drunk on your favorite treat.”
Outside of the window, a lake surrounded with snow-shrouded trees glimmered in the sunlight. “Oh, that’s pretty.”
“It’s also so plagued with rabies the neighboring towns have cleared out, the residents have declared the place as condemned, and there’s a disturbing number of animal bodies littering the ground. I now understand what Yale meant about the neutralizer and prayer comment. So, you’re about to become a very unhappy cindercorn. I’m very unhappy, and I’m not nearly as driven by my love of animals as you are. Yes, there’s a wolf. Yes, he’s still alive. No, he’s not in good shape. Yes, I forced a neutralizer treatment down his throat before leashing him and tying him to a nearby tree. No, I didn’t get bitten. Yes, I used neutralizer where he slobbered on me.”
Oh. “Poor wolf.”
“Yeah. He came over to the rental shortly after I parked, and he didn’t try to bite my head off, so I did what I could for him. It’s my equivalent of dumpster diving for new pets.”
“You want to keep the wolf?”
“I didn’t know any wolves other than Sunny mastered sad wolf eyes, but he used them on me. We’re going to end up with a wild animal sanctuary in our yard, and now I’m just as bad as you are. Damn it.”
“It’s hard being a compassionate man. I’m sure you’ll survive.” I fended Sunny off, kissed her nose, and herded her to the back where she belonged. I stripped out of my clothes, grabbed the blanket Quinn brought to contain any blood and preserve my dignity, wrapped in it, and popped one of the transformative pills before getting out of the vehicle.
Long Lake took the top prize for being chilly, and I huffed while waiting for the drug to kick in and punt my ass to cindercorn form.
One day, I would master transforming without the assistance of a highly restricted substance.
Ten minutes later, I stomped my hooves, bucked, and ran around until I snorted blue flame. Quinn gave me the promised bucket of napalm, which I devoured in record time.
It burned nicely on the way down, but the buzz I associated with napalm didn’t come. Breathing blue flame amused me and dulled the blow of my denied bender.
Dealing with Morrison would have been so much better on a napalm bender.
My husband’s wolf flopped in the snow near the tree he’d tied it to, and I regarded the scrawny animal with my ears turned back. “Give bones? We have extra bones? May need more napalm. That only burn nicely, not make good bender? Where my bender go?”
“Your bender probably is being burned off because your body temperature is so high.”
“Nooooo. Not my bender! Bring it back. I get napalm and I just get big flame?” I moaned my dismay and bowed my head.
“I’m sure you’ll be okay. Think about it this way. No bender equals no