“As you will,” Dormant said. “If you would let us know within two weeks. That way, if you choose not to return, we can rent the office space. As far as the art studio goes, I’m afraid that I can’t allow you to continue renting it without utilizing the space. I do have an artist who would love to take over the contract, but I’ll stipulate that the Wild Hunt employees will always be free to utilize the hidden entrance to the catacombs.”

  That surprised me. “Do you run the Viaduct Market as well?”

  Dormant shook his head. “No, but we rent the spaces that have hidden entrances into the catacombs. And now that we are back up and running, we can’t afford to keep the art studio underutilized, so to speak.”

  Herne cleared his throat. “Well, I suppose it had to end sometime. But thank you for allowing us free access. That will help a great deal.”

  Dormant raised his hand and motioned to Eldris. “Drinks all around, if you would. Name your poison,” he said with a laugh, addressing the three of us.

  We stayed to seal the conversation for two drinks. I chose a lemon lime soda, preferring to keep my wits about me. Herne drank scotch, because the alcohol didn’t really affect him, and Wager had a cognac. As the men talked, I just watched. The vampires world was one of intrigue and politics and old money, far different than the royal court I’d grown up in, and far different than the world in which I lived now. While I had things in common with the vamps, I would never fit in their world, but I was glad to get a taste of it. Experience and knowledge were never a waste.

  We finally left, and as we emerged into the night air, the events of the day crashed back in on me. I called Raven. She didn’t answer, but I saw that she had texted me.

  we need your help. get over to vixen’s as soon as you can, please.

  “We need to get moving,” I said. “I can’t get Raven on the phone and her last text is asking for help. Something’s wrong, I can feel it.” A wave of nausea hit me and I could feel Raven’s anger and fear through her text.

  “Get in,” Herne said.

  we’re on the way, I texted Raven, but it didn’t show that she’d read it. I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes. I was exhausted, but in the pit of my stomach, I knew we weren’t done yet. As we headed toward the Eastside, I texted Yutani, asking him to meet us at Vixen’s and to be careful. Then, as Herne sped up, I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes as we drove through the deepening night.

  CHAPTER TEN

  We arrived at Vixen’s house twenty minutes later. Yutani’s car was out front, along with Raven and Kipa’s car. All of Vixen’s cars were there. They had several, to suit their various moods. We headed for the door and saw that it was wide open. I could hear the sounds of a fight inside. As we headed in, a woman in a maid’s outfit came racing out.

  “Are you Raven’s friends?” she asked, her face a mask of fear.

  “Yeah, we are. Is everything—”

  “Raven instructed me to tell you that Mr. Wager can’t come inside, since he’s partly human. She said for me to wait out here with him.” Her voice was shaking, and her long blond hair had spilled out of her bun.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Herne asked.

  “The Medusa—she’s attacking Mem Vixen and she killed Archie!” The woman was hysterical, crying and shaking to the point where I thought she was going to faint.

  “Medusa? What Medusa?” Even as I asked, Herne darted through the door. I turned to Wager. “What the hell?”

  “I have no clue, but if there’s a Medusa in there, the woman’s right. Anybody with human blood in them is in danger—”

  “Yutani!” I shoved the woman into Wager’s arms. “Stay in the car!” I dashed into the residence. The mansion was huge, but I could follow the fighting by the sounds of crashing furniture. I raced through the residence, barely noting the exquisite furnishings and décor. As I rounded the corner, I saw a pair of double doors that were hanging open. Inside, I saw Herne, Raven, and Kipa battling with the dancer who had danced with Apollo.

  But now, her headwrap was gone and in its place, there were dozens of snakes bobbing and weaving from her head. Crap, Setshana was a Medusa! At the same moment, I saw three granite statues in the room that didn’t look like they belonged there. Frantic—Yutani was half human—I looked around, praying that he wasn’t one of them.

  Herne was fighting bare handed. He didn’t have his weapons with him. Neither did Kipa, and he and Herne were doing their best to corner the Medusa. Raven was trying to help Vixen, who was moaning on the floor, a wicked-looking dagger sticking out of their shoulder. Blood was pooled on the floor and I slipped as I raced over to Raven’s side. If two gods couldn’t take care of the Medusa, I wasn’t going to add much to the fight.

  I slid to my knees beside Raven and leaned over Vixen. “Where’s Yutani?”

  “He ran out the back after someone who’s working with Setshana.” She motioned to Vixen’s arm. “They’re bleeding badly. I’ve called the Otherkin medics but they aren’t here yet. I warned them not to send anybody who’s half human.”

  “Can the Medusa affect you?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m Ante-Fae. So’s Setshana.”

  I glanced over my shoulder. The Medusa was strong, but Herne had managed to find a knife—it looked like a carving knife—and he had hold of three of the vipers weaving around Setshana’s head. He brought the knife down, slicing through them, and then tossed them on the floor. But instead of dying, they began wiggling over toward us.

  “Get off the floor—they’re deadly!” Herne shouted.

  I grabbed one of Vixen’s arms and Raven grabbed the other. We scrambled up and jumped on the sofa, dragging Vixen—who was moaning in pain—with us. The snakes wriggled at the bottom of the sofa, but they couldn’t climb up.

  At that moment, Kipa grabbed hold of Setshana by the neck, and Herne held her firmly around the torso. As I watched, Kipa wrenched Setshana’s neck with a bone-shattering twist. The Medusa gasped, then—as the snakes on her head went limp—she slid through their hands to the floor, where she lay still. Herne turned toward the snakes that were still attempting to get up to us and stabbed them one after another through the head. The light went out of their eyes and they stopped writhing, limp as a flaccid dick.

  Yutani staggered in, looking worn but still in one piece. “Whoever they were, they got away, but I did some damage before they managed to flee. I think it was a snakeshifter, but I’m not sure.”

  I looked around the room, which was in a shambles. “What the hell happened?”

  “As far as we can tell, Setshana tried to kill Vixen—” she paused as her phone rang. Walking aside to answer it, she left me to apply pressure on Vixen’s wound.

  Herne hurried over and took over for me. Kipa sat down on one of the chairs that was still in one piece, staring at the statues. “Those statues are Vixen’s butler and two servants. I recognize them.”

  “I take it that Setshana turned them to stone? No wonder she was wearing a turban when she was dancing. I thought it looked like it was moving when she was on stage,” I said. “Can they be transformed back?”

  Kipa shook his head. “No. They’re dead. There’s no coming back from a Medusa’s stoning. I wonder why she wanted to kill Vixen, and why she tried to kill Apollo.”

  “We can ask him as soon as the medics get here,” Raven said, returning to our side. “Apollo’s turned the corner. He’s awake and breathing on his own.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s the best piece of news we’ve had in days.” I paused, listening. The sound of sirens was growing louder. “I think the medics are here,” I said.

  As they took over, treating Vixen’s wounds, we told them we’d meet them at the hospital. Yutani agreed to stay and close up the house and deal with the housekeeper, and then he’d drive Wager back with him to Seattle. Raven and Kipa headed to their car as Herne and I headed to his. The night felt never-ending, and I was running on fumes.

  “Can we stop for coffee?” I asked, staring down at my blood stained clothes. “A drive-thru would be best, I guess.”

  Herne laughed. “We can. Well, it’s been one hell of a past few days, hasn’t it?”

  “You can say that again.” I stared out the window, craving sleep. Thank gods I’d had a nap during the afternoon or I’d fall asleep right here and now.

  At the hospital, we visited Apollo, getting there the same time as Raven and Kipa. He was doing so much better that he seemed like a different man. When we told him about Vixen, he looked like he might faint again.

  “Dude, you have to be strong. We need answers,” Herne said. “You know it was Setshana who attacked you, right?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, she couldn’t turn me to stone so she let her snakes bite me.” He paused, paling. “How’s Vixen? I can’t believe that I put them in so much danger.”

  “They’ll live. We’ll tell you all about that in a moment, but we need to know what your relationship with the dancer is. Or was,” I said. “You were involved, weren’t you?”

  Apollo bit his lip and looked embarrassed. “Yeah, but it was a long time ago. Vixen and I visited Greece, and I met Setshana in a temple. I’d had an argument with Vixen that night and…I just needed someone who made me feel like I was powerful—like I wasn’t a kept man. This was thirty years ago or so. Setshana and I hit it off and we were in bed when Vixen came in. I kept Setshana from attacking them. I stayed with her for several days until I realized how cruel she was. I crawled back to Vixen, my tail between my legs. They took me back and never berated me about it. In fact, I thought it was forgotten until I…until Trinity. I suppose you know about that as well.”

  Raven grumbled. “Yeah, we know. You know better, dude. You belong to Vixen.”

  “You aren’t a little jelly, are you?” Apollo said, narrowing his eyes. “I know you and Trinity have—”

  “You’d better shut up before I give you a fat lip to go with those venom-swollen eyes,” Kipa said. Apollo let out a long sigh and nodded.

  “Everybody shut the fuck up and answer my questions,” Herne said, looking about ready to lose it. “How the hell did Setshana end up here in Seattle?”

  Apollo paused and collected himself. “She contacted Vixen about a month ago and apologized. She said she was coming to the US on a dance tour and asked if she could dance with me. I made the mistake of convincing Vixen that it was good business—and it was. We could rake in a fortune with Setshana dancing for us for a couple of nights.”

  “Who suggested she dance with you?”

  “Vixen. They knew that the two of us would only increase the revenue. We had no idea that Setshana had nurtured a grudge all these years.” Apollo let out a choked cry. “I should have told Vixen no, but…Vixen’s taught me the power of money and I saw it as a chance to prove my worth as a business partner.”

  “So Setshana was here to get revenge on Vixen?” Herne asked.

  Apollo nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure of it. The night of the dance, I overheard Setshana talking to her assistant about Vixen. She called them a freak and was telling the assistant that she was sure she could get me into bed again and she was determined that Vixen would find us. I was supposed to meet her before the dance to discuss our performance, but I hid and sent a message that I was busy and wouldn’t be able to meet.”

  “You think that she went through with the dance just to have a chance to attack you?”

  He sighed, shifting under his blanket. His golden hair was bound back in a blue ribbon and he looked vulnerable and tired. “I honestly think that she intended to attack Vixen, not me, but I was in the way. As far as the dance, I gave a good performance—you always owe the audience a good performance—but I was going to tell Vixen that we should cancel the rest of the event.”

  “I guess we’ll never know the full truth, but that explains a lot. If Vixen went to prison for attacking Apollo, that would be fantastic revenge. If Apollo died, that would hurt Vixen and that would be revenge as well. And if Setshana had managed to bite Vixen instead, then that would be revenge, too. All three scenarios would be worth it for her,” I said.

  “Whatever the case, she’s dead and gone,” Herne said. “I think they’ve brought Vixen in. Let’s go see how they’re doing and tell them Apollo’s going to survive. That will help their spirits.” Herne paused, then turned back to Apollo. “Can I give you some advice?”

  Apollo nodded.

  “You and Vixen take it slow once you’re both out of here. Agree to only discuss this when you’re calm. Don’t expect things to go back to normal right away. Because they won’t.”

  As we headed out of the room, I glanced back at Apollo, thinking that ill-defined boundaries caused a lot of problems. Yutani and I needed to talk. We were bound together now, and we had to establish ground rules before anybody got hurt. Feeling worn out, I followed behind Herne, ready to call it a night.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Yutani and I sat by the edge of my grotto. We had come here to talk, and our feet were dangling in the pool. The birds were singing, the wind rustled through the trees, and I wanted to stay here forever.

  “So, it’s been a week,” I said.

  Yutani stared at the water. “That it has.” He paused, then said, “What happens now? We’re bound together, I’m your…devotee? And you are my muse. There’s no getting out of it, is there?”

  I shook my head. “I’m afraid not. The bond is permanent. Do you regret your decision?” I stared at the water, not sure what I wanted him to say.

  He slid into the pool, holding out his hand to me. I took it and joined him, the ripples of the pool surrounding me with a lazy warmth. He pushed off, floating on his back as he stared into the sky. “Lyrical, before I answer you, will you tell me something?”

  “What do you want to know?” I brought my legs up, sweeping my arms on the water as I let the water hold me up.

  “If you were back with your family, you would have been in an arranged marriage, right?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I was betrothed to someone. He was nice enough, though I didn’t love him. There wasn’t much chemistry there, but we both would have gone through with it and done our duty to the court and crown.”

  “You would have married him even though you didn’t love him? Even though you didn’t have passion between you?” He did a lazy turn and kicked his way back to the edge of the grotto, leaning back against the rocks.

  “I would have, yes.” I wondered where this was going.

  He motioned for me to join him and I did. He wrapped his arms around me, staring into my eyes. “Then, since we’re bound together for good, and since I’m not going to die any time soon—unlike the humans you’ve played muse for before…and since we have a passion we can’t deny…suppose we say the hell with it and get married? You’re good for me. Your waters are helping me touch my magic more. You make me laugh. And I can’t ever get you out of my mind. I like to think that you feel the same passion toward me.”

  I caught my breath. “Marriage? But we’re not the marrying kind…”

  “We can make our own rules. We can decide on our own parameters. We don’t have to be exclusive, though since we’ve been together, I haven’t wanted to sleep with anybody else. We don’t have to formalize it. We can make our own vows under the sun or the moon and stars. If it doesn’t work out, well, we’ll deal with that if it happens.” He pulled me in, kissing me long and slow. His arms encircled me like nobody else ever had. He pressed his body against mine and I felt him harden. We were naked in the water, and I gasped, spreading my legs, needing his strength.

  “Fill me up, my Coyote. I need you inside me.” I was panting, the water caressing my skin. He leaned down to take one of my breasts in his mouth, sucking and tugging my nipple. I moaned, sliding one hand down to stroke the heat between my legs.

  Yutani growled, low and throaty, and pressed me back against the rocks. I brought my legs up around his waist as he thrust inside me. The sacred waters of my grotto heightened the energy as it wove around us, increasing the pleasure, increasing the hunger.

  As he rocked against me, the night grew longer and the moon rose overhead. I found myself crying, realizing that I felt safe in his arms. He wanted me. He needed me.

  “I love you, Lyrical,” he whispered. “I never expected to fall in love like this.”

  As he spoke, my heart melted. The pain of the past years, the resignation of my years without my family, fell away, washed clean by the waters, and I looked into my wild coyote’s eyes, realizing that we were a dangerous pair, but we were suited. We were wild and feral and chaos incarnate together, and maybe we would implode someday, or maybe we’d find our stability together. Two negatives making a positive, to use Yutani’s language. Whatever the case, only time would tell.

  “I love you, too,” I said. And I meant every word.

  If you enjoyed Fractured Flowers, then check out my new dark witch romance series: Starlight Hollow, following the adventures of Elphyra the witch, and her dragonette, Mr. Fancypants. The first book, Starlight Hollow is available for preorder now.

  If you like ooo-spooky fiction with an older female lead, check out my Moonshadow Bay Series. January Jaxson returns to the quirky town of Moonshadow Bay after her husband dumps her and steals their business, and within days she’s working for Conjure Ink, a paranormal investigations agency, and exploring the potential of her hot new neighbor. Nine books are currently available and you can preorder Solstice Web now!

  You can read a bonus epilogue to Fractured Flowers by signing up for my newsletter and going to my Bonus Content Library once you have confirmed your subscription.

  For all of my work, both published and upcoming releases, see the Bibliography at the end of this book, or check out my Where Should I Start page on my website (Galenorn.com). You’re welcome to join my YouTube Channel, and check out my Patreon, too.