Howl for Me

Chapter Seven

“That should do it.” Fen sat and watched closely as Travis ducked his hand in the basin of bloody water. “These stitches will hold but he’s lost a lot of blood.”

“He can have mine.” Jamie held out her bared arm. “Make with the needles.”

Travis shook his head. “I don’t have the equipment to do a transfusion.” He stood and headed for the master bath. “I’m going to clean up, then see if I can arrange something. Maybe I can get hold of Logan or Kir, get their asses back.”

Fen stroked his mate’s muzzle, his gaze glued to the rise and fall of Jeff’s chest. His mate looked like a patchwork doll, the stitches neat but visible against his russet fur. “Are the wards back up?” If Odin made another attempt on Fen’s mate, he’d be torn up even more than he was sure the Old Man already was.

“Jordan’s working on it. Uncle Val is doing what he can to help, but it’s not his strong suit.” Jamie settled carefully on the bed next to her twin. She rested her hand alongside Fen’s. “He’ll live.”

Fen’s jaw clenched. He heard the uncertainty in her voice but couldn’t answer it. “Jeff’s still mortal.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”

“That’s not the way it was supposed to be.” He’d been positive his bite would bring his mate over, make Jeff just like Fen.

He’d been wrong.

“I know.” Her hand brushed against his, her fingers twining with his own.

“Fen. You couldn’t have known he’d still be mortal.”

“My jealousy kept him from sharing blood with Kir. If he had—”

“He’d still be hurting. Just immortal and hurting.” Travis set his hand on Fen’s shoulder, but Fen couldn’t bring himself to respond. “And there’s no guarantee that if he’d shared blood with your father he’d get Logan’s healing abilities.”

“He’s got your magic in him, Fen. Maybe if we can get him to shift back, he’ll heal?” The barely suppressed hope in Jamie’s voice rubbed at the raw wound left by the attack on Jeff.

“No. It doesn’t work that way.” Jeff whimpered, his head moving restlessly.

Fen untangled his fingers from hers and resumed stroking his mate’s muzzle. Jeff settled back down immediately. “If he’d gotten my ability to heal he’d be all right by now.”

“Then it’s like sharing blood with Logan. He only got one of your abilities, shapeshifting, rather than all of them.”

“Then maybe if he shared blood with one of the others he’d get something of theirs?” Travis’s hand lifted away. “We can try me, but I don’t heal the way Logan does.”

Jamie twisted so that she was staring right into Fen’s eyes. “I heal.”

He lifted his head and stared at his mate’s twin. “Will it work?”

She shrugged. “What’s the worst that could happen? He gets woo-woo powers or lights up like a Christmas tree when he’s ticked? It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?”

“The problem is your healing might not be as strong as Logan’s.” Travis reached around Fen and ran his fingers through Jamie’s curls.

Her answering smile wobbled. “Anything is better than nothing.” She bit her lip, obviously fighting back tears. “I can’t lose him too, Tyr.”

Travis sighed. His hand stroked her cheek. “Do it, love.”

She nodded and held out her hand. “Scalpel.” Travis handed her a small silver blade. “Fen? When this was done to me I had a bad reaction. Kir isn’t here to save Jeff if something goes wrong. Are you okay with this?”

Fen stared at her. “Could this kill him?”

“We think she had the reaction because Logan and I shared blood with her one right after the other. You bit Jeff this morning. Since it’s now late evening, he stands a better chance. The more time between the better off he’ll be, but from the way he’s breathing I’d rather give it a try now than wait.”

Fen nodded. A slim chance was better than none. “Do it.”

Jamie sliced her palm and placed it against one of the smaller wounds, one of the cuts Travis hadn’t stitched closed. The trio settled down to wait.

Nothing happened. Fen wanted to howl in frustration. “Why isn’t it working?”

Jamie sighed. “One in three chance he’d get healing, remember?”

“We’ll have to see what happens when he wakes up. But it’s pretty obvious he didn’t get healing.”

Fen frowned. “Wait. I never shared blood with Jeff, just claimed him and turned him.” He grabbed the silver blade and dragged it across his palm.

“No!” Travis stopped him before he could lay his hand on Jeff’s side. “We don’t know how he’ll react, remember?”

Damn. Fen watched the cut on his palm heal and growled. “I need to heal him.”

“I know.” Travis sighed. “The goddess of healing won’t come here, even for

Jeff.”

Jamie slumped with a grimace. “Frigg.”

Travis nodded. “Yeah.”

“Does she survive Ragnarrok?”

Travis blinked. “You know? I have no idea. The fate of the goddesses is never mentioned in either the Poetic or Prose Eddas.”

Fen heard the doorbell ring. Travis put his hand briefly on Fen’s shoulder before walking out of the room. Fen could hear him talking to someone, but couldn’t bring himself to care.

“In here.” Travis led whoever their visitor was into the bedroom.

“Poor doggie.” A dark-haired woman entered the room and clucked her tongue at the sight of his wounded mate. Her hands were reaching for him, but Fenris snarled and she pulled back.

Travis gestured toward the bed. “As you can see, Jeff’s been injured.”

“That’s Jeff? Holy fuck.” Fen sniffed and recognized the woman’s scent. It was the police detective, Antonia Mancinelli. “What the hell happened?”

“Grimm happened.” Jamie’s hands clenched into fists. “I’m going to turn the Old Man into patè.”

“No. I mean when did he become furry and four-legged?” Antonia’s hands ran through Jeff’s fur. Fen barely bit back his growl. This woman wasn’t pack, wasn’t family. She shouldn’t be touching his mate so intimately. “What did Oliver Grimm do to him? Some of these wounds are pretty serious.”

“He’s my mate.” Fen did growl then as the woman’s hands went dangerously close to the largest wound, the one on Jeff’s chest. “I marked him, made him mine.” He lifted her hands off Jeff’s body. “I won’t be able to keep myself from hurting you if you don’t stop touching him.”

“Sorry.” Toni took a step back from the bed. “Jamie. I need to file a report about your dad. You say Grimm attacked him?”

Jamie nodded. “Yeah.”

Toni sighed and rubbed her head. “Jesus. Technically speaking, Oliver Grimm is a missing person. If I post a report that he’s killed Fred Grimm the cops will start hunting him. But with the wound on your dad there’s no way to claim it was natural causes. And they’ll want to know why I think Oliver Grimm killed his son. Shit.”

“He attacked Jeff. He tried to fucking skin him.” Jamie’s hand was once more buried in her brother’s fur.

Toni winced. “Shit.” Toni flopped down into a chair across from the bed, far enough away that Fen didn’t feel Jeff was threatened but close enough that she could converse without shouting. “Your grandfather’s quite the asshole, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

Fen frowned. Something was different. Off. He sniffed the air around his mate, but nothing had changed.

“Fen?”

The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end. Perhaps Jordan and Val were finishing up the wards?

“Fen? Are you all right?”

No. It wasn’t the wards. This magic felt…different. Female. He’d felt it a few times before, so long ago he could barely remember it. It was subtle, this magic, one that was only wielded by a select few.

He jumped to his feet and changed, startling everyone in the room. He raced to Toni’s side and sniffed deeply.

Yes. Subtle, but there. Diluted by time and intermarriage with humans, but still there. He changed back and grabbed her hand, dragging her back to Jeff’s side. “Stroke him.”

“Um. Didn’t you threaten my life if I got too close?” She was wide-eyed, holding back.

Fen growled and forced her hand against Jeff’s skin. “Heal him.”

Travis gasped, but Fen kept his gaze on the woman in front of him. “You carry the blood of Valkyries in your veins. It’s faint, barely there, but some of their power runs through you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Despite her protests her hands moved through Jeff’s fur.

“The Valkyries were the ones who chose who died and who did not, but they also had the power to heal. They could bring the living back from the dead. Odin hated when they did that, so they rarely practiced their healing skills.” Fen pleaded with her as best he could. “Save my mate. Please.”

Toni blinked, her expression uncertain. “I don’t know how.”

Travis took hold of her wrist. “Remember how you felt when you came into the room and saw what had been done to Jeff?” She nodded. “Your first instinct was to reach out to him, to make him feel better, wasn’t it?”

She shivered. “Not quite.”

Fen tilted his head.

“It was to put him out of his misery.”

Fen snarled.

“At first I thought he was a dog, okay? One that got run over by a bus, maybe.” Her hands continued to move through Jeff’s fur, her fingers lightly tracing the lines of the cuts Travis had sewn shut. “Honestly, I don’t think he’ll make it even if I help. He looks like reheated Hamburger Helper.”

“He will. If you help him.” Fen took hold of her hand again. This time he could feel the faint traces of her power flowing through her and into Jeff.

It was working. Without knowing it, Toni’s desire to fix Jeff was healing him slowly but surely. Already Jeff breathed more easily.

But it was taking a subtle toll on the detective. Her eyes turned glassy, her skin taking on a sickly sheen. She was pale and trembling before five minutes had passed. The rancid scent of sweat and fear filled the air around her. “I can’t.”

Fen lifted her hands away from Jeff just before she collapsed. He helped her back to the chair she’d settled in before. “You did enough. Tusen takk. ”

“Thank you,” Travis translated.

She was trembling. “How is this possible? I’m not like you.”

“Someone in your past was.” Fen settled back down on the bed, curling himself around his sleeping mate. “Your great-grandmother, or even further back, was a Valkyrie. They have always been lovers of mortals, and sometimes bore children with them.”

Her head shook in disbelief. “But I’m Italian, not Norwegian.”

“Then someone lied to you, or forgot that one of your relatives wasn’t Italian.” Travis brought her a drink of water. “Here. I’ll get some blankets and you can borrow some of Jamie’s pajamas.” He raised his hand when Toni opened her mouth to protest. “You’re in no condition to drive, Detective, and you know it.”

“I have to file my report.”

“You have to get some sleep and file it in the morning.” Travis smirked. “Or should I contact Nik?”

She glared up at him and downed the water. “Get me the fuckin’ jammies.

Sadistic bastard.”

Fen ignored them as Jeff’s breathing slowly evened out. The wounds were still there, but the worst ones, the ones that had Fen howling in grief, had partially healed under the touch of the detective. He raised his head and nodded to her. “Du er familien nå. ”

Travis paused as the meaning of the words Fen spoke sank in. Then he huffed out a laugh and handed the detective the pajamas. “Congratulations.

You’ve just been adopted.”

“Huh?” Toni rubbed wearily at her eyes. “What?”

“Fenrisùlfr just declared you family. Welcome to the, um, pack.”

Her eyes closed, her head slumping back against the chair. “I hate you all.”

Fen noticed her protest was half-hearted, whether from fatigue or not, he didn’t know, nor did he care. He shifted, wrapping his warmer, furred self around his mate, protecting his mate as he slept.

The Old Man would not get to Jeff a second time. He barely acknowledged Jeff’s family leaving the room. He just breathed in the scent that was uniquely his mate’s, reassuring himself that Jeff still lived.

A wash of hot and cold power ran through him. The wards were finally back in place, weaker and less subtle, but there. Fen allowed himself a small sigh, but would not allow himself sleep. Not now.

Not until the Old Man had been dealt with once and for all.

Jeff woke up to the feeling that he’d gone three rounds with an elephant and lost. Everything hurt, from his hands to his eyeballs. Hell, he was pretty sure his fingernails hurt, but with everything else aching he wasn’t quite sure. He also wasn’t sure when he’d become human again. Last he remembered he’d been in dire need of a depilatory.

“God morgen, min kjærlighet.”

Jeff couldn’t even smile, though he wanted to. “I got ‘good morning’ out of that.”

A soft kiss pressed against the nape of his neck. “Good morning, my love.”

Jeff sighed. Hell, he liked that, probably more than he should. “Why do I feel like hammered dog poo?”

“Do you remember nothing of yesterday, elskede?”

Jeff shifted his legs and immediately wished he hadn’t. “Ow.” He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was his hands. It looked like he’d put them through a lunchmeat slicer. “What the fuck?”

Bits and pieces of memory began to float through the fog of sleep and lack of caffeine. “My grandfather did this, didn’t he?”

“Yes.” Another feather-light kiss landed on the nape of his neck. “I’m so sorry, elskede. I should have stopped him.”

Something else was nagging at him. Something important. His blood ran cold as more and more of the events of yesterday unfolded. “Oh fuck. Dad.”

Fen’s arms tightened around him. “He died trying to save you.”

Jeff’s hands clenched despite the pain. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch.”

“Get in line.” He felt Fen jump behind him as Kir’s voice washed over them, echoing with power. “Hey, Jeff.” Kir settled on the bed next to them, his hand rifling through Jeff’s hair. From the storm clouds gathering in Kir’s eyes, it was obvious Baldur had risen. Light flashed through the room, and Jeff realized there was a thunderstorm brewing once more over Philadelphia, the result of Kir’s anger. “You had a busy day yesterday, didn’t you?”

“You could say that.” Jeff winced as Kir took hold of his fingers, checking them with a frown on his face.

“We had no idea the Old Man would move quite that fast once Kir and I were gone. We’d never have left if we had.” Logan moved behind Kir, one hand on his lover’s shoulder. “We’re so sorry, Jeff.”

Jeff nodded, though it hurt incredibly. He didn’t blame either Logan or Kir—

he blamed Grimm. “Did you find my brothers?” Morgan and Magnus would need to know Dad was… Was…

Hell, he couldn’t even bring himself to think it.

“No. Nik caught us on the bridge and told us what had happened. He opened a portal for us to come back. He said he’d try and get word to them to come home as soon as possible.” Logan looked toward the door. “I’m going to go strengthen the wards and check on Jordan.” He winced. “She’s not doing well.”

Jeff tried to sit up but the flaring agony forced him still. “The babies?”

Kir smiled gently. “They’re fine. Jordan’s grieving. She got to say good-bye, though.”

Which was more than Jeff, Morgan or Magnus would get. “I want him to hurt, Kir. I want him to hurt the way he’s made us hurt.”

“Not possible, kiddo. You have to love before you can grieve.” Logan kissed the top of Kir’s head. “Be careful, Blondie.”

“I will.” Kir smiled up at Logan. “Go on now. She needs you.”

Logan nodded. “Fen. If you wish to collect blod gjeld for your mate’s injuries, I’ll be waiting.”

“Logan.” Kir’s voice was sharp, the clouds racing across his irises darkening to near black.

Jeff chuckled. “The only one who owes blood debt is my grandfather, you masochist.”

“I agree.” Fen’s hand stroked down Jeff’s side, lightly brushing the sutures.

“You have paid enough blood, Pappa. You did the best you could. The one who owes blood is Odin.”

“He did it again, you know.” Jeff looked up at Logan. “He disappeared right under Fen’s claws. How the fuck does he do that?”

Logan grimaced. “I have no clue. I can’t do it and neither can any other Jotun I know.”

“The Aesir can’t either.” Kir rubbed his chin. “Last I checked we need to travel the old-fashioned way.”

“What about the Vanir?” Jeff wiggled the tiniest bit, trying to get even closer to Fen’s warmth. Fen responded by moving closer, cradling him a little bit tighter. “Has anyone asked Travis?”

“The Lios Alfar can bend light around them, making it look like they’ve disappeared, but it’s exhausting and not something done lightly or for very long.” Kir and Logan exchanged a long, speculative look. “Could he be doing that?”

“Not sure, but it’s possible.”

Fen was shaking his head. Jeff could feel it against the pillow they shared.

“No. His scent was gone, disappeared from in front of me. I thought he’d moved into another room and followed it, but he wasn’t there.”

“Was he in shadow when he disappeared?” Jeff watched the expressions on Kir’s and Logan’s faces closely. “If the Lios Alfar can make themselves invisible, could the Dökk Alfar somehow manipulate shadows? Even move through them?”

“Son of a bitch,” Logan breathed. “You might be right.”

“Do we know any Dökk Alfar?” Kir’s fingers brushed against the pendant at his neck.

“Yeah. Nik.” Logan stormed from the room, flames dancing along his skin.

“That son of a bitch. We were just there, damn it. He’s the one who told us to hightail it back here.”

Kir rolled his eyes. “Here we go.” He brushed his hand over Jeff’s hair.

“Take it easy today, all right? I’ll have Travis bring Toni over once she wakes up.

Maybe between the two of us we can help your healing along a little bit more.”

“Thanks, Uncle Kir.” Jeff grinned when Kir shuddered, but the clouds in his eyes had lightened up. Kir was still pissed, but Jeff had managed to calm him somewhat with his joke. Perhaps Jordan and Logan would be able to take care of the rest.

For all he’d called Thor an asshole, the man had been Kir’s brother. Kir had to be grieving too.

“Pain in my ass.” Kir waved good-bye and followed his lover out of the room.

“How is the pain, elskede?”

Jeff grunted as Fen shifted position behind him, moving the mattress beneath Jeff and thus moving Jeff. “Let’s just say that you may be glued to my backside for the foreseeable future.”

There was silence for a moment before Fen huffed out a laugh. “This is bad why?”

Jeff chuckled again. Damn, that hurts. “Because it means you’re not going walkies for a potty break.”

Fen licked his neck, right where he’d marked Jeff. “I can live with that.”

Jeff barely restrained his shudder. How could something feel so good when everything else hurt so bad? “Fen. Ix-nay on the ex-say. I’m really not up for it.”

He took Fen’s hand and brought it to his flaccid cock. “See?”

“I want to share blood with you.”

Jeff blinked. “Ah. I see the train has stopped in Wacky Land once more.”

“Hmm?”

“Never mind. What the hell is that supposed to mean, anyway?” He shifted his legs to get more comfortable and hissed as the stitches pulled.

“You’re still mortal, Jeff.”

“And?”

Fen sighed. “We think that, though I marked and changed you, you remain mortal, which is why you haven’t healed the way I do. If I share blood with you, there’s the possibility all of your wounds will disappear.”

Jeff nodded thoughtfully. “I remember when Logan did that for my sister. It was…bad. She went into convulsions and stopped breathing. Kir came in and saved her life.”

“Because she’d shared blood with Travis and Logan one right after the other.

Travis told me about it.” Fen nipped his neck. “Your sister shared with you last night, hoping you’d get the healing she got from Logan, but it didn’t work. If you share with me, it just might.”

Jeff thought about it. Was it worth it? “Is it too soon?”

“I don’t know, elskede. But watching you suffer is killing me.”

“Would watching me die kill you more?”

Fen’s arms tightened again, earning him a gasp of pain. Fen’s arms loosened immediately with a murmured apology. “Yes.”

“Then maybe we should wait until Kir is here in case anything goes wrong.”

He felt Fen nod. “That makes sense.” They snuggled for a few minutes. Jeff felt himself nodding off again when Fen spoke. “You scared me.”

“I know. I was scared myself.”

“You can’t leave me.”

Jeff couldn’t turn to hold Fen, couldn’t comfort the man the way he wanted to. But he could do something. “Bring your hand to my lips.” He waited until Fen did as he asked. He pressed his own kiss to the back of his wolf’s hand. “I won’t. Not voluntarily.”

“Not ever. I need you too much.”

He wished desperately that he could see Fen’s face. The man sounded tormented. “I knew you’d come for me.”

Fen shivered.

“I held on because I knew you’d never leave me there. I knew, Fen.”

“Not even Hel can have you.”

Jeff nodded. What did you say to something as outrageous as that? The man literally had an in with death herself. Did Hel have a cell phone? Was her ringtone Rob Zombie’s “Living Dead Girl”? “You’ll have to ask her opinion on that some time. I might not even be slated to go to her when I die.”

Fen tensed. “Why not?”

“We weren’t very religious growing up, but my mother’s always been Christian. My father refused to go to church.” Jeff shook his head. “Now I know why. Can a god perform sacrilege?”

“Yes.”

Even raising his eyebrows hurt. Fen’s answer had been firm, unequivocal.

“Okay.”

“I’m more interested in what you may have gotten from sharing blood with your twin.”

He snorted out a laugh. “Wonder Twin powers, activate.”

He heard a feminine laugh, one as familiar to him as his own. “Shit. You had to go there, didn’t you?” Jamie yawned and settled into the chair next to the bed.

“How are you feeling?”

He snorted a laugh. “Like hammered dog poo.”

His twin had dark circles under her eyes. They were bloodshot and puffy, as if she’d been crying. He wondered how much sleep she’d gotten the night before.

Her hair was a mess of curls. In her hand was a hairbrush. “Ditto.”

He pointed toward the hairbrush with his chin. “I can’t.”

“I know.” She gestured toward Fen, who moved away from him slowly. Jeff sighed as the brush moved through his curls, soothing him. “Jordy’s a mess.”

“Does she need me?” He winced when the brush smacked him on top of the head. “Hey!”

“Dork. Like you could go two steps without falling on your flat ass.”

“My ass is perfect, thank you very much.”

“Yes, it is.” Fen blew him a kiss and left the room.

“He’s biased.” Jamie chuckled when Jeff stuck his tongue out at her. “Jordan will be here later.” The brush stroked again, untangling his hair. “What do you think he would have been like off the juice?”

Jeff closed his eyes. He knew who she meant. “Dad would have been pretty much the same, I think. Still making Mom moan and groan. Still kicking our asses when we were stupid.”

“Yeah.” The brush kept going in smooth, careful strokes even as Jamie’s voice choked up. “Yeah, he would have.”

Travis handed Fen a mug. “Here. How’s he doing?”

“In pain. Exhausted. Grieving.” Fen shook his head. “I can’t lose him.” He’d follow Jeff to Hel, or wherever the gods took his mate. Living without him now was no longer an option.

“I know.” Travis stared toward the closed door of the bedroom. “When Jamie was hurt I could barely bring myself to leave her long enough to pee, and only if someone I trusted was with her.” The torment in Travis’s eyes matched the agony in Fen’s heart.

Fen nodded. He knew exactly what Travis meant. He could barely keep himself from checking on them, and it had been less than five minutes since Jamie had entered the bedroom. “When do you think Jordan will be here?”

The front door slammed open, propelled by one pissed off pregnant lady.

“I’d guess now.” Travis nodded to Jordan. “Hey, Jordan.”

Jordan nodded briefly and went straight into Fen’s bedroom. She too looked like she’d been through the ringer. Her long, dark hair was limp, her eyes redrimmed. Kir and Logan were right on her ass up until she slammed the bedroom door shut in their faces.

“Is she pissed at you two?” Travis frowned at the door, his expression confused.

“Yup.” Logan ran his fingers through his hair. “I think she blames us for Fred’s death.”

Jordan’s voice suddenly rang out from the bedroom. “Ow! Not the brush, not the brush! Shit, Jamie!”

“Jamie doesn’t agree, apparently.” Travis grinned, but compared to his usual expression it was weak at best. “Has your father shown you how to make French toast yet?”

Fen tilted his head. “French what?”

“C’mon, kiddo. I have the feeling this might take awhile.” Logan threw his arm over Fen’s shoulder. “Besides, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Right, Blondie?”

“Right. Which is why we’re ordering pizza for lunch.” Kir smiled, but it was half-hearted. His blue eyes still had clouds dancing through them. Out the window, rain fell in thick sheets as the sky cried for the lost god.

“Hey.” Logan took Kir’s face between his palms. “We’ll get him, I swear it.”

“Soon, Logan.” Kir’s voice took on a deep, resonant timber that had Fen bending knee before him. “Before anyone else dies.” Kir leaned in for a kiss from his lover. “Especially you.”

“Nik’s the one who’s supposed to kill me.” Logan shivered. “I still don’t know which side that bastard’s going to come down on.”

“His own.” Travis grimaced. “Even when I ruled the Vanir he was a secretive son of a bitch.”

Logan frowned. “He is Dökk Alfar, right?”

Travis opened his mouth, then frowned himself. “You know? I’m not entirely sure.”

The four of them exchanged glances. Kir broke the silence first. “Fen?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you scent the differences between Lios and Dökk Alfar?”

Fen’s brows rose. “I didn’t know many of either, but I might be able to.”

Jordan stomped back through the bedroom door and into another room, the one Jeff used as an office. She came back quickly with Jeff’s laptop and once more slammed the bedroom door shut.

“Shit. She’s still pissed.” Logan sighed. “I’m not entirely sure I blame her.”

“Blame the hormones.” Travis leaned against the kitchen counter. “I do.”

Fen shook his head. “She’s grieving, and she needs her pack.”

Kir, Travis, Fen and Logan exchanged another long look. Logan grinned and headed for the bedroom. “He’s right.”

Without another word the other three followed him. If the Grimm children needed their pack, then by the gods they’d get their pack. All of them.

“Oh, Vincente.”

“Oh, my stomach,” Jordan groaned. The laptop had been placed on the bed near Jeff’s head, the two ladies hovering over him as they watched the action on the screen.

“Shh! This is the best part.” Jamie’s gaze was glued to the screen, her green eyes shimmering with excitement.

“Whatever shall we do? Sylvia refuses to grant your divorce, my love!”

“Miranda, my darling, we shall survive.”

Fen blinked and moved so that he too could see what was going on. Two people, both dark haired, were kissing ravenously. It looked like the man was trying to eat the woman’s face from the inside out. The lip-smacking noise that came from the tiny computer speakers was revolting.

Eventually the pair’s lips pulled apart with an audible smack. “My darling Vincente.”

“Oh, Miranda.”

Fen shook his head. This was Vincente?

“Hell. He’s wearing the gold lamé briefs.” Jordan got out of bed, careful of her brother’s wounds. “I’ve gotta barf now.” She shook her finger at the twins.

“My children will be warped for life.”

Jamie giggled, the sound high and sweet and oh, so welcome. If Jamie was feeling well enough to giggle, then Jeff must be feeling better as well.

“I swear if their first word is Vincente you two are toast.”

Jeff’s shoulders were shaking. “But he’s so hot!”

“I’m thinking of naming my first son Vincente.” Jamie batted her lashes at Travis.

“Oh hell no.” Travis was shaking his head in horror. “No fucking way.

You’re cute, but you’re not that cute.”

Kir was laughing, the storm clouds in his eyes lightening at the sight of his wife’s smiling face. Outside the rain eased up, still there but not nearly as ferocious.

“Hell, Jamie, you can’t name a kid Vicente. That’s skanky. I’d never be able to moan his name again without thinking…ew.” Jeff shuddered, trying to hide his wince of pain.

Jamie sniffed. “Then keep your pervy fantasies to yourself.”

Fen growled. The man on the screen was Jeff’s fantasy man?

Jeff turned his head slowly and caught Fen’s eye. He winked as soon as he saw he had Fen’s undivided attention. “Then don’t name the kid Vincente.”

Fen relaxed. The man on the screen might be a fantasy, but Fen was Jeff’s reality.

He could live with that.