Page 80 of Playing with Fire

Quinn would still love me if I broke more laws, right? I could afford bail at least.

Yippee.

“Give her a few minutes, darling. She’s still sleepy. Be gentle when you play with her. Soon she’ll be our harem queen, but we need to wait a little while longer.” Audrey leaned over and kissed the incubus’s cheek. “You’ve been so good.”

The incubus pulled the gorgon into his embrace, covered her with his wings, and did things to her that made her moan. I shuddered. Ew, no. No, no, no.

In the future, I’d remember there were worst fates than catching people in compromising positions when I worked my magic. Then again, my magic could still be biting me in the ass in the form of Quinn’s ex-wife being obsessed with me having her babies.

When the pair separated, the incubus relaxed. Audrey straightened her clothes.

“Yes, Mistress. Soon.” The incubus smiled with wide-eyed innocence, which creeped me out considering the creature specialized in having sex with anything that moved.

Audrey’s attention turned to me. “It’s been a while, Bailey. I’m pleased you handled my dust so well. We’ll make beautiful children together. I knew you’d be perfect.” Like her incubus, she smiled, but instead of child-like innocence, I preferred to think of her expression as the purest form of bat-shit crazy. “Aren’t you grateful? You’ll get to be a mother. I’ve heard how no one else wants you. No friends. No family who cares for you. I’ll take care of you, and so will Lexington. You saved me from a terrible marriage. Until you, I wasn’t free. Now I am.”

Wow. What was she on? First, she gave her brother a bomb loaded with gorgon dust. Second, she viewed marriage to Quinn as terrible. Sure, Quinn and I hadn’t gotten along so well from the start, but that was as much my fault as his, and even when we’d been busy dodging each other, I’d lusted for him.

Quinn’s officers respected him because he was a genuinely good person who worked hard for the sake of others. Everything I knew about Quinn pointed in the same direction.

Him being part angel didn’t hurt his case, either.

I swallowed, and it took a little effort to make my dry mouth and tongue cooperate enough to speak. “You gave your brother the cell phone with the gorgon dust in it.”

“Yes. I asked him to talk to you and give you the phone. He didn’t find out what he had given you until later. It’s a pity he didn’t approve of my plans. He would have made a good sire for my sisters’ children. He refused. Poor Magnus. All he would have had to do was take in a single breath of my dust. He could have shared eternity with me and my sisters. Why did he refuse?”

Tears welled up in the gorgon’s eyes and fell down her gray-green cheeks. Had she actually killed her own brother? The woman needed a permanent stay at a mental institution. I decided informing her I was the new Mrs. Quinn would be a really, really bad idea. I’d also use my newfound skills at being a polite adult to avoid her wrath. “I’m sorry.”

I even spoke the truth. No one deserved to be murdered for refusing to become a gorgon’s reproduction toy, and from my understanding of the situation, Magnus McGee hadn’t had a good death.

She had left him the way I had found her with her college stud, and no one deserved that.

Audrey wiped her tears away and smiled at me. “We got off to a poor start. I’m Audrey McGee. You’re a very special woman. I’ve been watching you for months.”

Okay, that was creepy. “You’ve been watching me?”

“I needed to protect you from that vile man after he coerced you into sharing a room with him. If I left you alone with him, he would have worked his evil magic on you and lured you to his bed.”

The crazy ex-wife’s insanity rating went up another level. I needed to remain polite. Laughing hysterically at her assumptions wouldn’t do me any good. “That would be tragic.”

Crap. Mouthing off to my kidnapper was not polite or wise.

“Yes, it would be.”

Wow. How had she not noticed my use of sarcasm? My mouthing off skills needed work. “Right.”

She smiled, showing off her snake-like fangs. “Your virgin body will bring our children into the world. I can’t allow him to taint you.”

The incubus’s expression changed, but he remained quiet. He knew. He knew I wasn’t a virgin anymore. Instead of telling Audrey, he stretched his wings and wrapped them around his body.

“Why me?” I whispered.

“No one will be able to oppose our children. My powers and your immunity will give them everything they need to thrive. Through them, we will rule the world.”

Next time, I wouldn’t ask stupid questions. Stupid questions had stupid answers, and it took every scrap of my self-restraint to keep from bursting out into helpless laughter. She thought she could rule the world with my contribution of genes? Did she not know of Quinn’s relatives?

I couldn’t think of a single thing to say. Audrey seemed to interpret my silence as agreement. She straightened, waved, and left, strolling to a door across the empty warehouse.

The incubus turned to me and unfurled his wings. “Time to play,” he cooed.