Steal the Night Read Free

three of us had committed to being together. It was covered with a huge downy comforter and a whole lot of pillows. I never felt safer than when I snuggled down in that bed between the loves of my life.
    Dev threw his big body on the bed, landing beside Daniel. Daniel was still dressed in his T-shirt and sweatpants. Dev smiled up at me, his perfectly cut torso on full display. He looked crazy sexy with his black hair down.
    “You want to have wild, drunk sex next to Daniel’s unconscious body?”
    “He won’t care.” Dev patted the spot next to him, and his smile promised all manner of dirty pleasures. “If he manages to rouse himself from his stupor, he can just join in, lover.”
    “All right.” I was game for a little pleasure. I would need to get that protection we had talked about earlier, though. I walked into the bathroom and found Dev’s stash of condoms. I pulled out a couple to put beside the bed in case he proved to be up for more than one round. I was beginning to get a little excited at the prospect of what drunk Dev might come up with, and there was a smile on my face as I entered the room. “All right, big boy, I’m ready for whatever you can dream up.”
    My face fell and I laid down the little packets because I wouldn’t need them. Dev had fallen asleep with his cheek pressed against Daniel’s chest. Before long, Dev would be curled around him because Dev just pressed himself up against whatever was in bed with him. I shook my head. They were awfully cute lying there cuddled up. I pulled Dev’s shoes off and tossed them in the closet before covering the boys with a blanket and letting myself out on the balcony.
    The spring air was cool on my skin. I could probably use a sweater over my tank top, but I didn’t want to bother with it. The lights of Dallas twinkled all around me. It felt so good to be home, but I couldn’t ever forget what I’d left behind in Faery. I needed a minute to compose myself before I rejoined the others. Dev had done the one thing guaranteed to get me emotional. He mentioned babies.
    I thought about the child I lost all the time. If I hadn’t lost the baby, I would have been just about to start my second trimester. How would my body have changed? Would I be getting a curve to my belly? Daniel would be able to hear his heartbeat much more clearly. Dev would have his hand on my belly almost constantly, I was certain of that.
    When you combine my miscarriage with the revelation that Daniel and I had a child somewhere on a Faery plane, the subject of children was just a touchy one for the time being. My best girlfriend, Sarah Day, was pregnant with her first baby. She’d recently moved to Seattle with her husband, Felix, who was going to college there. I missed her, but I was self-aware enough to know that watching her glow with happiness might hurt my heart a little.
    I didn’t begrudge her the joy, but it just seemed so far away for me. I expected resolution to be at hand when we returned from the Faery plane. Daniel was supposed to get that thing off his heart. With the help of the wolves and the Unseelie, we would take down the Council and then the three of us could get around to some serious baby making. It didn’t work out that way.
    Daniel seemed perfectly happy with the delay. I was beginning to think he didn’t really want to go on this little quest. He didn’t think there was anything that anyone, even a sorcerer like Merlin, could do. He didn’t want to hear that he was screwed. He didn’t want to even contemplate that possible reality, so he was hiding away. I knew Daniel well enough to know that he was genuinely happy for the first time in a long time, and he was also waiting for something terrible to happen to destroy his satisfaction.
    Dev was still getting over the fact that his people had rejected him again. He was still coming to terms with giving up his post as the Seelie High Priest. He’d been welcomed by the Unseelie, but I knew all those