Steal the Night Read Free Page A

shattered dreams of being able to go home haunted him.
    We were all hiding, and I worried the time was rapidly coming when that would no longer be an option.
    “Oh no, sister,” Neil said as he opened the door to the balcony. He managed the door despite carrying two glasses of wine. “There will be no self-contemplation for you. Thinking never made anybody happy.”
    He always knew how to pull me out of a mood. I took the glass and enjoyed the fruity taste of the wine. Dev really did buy the best. “I was just getting a breath of fresh air.”
    “No you weren’t, sweetie, but that’s okay.” Neil put an arm around me and brought our heads together. “I’m sure it seems like it won’t happen, but I know it will. You and Dev are going to make the prettiest babies, who are going to turn into the wildest ass kids. Can you imagine Dev’s sons as teens? Are you just going to start putting aside a bail fund now?”
    I laughed and punched him in the arm gently. “They won’t be that bad, Neil. Maybe they’ll rebel against their parents and be perfect, law abiding citizens.”
    Neil shook his head. “I would start that fund if I were you. Daniel won’t be any help. He can barely muster up the strength to discipline those vampires of his. Can you imagine how the kids are going to walk all over him?”
    I shivered a little and Neil started maneuvering me back into the bedroom. I laughed again when I saw that the boys had been strategically maneuvered around. Daniel had his arms around Dev and Dev was cuddled close to his vampire.
    “Neil, they’re going to kill you.” I chuckled, feeling better than I had all night.
    “Not if they don’t want the pictures to hit the Internet,” Neil replied with a bright smile on his handsome face. “I could start a whole website about their unrequited man love.”
    I switched off the light, promising myself I would fix them before I went to sleep, and Neil and I returned to the living room.
    “Hey, Zoey,” Nim said from her comfortable perch on the couch. “I was hoping we could catch up on that model show.”
    Nim had really taken to reality television. It was her second favorite thing about the Earth plane. The first had been barbecue. Girlfriend was tiny, but she could put away some ribs.
    “I’m really hoping that the tall, skinny one will start a fight with the even taller, even skinnier one,” Nim explained. The legendary Lady of the Lake liked to watch catfights.
    The phone on the table started to ring. “Fine, we can watch some TV, but I get to pick the second show.” I was surprised to see it was the phone that rang directly from Ether. I picked it up. “Hello.”
    “Good evening, Mrs. Quinn,” Roman, one of Dev’s employees, greeted me. He’d been running Ether while we were on the Faery plane. Dev trusted him implicitly. “Could I please speak to Mr. Quinn?”
    I wondered briefly if I could even wake Dev up. I seriously doubted it. Even if I could, there was no way I wanted him handling any kind of business in his current state. “I’m sorry, Roman, Dev is…not available and won’t be for the rest of the night. What’s the problem?”
    A long sigh came over the line. “There’s some trouble with the VIP room. I have two parties insisting it is theirs for the evening. My records show that the Hansen party booked the room, but the others are very…persuasive.”
    “You can’t just kick ’em out?” That would be my solution, but then I’m not known for my diplomacy.
    “We tried. They said they wanted to talk to the owner.”
    I found that intriguing. We employed some badass werewolves as bouncers. I wondered what the hell could be down there that the wolves couldn’t handle.
    “All right. I’ll be right there.” Dev was a great believer in community property. He liked to share. He got part ownership of my boobs and I’d taken a share of the club. I hung up the phone. “The show’s going to have to wait, guys. There’s trouble