WickedBeast Read Free Page A

shook as
she finished her story.
    “Mommy is going to be fine. She’s just sleeping real deep.”
Cord glanced at the ornate grate cover on the floor heating vents. The swirling
brass was decorative but certainly left enough room for a cell phone to fall
through. “It went down one of those?” he asked while pointing at the kitchen
vent.
    “I sorry,” Minuet whispered. “I didn’t mean to.”
    “Shhhh,” he comforted as her guilt added to the mix of
emotions she was projecting. “No one is mad, honey. We need to call the doctor
to help Mommy. Have you met the people in the house next door?”
    Cord had several problems now. He didn’t have a cell phone.
He didn’t have anything to tie him to this century except the necessity of a
vehicle. He looked like a scary homeless person and he had to get these two
into the hands of medical professionals. Normal people would take one look at
him and assume he’d broken in and attacked them.
    “Aunt Molly. She coming,” Minuet responded as if he should
have heard the footsteps hurrying across the lawn.
    She was right, he should have. Damn! An aunt person would
really dislike finding him bending over these two. He had to be acceptable to
this family unit. It was imperative. Fuck!
    “Minuet, would you help me one more time?” he asked softly.
There was no time to do things the right way. No time to explain what he was
about to ask her.
    The little tear-streaked face turned up to his with a tiny
smile. “I does it. Aunt Molly afeared of messy dagon. Now you pretty.” The last
was said as someone hurried up the porch steps.
    Cord glanced down at himself in mild panic. Minuet’s idea of
making pretty gave him an instant image of a pink puppy. Thankfully he only had
two legs and jeans were still on them, but the cloth was clean instead of dirt
streaked. Above them his T-shirt had lost both stains and wrinkles. His hand
went to his chin and found a close-cut beard.
    “Be good dagon. No magic. It a rule,” Minuet informed him in
a whisper.
    “Good rule,” Cord agreed, and turned his head as a woman
opened the front door calling for Minuet and Kelly.
    So that was her name, Kelly. It fit. “Minuet, my name is
Cord. Let me do the explaining when she comes in. Okay?” he whispered quickly.
    Little Miss Miracle nodded just as the woman entered the
kitchen and gasped.
    Cord straightened slowly so he wouldn’t startle the short,
dark-haired woman. She didn’t look a bit like Minuet or Kelly. In her
housecoat, it wasn’t hard to see that her body size held none of the long, lean
lines Kelly possessed, though she wasn’t fat.
    “Oh my God! What happened?” she exclaimed, pausing in shock
at the scene.
    Cord nodded seriously. “There was an accident in the
basement. Minuet flagged me down. Do you have a cell phone, ma’am? I’m afraid I
left mine at home this morning and I can’t locate a phone to call paramedics.”
    Cord attempted to appear sincere and concerned as the woman
at the kitchen door added a punch of earthy power to the emotions swirling
around the room. He was forced to breathe shallowly to avoid an overload, but
it didn’t matter. There were three in the room with him, three powerful
elements of nature.
    Deep beneath, the muscles of his back moved to the
inevitable response to the power surrounding him. Two of them were upset,
seeking assistance. The third was in jeopardy. He’d known this would happen. He
hadn’t known they were three. Apparently they didn’t know they were three
either.
    If Minuet was forbidden from letting Molly see her magic,
Kelly had no idea Molly was gifted. They certainly weren’t blood sisters.
    Molly rushed toward Kelly, her eyes on the kitchen towel
covering Kelly’s leg from the knee down. “How bad is it? Oh Minuet, Aunt
Molly’s here. Everything will be all right. I promise, baby. Who are you? I saw
the lights. I knew something was wrong…”
    Her words rushed together as the woman sank down beside
Minuet. Cord