Page 79 of Plaidypus
“I’m going to end up having to open a coffee shop in my own home to handle you gluttons. I’ll bring along the fixings for dinner. We may as well enjoy our picnic. I hope my wife likes her iced coffees enough to cook us a feast.”
“I could be convinced, especially since you’ve been such a good husband today.” Darlene blew the Devil a kiss. “I need more iced coffee.”
While she didn’t say she needed it now, Lucifer received the message and popped off to do his wife’s bidding.
At my wolf’s encouragement, I lolled my tongue in amusement.
“And on that happy note, what do you want for dinner? It seems I need to make a feast to celebrate the bad end of a fool and a new beginning for my favorite vampires.”
My father transformed back into human form and shot me a glare before pulling on his clothes. “Steak, so my fluffy daughter doesn’t try to eat me.”
“What about her lovely mate? He’s fluffy, too.”
“As long as he makes my little girl happy, he can have some steak, too.”
Darlene laughed. “Well, that’s better than him wanting to beat you, Leonard. You better make her happy. If you do, you get steak. If you don’t, you get a beating. I’ve seen lycanthrope fathers go after courting boys with the wrong attitude, and I’m not sure how they’d line up against a scruffy little pony.”
“The scruffy little pony would win,” Sam admitted. “I mean, he made it to Australia without any help.”
Darlene sipped what was left of her iced coffee and refused to meet the man’s eyes.
“Mom,” Kanika complained. “You helped him come to Australia?”
“I was left unattended, I got bored, and Belial didn’t mind helping, as he’s always game when there’s some good ruin. And Belial is invested! I just asked Belial to help out and drop a hint to some angels, archangels, and other devils who wanted to win some favor.Oneof them would help the pony make it to Australia and point him in the right direction.”
“And Dad inevitably was doing the same thing. You two!” Kanika buried her face in her stallion’s coat. “I’d rather go back to the beach and try to drown again. That’s safer.”
Malcolm whinnied before nuzzling his wife.
“Welcome to the family, Nadine,” Darlene said. “And same to you, Leonard. Just be careful about any paperwork Lucy gives you to sign. That’s how you end up with extra parents. I don’t have enough adoptees yet.”
My father narrowed his eyes. “Well, nobody is going to hurt her if the Devil has laid territory claims, but I expect equal visitation rights.”
There was only one thing left for me to do. I crowded close to Icy, buried my muzzle in her fur, and opted to take a nap. Maybe some sleep would restore everyone to sanity.
TWENTY-TWO
I’m the world’s best platypus.
Several hours after shifting into a wolf for the first time, I returned to my human form. Unlike with shifting back from my platypus form, exhaustion slammed into me. Leonard wrapped a blanket around my shoulders, guided me to Icy, and settled me against her side.
The cindercorns had already fallen asleep in a nest of blankets, both of them having assumed the form of unicorns. Kanika dozed against her kelpie’s side, and Lucifer had taken the vampires, my brother included, back to Chicago, so they could get rest and feed properly.
As promised, the Devil had provided a feast, which had done a good job of taming everyone, even the spotted succubus with a love of causing trouble. She sipped a coffee of the hot variety, keeping an eye on those of us who hadn’t succumbed to a post-dinner nap.
She tended the fire that offered us light, making sure none of its embers would create a wildfire or bring suffering to the sacred ground.
“This is normal,” Leonard said, and I couldn’t tell if he addressed me or my father. When I yawned, he faced my father. “She’ll probably go to sleep and wake up ravenous. The steaks we fed her will be enough to fuel her virus until later. We don’t know how she’ll vary from shapeshiftersorlycanthropes, as she is both, but her reaction is expected of a first-shift lycanthrope shifting back to human for the first time.”
My father crouched at my side, and he tucked the blanket in around me before kissing my brow. “As long as it’s normal. What is our plan for tomorrow?”
“Lucifer will likely teleport us to his home for the night, especially now that Nadine’s wiped out. In the morning, my guess is he’ll send us close to where these assholes are at so Nadine can deal with them personally. She has a little black rock with their names on it, and she plans to use it. Justice is served—and another tragedy is prevented. Beyond that, I don’t know what her plans are. I’m just along for the ride.” Leonard settled in beside me and grabbed one of the other blankets, wrapping in it. “My current plan is to follow her around and hope for the best.”
“That is a terrible plan,” my father replied.
“I’ll provide hot chocolate whenever she looks like she could use a cup.”
“That’s a significantly better plan than following her around and hoping for the best. It didn’t take you long to figure out her hot chocolate secret.”
