How Nina Got Her Fang Back: Accidental Quickie (Accidentally Paranormal Series Book 13) by Dakota Cassidy Page A

something’s up. Especially if he has a list of all my so-called indiscretions—which is bullshit anyway. I do what I do because it has to be done. If I’m a little mouthy when I do it, tough shit. I can’t believe the clan wants people like our accidental clients to flop around like fish out of water until they figure out their new statuses in life. They should be grateful someone’s willing to help. Isn’t it fucking better that we help them so they don’t flip a nut and head to the local X-Files office? Jesus, these assholes are backward-ass fucks.”
    “Nina’s right,” January agreed. “She’s absolutely right. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t show progress, because I hope we’ll make progress, Nina. But behaving isn’t in her nature. Of course she’s going to be resentful of the process at first.”
    Nina pointed at January and smiled, a sly upward tilt of her lips. “What she fucking said. So I’m going to put my surly drawers on and I’ll see you and all your lame-ass breathing techniques tomorrow, Doc. We good?” She held out her hand to Galen and shoved it under his nose.
    Galen’s reluctance, not to mention his skepticism, was palpable, but he grabbed her hand anyway and shook it with a firm gesture. “We’re good. I’ll do what I can on my end to dig up something. There must be some plan—something Artem’s got mapped out for this big coup he wants to attempt. There has to be something we can use to prove his intent to rule.”
    “We’re on it,” Marty said as January and Galen turned to leave. “But wait. One question, January.”
    January turned, tucking her shawl around her even tighter when the streetlight shone down on her head. “What’s that?”
    “This cloaking spell thing,” she said softly, almost hesitantly. “I was curious. Can you make my boo—”
    “Marty!” Wanda yelled. “Knock if off. It’s rude to ask for D cups from someone you only met twenty minutes ago!”
    January and Galen looked at each other before she dissolved into a fit of laughter against him as they left the alleyway and headed back down the sidewalk to go their separate ways.
    And anyone who saw them together would see a hunched-over, graying gentleman with a cane, assisting an equally graying woman in a knitted shawl and sensible black shoes.
    * * * *
    “I hate saying goodbye,” January whispered against Galen’s chest. “Especially when I don’t know when we’ll see each other again without thirty different coworkers in our faces. I hate all this hiding and grabbing mere moments when we should be in our own home getting our Netflix and chill on while Calista sleeps.”
    Galen tightened his arms around her, keeping his eyes wide open in order to survey the street for anyone who might have followed him. “I hate it, too, honey. But I promise, some way, somehow, we’ll figure this out. We’ll find a way to be together. You, me, and Calista—as a family. Swear it.”
    “After meeting them, do you think these women can help?” she asked, her question muffled against his shirt.
    His jaw tightened. How could he shoot down the only thing that had given her hope in months? But he had to admit he was riddled with skepticism. “I don’t know.”
    “What you’re saying is, they’re not exactly instilling hope in you because they argue like children on a playground, right?”
    He chuckled and relaxed a little. “That Nina? Whoa. She’s like having a conversation with a hand grenade. You never know when you’ll mistakenly pull the pin and she’ll explode.”
    “Ah, but she’s also the one who’s responsible for saving many lives, including her best friend’s just this past winter.”
    “Which one? The cute blonde with all the bracelets and hair, or the understated one with the patience of Job and the schoolmarm voice?”
    “The cute blonde. Her name’s Marty, and she’s also not exactly someone you want to tangle with, by the by. Nina took a bullet for her, Galen, and she