The Wild Ways Read Online Free Page A

Graham wasn’t visible, but the double doors to their bedroom were open, so Charlie assumed that Graham was out of sight in the bedroom. There were other, less mundane possibilities, but he’d probably sound a lot more freaked had Jack made him invisible, microscopic, or transformed him into furniture. Again. He’d made a surprisingly comfortable recliner. “There’s nothing out there that can hurt him.”
    “You’re missing my point.” Even looking at the back of Allie’s head, Charlie could see her eyes roll. “He’s a fourteen-year-old Dragon Prince and a fully operational sorcerer.”
    “That’s what I said.” Graham sounded confused.
    Charlie snorted. “Dude, she’s not worried about Jack .”
    Allie spun around and Charlie had a sudden armful of her favorite cousin. At five eight, Allie was an inch taller, but she was in bare feet and Charlie’s sneakers evened things out.
    “Don’t you ever knock?” Graham asked, coming out of the bedroom, charms covering more skin than the shorts. Most of the charms were Allie’s, a couple were Charlie’s, and one was David’s. And wasn’t that interesting. “Never mind,” he continued, crossing toward her, “stupid question.”
    He didn’t bother pulling Allie out of the hug, just wrapped his arms around both of them and squeezed. Graham wasn’t exactly tall—Charlie knew damned well he lied about being five ten—but he was strong. Even working full time at the newspaper, he’d managed to hang on to the conditioning his previous part-time position had required. Although, why an assassin needed muscle when the big guns did all the work, he’d never made clear to Charlie’s satisfaction.
    “Did we know you were coming in tonight?” he asked, dropping a kiss on Charlie’s temple.
    “I did,” Allie gasped, crushed between them. “Charlie, sweetie, you stink.” A judicious elbow broke Graham’s hold.
    “Yeah, twelve hours on the highway in a bus without air-conditioning will do that.”
    Graham snorted. “Even to a Gale?”
    A quick pit check suggested stink was an understatement. “Please, we sweat flowers.”
    “Seriously?”
    “Occasionally.” Charlie patted Graham’s cheek and Allie’s ass on the way to the bathroom. “If Jack starts another apocalypse while I’m in the shower, fix it without me.”
     
     
     
    “He’s a teenager.” Washed, dried, and wearing black silk boxers under a faded Dun Good tank, Charlie snickered into her mug of tea and added, “He has to spread his wings.”
    “Wow, that’s original .” Allie poked her in the shoulder as she set a piece of strawberry pie down on the table and handed her a fork. “You should put it to music. And he’s been spreading his wings plenty. They had to stop mail delivery in Bayview because a hawk . . . ”
    In the three weeks Charlie had been gone, Allie’s air quotes had gotten a lot more emphatic.
    “. . . kept attacking the postal worker.”
    “Big difference between a hawk and a dragon, Allie-cat. And Jack’s a big dragon.”
    Allie dropped in the chair next to Charlie and prodded her in the thigh with her bare feet. “Jack’s a sorcerer. And we know his uncles played with their sizes, so it may be a Dragon Prince skill and have nothing to do with sorcery.”
    Too tired to make the obvious played with themselves comment, Charlie waved her fork, bits of pie crust speckling the tabletop. “Yeah, but no teenage boy would willingly make himself smaller. Dragon. Prince. Sorcerer. Doesn’t matter which, it’s not going to happen. It’s all bigger is better at that age. Actually . . .” She frowned thoughtfully as she chewed. “ . . . bigger is better at any age. Ow! Allie!”
    Graham sat down across the table with his own piece of pie. “Somewhere in there you have a valid point, but the attacks on the postie stopped when Gwen threatened to clip Jack’s wings.”
    Jack had spent his first thirteen years under the tender care of his uncles. Tender care when