“There is no need for you to risk yourself, Mother. When have I ever refused a request from my queen?”
“Should we discuss Rian again?” Nyomi asked with a smirk.
Axel frowned and shook his head. “No, but I do have one other question. Why must we accept responsibility for the trouble this human has gotten herself into with her curiosity?”
Nyomi lifted a hand. “How can a naturally curious feline ask such a ridiculous question? That must come from your human side. This is an example of the exact selfishness I keep hoping you will one day outgrow.”
“I fail to see how preferring to mind my own business is selfish. I think it’s smart.”
Nyomi growled in displeasure. “We could easily turn our backs and leave the blade’s host to her fate, but do you want her being corrupted by those seeking to control the weapon? Do you want to fight the blade’s host as an enemy one day or fight at her side as her ally? She is no doubt frightened by what has happened to her. I promise you that someone will manage to get close to her if we do not.”
Axel nodded. “Again, I concede to your greater wisdom. Not being a fool, of course, I would prefer the host of the sentient blade to be an ally.”
“Good. I want you to at least try to befriend the woman. Teach her to save herself if you can. That sort of benefaction is not something a human will ever forget. If we are lucky, your friendship may align her with our more noble causes in protecting this planet.”
That hadn’t crossed his mind, but his mother was probably right. Axel bowed his head in respect. “I will do as you ask, my queen. I will train the woman if she agrees.”
“Of course, you will,” Nyomi purred.
She walked back to where her son stood stoically yet mildly annoyed with her still. She lifted a hand to his handsome feline face and watched it change under her fingers to its other natural form. It was nearly a mirror image of the only human male she’d ever managed to love in all her time on Earth. His father was also the single male of any race who’d ever held her heart.
“The other children of Rodu are not like you, Axel. Your siblings were born either feline or human, but not both. Your ability to morph among the two is a great gift. I was over a thousand years old before I could shift my form. I hope one day you understand how blessed you are to have had the ability since birth.”
“If I am blessed, it is to be Queen Nyomi’s beloved son. That is all I need to appreciate my happy existence.”
She laughed as her hand dropped away.
“Oh, if only those words were true and not just something you incorrectly assume I want to hear. I wish you’d gotten a little more of your father’s irreverence.”
“Weren’t you chastising me for that very thing just moments ago?”
Nyomi chuckled. “When Rodu says anything to me, at least I know his words are completely sincere. To this day, I find his directness quite refreshing. Why do you think I keep insisting he extend his human life? Your father keeps saying humans aren’t meant to be so old, but it’s not like I leave him old. After regenerating, he looks as young as you.”
She smiled at her pleasant thoughts of Rodu as she moved away from her eldest child. “Guard the new Protector until she comes into her own, Axel. Doing so is a better use of your time than torturing that poor wolf.”
Axel nodded. “Minding the wolf is merely something to keep me from being bored. I trust your judgment about the blade’s host and will heed it. To the best of my ability, I will do what you have asked.”
Nyomi felt her face lift in joy at his words. “Thank you, my son. May happiness find you until we see each other again.”
“May happiness find you as well, Mother.”
Axel lifted a hand to wave as his mother created a ball of molecular energy around herself and lifted from the ground. Only fully ascended felines possessed the gift of transporting in that manner, but such power over the elements didn’t manifest until a Lyran was over three thousand years old.
As he watched her leave, it suddenly occurred to him that he actually didn’t know how old his mother was. He wondered if his father knew. Come to think of it, he didn’t know how old his human father was either. Their actual ages weren’t something he'd ever concerned himself with knowing. His parents were, well, just his parents.
The idea of being with one person for more than a week or two alarmed him. He couldn’t imagine spending several hundred years, much less a millennium, bedding only one female.
He looked down as something hit his foot. It was Max dropping the long-forgotten stick across his shoe. The wolf sat at his feet stoically with his large wolf eyes were full of concern.
Axel shrugged in answer before he spoke. “Looks like I have another human pain in the ass to babysit which means you do too, Maxwell. Come on. Let’s go collect her before those do-gooders at Psych Central get too involved.”
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Excerpt: It’s A Wonderful Midlife Crisis
Good to the Last Death, Book 1
Book Description
Whoever said life begins at forty must have been heavily medicated, drunk, or delusional.
Thirty-nine was a fantastic year. I was married to the man I loved. I had a body that worked without creaking. My grandma, who raised me, was still healthy, and life was pretty damned good.
But as they say, all good things come to an end. I’d honestly love to know who ‘they’ are and rip them a new one.
One year later, I’m a widow. My joints are starting to ache. Gram is in the nursing home, and dead people think my home is some kind of supernatural bed and breakfast. Gluing body parts onto semi-transparent people has become a side job—deceased people I’m not even sure are actually there. I think they need my help, but since I don’t speak dead, we’re having a few issues.
To add to the heap of trouble, there’s a new dangerously smokin’ hot lawyer at the firm who won’t stop giving me the eye. My BFF is thrilled with her new frozen face, thanks to her plastic surgeon, her alimony check, and the miracle of Botox. And then there’s the little conundrum that I’m becoming way too attached to my ghostly squatters… Like Cher, I’d like to turn back time. Now.
No can do.
Whatever. I have wine, good friends, and an industrial sized box of superglue. What could possibly go wrong?
Everything, apparently.
All in all, it’s shaping up to be a wonderful midlife crisis…
1
“No. Way. Are you freaking serious?” I screamed as I flattened myself against the wall of my laundry room with a thud, trying not to hyperventilate. “There’s a hand in the laundry basket. There’s a hand in the laundry basket. There’s a hand in the damn laundry basket.”
Sliding carefully along the wall so the unattached appendage didn’t jump out and grab me, I eased my way out of the tiny room and sprinted to the kitchen. It had a door that led outside, just in case the hand was up to no good.