Read Online Black Magic Shadows by Gayla Drummond - Free Book Online Page A

anymore.
    Also, duty. Leglin was emphatic that his duty was to protect me. Funny, when it was a dog doing the protecting, I didn't argue much. Not even after Red's death.
    Not that arguing with Leglin would work anyway. He'd sleep across my threshold if I didn't let him share the bed. He was that loyal.
    I tucked Speck and Squishy into their bed, covering them with a soft throw. Bone and Diablo plopped onto their over-sized, therapeutic doggy beds. The people bed Leglin had asked for was still on my To Do list. "Night, guys. Sleep tight."
    Contented sighs followed me out the door, putting a smile on my face. My hound waited by my bedroom door, and I patted his shoulder as I went through the doorway. "Come on."
    It was a huge relief to change for bed without Merriven leering at me. Sliding between the sheets after face washing and teeth brushing, I made certain my alarm was on before rolling over to snuggle Leglin. "You didn't say anything about having a gargoyle coming to live with us."
    " It will be nice to have a partner ."
    I hid my smile by kissing the back of his head. "As long as you're cool with it, I guess I am."
    His tail thump made the bed shiver. With a final squeeze, I rolled over onto my back and closed my eyes. Jogging time would come too early for my liking.

EIGHT

    ––––––––
    I woke up feeling like a million bucks, thanks to the lack of nightmares plaguing my sleep. Or maybe because the day would end in my first official date with Logan.
    Thinking about that certainly put some pep into my morning jog. I even enjoyed the cold, crisp air while the dogs and I made our way around the property line. Seriously, aside from the "cursed by unknown assailant" thing, my life didn't look awful at the moment.
    I had a good job, a fantastic place to call home, and my canine family to share it with. My closest neighbors weren't only friends, but extended family.
    And unless we came up with a lead, or the boss assigned us another case, I had a free day ahead of me.
    The sprint from drive entrance to house didn't feel like utter torture.

    I was pouring a cup of coffee when my phone chimed to let me know a text message had arrived. It was from Logan: Looking forward to tonight .
    Me too , I texted back, unable to control the smile spreading across my face. He responded with an emoticon, a red flower. We traded smiley faces then he texted I'd better get to work .
    After I ate breakfast, I remembered I needed to make a couple of calls. First, Terra. She answered the phone before the first ring ended. "Hi."
    "Hey, how does a sleepover tomorrow night and shopping Sunday sound?"
    "It sounds great. Logan told me you'd be calling. Alanna's invited too, right?"
    I'd promised Logan to include Alanna anytime I took Terra out, and I liked Alanna anyway. She was Dane's sister. "Yep, she's invited too. I'll have to pick up Tonya, so how about you two come over about five tomorrow? I'll call if something comes up and we need to make it later, okay?"
    "Okay." An excited little chirp came through the phone. "This is going to be fun."
    "Yes, it will. Talk to you later." Call over, that was one thing off my immediate To Do list. I called Tonya next, and she agreed. We spent ten minutes planning the sleepover. I hadn't had one in years, and even then, we'd mostly giggled over boys, watched scary movies, and given each other makeovers.
    After talking to Tonya, it didn't seem much had changed. My Saturday night taken care of, I cleaned away my breakfast mess and wondered what to do with the rest of my day.
    Dane called. "Anything new?"
    "Not a thing on the case. You?"
    "No. We could go look around where your thread ended. Maybe we'll find something."
    There went my free day, but it didn't bother me. "Sure. Come on over and we'll go poke around."

    "O kay, it ended here." I held up my forefinger to point to where the thread had run out. "Which is weird, because normally they're at ground level."
    "That's eye-level for you." Dane