A Muse for Mishka (Wiccan-Were-Bear #12) by R.E. Butler Page A

white dress shirt splashed with the blood of their
enemies, snarled, his fangs glinting in the streetlights.
    “Are you okay?” he demanded. His golden eyes
were so bright they looked like shiny coins.
    “I’m good. You?”
    He gripped the collar of his shirt with both
hands and ripped it off, tossing the tattered remnants to the
street. “Not my blood.”
    In the distance, police sirens sounded. “We
need to get out of here before the human police show up,” Vex said
as he joined them.
    She pointed to the streetlight overhead.
“There’s a traffic cam up there; they already know we were
here.”
    “I texted Temple, and he hacked the camera
system. Rage and the others are sticking around to deal with the
cops. The master and mistress of the city cannot be the subject of
a police investigation where a dozen humans died.”
    Mishka climbed into the car. “Get us home,”
he said just a moment before the door shut.
    Vex pulled away from the curb, driving in the
opposite direction of the sirens. Harmony was surprised that the
car could even drive, but Mishka assured her that it was built to
take a beating and still get the occupants to safety.
    The silence in the car was stifling. Deciding
to try for a little humor, she turned to Mishka and said, “So this
is the most exciting first date I’ve ever had. How about you?”
    For a long moment, no one said anything, and
then Mishka laughed, followed by Vex. Settling back against Mishka,
she listened as he told her about a first date he had with a fallen
angel in the 1700s.
     
    * * *
     
    Mishka hustled her through the garage and
into the club while Vex stayed with the vehicle to wait for a coven
mechanic who was going to tow it to a nearby garage. She wasn’t
surprised that there was a mechanic in the coven who owned a
coven-friendly repair shop. Mishka had ensured that the coven had
everything they would need for their day-to-day lives, from car
repair to SyBl delivery.
    “Will Rage and the others be okay?” she
asked, holding Mishka’s hand tightly as they hurried through the
hall toward the elevator.
    “The coven’s lawyers are already heading to
the scene. If the police want to detain the guards, the lawyers
will ensure they’re out well before dawn,” he said.
    “Is it dangerous to be at the police station
after dawn?”
    They stopped in front of the elevator, and he
pushed the call button. The gears whirred inside the shaft as the
elevator moved.
    “Not necessarily, but since our kind are
vulnerable to sunlight, it’s best for our people to be home so they
can be safe instead of at the mercy of someone who may not have
their best interests in mind.”
    She shivered. “Would a cop really leave a
vampire in a cell where he would get burned?”
    He didn’t say anything for a moment, and she
looked up at him to find him frowning. “It’s not happened since
I’ve been master of the city, but I have heard of it happening in
other places from time to time. When you’ve been around as long as
I have, you tend to see the best and worst that humanity has to
offer.”
    The elevator opened, and they stepped inside.
“I wish I could have been more helpful tonight,” she said, leaning
heavily against Mishka.
    He snarled, his arms tightening around her.
“I wouldn’t want you to have been out in that mess, my heart.”
    “I don’t know what would possess them to
attack us like that, or how they even knew it was us. They went
after the town car.”
    “I suspect that they realized the limo was a
decoy. All the humans who attacked us are dead; otherwise we could
get some answers.”
    She shivered. “The church is watching
you.”
    “Watching the club. I’ll have Brone do an
exterior sweep to make sure they haven’t found a way to sneak
cameras anywhere.”
    “It would be nice if the leader was among the
dead.”
    “He wasn’t, but I suspect he was watching
from a safe distance.”
    The elevator doors opened, and they stepped
out into the hallway and