Chapter 184

Justin’s POV

A moment after knocking on the door between rooms, Randy burst in, and I was very glad for the first time since I’d blown my load prematurely that I’d had my little accident. I didn’t want to torture Randy by making him watch Helen and me together anymore. I felt bad for all the times that we’d done it, especially since it wasn’t an inclusive thing like he had a mate to go home and take out any sexual frustrations on.

Instead, we probably just wound him tight enough to snap with no really good way out. But this time, because of my incident, I had my pants up, and Helen was tucked snugly under the covers. She was still naked, but he didn’t need to know that.

“What can I do for you?” I asked Randy. “What’s so important that you needed to burst in?”

Randy glanced at the clock and let out a little yelp. “I didn’t realize it was almost midnight. I’m sorry. I just didn’t think it could wait. Russo and Lisa managed to find a solution.”

I scrambled off the floor at the foot of the bed where I had been attending to Helen. Suddenly, all thoughts of sex were driven from my mind.

“You found a solution?” I cried.

Helen even sat up, clutching the covers around her top. “Seriously?” she blurted.

Randy nodded his head. “Russo and Lisa are still in the other room, working out the details. But we found a spell to destroy a demon, and Lisa is sure that she can work the magic if we can provide the blood.”

“Blood?” Helen gasped. “Why?”

Randy shrugged. “We’re talking about confronting demons with magic. It requires the blood of an enemy. And I think either one of you would work perfectly for that.”

“I’ll donate blood,” both Helen and I cried at the same time. We looked at each other, a mutual grin spreading across our faces.

“We might actually win this,” Helen said.

“It would be nice to get a little peace for a change,” I agreed. “How long do we need to wait before leaving to do this? Can we leave from the hotel tonight?” I asked Randy.

“According to what they found, we should need two weeks. It’s rather inconvenient because it needs to be done on the new moon. The timing leaves all of us, except for Lisa, at our weakest. However, it also puts the Huntsman at his weakest, as well, since much that is dark relies on the light of the moon for power—including demons, evidently.”

I took a look at Helen, who had a fire lit behind her eyes. I knew my mate. If I let her, she would go get started on this project now. But if we had to wait until the new moon, there was no point in rushing out.

I walked over and patted Randy on the back. “Good job, my friend. Thank you.”

Randy shook his head. “Don’t thank me. Thank Russo and Lisa. Tomorrow we can start gathering all the materials that we need. There are some other ingredients besides just the blood of an enemy. But Lisa’s positive she can track them all down before we need to do the ritual.”

“Do we have to have the Huntsman to do it?”

Randy shook his head again. “No, but we should definitely have somebody spying while the ritual is happening to make sure that it works.”

“I think I know just the pixie for the job,” Helen said. “I’m sure she would love to see the Huntsman go down, and she’s small enough that nobody should notice her. I’ll ask her when we get back home.”

Randy nodded. “I think that’s a good idea.”

I crossed to the bed and sat beside Helen, putting a hand on her legs. “You look like you’re about ready to crawl out of bed and get dressed. We’re not going home tonight.”

She slumped next to me. “I’m not sure that I can wait.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “You’re going to have to. Nobody else has the energy to go home, and I don’t think you honestly do, either. And even if we did get home and start pulling pixies and ingredients to get ready, nothing is going to change the fact that we have two weeks until this happens. We need to get our rest so that our minds are at their sharpest. We need to be on alert because the last thing we want to give him any hint that we’re coming for him.”

She nodded slowly, leaning back against the pillows. But I could see the disappointment on her face. She might have agreed, but she wasn’t happy about it.

Perhaps if I used some visualization and started again with her, maybe I could get myself back in the mood to have sex. Or maybe I could just distract her long enough to get her sleepy.

Randy cleared his throat, his face red with a wild blush. “Can I ask a favor?” he mumbled.

“Sure,” I said, inviting him.

He glanced at the door connecting our rooms. “I can’t be positive,” he started slowly, “but I think those two might like to be alone for a little while.”

To my surprise, Helen made a small noise and bit down on the edge of the covers. What was going on here?

“I guess,” I told Randy. “You can stay if you really want to.”

Distracting Helen between the sheets again was out. But maybe that was a good thing. She’d already orgasmed twice, and I didn’t want to wear her out. Our marathons of sex weren’t something that she seemed keen on going back to.

She let the blankets uncover her face and patted the bed next to her, inviting Randy over. He said at the foot of the bed, not too close to her. I’m sure he was just as conscious as I was of the admission he’d made before. And I really didn’t want my beta with the crush on my mate sitting next to her while she was wrapped in a sheet and a comforter.

But Helen seemed hellbent on having a conversation with him. She leaned forward, whispering, “What makes you think they want to be alone together?”

Randy got up and double-checked the door between the rooms, ensuring that it was locked. When he came back, he sat much closer to Helen so that he could have a whispered conversation with her.

“Their body language,” he admitted. “They’ve been leaning toward one another and flirting for the past several hours. I think I even caught them playing footsie under the table. You might have thought you were doing her a favor by making sure she wasn’t lonely while she was in hiding. But I think you may have done more than that for the two of them.”

Helen giggled and ducked her face behind the blankets.

Randy rolled his eyes and shook his head, looking at me. “She’s acting like a schoolgirl. One taste of romance from her mate, and she gets all squishy about everybody else.”

He wagged a finger at her. “Don’t go getting me involved in this. And I really hope that you didn’t do this on purpose.”

Helen shook her head without removing her face from behind the covers. “I wouldn’t dream of meddling in other people’s lives.”

She reached over, poking my shoulder. “My own love life is something of a mess. I would never presume to think that I should be setting anyone else up.”

Realization prickled through me. This is exactly what I had asked Helen to do weeks ago. I had told her that when things with the Huntsman were in hand that she ought to try finding a mate for Russo and possibly even for Randy.

Now it was my turn to cough and hide my face.

Randy shot me an evil glare. “Are you in on this, too?” he snapped. “What has gotten into you?”

I shook my head and caught him in a gaze with my most meticulous poker face. “I’m just enjoying seeing my wife this happy,” I said. “It’s been a long time, no, wait. Actually, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Helen giggly like this.”

I turned a soft gaze on her. “I like it.”

“It’s sweet.” Randy agreed, flushing.

He stood and walked away from the bed. I could tell he agreed with me more than he was comfortable with and didn’t want to admit it.

Helen definitely needed to find somebody for him. While I was glad that Russo might have a shot at continuing his species, a werewolf with a hardcore crush on my wife was far more uncomfortable for me. And, as far as I was concerned, a much bigger problem to take care of.

But now that he was on alert, Helen was going to have to be twice as careful when trying to set him up.

Randy went to the closet and opened it, reaching up on the top shelf to pull down the spare pillow and blanket. “I guess I’ll sleep on the floor,” he said.

Helen opened her mouth like she was going to invite him to share the big bed with us, but I shook my head at her. Like hell, I was letting him on the mattress next to my wife. And I wasn’t sleeping in between the two of them.