Free Kindling Flames: Stolen Fire (The Ancient Fire Series Book 4) by Julie Wetzel Page A

won’t shift back,” Vicky stated matter-of-factly.
    Karl nodded. “That’s part of it.”
    Vicky waved the rest of the issues away. “Come here.” She went over to the open floor behind the loveseat. Karl and Sue slowly followed, their curiosities piqued. Vicky turned to look at them with a grin splitting her face. She opened the bag and dumped the contents over the bare floor.
    Karl’s eyes widened as he recognized the square, wood tiles from a scrabble board. “This is prefect.” He knelt to the floor and started flipping the squares over so the letters were up.
    Vicky helped, and they soon had most of them spread out where Sue could touch them.
    Karl looked over at Sue studying the letters. “Can you tell me what’s wrong, now?”
    Sue shifted so she could paw at a letter.
    Karl picked it up and read it. “P.”
    Sue pawed another letter.
    “R.” He moved this one over with the first.
    She picked out another.
    “E.”
    Vicky’s eyes found the next letter as Sue touched it.
    “G.”
    Vicky grabbed Karl’s arm. “Oh my God! She’s pregnant!” She squeezed his arm in emphasis.
    Sue chirped at her.
    Karl looked at Vicky in shock and turned back to Sue. “Is this true?”
    Sue sat down and solemnly nodded her head.
    “Is it mine?”
    Sue snarled, making Karl fall backwards, away from her.
    “Okay, okay,” he said defensively. “It’s just that we haven’t been seeing much of each other recently.”
    Snorting at him, Sue relaxed.
    Karl sat back up and reached out to caress her fur. “I’m sorry for that, too.”
    She leaned in against him, forgiving him of his errors.
    Vicky smiled at the two werewolves. They looked so content with each other. A soft touch on her arm drew her attention to the little fay.
    Zak wiggled into her lap and nuzzled his face into her stomach.
    “You knew, didn’t you?” Vicky petted his top tentacles back. They curled around her fingers as she worked them around. “That’s why you’ve been so protective of her.”
    Zak purred and wiggled around until he could look at the wolves. They had turned their eyes to the hellhound. Zak gurgled again and waved his ends.
    Karl closed his eyes and nodded his head at the fay. “Thank you.” Zak purred louder as the wolf looked back up. “I’m going to be a father.”
    Vicky saw several emotions race across Karl’s face, but elation was the last one she saw before he buried his face into Sue’s neck. “Well, if you need anything else…” Pulling Zak’s tentacles away from the wooden tiles he was playing with, Vicky stood up with the fay in her arms.
    Sue gave her a grateful look before closing her eyes and leaning back into Karl.
    Vicky took away the last of the tiles Zak was trying to eat and slipped out of the room quietly. Now that part of the mystery was solved, things could start to get better.
    Pushing the door to the kitchen open, Vicky dropped Zak to the floor.
    The hellhound scampered over to Darien standing at the stove and bowled into the back of his legs, trying to get at the hamburger the vampire was frying up.
    “Monster,” Darien growled at him, but he scooped out a spoonful of the crumbled meat and dropped it to the floor in front of the fay.
    Vicky smiled at them as Zak greedily lapped the chunks up and licked the floor clean.
    Darien turned his attention to Vicky. “So?”
    She came over and leaned against his back lovingly. “Sue’s pregnant.”
    Darien stilled at her words. He turned his head so he could see her from the corner of his eye for a moment, and then went back to cooking his hamburger. “You know,” his words were thoughtful, “that actually makes sense.”
    Vicky rubbed her cheek into his back, enjoying the feel of his voice rumbling through her.
    “That explains why she couldn’t change.” He stirred the meat around thoughtfully. “How did you figure this out?”
    Vicky let out a contented breath and pushed away from Darien’s back so she could talk to him. She leaned her