The boy offered a small shrug.

“It’s not you. It’s me.” It really was. “I’m an ornery bastard at the best of times. My life is my work. Which is to say the hounds. I don’t really have time or the right kind of place for a kid or his mom.”

The boy slumped.

And Marduke felt like a shithead. Never mind he owed the kid nothing. It didn’t sit well to have him upset. “Guess maybe, though, it wouldn’t hurt if you stayed for a night or two.”

The kid shifted.

“But you’d be expected to help out with the dogs. You ain’t leeching off me.”

The boy nodded.

“All right then, we better get back to your mom before she gets into trouble.”

Luckily his house hounds had emerged to guard what they considered a delivery on his doorstep. Their deep-throated snarls kept the unsavory away from her limp body.

The boy ran to his mom and threw himself at her, startling Marduke’s dogs. He prepared to signal them to not attack, only to stare, dumfounded, as his hounds let the boy by without so much as even a snarl.

Marduke shook his head at them. “What happened to the days when even a fly couldn’t get past you?”

One of them farted, but they both managed to look innocent.

“Jerks,” he muttered. Kneeling, Marduke scooped Merry into his arms. “Let’s get her into a bed so she doesn’t wake up sore.”

The boy nodded.

And then with a trust that Marduke usually only saw from his hounds, the boy held on to Marduke’s coat as they entered the house.

He almost said, ”Welcome home.”

16

Merry woke inside a chamber she didn’t recognize and might have panicked if not for the little body pressed against her. Miguel remained with her. It eased her somewhat. No matter what, so long as they were together, she could handle anything.

A wet swipe at her mouth as the dog licked had her gagging and reassessing that thought.

“Ugh. Gross.” She would tolerate a lot of things, but puppy slobber between her lips wasn’t one of them. When she finished wiping and exclaiming, she glanced at Miguel and would have sworn she caught a ghost of a smile, quickly gone.

She cupped his soft cheek. “Hey, baby. Are you okay?” Because she wasn’t sure where she was on that scale at the moment. Discomfited? Definitely. Reevaluating life? Totally.

Upon waking, she remembered everything. She was in Hell. She knew she should have returned that penny she found on the ground as a teenager. See where a life of crime could lead you?

She sat up and stretched. “Whose bed is this?” The room appeared occupied if she went by the clothes draped around the place and the books stacked on the nightstand. She didn’t really need to ask to know. “This Marduke’s place?”