Immortally Yours, An Urban Fantasy Romance (Monster MASH, Book 1) (42 page)

"The front was brutal, but as soon as the cease-fire orders came down, it forced Pluto to shut down the immortal gate."
 

"I can't believe you're here," I said, inspecting him. His face was painted with camouflage and he wore a dagger, a rope, and a fully loaded weapons belt.
 

He shook his head, the corner of his mouth tipped up.
 

"No one was allowed to die in the battle for fear that casualty numbers would influence the discussion of what to do with the star-crossed lovebirds up there." He captured me and pulled me close. "The lords of the underworld were forced to heal everyone. Pele was a little pissed, but my men are safe. We're all safe."
 

Tears clouded my eyes. "Thank God."
 

"Thank Dagr," he said, bending to kiss me on my cheek, my jaw. He brushed a heart-stopping kiss over my lips. "With the cease-fire, they've released us all back to our previous assignments."
 

"You mean?" I could hardly believe it.
 

"See what happens when you have a little faith?"
 

"You just love being right," I said, laughter bubbling from me. But I knew. I understood, even if I couldn't quite put it into words.
 

We were rewarded. We were whole. I couldn't believe I actually had him back.
 

Except... I wiped at my eyes. "I'm so sorry about what happened to you," I said, running my hands down his arms, his chest, so amazed to have him back, unharmed that I had to keep checking.
 

He was mortal now, in a god's army.
 

"I'm not sorry," Galen said. "It was worth it. We did it."
 

Damn the man. The way he looked at me made me want to celebrate. Large.
 

I gave into it and nudged him with my hip. "Want to go mark the occasion?"
 

His eyes darkened with desire. "Hoo-rah."
 

"Don't mind me," Rodger said, strolling up to us. He clapped Galen on the arm. "Welcome back, Commander."
 

Galen's hands slid down to my butt. "Thanks for watching out for this one, Rodger."
 

Rodger snorted. "You and I both know it's the other way around."
 

I was still thinking up a witty reply—and in my defense it was hard to think with Galen's hands on my ass—when a jeep rolled up in front of our hutch. I leaned sideways to get a better look. Nobody ever drove around camp, at least not down to the living quarters.
 

In fact, a small crowd had gathered for that reason. Even more people were poking their heads out of hutches.
 

Kosta jumped out, with a rolled parchment in hand. He didn't see us by the swamp. Instead he headed straight for the hutch and banged on our door. "Galen of Delphi in there?"
 

Pistaches
. He was going to—"Wait!" I hollered as Kosta opened our hutch.
 

A flood of sea serpents swept out, lifting Kosta right off his feet. He went down under hundreds of little squeaking dinosaurs. They rolled end over end, quickly righting themselves.
 

Dinosaurs toddled all over the area in front of our hutch and Kosta sat among them, momentarily speechless.
 

A great cheer went up from the crowd.
 

Horace swooped in next to me. "You did it," he said, banging me in the arm with his fist. "You got Kosta!"
 

I looked at Rodger, who was just as surprised as me.
 

Rodger let out a whoop. "We did it! We got Kosta!"
 

I couldn't believe it. For all the planning and work and pranks we'd tried, it came down to a bunch of horny swamp monsters.
 

We could split three weeks off. We'd be free! I could go back to New Orleans. Rodger could see his wife again, his pups. He'd be the one to fix his own pilot light, to mow his own lawn, to be a part of his family.
 

He'd be home.
 

I looked up at Galen and it hit me. I was already home.
 

"You know what?" I nudged Rodger on the arm. "It's you. You got Kosta. You take the entire pot."
 

He'd earned it. He deserved it.
 

Galen and I had everything we needed right here.
 

Tears filled Rodger's eyes. "Thanks, buddy."
 

I grinned at him. "Just don't go making any more pups."
 

"Are you kidding? I'm going to do my best and then some."
 

The colonel stood, shaking off creatures and trying his damndest to appear annoyed. "I trust that you'll get these creatures back to the swamp."
 

"Yes," I lied. I wasn't going to push it when Kosta had dinosaur afterbirth on his forehead.
 

We'd figure out something.
 

The colonel strolled up to us, parchment in hand. "This is for you," he said, handing it to Galen.
 

Galen stood at attention as he accepted it. Then, with a glance at me, he cracked open the seal and the letter unfolded.
 

"What is it?" I strained to see. Maybe the gods changed their minds about his demi-god status.
 

"It's a commendation," he said, reading, "for saving Dagr."
 

"But you're still mortal," I said, taking in the flowery praise of the gods, trying not to let the disappointment seep into my voice.
 

"Thank you, Colonel Kosta," he said, re-rolling the letter.
 

The colonel stood his ground in front of us. "You never know what can happen, Commander. Bravery is rewarded in this army."
 

I'd had enough heroics to last me for the rest of the war. "Let's hope we don't have to find out." We'd succeeded in stopping the war for at least a while. We'd saved lives. We'd made a difference.
 

Maybe now I could get to work on that anesthetic for immortals. I could probably talk Jeffe out of taking a break from his Trivial Pursuit contest to give me some samples from his claws.
 

"Okay then." Kosta gave one last withering look to our hutch, which had taken on a definite lean to the left. "I want you to clean this up before you submit your leave paperwork," he said to Rodger.
 

"Yes, sir," my roommate said with glee.
 

I couldn't help but smile.
 

"And you." He pointed to Galen. "HQ paperwork is a mess. You're still here indefinitely."
 

I loved the army.
 

"Too bad Rodger won't be around to see the car," Galen said, watching Kosta strut away.
 

"What car?" Kosta would never let us touch his car. We'd tried.
 

"Didn't you hear?" Galen asked. "Nurse Hume won a silver Camaro."
 

My mouth dropped open. "Not the Dr Pepper sweepstakes."
 

"What?" Galen asked, too amused for his own good. "You doubted?"
 

I shook my head. "Never again."
 

"Come on," Galen said, reaching down for a dinosaur. "I'll help you get this sorted out."
 

"And after that," I said, walking my fingers up his arm.
 

He flashed a wolfish smile. "Well, I do expect to be rewarded."
 

I nudged my hip against his leg. "Pushy, aren't you?"
 

"Always." He wrapped his free arm around me and nipped my ear.
 

Oh, this was going to be fun. "Lucky for you I find that endearing."
 

"I promise it will be worth your while," he whispered against my ear.
 

"All right, soldier. You're on."
 

-
THE END-

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******

Please enjoy the following excerpt from
the next book in this series

IMMORTALLY EMBRACED

The Monster MASH Series, book #2

By Angie Fox

Medusa, serpent-goddess, executioner of men, scourge of Kisthene's plain, stabbed a clawed finger in my direction. "Tell me the truth, human," she hissed. "No more lies."

I straightened my spine and fought the urge to rub my temples in a most unprofessional way.

Why did the gods have to be so dramatic?

Medusa coiled on the examination table in front of me, wearing a light blue open-backed gown. She stared at me, her eyes glowing red as her clawed hands shredded the white sanitary paper.
 

"I am outcast," she said in a gravelly voice. Her rattlesnake's tail swished, nearly taking out my free standing EKG unit. "I am the damned," she declared, face twisted with fury. I held on to my clipboard as the examination tent vibrated with her power. "I am the destroyer!"

I nodded. Some patients took longer than others to adjust, but it didn't change the fact. "You're also pregnant."

"Impossible," she spat, even though we both knew that wasn't true.

I made a few notes in my chart while she threw her head back and let out a screech that shook the tent.
 

Ouch. I tried not to wince.

In my professional opinion, screaming often did help.

"Doctor," she hissed, smoke curling from her nose. For a moment, she was unable to form the question. Her perfectly sculpted brows knit as she brushed a hand through the wild mane of snakes on her head. "How?"

I gave her my most reassuring smile. "The old-fashioned way, I assume."
 

She should know. The gorgon was nearly three thousand years old. And from what I'd seen of the ancient Greeks, they certainly knew how to party.

She drew her hands slowly, almost reverently down her green-scaled torso to the perfectly flat stomach under her examination gown. "I'm cursed," she hissed, "I'm barren. My body is poison!"

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Sure, my fingers went a bit numb when I was checking her blood pressure, but all in all she was far less dangerous than the ancient Norse dragon in need of an enema this morning.

That had taken us two doctors, three orderlies, a set of ambulance drivers, and Jeffe the guard sphinx. Although to be frank, all Jeffe did was warn us not to set the motor pool on fire.

I whipped out form 3871-K, which was actually a little slide wheel designed to help me calculate the gorgon pregnancy cycle. "I'd estimate you're fifty-three days' along, which is seven weeks and three days' pregnant. Your gestation time is slightly shorter than the average human, longer than the average goddess." I slipped the chart back into the pocket of my white coat. "Still, I don't think we need to see you again until the end of your first trimester."
 

I opened a drawer in the medical cart next to the examination table where we kept basics, including samples of prenatal vitamins. "Because you're over thirty-five years old," I said, handing her a pack, "we'll want to do an ultrasound at your next appointment, along with a few other routine tests."

The pale skin on her neck and arms flushed as she took it all in. She growled low. "My parents are going to kill me."

Well, I couldn't offer her any advice on ancient marine deities. Besides, the grin tickling at the sides of her mouth told me more than I needed to know. Once she recovered from the surprise, she'd be tickled pink. Or at least a light green.

"It's just that"—her gaze wandered as she nibbled on a talon—"I haven't talked to my mother since I turned her lover to stone."

"About that," I said, setting her chart on top of the medical cart. "You're going to want to try to control your temper. Stress isn't good for the baby."

Medusa snarled at me, then caught herself. "I'll try," she muttered.

"Do," I told her.
 

Ever since the cease-fire in the war of the gods, we'd converted our MASH unit into one of the premier (and only) supernatural clinics in the area. That was saying something, considering we were located in limbo, just north of a major hell vent.

We were known for taking in all patients, regardless of their origins or ability to pay. Which was the way it should be. It was also why we got the interesting cases.

"Go ahead and get dressed. I'll see you in five weeks," I told the gorgon. "The nurse out front will set your appointment."

I ducked out of the examination room and handed the chart to our charge nurse, Holly, who was one of the only full humans in our unit.
 

She tilted her head, flipping her blond ponytail to one side. She'd gone from red streaks in her hair to pink. I liked it. It softened her up.
 

"Rough one, Dr. Robichaud?" she asked.

"Nah, everything's going to be fine," I replied. "Even so, you'll want to keep your eyes averted when our patient comes out," I warned her. Just in case.
 

Flesh-to-stone injuries were painful and time consuming to treat. We needed Holly on her feet.

I followed her to the front, where she had her desk.
 

We'd converted the surgery recovery tent into a makeshift clinic, with curtained rooms running the length of it—eight on each side. At the front sat the nurse's station, which was basically a red metal desk with a portable file cabinet behind it.
 

"It's quiet around here," Holly said, slipping behind the desk and starting a new file for Medusa.

"I like quiet. Quiet is good."
 

Peace had broken out exactly three weeks, one day, and six hours ago. It was an uneasy truce. We all knew it wouldn't last. Still, at the MASH 3063
^rd
, we were going to take what we could get.
 

The younger gods had revolted against the older gods right around the time Troy had fallen. Before this month, neither side had even called for as much as a cease-fire in the last seven hundred years.