“As he passed me, he leaned to Curran and handed him a paper fan folded from some sort of flyer.Curran looked at the fan. “What?”"An emergency precaution, Your Majesty. In case the lady faints.”Curran just stared at him.Raphael strode toward the Pit, turned, flexed a bit, and winked at me."Give me that,” I told Curran. “I need to fan myself.”"No, you don’t.”

“Curran and Kate stood by the door.“I can’t believe you decided to come down here and check on me,” she said.“The guy once handed you a fan and told you to fan yourself if the sight of his naked torso was too much.”“That was like a year ago. Will you let it go already?”“No.” Curran grabbed her and pulled her to him, kissing her. “Never.”She kissed him back and smiled.Awww. Kate and the Beast Lord sitting in a tree…”

“Don't worry, he's coming with me to investigate things.""In the city?" Jim asked."Yes.""That's a great idea. You both should go. To the city."Curran and I looked at each other."He's trying to get rid of us," I said."You think he's planning a coup?" Curran wondered."I hope so." I turned to Jim. "Is there any chance you'd overthrow the tyrannical Beast Lord and his psychotic Consort?""Yeah, I want a vacation," Curran said.Jim leaned toward us and said in a lowered voice, "You couldn't pay me enough. This is your mess, you deal with it. I have enough on my plate."He walked away."Too bad," Curran said."I don't know, I think we could convince him to seize the reins of power."Curran shook his head. "Nahh. He's too smart for that.”

“Curran looked at me. “What the hell was I supposed to do, catch the werebison as he was falling?”

“Curran scrutinized Mart’s face. “I can’t figure out if he wants to kill you or screw you.”“I’ll be glad to make the choice for him.”Curran looked back at me. “Why is it you always attract creeps?”“You tell me.” Ha! Walked right into that one, yes, he did.”

“The man in 4B wondered if he could have your autograph. He told me his daughter is a huge fan.”Fan? What the hell? Dylan lifted himself up and looked over the back of his seat. Since when did covert operators have fans?”