wanted to seduce you while at the spa. Couples are welcome at the spa. Children are discouraged.” Making children wasn’t discouraged, and I wasn’t going to make Sebastian aware the place was designed with lycanthropes in mind.
Their rooms cost extra because they used furniture that might survive through amorous lycanthropes. They had soundproofed rooms, too.
“Do I get to stay in your room for the week?”
My virus made it clear there was only one appropriate answer to his question. As her desire aligned closely to my goal of making him roar for me, I nodded. “But you better put up a good fight with my family. And convince my momma you’re actually worth keeping around. If you get offed by a clan of lynxes, that’s not my problem. I’ll even mourn for the loss of my roars.”
“And you call me a cat.”
I shrugged. “I’ll contact my family, and we’ll take our sewing machine there, but I make no promises you will survive this.”
“Is this how lycanthropes normally behave?” Carol asked.
Sebastian smirked. “That depends entirely on the lycanthropes. What that asshole did to you is not how most of us behave. Miss Murder Mittens over there has been spending years vexing me. She’s a little slow, so she hasn’t figured out she can’t live without me yet. I’m sure she’ll figure it out soon enough.”
I was a little slow? I balled my hands into fists and rested them on my hips. “What was that, Mr. Mane?”
“You’re slow. All you’ve accomplished is making me roar from frustration. There are two other options you’ve failed to pursue. Not only are you slow, you’re not all that thorough. Are you sure you’re qualified to be handled by me? I am, after all, a lion. A perfect feline.”
I scowled. “You’re going to regret that, Mr. Mane.”
“Am I?” He chuckled. “That’s cute. Why don’t you give your family a call while I pay for your excess, Miss Murder Mittens?”
Damned lion. I hissed at him but headed for my truck so I could make a call and wait for the cops and CDC to arrive.
I leaned against my father’s truck and wondered what I’d tell my family. The truth would work the best. The truth would result in me joining Sebastian in being lightly tenderized for being a deceptively evil lynx.
That sewing machine needed to come home with me, and if I had to keep the lion, so be it. Not only would I keep the lion, I’d fight my family for him. His roars were mine, and I wasn’t going to share.
My virus approved.
After several minutes of delaying, I dialed the house line, sighed, and waited for someone to answer.
“Wells residence,” one of my many brothers answered.
“Hey, whichever brother of mine you are. I need a favor.”
“Already? Didn’t you just leave this morning, Harri?” My brother laughed. “I’m Alex, the best of your brothers.”
It took me a moment to remember that Alex was one of the more troublesome and overprotective of my eldest brothers. “Ah, the bane of the first litter. All hail the bane of the first litter. So, a favor. Can I call one in?”
“What do you need?”
Alex had some mercy on me, so I might survive the next few hours. “I am weak, and I found a sewing machine I can’t live without. The sewing machine comes with a manly lycanthrope who has volunteered to help me haul it home. As such, at some ridiculous hour tonight, I am returning home with my new sewing machine and my lycanthrope. I am leaving the sewing machine, where it won’t even be scratched, and I’m resuming my trip with my manly lycanthrope.”
“Could you repeat that?”
“Which part?”
“The manly lycanthrope part.”
I snickered. Some lies were easier to tell than others, and I’d get away with my fibbing because it classified as so crazy it just had to be true. “Did you really think I was going to Cincinnati to a spa for a week, with the intention of being all by my lonesome?”
“Uh, yes. Yes, we did. Because the last time a wolf came over, he flinched. You didn’t cry that time, but we could all see the heartbreak in your eyes. As such, we beat the wolf once you couldn’t catch us beating the wolf for hurting your feelings. You haven’t tried to meet any men since.”
“I did actually cry. For five whole minutes, just like I do every time a wolf runs away after flinching. Mostly because I was angry, but my tender, fragile heart was