“Yes, that basket is yours. It is a prize for being possibly the best behaved lynx on the entire planet. I had no idea it was possible for a lynx to masquerade as an angel, but that is your reward for having pulled it off. As lions are perfection, I was given a basket as a gift for gracing this fine establishment with my presence.”
“You are such a lion.”
“We didn’t even receive a single noise complaint,” the woman said with a sly grin. “That is even more miraculous than a lynx behaving like an angel.”
I laughed at Sebastian. “Lions have a reputation, I see. For being noisy.”
His strained sigh amused me almost as much as his roars. “Your establishment’s superior soundproofing is the only reason I earned that basket.”
The woman laughed. “Thank you. We hope you have had a pleasant stay with us.”
Sebastian finished paying for the room, hid the receipt so I couldn’t peek at how excessive our indulgences were, and took hold of his basket. “We’re going to need to make a few trips, and we’re going to be challenged fitting this all into the cab.”
We really would be. We hadn’t even opened most of the presents, and I still had unwrapped boxes from the first basket. “You’re a good distraction, Mr. Mane. I’ll fetch the truck, you guard the presents.”
If I gave the lion a chance to argue with me, he would, so I headed for the door with my basket. While I’d checked on my father’s truck every day, I checked it over again, satisfied it had survived its adventure to Cincinnati without incident. I put the basket on the backseat, got behind the wheel, and eased the monster of a vehicle to the front doors so we could load everything inside.
Everything did fit, although it took us a few minutes to organize it. “This stuff won’t even fit in my place. There won’t be room for me.”
“I’ve decided I’m taking you home with me, although I’ll take you to your current place to retrieve everything you own. From the comfort of my current home, we will look for a home we both like. But I’m indulging in an act of kidnapping.”
The thought of him putting his strength to good use earned him a purr. “Can I struggle?”
“Absolutely. I’m counting on you struggling and wiggling for my enjoyment. I had no idea how much fun I’d have with a lynx who likes putting up a fight, but my life has become so much more enjoyable recently.”
“Which one of us is driving?”
“I’m driving. You’ll be planning and scheming how to approach this serial killer. I’m hoping we’ve gotten more information on him during our week here. I wasn’t really happy with the intel I had on him, in that we had a suspect list but no real proof any one of them is the one responsible.”
“Thus the CDC wanting to throw me under the bus because I meet the general appearance, size, and shape of the other victims.”
“And with the clock ticking for when the CDC and FBI expect the next batch of bodies to show up, they are hoping we can identify the killer—or killers—before that happens, but if we can’t, that we can catch them in the aftermath.” Sebastian sighed and waited for me to get a move on. I climbed into the truck and buckled in. “It worked out you had a week planned at the spa. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been able to handle you hunting this guy without cementing a mating bond. My virus would have gone ballistic.”
Mine wouldn’t have, not in the same way. Mine would have gone on a murderous rampage. In some ways, I wondered if my virus’s inclination to reject males was so strong she wouldn’t accept mating with an unwanted asshole. All-in-all, I was grateful for my virus’s unusual nature. “Mine just likes to murder unsuitable males. There were jobs I had to seriously fight her over because she wanted to permanently dispatch the asshole where the job was for a live capture.”
“Yes, there was a special note in your file about your general negative reaction to men. I’m relieved your virus just wanted me and wasn’t accepting any other options.”
“You still should have let me pay for my share of room service.”
“You paid for the room and the spa treatments. You did realize that my share was already included, right? You bought a package meant for two people, Harri.”