After we hung up, I called my assistant to see if she wanted to earn extra money helping me out at the store, but as expected, she declined. Alice was supremely shy and worked from home. She used to come over on the rare occasion when Melody was at work, but after Lakota moved in, all that changed. I wasn’t sure what Alice’s animal was, but she didn’t put out the wolf vibe at all. Sometimes a person’s physical appearance hinted toward their animal, but she didn’t have excessively furry arms or anything like that. Her delicate features were beguiling even if she wasn’t conventionally attractive. It must have been the red hair. Redheads were coveted in the Breed world, especially by Shifters. But her introverted personality didn’t make it likely she’d ever find a mate. Because of that, I’d generously offered her more opportunities to earn money helping us out. She was clever and quick to learn my designs, but unfortunately, she had no interest in working inside our busy store.
Luckily one of Melody’s aunts had free time on Sunday to watch the store for half a day. I figured she could work the morning shift and that would allow me some time to sleep in since I’d have a long week ahead.
“These pants are so unique,” a woman gushed. “I don’t normally wear slacks; I’m from a different generation. But these are marvelous and so feminine. They almost look like a dress.”
I rang up the price of the olive-green slacks with the wide legs. “If you like these, my partner plans to have more color options available soon. They’re popular, and we’ve had a number of requests for blue and salmon.”
She adjusted her gold-rimmed sunglasses. “I’ll be sure to stop in again and look for them.”
“Is this your first time at Moonglow?”
“Yes.” Then the lady cupped her hand around her mouth and whispered, “I’m a Mage.”
I smiled and touched her hand. “We welcome everyone here. My partner and I are Shifters, but we have friends and family who are other Breeds. Nothing pleases us more than to see people of all races wearing our merchandise.”
She respectfully inclined her head. “I’ll definitely be coming back. You can count on it.”
I closed her bag and slid it forward. “We also don’t tolerate discrimination, so if anyone ever gives you a hard time in here, let me know. I slipped a coupon in the bag for fifty percent off on your next visit. Have a wonderful afternoon.”
She turned away with a jaunty step and pranced out the door. I knew it was excessively idealistic, but nothing made me happier than thinking that maybe in some small way, we were bringing people together. So much division existed in our world that it was nice to have a safe place where people could put aside their differences.
As the woman exited the shop, a tall man held the door open for her.
My breath caught.
Tak filled the doorway, his brown skin and ropes of muscle caught in the afternoon sunlight. By the looks of his cargo pants and black muscle shirt, he hadn’t changed clothes. But he’d taken the time to neatly braid his hair. His eyes lingered on one of the mannequins in the window that wore a sneak peek of a new clothing line coming next month. He gravitated toward the Native American artwork on the wall and didn’t notice me as he sauntered in. A blonde sidestepped to avoid running into him.
“How much are these?” a young girl asked, pointing at my beaded bracelets on the revolving display.
“Twenty dollars.”
She grimaced. “Got anything cheaper?”
I recognized this girl from one of the local packs and knew she didn’t have much money to spend. Teens in the Breed world didn’t have credit cards, and most didn’t have jobs until they became independent.
I gestured to a tall display in the corner. “We have a few pretty rings for as low as fifteen dollars over there. These are special stones, so no two pieces are alike. That’s as low as I can price them, but it’s totally worth it. Everything you see in this store was mined, sold, and created by Shifters. Try finding that at Walmart.”
She grinned blithely and hurried off to check them out.
Why on earth had I made that promise to Lakota about closing early? Especially when there were more buyers than browsers today.
A man slapped his plastic bag on the counter. “Are you the manager? I need to speak to the manager.”
I flicked a glance at his hairy arms, immediately put off by his surly demeanor. “That would be me. Can I help you with something?”
“You sure as hell can. You sold me a piece-of-shit purse. I gave it to my mate, and it had a broken strap.”
I furrowed my brow. “We don’t have a return policy for damages.”
“It came that way.”
I pulled the purse out of the bag and examined the strap. It looked as though it had been ripped off, threads hanging loose. Melody’s purses could survive an attempted burglary, so it didn’t make sense. “This purse was damaged after it left our shop.”
“Are you calling me a liar?”
I squared my shoulders. “My partner and I inspect each piece of merchandise before we wrap it. There’s not a chance we would have sold you a five-hundred-dollar bag with a broken strap. Do you have the receipt, Mister…?”
“Dumont.” He angrily reached in the bag and waved the paper in front of my face. Mr. Dumont stared daggers at me with his beady eyes—the only feature on his face I could see behind his bushy beard. He didn’t strike me as the type who would buy an expensive handbag for a mate, but I had to put aside speculation and focus on the facts. He didn’t look familiar, so Melody must have been the one to ring up his order.
