Christian put his arm around me, and we strolled down the aisle. “That cantankerous man who sired you wants nothing to do with me. You’re the only reason he tolerates my presence. In what universe of existence do you think he would permit me to do anything to help better his situation?”
“I’m not asking you to get his permission to help him. I’m asking you to help him whether he wants it or not. He’s almost sixty. That’s not old, but he’s lived a hard life—harder than most. He’s a blue-collar worker with a dark past and trauma from his military days. He’s a former alcoholic. He spent years thinking his only child was dead, and he lost his only love in a fire. That kind of thing accelerates your age, and his diet isn’t doing him any favors. I’m not asking you to help him live forever. I… I just don’t want him to die alone and nobody finds him for weeks.”
“Especially with a hungry dog in the house.”
“Will you promise me? Even if he pulls out the shotgun and tells you to leave him alone?”
Christian stopped in front of me and gripped my shoulders. “Aye, Precious. But I draw the line at changing his nappies.”
I leaned into him while a group of teenagers took videos of each other posing by the giant raccoon mascot. When one of them aimed her phone at Christian, I remembered he had on the tail. “Come on. We’ve got an audience.”
“Oh. My. God. I totally want one of those!” a green-haired girl said excitedly.
“What happens if I take this wretched thing off?” Christian asked, swiping a sucker from a candy carousel. “I can’t see the point of suffering this humiliation for a favor.”
“Then take it off.”
After removing the wrapper and licking the sucker, he asked, “Anything I want? No exceptions aside from the marrying part?”
“Yep. And I know I’m gonna win.”
“And how do you figure that?”
I grinned. “Because we’re not going straight home. I’m thirsty. Do you think Flavors is busy tonight? Or what about Red Door? They always have a line outside. Oh wait. Maybe we should go to a Shifter bar.”
“You’re insufferable.”
Both our phones simultaneously vibrated, and we stopped to look. It was a message from Wyatt. Mr. X had given us the location of the second oligarch, and we had to leave now.
“I don’t have weapons,” I said quietly. “Just a push dagger.” I shoved my phone back in my purse and put on my fingerless gloves. “I didn’t even bring a jacket.”
“We don’t have time.”
“Two seconds!” I ran to the back of the store and snapped my fingers at the worker to meet me at the knife counter. “I’m in a hurry!”
While he took his sweet time coming over, I quickly scanned the collection.
“What would you like to look at?” he asked.
“How much for these?” I pointed at a tall display.
“Which one?”
“All.”
He cocked his head to the side and looked at me as if I was wasting his time.
I pulled out a large bill from my wallet and slapped it on the counter. These were hunting and survival knives, so they weren’t pricey. “Look, I’m really late and don’t have the time. Give me the serrated one along with the sheath, the folding blade with the brown handle, and—” My eyes locked on a small black knife. “Is that a switchblade?”
He took it out. “Folding knife. It’s got a locking mechanism and deploys when you push this.”
I gripped that bad boy in my hand and then gave him my ID, which had my alias. Once he rang up the amount and took the money, I grabbed the sack and said, “Keep the change!”
“Wait!”
But I couldn’t wait. I had murder to commit.
CHAPTER14
