“Neither is Decebel. When he asked me why the cakes had to be from Dallas, I told him ‘Because everything is bigger in Texas, duh.’”
Sally rolled her eyes. She should have seen that one coming.
All the girls spoke atonce, expressing their own mates’ responses, which were all something along the lines of ‘What the hellare you doing in Texas?’, and then all of the females laughed.
“To be fair,” Jacque said, “we’dbe mad if they decided to stay overnight in a different country without talking to us about it first.”
“Who said anything about being fair?” Peri folded her arms across her chest.
“Wadim keeps pointing out that we don’thaveto stay the night since we have flashing fae that could bring us back in an instant,” Zara said.
A brow on Elle’s forehead rose. “He makes us sound like strippers.”
“That can be arranged,” Jen offered.
“Sally-mine.”Costin’s voice in her mind drew her attention from the group.“No stripping.”
She mentally scoffed.“Did you just mistake me for Decebel’s mate?”
“I’m also talking about stripclubs. The male variety,”he growled.“Or female. Or any variety for that matter.”
“What other varieties are there?”
“I don’t know,”he replied.“But I don’t want you to find out.”
“How did you go from Christmas shopping to strip clubs in a matter of minutes?”
“The same way everything goes to stripping when Jen is involved.”
Sally shrugged a shoulder.“You got me there.”
“Please, be safe.”His voice was tight with the worry she could feel coming through their bond. Her mate still had a hard time being away from her, and she understood why, but she also knew that she couldn’t be attached to his hip. It wouldn’t be healthy for either of them.
“My hip disagrees, as does my wolf,”he grumbled.
“I’ll be safe. Give Titus a hug and kiss for me. I love you. I’ll keep the bond wide open.”Sally waited to see what he would say. After nearly a minute—she’d counted—he finally responded.
“If anything feels off, even a little, promise me Peri and Elle will bring you back immediately.”
Sally felt his fingertips run down her face and one of his hands run down the middle of her back where her markings were. He wasn’t playing fair.
“I promise,”she answered, doing her best to ignore his attempt at physical coercion.
Sally mentally blew him a kiss and then returned her focus to the females around her. She could tell by the looks on some of their faces that they were still having conversations with their mates through their bonds. Those who were still talking looked irritated. The ones who’d finishedappearedeager to get their Christmas shopping on.
“All right, ladies,” Jacque said as she motioned everyone to gather closer. “I think we should divide into two groups with a fae in each one. We can cover more ground that way.”
“Divide and conquer.” Jen nodded. “I like it.”
Sally rolled her eyes. “You two do realize this is a shopping trip not a military coup, right?”
“I thought everything was a military operation in Jen’s mind,” Crina quipped.
“You thought right,” Jen said. “Because we never know when the shnizzle is going to hit the fizzan.”
“Shnizzle?” asked Jacque. The entire group blinked at Jen.
“What?” Jen huffed. “I’ve got a kid who is learning to curse before she can even speak in full sentences.I’m trying to clean up my vocabulary.”
