“I’ll even pay for your clothes.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Well, you saved my suit, because I promise you, suits don’t last long when I shift. I’m a much larger hybrid than you are.”
I scowled. “That’s unfair.”
“You may be small, but you’re fierce and pretty. You had no problems with dealing with those two annoyances.”
I scowled at the reminder of why I’d revealed my hybrid form. “My virus really didn’t like that brute.”
“Nobody likes that brute,” Wayne replied, and his tone implied he knew more about the brute.
“Spill, Wayne. Do you know who he is?”
“I know of him, but I don’t know him personally.”
I bared my fangs and growled. “Who is he?”
“He’s a member of one of New York’s less savory mafia operations. That specific group welcomes lycanthropes that want to toe the line with the law, and if you have a cop who gets an infection while on duty, it’s probably because of one of those assholes. They have a reputation among the sanctioned packs.”
Great. I’d gone from a bounty to keep Wayne busy for a few days to a nightmare, one where I’d have to keep on my toes to keep my disgustingly willing victim safe. “So they’re the type to follow us around because I kicked their asses once already.”
“Yes, they are.”
“You are a pain in my ass, Wayne Barnes!”
He laughed and pointed westbound. “There’s a decent hotel an hour that way, and there’s a few good clothing stores on the way. If we’re going to have to deal with shitty assholes, at least we can do so in style. I need some new clothes, too—clothes better fitted for a hybrid, and I know just the place on the way.”
“Wait. There are stores that cater to hybrids?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, there are, and I’m about to take you to one. Best of all, you can go in with exactly what you’re wearing.”
I regarded my scrapped clothing with a scowl. “You mean almost nothing at all?”
“Precisely. It’s a good look on you, by the way.”
Damned lycanthrope males. Rather than reply, I sighed, pulled out of the cheap motel’s parking lot, and shook my head over the insanity of it all.
True to his word,he took me to a store that specialized in hybrid fashion. To my horror and dismay, it was located in a town filled with lycanthropes, judging from the overwhelming stench of single male wolf hanging in the air. My virus did the equivalent of bury her head in the sand while whimpering. I pinched my nose closed.
“I hate you, Barnes,” I announced.
“It’s not that bad.”
“Says you. It stinks of males here. It’s not pleasant. I’m going to hide in my car. There is no way I’m going out there with so many damned male wolves. Forget it. I didn’t bring my perfume.”
“You really have no idea how to act around other lycanthropes, do you?”
“Well, I tried to get rid of you, and unfortunately for me, it didn’t work. If I had managed to get rid of you, I wouldn’t have had to deal with any lycanthropes outside of work at all. The perfume works, damn it.”
“All right. That’s fair. And you weren’t brought up in a pack, so it’s completely unreasonable on my part to act like you should know the easy ways to get the men to leave you alone.”
“Is there actually a way to get them to leave me alone, and will it work on you?”
“Yes, and absolutely not.” Wayne grinned at me, got out of my car, and circled to my door, opening it before I could get the finicky lock to do what I wanted. At my refusal to unbuckle, he jabbed the button with a finger, popped it off, and snapped his fingers. “You need clothes, and I don’t want to be at this all night. Come on out. The other wolves will see you with me and make assumptions, and when they see me taking you into a clothing store, they’ll assume we’re courting. There’s no mating markers on courting pairs, but should some man bother you that you don’t want bothering you, as a single male lycanthrope keeping you company, I have certain rights to beat the shit out of anyone who bothers you, should you not beat the shit out of them first.”
Wayne’s cursing amused me. “You’re usually prim and proper.”
