Considering I hadn’t had a bonus over two figures since I’d contracted lycanthropy, any bonus would make my holiday season cheerful and bright. “Does the bonus come right before Christmas?”
“It can come any time of year you want, although we do usually issue them in November, as we’ve found families prefer having the extra funds available before the holidays.”
“Oh.” It’d been so long since I’d had a family to do anything over the holidays with, I’d forgotten how November was even more ideal for most than right before Christmas. “That’s okay with me.”
“Excellent. Read over everything. If you have questions or concerns, I’ll answer them. If you like what you’ve read, we’ll sign the documents, and I’ll send them to one of the secretaries who handles these documents for me, and it’ll be processed. I’ll flag your move-in date as immediately, so as soon as you’ve decided to release me from your custody, I’ll make arrangements for the movers.”
“My landlord has a spare key. I can call him and tell him I’ve been cruelly coerced into moving out.” I read through the pages, skipping the standard lycanthropy waivers, to determine he’d been honest about the terms he’d proposed to convince me to leave my apartment for better waters. “If you make me regret this, I will go out of my way to make your daily life as horrible as possible.”
“I’ll do my best to keep you from regretting your decision.”
I held out my hand and waggled my fingers. “Pen.”
He pulled a pen out of his briefcase and handed it over, and I started at the beginning of the document, initialing and signing as required until I reached the final page. Making a show of sighing, I signed on the final line and dated it before handing the papers over. “There. I have signed my soul over for good rent.”
In record time, Wayne also signed the paperwork. Taking out his phone, he took pictures of the sheets before tapping at the screen. “And done.”
Within a minute, his phone pinged.
“And that’s the confirmation of receipt. I’ll give your landlord a call tonight and let him know about the situation. Are you really all right with movers going in and handling everything without you being there?”
“I hate moving.”
He chuckled. “Wise people do. I’ll take care of everything.”
“But don’t I have to pay for it? They’ll make me give them money, and since we live in New York, it’ll be a lot of money.”
“Normally, the answer would be yes, but in this case, the answer is no. And anyway, I paid for the other tenants’ moves during negotiations, but in your case, I’m paying for it because I want to. It also makes certain you’re moved out before we’re back from our little adventure.”
“This adventure has sucked so far.” Not even the little hit of pixie dust could erase how much the so-called adventure had sucked. “I want to kill off those two idiots. They piss me off.”
“They piss you off so much you’re cranky even with pixie dust, and that’s a feat considering how little you need to get a good buzz going.” Wayne went to my purse, picked it up, and set it on the coffee table in front of him. “At the risk of being murdered, I am going to look through your pixie dust stash to determine just how much trouble we could potentially get into tonight.”
“I can make just about anyone my slave with the contents of my purse.”
Wayne hesitated, eyeing my purse with interest. “You have my attention.”
“I already made you a slave once today, Wayne. I do not need to make you a slave a second time today. And all you have to do to get that same result with me is give me a lower grade of pixie dust.”
“You’re really susceptible to it, aren’t you?”
“That’s one way to put it.”
“If you want a hit of pixie dust to take the edge off, take what you want, and I’ll promise to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”
“I will cuddle you into a near-death state, Wayne. I am barred from it because I become a fiend in dire need of affection.”
“I don’t see how this is a problem. I can put a movie on, you can get your cuddles in, and relax. We do things like that because we like it without the inclusion of pixie dust.”
“You do not randomly cuddle with people.”
“I see I will need to put the alpha of our pack on the phone with you for verification.”
I frowned. “Who is the alpha?”
“James. Here. I’ll call him, and he can talk to you.” Without waiting for me to agree, he dialed a number and held his phone to his ear. “Hey, James. What? No. I’m busy with some business. A lady I’m keeping company with has no experience with packs, and as I’m biased and she is uncertain I will give her an honest answer, could you take a few minutes to tell her about pack life? Particularly, she wants to know about how mated and unmated lycanthropes act when televisions are involved. Yes, you may as well. Yes. No, I didn’t mention that because I doubted she’d believe me. Here, I’m handing the phone over to her.”
I eyed the device like it would bite me, but I took it, glared at Wayne, and asked, “Hello?”
