“It’s okay.” Mia hastened to reassure her. “It’s not your job to take care of me.”
Erik lifted a powerful shoulder. “It kind of is. We let you go free, and that leaves a certain responsibility.”
In a surprising move, Luna turned, grabbed a decorative wooden hairbrush off the vanity, and chucked it at Erik so quickly that Mia barely saw it spin through the air.
Erik caught it an inch from his nose, and his gaze darkened. “You’re a brat, my cute little scientist,” he chided.
Awareness prickled along Mia’s body.
“You’re a jackass,” Luna said, losing all sense of her usual calm and sometimes medical vocabulary.
It was all Mia could do not to laugh. “You two should just get a room,” she murmured. “Luna, is there anything else you needed today? Would you like to stay for coffee?”
Luna shook her head. “No, I’ll be leaving your territory.” With that, she stomped toward the window.
“Be careful.” Erik scooped her up and easily leapt outside. “I’ll make sure you get to the tree line safely.” He chuckled, and when Luna punched him in the throat, he laughed harder.
Mia watched them go. As Erik jumped off the roof, her brow furrowed. Her life had become absolutely insane.
Shaking her head, she wandered down to the kitchen to find her mom sitting at the table petting a gorgeous, sable kitten with bright blue eyes. Her eyebrows rose. “We have a cat now? This is getting ridiculous.” They had a puppy, a grown wolf in the form of Erik who wouldn’t leave them alone, and now a cat.
Her mom’s hand was steady on the cat’s fur as she petted it, making the animal purr. “Yes. I was playing mahjong yesterday, and my friend Louise’s cat recently had a litter. This is little Contessa. I don’t know, but I feel like having animals around really brings peace.”
Mia snorted and then caught herself. Sometimes, she forgot that her mom didn’t know about wolf shifters. “Peace, huh?” She caught wind of coffee and wandered over to see if it was decaf or regular.
“I’m sorry, honey,” her mom said. “It’s decaf. I’m trying to stay calm these days.”
How convenient. “Oh, no. Decaf is fine,” she assured, quickly pouring herself a cup.
“Since when?” Gena asked.
Now that was a hard one to explain, wasn’t it? “I don’t know. I think calm is good.” Mia took a deep gulp and wandered over to pet the cat. She purred and looked up at Mia, her cute little nose twitching. “Well, she is adorable,” she had to admit. “No more animals, though, okay? I think the several we have—if we’re counting the wolves around here—are good enough.”
Her mom laughed. “The wolves are wild, sweetie. They won’t be around forever.”
Ha. That’s what her mom thought. Mia just smiled. “All right. Whatever you say, Mom.”
“Oh, before I forget,” Gena said, “you got a phone call yesterday on my cell.”
How strange. Why would anybody call her mother to reach her? “I did? My cell phone was with me so anybody could’ve gotten a hold of me.”
“I thought it was very odd.” Gena pulled her cell out from under a stack of tangled yarn. “It was a man, and he said he left a present for you.”
Mia’s hands tightened around her coffee cup. “A man said he left a present for me?”
“Yes, and it was hard to tell where he was calling from. Lots of traffic in the background. He said he got our numbers mixed up and wanted to make sure you knew that he left you the present with a big red bow.”
Mia frowned. “I didn’t get a present with a big red bow. Did he give you his name?”
“No,” Gena answered. “His voice was smooth, so maybe he’s charming? Almost like he was a secret admirer.” Her eyes lit up. “Do you think you have a secret admirer?”
“I sure hope not,” Mia muttered. “Did you see the caller ID?”
“Yes, it came up as an unknown number,” her mom said. “He called about, oh, I don’t know, maybe four in the afternoon.”
That didn’t sound good. Warning ticked down Mia’s back. “I’m going to need to take a look at your phone, all right?” She’d ask the techs in either Seattle or DC to investigate.
“Sure.” Gena handed it over. “Feel free.”
