Page 2 of Fur-Ever Home

His bag had other ideas. It rocked from side to side on its wheels before tipping over and spilling the contents of the smaller bag. Several people waiting at the gate turned to stare at him while he scooped up his chewing gum, eyeliner, and e-reader before zipping it closed.

He righted the larger suitcase onto its wheels, only to have the same thing happen after two more steps. A group of five young Asian men in matching black suits and eyeliner turned from the front desk, where they'd been talking to the gate agent, to glare at him. They looked like a boy band to me. In his cheap suit and matching makeup, Brian looked like a superfan.

Brian turned back to his bag, and I noticed the flush in his cheeks. That motherfucker had been trying to impress the Asian men. He must have recognized them. I turned toward my gate with a sense of satisfaction at his embarrassment.

I glanced at my tracker for the time. Shit. In less than twenty minutes, I had to make it to the other end of the terminal and onto my plane. I did what anyone would do. I ran.

… right into the bulkiest alpha I'd ever seen.

2

CONNOR

"No,I don't want to buy an NFT of the United States constitution," the woman sitting beside me at the bar said.

"How about the USS Constitution? I've got NFTs of that, too!"

"No."

"I recognize that tone," I said. "You don't realize the potential! NFTs are an investment for your future, your kids' futures."

She rolled her eyes, picked up her drink, and moved to the only vacant seat at the bar, three seats from me.

"Better luck next time," Derek said. He had the easier job on this trip, selling cryptocurrency wallets. All we had to do was corner the single alphas and betas and share the benefits of squirreling away hundreds of dollars until they became thousands of dollars. Boom, sale, sign-up, and twenty percent commission for us.

I pulled up a picture of the USS Constitution on my phone. It had a rainbow patina and a beautiful twilight sky in the background. "Maybe I should have led with this," I said. "It's beautiful, don't you think?"

"Maybe you should buy it." He winked.

"Maybe I will." Except I knew the truth. The non-fungible token wasn't worth a penny. It certainly wasn't worth the twenty dollars I'd been asking from that woman.

"That's not even the Constitution." Derek pointed at the hull. "It's the Iowa. Besides, sun's going down over the ocean, so it's on the west coast."

"How do you know? The sun could be rising."

He laughed. "The title of the NFT is literally "'Sunset over the Iowa.'"

I clicked my phone screen off and shoved it back into my fancy black leather fanny pack with a huff.

"You look fucking ridiculous," Derek teased as I zipped the pack shut.

"I told you it would be harder for me to make a sale at the airport. I travel light."

Derek shook his head. "You're a mess. That suit looks like you slept in it. And no tailored cut in the world will help you pull off a fanny pack."

"It's practical!" I grinned as he sipped his Long Island Iced Tea. "Do you know how many omegas I've coaxed into bed with this thing? They love how parental it looks."

He paused mid-sip and choked. A little dribble of tea came out of his nose.

I unzipped my pack, rooted around for the travel tissues I kept in there, and handed him one. "See?"

"Parental," he huffed between bouts of coughing. "You are a hoot, Con. It's too bad—" He cut himself off with a hard swallow and took a long drink from his tall glass.

"Too bad, what?"

He sighed. "You'll find out when we get back to Phoenix, anyway. The boss is downsizing. He said he gave me the crypto assignment because he wanted me to win."

"This was a … a competition?" I'd been helping Derek with his sales, thinking I was doing it for our employer. Derek was the newest hire on the team, while I'd been working with Hank since the beginning. Hell, adding cryptocurrency to our NFT business had been my idea!

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