Page 20 of The Fated Mate Bandit

“What did you overhear, man?” Link asks.

Coin shakes his head. “I can’t share that information with you.” He turns to Quin. “I already deleted the audio files and removed the bug from the car. I swear that I won’t tell a soul what I heard. But I thought our family needed to know that he isn’t dangerous.”

I wish I had overheard whatever was on that audio file. Something juicy, probably.

“If you tell us, we’ll totally keep it a secret,” Link promises.

Coin rolls his eyes. “Absolutely not. You’re shit at keeping secrets. Also, I’m still mad that you brought the taxidermy turkey. That thing is nasty.”

“You brought the turkey?” I ask.

Link grins and bobs his head up and down.

“What turkey?” Lucas asks.

Quin sighs. “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

But Link is already on his way out the door, probably to go get it.

“It smells like the dumpster he got it from,” Coin says. “We had to suffer the stench all the way here. It was horrible.”

I can’t help but laugh.

10

LUCAS

Ibutter the bread while Link slices the cheese and Silver hooks up the electric grill. Tin babysits the tomato soup heating up on the stove and Quin sets out cookies on a plate.

It reminds me of when we were little and Ruby gave each of us a task to do before dinner. Chopping vegetables or stirring the gravy made me feel like one of her sons. She’d always say, “many hands make work light.” I loved that.

“I can smell it from here,” Coin says. “I bet Lucas is dying. He’s pregnantanda wolf shifter.”

He’s referring to the stuffed thing sitting on one of the dining room chairs. At some point, it must have been a real turkey. It smells of death underneath the scent of rotten food and chemicals. But not all its feathers are real. Some of them have been replaced with more colorful variations, and its eyeballs are definitely fake. They have eyelids that open and close, like an old school babydoll.

“I’m okay,” I assure them, even though the smell is really awful.

“He’s just being nice,” Coin says. “Lucas is always nice, remember? Even when he’s dying from how bad your dumpster taxidermy turkey stinks.”

Link waves away his concern. “Just wait a few minutes and you’ll get used to the smell.”

Silver lets out a cough that sounds suspiciously like a laugh. They haven’t changed a bit.

When we were growing up, Link was always doing something stupid that annoyed Coin and Silver found secretly amusing.

“I guess my question is… why did you want that thing?” Quin asks.

“Because it’s awesome!” Link turns to me. “It looks like it was stolen from a movie set or something, don’t you think?”

“The set of a horror movie,” Coin says.

I hold back a laugh because Coin is absolutely right.

Quin turns his head to look at it from another angle. “I think it’s the eyes that really creep me out. They’re too big for a turkey.”

“Aren’t turkey eyes all black? They don’t have irises, right?” Tin asks.

Quin points at him. “Right! That must be it.”

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