Page 69 of The Fated Mate Bandit

“That’s perfect,” I say.

“Let’s get outta here. Most of the baby stores close early around here. And we gotta get to the piercer.”

The piercer? As in a body piercer?

I look at Quin, who has a nose ring and several dermal piercings. Is that part of the process? Ruby, Aunt Emerald, and Aunt Crystal all have piercings too.

I wonder what Silver will get.

“Have fun!” I say.

Uncle Dagger pats Silver on the back. “We brought a little money with us, but I gotta be honest with you. Quin cleaned us out not long ago, so we haven’t had a lot time to save for this. ‘Course, he was into fancy goblets. If all you need are some baby blankets and chew toys, maybe we’ll be golden.”

Silver smiles at me just before walking out the door with his family.

“Shouldn’t he change out of his uniform?” Aunt Crystal asks.

“Nah. It’ll be fine,” Uncle Dagger insists.

They close the front door behind them.

30

SILVER

Uncle Dagger and Aunt Emerald take the front two seats of the camper. The rest of us crowd into the bench in the cabin.

“Do we need to drive the camper for this?” Quin asks. He’s squashed into the corner.

“We have too many people for a car now,” Uncle Dagger says.

“Maybe it’s time for one of us to get a van or something,” Aunt Crystal mutters under her breath.

The camper has not been renovated since its glory days in the seventies, when avocado carpet and matching seat coverings were in style. Despite the smell of mothballs and mildew, Uncle Dagger’s managed to keep it pretty clean, but the shocks are not what they used to be. We bounce around with every divot in the road.

“What exactly are we doing?” I ask. “It’s good to see you and everything. Really, it is. But I just got Lucas back, and if he could come with us?—”

“It’s tradition for raccoon shifters to shop for their collection with their family,” Quin explains. “It’s a rite of passage.”

“It is? But no one ever said?—”

“We don’t tell the kids because they’re not invited,” Mom says. “It’s just those of us who already have collections of our own.”

Uncle Dagger does a sharp turn, and we all lean into Quin.

“This can’t be safe,” he squeaks.

“Where are we going?” Aunt Emerald asks.

“That baby store by the riverwalk,” Uncle Dagger says.

“That’s a human baby store. They won’t have shifter stuff. We should just go to a department store,” Aunt Emerald suggests.

“I think we should go to the piercer,” Quin says.

“What does Silver want?” Mom asks.

Everyone turns to me. Even Uncle Dagger, which means we narrowly miss running a red light.

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