Page 52 of Stripped

Iris' smile widened. “I'm so glad, dear. Let me know if you need anything else.”

She whipped out of the living room, leaving me and Zane alone for about two seconds before Axel and Julie joined us.

We all ate in silence for a few moments. “How bad is it?” Zane asked.

Axel looked up from his food and shot a look my way. “It's bad, man. Maybe we could talk about this later?”

Zane tensed and I could feel another fight brewing. “It's fine,” I said. “I don't need to hear this.”

“It's not fine,” Zane said. “Did you know Abby has a ton of business experience and she's got a degree in business? She could help us.”

Axel shook his head. “We can't risk telling her too much and having it get back to Leopold.”

Zane leaned back and rested one ankle on his knee, his plate of food resting on his flat abs. He looked relaxed, easy, but he was rippling with tension, his expression hard. “It won't be a problem because she is never getting anywhere near Leopold ever again.”

“I'm with Zane,” Julie said. “We could use someone with business sense to offer advice.”

Axel turned and looked at her, his expression pathetic, like a dog who's been unexpectedly kicked by its owner. “I'm not trying to be a dick, Jules. I'm trying to do the right thing for the pack.”

Julie sighed and patted his shoulder. “I get that, babe, but there's not going to be a pack at all if we don't figure out how to generate some income and fast.”

“You don't have to tell me anything,” I said. “I know enough. You're broke. Leopold and his vamps have taken steps, like closing Zane's yoga studio, to force the pack out of this territory. Does anyone know why?”

Axel glared at Julie and Zane like he was daring them to speak.

“Our best guess,” Zane said, glaring right back at Axel, “is that the vamps want the wolves in the pack, not the territory. They prefer wolf blood for some reason. They figure if they make life difficult enough for us, we'll be desperate enough to do whatever they want us to do.”

“To be their blood bags,” Julie said. “But I swear something else is going on. The vamps I fought were stronger than they should have been. Like maybe wolf blood actually gives them more power.”

“Except we've never seen that happen before,” Axel said, apparently accepting that he wasn't going to be able to keep me out of the loop. “None of their motives matter if we can't figure out how to make some money.”

“I don't understand,” I said. “Didn't you just film a reality show?”

“We didn't get paid for that,” Axel said, his brow twisted in confusion.

Julie didn't look confused. “We didn't pick up any sponsors, either.”

“Really?” I said. “But you have a huge fan base, right? I mean I've seen stuff on the news. Your show did amazingly well.”

Julie shrugged. “We've got people who love us, but we've got an almost equally large number of people who despise and fear us. We're a risk for sponsors.”

I nodded, thinking it over between bites of soup. “So, you need to go to your fan base. Come up with your own products that will appeal to fans of the show and sell to them.” I looked at Axel. “Don't you weld amazing artsy fartsy stuff?”

Axel scowled. “I weld huge hunks of manly metal into manly objects and animals.”

Julie snorted. “He can only create them so fast, what with running a pack and being so manly. We've sold everything he's made. The money didn't go very far.”

I yawned, exhaustion overwhelming me. “You need to raise your prices on that stuff. How much do you charge now?”

“Sweetheart,” Zane said. “We can talk about this in the morning. You're exhausted.”

“Just this one thing,” I said. “And I'll go to bed.”

“Two hundred for the big pieces, one for the medium, and the small ones go for anywhere from twenty to fifty bucks.”

I just stared at him for a moment, sure my exhaustion was affecting my hearing. “I'm not an art expert, but that sounds stupid cheap. I could sell your sweat-soaked t-shirt on eBay for two hundred.”

Axel grimaced. “I don't want to rip people off.”

I yawned again and looked to Julie for help. She shrugged. “I already told him he wasn't charging enough.”

“You're only ripping people off if they have no other options but to buy your stuff. I'm going to do some research on what that sort of stuff typically goes for and we can meet to discuss it tomorrow.”

I didn't wait for an answer. I kissed Zane's cheek, stood, and went back to his room. I collapsed on the bed and fell asleep to the sound of Axel, Julie, and Zane's muffled voices from the next room.

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