Page 79 of Feral

“Aunt Prudence,” I said, giving her a halfhearted kiss on the cheek and trying not to gag on her perfume. “What are you doing here?”

“Why, is that anyway to say hello?” My aunt’s overly made up face turned to Fraser and she thrust her chest out a little more. “Who is this now, someone you’re working for?”

“I’m her boyfriend,” Fraser replied, slipping into the lie easily.

Aunt Prudence stared with wide eyes and then dissolved into a fit of snorting giggles.

“Oh, what? No! Come now, what is this? Be serious now, you’re joking!”

Fraser’s look turned cold and he looked his nose down at my aunt.

“No, I’m not. In fact, I’m quite serious about your niece.”

“Oh, well,quite serious, eh?” she winked at me. “That sounds…well, unexpected. Well done, dear. Youfinallycaught a good looking one.”

I wanted the floor to open up and swallow Aunt Prudence whole.

Or maybe just a shelf to fall over and conk her on the head so she’ll shut up.

“Is Uncle George with you?” I asked, desperate to get the attention off of me.

“Yes, he’s here on some business for the University. We were supposed to be vacationing in Italy this week but no, he had to cancel it. Now we’re running around here. You know, we were in Paris first and he wouldn’t even let me shop, just a quick pop in, and then he got a phone call that we had to come to this place. Not even a proper city. What the university could have him doing in this tiny village is really beyond me.”

I cringed at her loud voice and wondered how in the world I was going to get her to leave us alone. Once a family member was cornered by aunt Prudence, it was best to just pour a big glass of wine and wait until she tires herself out. But that wasn’t a strategy I was keen to experience at the moment.

“If you’ll excuse us,” Fraser cut in, “we should be going.”

He tried to guide me away toward the front but then Uncle George appeared in front of us and I wondered what the hell I’d ever done to deserve this level of torture.

“Oh, George,” Aunt Prudence said with a chortle, “this is Daphne’s ‘boyfriend’.”

She actually put air quotes around it. Fraser looked like he was reaching his limit and while that could be entertaining, I was in no mood to deal with any fall out from it. I just wanted to get away from them and continue my conversation with Fraser.

“We really do need to go,” I said.

“He looks like he can take care of your purchases,” Uncle George said, looking at Fraser like he was an unwashed troll. “I want a word with you.”

Fraser looked at me, clearly asking if it was alright and I nodded.

“Oh, I’ll go with you,” Aunt Prudence gushed. “I saw some postcards up front that I simply must have.”

When they were both out of ear shot, Uncle George’s tight smile faded and he glared at me.

“You didn’t get your way at the University and so you decided to whore yourself out on assignment.”

I thought perhaps I hadn’t heard him right, and blinked.

“What?”

“Letting the Director send you out like this with that…thatWerewolf. It’s disgusting. I thought you had more self-respect, but it looks like I was wrong.”

Blood rushed to face and I heard ringing in my ears. Fury wasn’t an emotion I was overly familiar with, so when it erupted in me, I was always too swept up in it to notice until it was too late.

Normally, there was regret at the end. However, I highly doubted that would be the case today.

“His name is Fraser MacDonald, and he’s been nothing but wonderful to me since I was assigned to his case.”

He snorted.

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