Page 102 of Moon Tamed

“But will there be books?” I demanded.

“Not until after you shift,” Calden replied with a wicked smirk. “Let’s see how long you last.”

I gave it about ten minutes before I snapped, but rather than tell him that, I faked a sniff and went into the store to find out what sort of attire Calden had in mind for me.

Calden went overboard, buying an entire new wardrobe that would last me at least three weeks without having to wear anything twice. We engaged in a snarling match at the cashier, who looked on with amusement. He ultimately won the dispute through tossing his wallet at the woman while preventing me from doing the same.

The bemused cashier located his credit card, inquired if that was the one he wanted to use, and at his confirmation, began the payment process. We paused our growling long enough for him to sign the receipt and get his wallet and card back.

“I can pay for my own clothes, Calden.” Thanks to his excess, he couldn’t carry everything at once, giving me a chance to haul my fair share.

His expression informed me he’d wanted to carry everything.

“You can, but you won’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re about to be kidnapped for two to three weeks because of my father’s unwavering ethics.”

“This is not a bad thing.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

We bickered over that the entire time we loaded the SUV, and I went as far as hissing at him.

“We’re wolves, not cats.”

“I’m not a wolf or a cat right now, thank you!”

“You will be a wolf, so you should be growling rather than hissing.”

“Growling wasn’t working!”

“Growling won’t work, and neither will hissing. I’ve won this war, Miss Patten. And after we get the laptops and ditch my father, we’re going on an extended date, where we pretend we’ve been kidnapped. This means we get to be lazy, they’ll feed us at the appropriate intervals, and as soon as you get around to showing some fur, we’ll get to read as many books as we want. Marko’s parents have a library larger than both of ours combined.”

I halted, and my eyes widened. “Please repeat that?”

“Marko’s parents have a library larger than both of ours combined.”

“But what type of books?”

“All types. They’re members of Legacy, and they have a reading fetish that far surpasses ours.”

It took me half a second to decide I wanted to be kidnapped and taken to Marko’s parents’ home to visit their library. “I will cry if they take us somewhere else, Calden.”

“Don’t worry, so will I.”

Calden played his father, sending the older man off with the assumption we would not be causing trouble over the next two weeks. Armed with our laptops, my new clothes, and attire for Calden packed into two suitcases, we waited for our kidnappers to arrive. Twenty minutes later, with finger guns pointed our way, we climbed into an SUV while the three hunters claimed the keys to Calden’s vehicle, promised to take good care of it, and split up, leaving us with Marko.

“What did you do to draw the short lot?” Calden asked.

“The other cowards just figured it was safer, as Coraline hasn’t opted to try to remove my head from my shoulders yet.”

“Am I supposed to?”

“No,” both men replied.

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