I’d even take a stale cookie as long as it was chocolate chip and served with milk.
“If I hadn’t been given upgraded access to your file as of this morning, I would have accused you of being a cat without knowing just how right I was, Miss Murder Mittens. Now that I know what I know, I find your chosen bounty hunter alias to be rather amusing. Knowing other things I happen to know, you’re courting trouble, and I absolutely cannot wait until this blows up in your face in a spectacular and dramatic fashion. You deserve every bit of trouble headed your way.”
Fuck. Sebastian had upgraded access to my file? While my rating as a lycanthrope was in the general file, my species and gender had been locked down at my request due to rarity. I played wolf because everybody assumed wolf despite their noses telling them a cat was around. “Why do you have upgraded access to my file?”
“That’s what I want to talk with you about. In person.”
Fuckity fuck fuck fuck. “You’re a very bad kitty, Sebastian Sumners.”
“What are you going to do about it, Wells?”
Pulling his tail for fun came to mind. If pulling his tail didn’t earn me another roar, I’d tweak at his pride until I accomplished my goal. I needed his best roar to cover my purrs. “I have a list.”
“Of course. Why am I not surprised? A meeting, Wells, not excuses.”
“Can I be excused from this meeting?” I gave the bounty list a quick look and spotted a reference to Battle Lake, which was a short enough detour on the way to Cincinnati.
“Absolutely not.”
I ignored him in favor of the info sheet. According to the bounty, a woman had been infected and mated to a lycanthrope without being told about the infection risk and permanent nature of relationships with lycanthropes. The CDC’s note on the file included angelic verification the victim, Carol, wanted nothing to do with her wolf suitor. She’d even set up a script, where the killer of her nightmare would inquire about sewing shears. She even had a picture of the fucker to go with the hit, and he was the type of man who probably assumed his looks entitled him to any woman he wanted without being even remotely handsome.
Fucking creeper.
With three taps of my trackpad, I claimed the bounty as mine. Twenty-five thousand didn’t count as a whole lot in the grand scheme of scar removal, but it would help cover my deposit and further my cause.
Every penny helped.
The lion waited with admirable patience, so I tossed him a bone. “I have a violent date at a seamstress’s shop in Battle Lake. Can we have our date afterwards?”
“Absolutely not. Meet with me before you pick up any more damned random bounties.”
“Why are you being such a lion, Sebastian? I have a violent date, and I absolutely refuse to miss it. This one infected a woman against her will and is using the virus to hold her hostage. You know I hate creepers who do that. I absolutely enjoy murdering them and being paid for the honor of doing so. This one will be highly satisfying, although I hope I only get lightly beaten in the process of taking the asshole out.”
“Your file didn’t mention how you were infected. Does this relate to your known vendetta against lycanthropes who do this?”
How curious. He’d never expressed any interest in my background before. “Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“When a man loves a woman, they do unspeakable things in bed with each other. Should they do this at the right time in the woman’s fertility cycle, tiny beings called babies appear. In my case, I was a straggler.”
“You were a what? Did you just say you were a straggler?”
“Yes, I was a straggler. I was conceived later than my identical twin brothers. So, they barely reached term while I didn’t. My parents infected me from within the womb. You know how lycanthropes get. They can’t keep their filthy paws off each other. Don’t make me toss you to my family, lion. I have a lot of brothers, and they take the overprotective brother thing too far. I also have an uncle, and he’ll fight you for fun.”
“Henry Wells, I’m guessing. You being related to him makes so much sense.”
“He’s my uncle. Does this mean I’m the lucky bastard getting the promotion that he’s so excited about? He’s going to be so disappointed when he finds out he’s not being picked.”
“If you’re going to insist on playing this game, very well. You are right. He’s not being picked. He’s not being picked because I’m your handler.”
Well, well, well. I licked my lips. If he had to handle me, I’d be able to make him roar whenever I wanted. Somehow, I must have acquired a guardian angel, and she loved me. While Sebastian counted as a pain in the ass, he came with benefits.
He roared.
I purred when he roared.
Life would be good.
“Wells?”
“Where do you want to meet?” I needed his next roar in person. Nothing else would do.
“Name your location, and I will be there as fast as I can get on the next chartered flight out from where I’m at. Upstairs has a job for you.”
“Does the upstairs pay well?”
“Very.”
“How does Fargo sound to you?”
“Fargo sounds like I could catch a cab and be to the CDC headquarters there within thirty minutes. How long will it take you to get there?”
I could walk to the damned place in five minutes flat without breaking a sweat, but I needed to finish my coffee in a leisurely fashion and secure a few extra bounties, including my main Cincinnati job, which was still unclaimed in the system. “You are lucky I happen to be somewhat near Fargo, and I won’t make you loiter in the lobby for more than twenty or thirty minutes.”
“So help me, if you don’t show, we’ll have words, Wells,” the lion warned before hanging up on me.
Today was turning out to be a great day.
As I was contrary, curiosity often got the best of me, and I wanted to hear Sebastian roar in person, I chugged my drink, nabbed two more bounties for reckless idiot lycanthropes I could bag in the Cincinnati area with little work, and headed for the CDC headquarters down the street. The security guards gaped at my scars, and they spluttered for a few moments before realizing I needed them to register me as a visitor. Gaping beat flinching, although not by much.
One day, I would get through a single day without classifying as someone’s worst nightmare. One day.
Armed with my pass, I hopped onto the big black desk and posed for the moment the lion strolled through the doors, expecting to have to wait for me to arrive.
The security guards didn’t appreciate my presence on their desk, but they kept their opinions to themselves, probably because they didn’t want me to take their issues with my face to their boss. As a general rule, I left the issue of my scarred face alone, as going to management over someone’s natural tendency to recoil when presented with catastrophic facial damage counted as snide, rude, and didn’t help matters for me at all.
I checked my cell, which informed me he’d arrived precisely thirty minutes after I’d hung up on him. Smiling, I crossed my legs, braced my elbow on my knee, and rested my chin in my hand. “Meow, Sebastian.”
He twitched, but he didn’t roar. “And just how long have you been here? If you’d told me you’d be early, I would’ve tried to get here sooner.”