I stopped the video, put my phone in my pocket, and flexed my hand, waiting for the best moment to strike. He brought me the doctored coffee with a smile. “Here you go, one black coffee just for you.”
I took the coffee, smiled back at him, and set the coffee on the counter.
Then, because I was a bitch and wanted the entire coffee shop to know it, I drove my knee right into his groin, waited for him to double over, and slammed my elbow into the back of his neck. As that wouldn’t keep a lycanthrope stunned for long, I aimed my second elbow strike for his temple. That got him onto his hands and knees, and I grabbed the back of his shirt, pulled it up over his head, and began the serious work of transforming him into a living pretzel. “Hey, lady,” I called out to the barista, who stared at me with wide-eyed shock. “Call the cops. This asshole is wanted on grounds of spreading the lycanthropy infection, and tell the police dispatch I have infected evidence they’ll need to test. I work for the CDC.”
The idiot, asshole wolf groaned, and I stepped to the side before giving him a solid kick to the stomach to keep him down.
“You work for the CDC?” the barista asked. “I should tell them that?” I appreciated she didn’t question my claim much, and she picked up the shop’s phone to call as requested.
When on an authorized bounty, I did, and I even had a card in my wallet to prove it. “Sure do.” I pointed at my coffee. “Don’t touch that unless you want to be infected with lycanthropy. And if someone could see if that young girl is around and she’s okay, that’d be great. And no, she’s not related to me, I have no idea who she is, but I wasn’t going to let some asshole try to infect her with the virus.”
“But what about you?” the barista asked. “Won’t you be at risk?”
“I’m already infected, so don’t you worry about a thing, ma’am.” I smiled, and I kicked the asshole wolf because I could. “Request neutralizer, however. He cut his thumb to bleed in my cup, and there might be some on the floor. Just watch your steps, folks. Sorry for the disturbance to your morning.”
Those in the shop did as told, and I took fiendish delight in making sure Donald Haverly stayed down until the police arrived.
Ten
How was it hot chocolate always tasted better when nice people gave it to me?
A cranky Sebastian, wearing a tight pair of jeans I wanted to claw him out of, stormed down the street while I chatted with the CPC representative the police had called in to confirm my bounty. The meter she carried confirmed what my phone had captured, and the amount of blood in my cup was sufficient to cause infection had I consumed the entire cup of coffee. My video, which caught the entire scene, including his behavior implying he’d meant to infect a minor, would sink his ship and flag him as a dangerous entity, one who’d spend a great deal of time in prison.
As such, I had earned a minor scolding for beating the wolf to go with bonus pay for a job well done.
The girl, much to my dismay, didn’t actually have a teen tacked onto the end of her age yet.
She was an early blooming twelve, and her parents were both tall, resulting in her looking older than she was. Her parents, who discussed the situation with the police, had bought me a hot chocolate as a small way of showing their gratitude.
How was it hot chocolate always tasted better when nice people gave it to me?
“I woke up cold and alone,” the lion complained. “And I find you here doing what?”
The growl in the lion’s voice gave my virus ideas, and those ideas involved returning to the resort and indulging in him before heading off to be pampered at the spa, a perfect reward for a job well done. “I got into a fight with a wolf.” I nodded in the direction of the girl and her parents. “He tried to infect that little sweetheart over there with lycanthropy. She’s twelve. He was flirting with her in line, so I skipped into the line after recording his behavior and sent her out while lying through my teeth about it. But the wolf got his ass kicked. By me.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“He didn’t even get a chance to hit me back. I kneed him in the groin and took him out like I took out my first steak last night. Maybe if he’d gotten into a pack and tried to make the most of his infection, he wouldn’t have been a useless wolf. But he was a useless wolf, so he got taken out like my steak.”
“Is he still alive?” Sebastian asked in an amused tone. “That steak didn’t last long.”
“Alas, he is. The cops took him away, and this nice lady is confirming my pay.” I nodded to the woman, who watched Sebastian with interest. “Libby, this is Sebastian. He’s my handler.”
Sebastian held his hand out to shake with the woman, and he showed her his CDC card. “Sebastian Sumners. Do you need me for anything?”
“Miss Wells has taken care of the matter, but if you’re her handler, we can finalize her bounty payment for this now. As she captured admissible evidence proving the bounty, she will be issued a bonus. She prevented any accidental infections after the target made himself bleed in order to contaminate a cup of coffee. As she is a lycanthrope, additional charges will be filed against him, as it is the equivalent of attempting a forced mating.”
“She’s mated. To me,” the lion growled.
Damn. It would only take a nudge or two to make him roar, but I’d be kind to everyone else for once in my life and resist the urge to antagonize him. “Yes, yes, Mr. Mane. Your territory has not been violated in any fashion whatsoever. Do not make me drop you to the sidewalk like I dropped that dumb fuck of a wolf. Behave.”
“Ah. You two are mated?” The CDC checked her tablet. “This says you’re single, Miss Wells?”
“He roared at me, and I find that irresistible.” As I sounded ridiculous, I shrugged. “I took pity on him, plus he likes feeding me. It turns out I really enjoy being fed. We have a relationship founded on skillfully annoying each other, and I’m easily manipulated when he roars. I really don’t see how anyone can blame me for this. His roars are quality roars.”
Sebastian sighed. “If you could avoid marking our files with that for the moment, we are working on a bounty, and we do not want our target, should he have unauthorized access to internal files, to get wind I’ll be around. He’s targeting women of Harri’s build and appearance, so I’m backing her in the field while she acquires evidence and makes the hit. I’ll handle the paperwork myself,” Sebastian promised.
“I can do that. I have the paperwork here for her payment if you’d like to finish processing it. We always give grace if there’s a reason, anyway. I’ll put a note to update her file effective for three months from now. If you’re hunting a bounty of a single lycanthrope, then it makes sense to keep your status unchanged for now. But please report to the CDC within the next ninety days so you can have your viruses evaluated.”
“Easily done,” Sebastian promised. “Do you need her for anything else?”
“Five minutes for signing of paperwork, and then you can be on your way,” Libby promised, tucking her meter under her arm to make it easier to work on her tablet. “It’s just confirming the payment amounts and signing off on the bounty.”