“Would you like me to roar for you, my little lynx?”
“As I don’t want to get a bucket of water thrown all over me so I become wet and sticky, yes.”
The lion frowned and narrowed his eyes. “I’m not sure which side I’m supposed to be on right now. There are a lot of benefits to you being wet and sticky.”
Damn. My lion was a pervert. “I might catch a cold if I get wet.” Lycanthropes rarely got colds, but I had a track record of getting them, although I usually flirted with illness at the end of my mating season. I blamed my inability to hunt men. Would Sebastian put an end to my yearly colds? I hoped so. And if he didn’t, I bet he’d bring me soup so I wouldn’t have to do it myself. “I get one or two every year, and it sucks. You don’t want to deal with that.”
Sebastian looked me over head to toe before he turned to my brothers. “Use a hose. A bucket might not get the job done sufficiently. If she catches a cold, I get to call in and work from home to care for my little lynx, as nobody wants to deal with a moody lion upset he can’t take care of his little lynx at home.”
Traitors surrounded me, although the one roared nicely. “You are such a lion.”
“I am. I really am.”
With a smile and a shrug, my traitor brother shrugged and tossed the bucket my way, hitting me in the face with it. I sighed and took it, spluttering and spitting water out. “Thanks, asshole. I don’t even know which asshole you are, but the entirety of the first litter falls for this, as you bastards are the first litter.”
The asshole with the bucket snickered. “I am Alan, the eldest ruler of the Wells litters, and you will get the hose if you fail to purr for us. One day, you might remember which one I am. One day.”
“You already gave me the bucket. I do not need the hose. And anyway, how am I supposed to tell you three apart? You’re identical triplets. Identical triples. At least I knew which litter you’re from. That’s good for me.”
“Your lion wants to take care of you, and it seemed wrong to deny him of such an opportunity. And anyway, you don’t get catch your colds until the end of your mating season. During it, you’re just a hormonal tyrant. Had we known how serious your lion was about taking you home with him, we would have bought him some presents to show our gratitude.”
My face flushed. “Damn it, Alan.”
“What? It’s only fair to warn him what he’s getting into. He’s not a lynx, but he dresses well. Uncle Henry confirmed he makes his own suits, so basically, he’s perfect for you, and we can’t argue against perfection.”
I eyed my lion. “My brothers seem to have developed a crush on you. What were you doing in the house? How did you seduce them all into adoring you? What dark magic have you been doing to my family?”
Sebastian chuckled. “No dark magic was required. I took videos of you purring in your sleep after I tucked you in at night, and I took pictures of when you were having a good time at the spa. As you have them all wrapped around your finger, I scored some serious future brother-in-law points. I simply planned to dodge a beating, as I’d rather not be beaten. Will I fight? Absolutely. I’m a lion. But if I can avoid the fight and save the fighting for something worth fighting over, I will.”
“We’re not sure about this whole marriage thing, but if his only flaw is a desire to be trapped in unholy matrimony, we can cope with that,” Alan stated in a rather serious tone. “He also came armed with advice on how to approach uninfected women without automatically eliminating ourselves from the dating pool. He’s smart, Harri. You know us. We like smart.”
I could see Sebastian being good at that, and considering how many of my brothers had fancy degrees, they did like smart people. “You do realize you did not have to dodge having a love life because I’m hopeless, right? You all are idiots.” I peeled the remaining chains off my car, careful not to bang the links into it. Sebastian helped, and it was his idea for all of us to lift the entire canvas tarp up, move it, and dump the chains on the ground.
It worked, and Sebastian folded the tarp while I attacked the paper.
I tore off the wrapping to uncover a cherry red convertible, and I frowned, trying to figure out how I’d wiggled under it, as it rode low to the ground. Puzzled, I inspected the tires, then the ground, and got on my hands and knees, patting at the undercarriage, which somehow seemed high enough for me to fit underneath it. “What sorcery is this?”
My brothers snickered, and either Alex or Andrew crouched beside me, pointing at the mags. “We put your car up on blocks, but we recruited the troublemakers of the fifth litter to layer on some illusions so it looked proper. We stayed away so we wouldn’t accidentally reveal the nature of the illusion.”
“Okay. That’s cool.” I did a walk around, purring at the Corvette’s iconic body, although from the shape, they’d gotten a fairly new Corvette—or a brand new one. I couldn’t tell.
Corvettes were well outside of my area of expertise, although I knew enough about them to recognize one when I saw it.
As I would find some way to trash my new car without being able to see through the illusion, I handed my keys to Alan. “I demand this be brought down to its proper level by someone who can actually see what they’re driving. Fix this! I must cuddle with it, and I must cuddle with it now.”
Alan lifted his hand to his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. “Elijah! Come move your sister’s car. Also, we may as well open a path for her. She’s going to want to take that lion off with her sometime tonight.”
“Yes, I plan on taking my lion off somewhere tonight. But I have to mark my territory first.” I rubbed my hands together and admired the Corvette. “Who’d you mug to get this? It’s pretty. This is really pretty. This is the prettiest car to have ever prettied. Is it really mine?”
“It’s really yours. We didn’t mug anyone. We had Uncle Henry buy it, and we set up a loan with him to pay him back. He’ll sign off the title and everything, but right now, you’re on his insurance for it. You are not permitted to reject this car, nor are you allowed to indulge in guilt. Yes, we bought it new. We hope you like red, because this was one of two Corvettes anywhere near us, so we picked this one because we thought you’d like it better than the black one, which wasn’t as nice as this one.”
While black was fine, red was fun, and I needed fun. “Sebastian, get naked and pose against my car. That’s the only way this is getting better.”
“No.”
I pouted at him. “Please?”
“If I get naked, your brothers will be struck down with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy. As I happen to like your family, I don’t want to hurt so many of them at one time.”
Unable to help myself, I laughed. “But I like you naked.”
“You can help me out of my suit when we get to our hotel for the night.”
“Get the stuff, load the car, we’re leaving,” I announced.
“Your mother is making fried chicken, and I believe she expects us to eat before we leave.”
Only a fool angered my pregnant mother or refused to eat her chicken, no matter how creative she got with the spices. “Okay. We eat, and then we flee. I need naked lion time.” I ran for the house to take a shower, as the only way I’d be able to get naked lion time was if I hurried up and shoveled as much of my mother’s chicken as I could stomach into me before I left. With luck, someone had taken her saffron, but I’d cope if I needed to eat creatively spiced chicken. Somehow.