Page 53 of Whiskers on Kittens

A few jewels returned to their rightful owners seemed like a small price to pay for them being on permanent lookout for trafficking victims.

We planned the SoHo warehouse hit to begin at eleven. Half of their group would create a distraction to lead the NYPD on a merry chase across town while I went in with Easton, Carrie, and a few of her friends to clear out the warehouse, learn what we could, and send the evidence down to the Devil to be sorted by the damned souls and whichever demons and devils were unfortunate enough to be assigned the task.

Once Carrie left, I grabbed the rest of the bottle, discovered there was still a glass worth’s left, and decided I would spend the rest of the afternoon drunk off my ass rather than just drunk. Careful to not get too many sediments, I poured, and I was well on my way to knocking it back when the Devil brought a panting Easton, in his hybrid form, into the salon.

I toasted the pair with my glass. “I’m going to our hit tonight drunker than sin. Gimme another bottle, Lucifer. Gimme two.”

“No.” The Devil approached, claimed the wine glass, and held it out of my reach. “Easton, have the rest of this. It’s a rare wine, and she’s had more than enough.”

The lycanthrope took the glass, sniffed it, and took a cautious sip. “I can see why she’d get drunk on this and want another bottle.” While I hissed at having been thwarted, Easton drank the rest of the wine, and he stared at the sediment left on the glass. “What’s this stuff?”

“Think beer dregs but for wine,” the Devil replied, claiming the empty glass and the bottle. “And you’re drunk enough, Kelsie. Carrie tricked you into drinking most of that bottle by yourself, yet you still managed to goose her. She’s fuming she did not walk away the victor and impressed you skunked her while skunked. Easton, toss her in the pool. I turned the heater off last night, so the water should be nice and cold and knock some sense into her. And the view of her in that dress? You’ll find it to be spectacular.”

The wolf wasted no time wrapping his arm around me and lifting me off my feet. I squealed, and I beat at his arm, which may as well have been made of iron. “Hey, I’m not that bad!”

“You will be if you have any more wine, and yes, you’re pretty bad.” Lucifer laughed, patted my head, and led Easton to the pool. “Go ahead and jump on in, too. We have fur traps installed, and I’ll keep an eye on things.”

With a deep, rumbling laugh, Easton did the Devil’s bidding and tossed me into the deep end. Then, he cannonballed into the pool, sending a wave cascading over my head.

My virus went on high alert, and she wanted a piece of the wolf. Kicking off my heels, I went for the hybrid, determined to at least dunk him—and if he got bitten, he only had himself to blame.

SEVENTEEN

How so very woe was me.

I failed to land a bite on Easton although not for a lack of effort. His superior reach and size played a large part in my inability to grab hold of him with my teeth. The few times I got close, I’d ended up with a mouthful of wet wolf fur. My virus whined over our defeat.

At the point I clung to the edge of the pool as I’d run out of energy to continue pursuit, Easton plucked me off from my perch, tossed me over his shoulder, and climbed out as though I weighed nothing. A rather amused Lucifer and Darlene observed from the pool chairs nearby.

The succubus had decided to show up in a human form with her snow leopard ears and tail. She grinned and said, “I’m impressed. It took you three hours to tire her out enough she isn’t trying to pretend she’s a vampire with you.”

“I have questions about that wine, Lucifer,” Easton rumbled.

I thought about biting his back, but I lacked the energy to do anything other than dangle off his shoulder and pant to catch my breath.

“All the wine did was relax her enough her virus wanted to come out and play. She needed to destress, and it seems she opted to go on a hunt for a wolf. You should be safe enough from her teeth while she recovers from that. She’ll be back to herself after lunch. My darling brought some appropriate apparel for both of you for tonight’s activities.”

“Is she even going to have the energy to participate?”

The Devil laughed. “She will. Lunch will revitalize her, and she’ll be ready to dish out some violence on the deserving. You’re invited to go with her, but due to the nature of this hit, we will be dyeing your fur. Your fur is too distinctive. Your size is also distinctive, but your fur and size combined are a problem. As such, we’ll be addressing the fur. Kelsie, which color would you like? And no, you can’t protest about liking his fur just as it is. You have to pick a different color. Ideally, you’ll pick natural wolf tones. Black mottled with gray would be a good choice, as he’ll blend in at night.”

“That works,” I replied. Then, as Easton’s tail was in my reach, I grabbed him, pulled the tip of his tail up, and examined the fur. “Can we give him a white tip on his tail? I feel he should at least have some form of distinguishing marking.”

“I’m sure we can manage a white tip on his tail for you,” Lucifer replied. “Just don’t bite his tail. I know your virus wants to get nippy with him, but you’re going to have to wait until he decides to let you catch him.”

I examined the fur on his tail, determining I would have a difficult time biting the actual tail even if I tried. “Could I even reach? There’s so much plush fur. He’s so fluffy.”

“His tail is quite spectacular,” Darlene admitted, and she got up and came over, freeing his tail from my grasp so she could examine it. “No, you wouldn’t manage to land a bite. That’s what thwarted you before, too. Even if you did actually get close enough to bite, his fur is thick enough you wouldn’t draw blood. Alas, he was safe from your advances the entire time with the exception of his nose and ears. You didn’t target his nose or ears.”

I pouted. “That’s not fair.”

“Are you still drunk?” Easton asked, twisting around to regard me with his ears pricked forward.

“I don’t think so. I might be hungover.”

“You’re not hungover but only because I purified your blood stream sufficiently to prevent it,” Lucifer replied. “Remember when you got dunked and forgot you can’t breathe underwater? I pulled you up by your hair.”

Oh. Right. That had happened. “Vaguely.”