Page 46 of Bound

“You can’t be serious,” I deadpanned. “You want us to recreate Vlad’s traffic stop? The feds have to be watching this stretch of road like crazy, even four years later.”

“You’d think so, right, with how often the sign gets boosted? But August and Ethan sweep this stretch of highway every few months for cameras.” A truck roared by, hitting us with a blast of asphalt and exhaust. “Okay, so are you gonna—”

“Me, Cujo? Your wolf is more photogenic.”

“Um, really? That’s the line you’re going with?”

“Yeah, Dallas already told me about the time in high school he snuck you into PetCity and you totally passed as a German Shepherd.”

He growled. “How could I forget? The scavenger hunt was right before Christmas that year. I was straining at the end of my leash to get to the exit, which, by the way, was scaring the hell out of all these rescue kittens they’d brought over from the shelter to try to get adopted out for the holidays. Dallas practically body checks me and drags me over to the line for pictures with Santa.”

“And you let him?”

“What was I supposed to do? Bite him by the kitten display and get carted off by animal control? I got up on the podium like a good little werewolf and glared daggers at the camera while they tied a plaid peppermint scarf around my neck and fed me nasty liver-flavored dog biscuits. Dallas got his picture. Which, by the way, earned us enough points to win that year.”

“There’s something really wrong with your brothers, I’m just saying.”

We took a selfie beneath the road sign, me putting Caldwell in a half-chokehold while his wolf licked my cheek (which, kill me now, was adorable.)

“Okay,” West said once we were back on the road. “They just sent out the next round of clues. We’ve got KATE AND LEOPOLD—”

“What’s that?”

“Best Guillermo text. Ooo… I’ve got this.” He tapped away at the screen, showing me when we reached a light on the outskirts of town.

West: Fwd: What is this TikTok?

August: Fwd: Wait, you’re telling me the girl and the glittering vampire drag this out for three more books?

Dallas: Okay, we may have a winner. That one’s pretty classic Uncle G.

Ethan: To be fair, he’s not exactly their target audience.

West: I see someone is an Edward fan.

Ethan: Hays made me watch it.

Hayden: riiight…

Ethan: Traitor.

“We need an iconic town photo or object.” West tapped his bottom lip. “Okay, head for Main Street. I have an idea.”

We grabbed a picture of the dog statue in front of the courthouse (complete with a bowl of ice cream), getting us double credit for SOMETHING FURRY THAT DOESN’T HOWL AT THE MOON.

Dallas: And BTW. Let’s keep it classy, y’all. My wife is gonna be looking at these pictures.

August: Here are Kirk and Spock…

West: 1) Dean and Castiel. 2) That’s guinea-pig rustling. 3) When did you have time to make them costumes?

Naomi: Dude. It’s a scrunchie. Did you think I was up all night sewing it?

“Any word from London Blake?”

“According to Dallas, Brody let her have it after we got ambushed. They got into a screaming match. He found a dead fish in his patrol car the next morning, along with a smashed box of Blair’s Bakery doughnuts. Which isn’t even the worst part. Major’s toenails had been painted pink.”

I choked back a cough. “No one touches the dog.”