by Quinn Loftis
Sally felt his fingertips run down her face and one of his hands run down the middle of her back where her markings were. He wasn’t playing fair.
“I promise,” she answered, doing her best to ignore his attempt at physical coercion.
Sally mentally blew him a kiss and then returned her focus to the females around her. She could tell by the looks on some of their faces that they were still having conversations with their mates through their bonds. Those who were still talking looked irritated. The ones who’d finished appeared eager to get their Christmas shopping on.
“All right, ladies,” Jacque said as she motioned everyone to gather closer. “I think we should divide into two groups with a fae in each one. We can cover more ground that way.”
“Divide and conquer.” Jen nodded. “I like it.”
Sally rolled her eyes. “You two do realize this is a shopping trip not a military coup, right?”
“I thought everything was a military operation in Jen’s mind,” Crina quipped.
“You thought right,” Jen said. “Because we never know when the shnizzle is going to hit the fizzan.”
“Shnizzle?” asked Jacque. The entire group blinked at Jen.
“What?” Jen huffed. “I’ve got a kid who is learning to curse before she can even speak in full sentences. I’m trying to clean up my vocabulary.”
Rachel patted Jen on the back. “You do you, Jen. You do you.”
Sally frowned at the other healer. “I’ve never understood that little saying, and no offense, but how on earth do you even know that saying? You’re kind of … well … you’re umm…”
“Old as dirt,” offered Jen helpfully.
Jacque cleared her throat and shot a glare at Jen. “What our sweet, little Sally is trying to say is that you’re wise, experienced, and perhaps a little out of touch with the human slang of the day.”
“Well put, alpha.” Zara gave a small smile.
“We’ve got a crap ton of shopping to do and a fancy hotel with a spa waiting for us. There’s no time to be tactful,” said Jen.
“You’re never tactful, regardless of what is waiting on you,” said Sally.
“What’s usually waiting on me is Decebel … in bed … naked. Would you be tactful?”
“Can’t argue with that,” said Zara.
“I like to read,” said Rachel, bringing them all back to the mall and out of Jen’s bedroom. “Believe it or not, I like to read the current, popular young adult books. They’re fun and not too heavy.”
“Not too heavy is good,” Crina agreed. “I hate it when I’m reading an intense book and the butthole author kills off one of my favorite characters. I mean, really? Couldn’t you just have them lose a leg or something?”
“Right?” Rachel nodded her head fervently. “We’ve got enough death going on in real life. I don’t need it in my books, too.”
“I love that you guys are bonding right now,” Jacque interrupted. “But I’d love it more if you bonded and moved your butts. Peri, Sally, Zara, and Crina, y’all are Delta Squad, and me, Rachel, Elle, and Jen are Alpha Squad.”
“Yes!” Jen threw a fist into the air.
“Why are you encouraging her?” Sally rolled her eyes.
“You know why. It’s just easier. Besides, this is a big mall. This is one time Jen’s military tactics might come in handy. I don’t want you girls to get lost.” Jacque pulled her phone out of her back pocket and looked at the screen. “Oh, good. It updated to the correct time zone. Okay, so we meet back here”—Jacque pointed to the spot where she stood—“in four hours.”
“That’s not going to be enough time to complete this mission.” Jen said.
“We can flash anywhere we need to go in the mall, genius,” said Peri. “No wasting time on walking. High fae as a bestie, remember?”
Jen gave her a thumbs-up. “Affirmative!” She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I’ve got my eye on the prize. All I could see was us power walking from store to store laden down with bags.”
“All right, let’s do this,” Zara said.
Laughter bubbled out of Sally as every single one of them clapped their hands like a sports team in a huddle.
Jacque grinned. “We’ve obviously rubbed off on them.” She motioned to everyone as the others chuckled.
Sally walked beside Peri, Zara was on her other side, and Crina next to her. They stopped at the large sign just before the entrance into the mall. There was a map that listed where the various stores were located. Jacque’s group stood next to them as they examined the map as well.
“Why didn’t we use online shopping for everything?” Crina asked, already sounding weary from simply looking at the map.
“Because then we wouldn’t get the experience of shopping a couple of days before Christmas Eve,” Jen offered. “It’s almost as dangerous as shopping on Black Friday.”
“Dangerous?” Crina, Peri, and Elle said at the same time.
“Humans be crazy when it comes to buying the most popular toy every year. They will take you out just to get to the last one on the shelf.” Jen ran her finger across the map, looking for something.
Sally watched as her blonde BFF stopped at a store that had the word toy in the title, but Jen’s finger was obscuring the other words.
“We’ll start here,” Jen said.
“Sweet.” Zara grinned. “Our group can start here.”
Sally stepped closer to see what the she-wolf was pointing at. “A lingerie store?” Her brow rose.
Zara didn’t even blush as she said. “I saw a commercial for it. They’ve got what I need to keep my man interested.”
“You do understand that he won’t ever even look at another female, even if you look like a toothless hag, right?”
“I can be a toothless hag in pretty underwear.”
“See.” Jen pointed at Zara. “That’s why she’s my new favorite.”
“That’s also why you’re not in her group,” Jacque said.
Peri held out her arms. “We’re concealed,” the high fae said. “Hop on and let’s go buy sexy stuff.”
Sally placed a hand on her arm. “Am I the only one who’s a little disturbed by the fact that we’re going to know what kind of lingerie each of us will be wearing for our mates?”
“Peri could just magic us this stuff,” Crina pointed out.
“Crina, I love you,” Jacque said, “but you’re not getting out of this. We’re having a girls’ day shopping trip, and only Bethany is getting out of it because she is knocked up, the size of a house, with a hovering mate.”
Peri flashed them before Crina could respond. When they reappeared, they were standing in the middle of a store decorated almost entirely in pink. Matching bras and panties covered every available surface. Sally watched as Crina’s eyes widened.
“And to answer your question,” Peri told Crina, “I’m not about to be magicking crotchless panties for you. That’s a hard no for me.”
Sally laughed as Zara grabbed her hand and started pulling her through the store. “Don’t forget to shut down a little bit of the bond so your mate doesn’t get a glimpse of this,” Sally told her.
“Already on it,” Zara replied.
They reached a huge, spinning, double-tiered, circular bin filled with tiny scraps of fabric. Zara picked one up and used both hands to spread out the material. Her forehead scrunched together as she stared at it. “I realize that at my age I should know what this is, but they didn’t really offer fashion choices when I was with the bloodsuckers,” Zara whispered.
“It’s a thong,” Sally said.
Zara’s frown deepened. “I was taken as a little kid. I don’t really…”
“See that string at the back?”
Zara nodded.
“That’s like floss between your teeth, only it goes between your cheeks, and I don’t mean the cheeks on your face.”
The she-wolf’s face pinched as she continued to stare at the thong. “That seems incredib
ly uncomfortable. Wouldn’t you be constantly trying to pull it out?”
Sally shrugged. “Some chicks like the perpetual wedgie feel, and guys supposedly think it’s sexy.”
“Costin?” Zara asked.
“He prefers naked.”
“But Wadim would like these?”
“He’s a dude. He’s going to love it. And to be fair, they probably won’t be on you long enough to be that uncomfortable.”
Zara’s pursed lips turned up in a mischievous grin. Suddenly, she grabbed a handful of the thongs.
“Okay, wow. That’s a lot of—”
“Some are for you.” Zara started walking in another direction.
“I’m sorry, what?” Sally hurried after the girl. “You don’t even know what sizes they are.”
“Peri can fix them if they don’t fit.” Zara took an offered bag with the store logo on it from one of the employees. She dumped the thongs into it and began flipping through the lingerie on a rack next to them. She pulled out a hanger that held a red see-through, knee-length nightie. Her grin spread even wider. “We should get these in every color.”
“Wow.” Peri walked up beside them, Crina beside her. “Z is really getting into this.”
“I’ve got nipples!” Zara practically yelled.
Sally ducked her head. “Holy troll babies. Can you be a little louder? I don’t think they heard you in the food court.”
“Yeah, ya do!” Peri gave her a huge smile. “Thanks to yours truly. Might as well show off my handiwork.”
“See why I like to do online shopping?” Crina met Sally’s eyes.
“Totally.” Sally started grabbing different colors of the nightgown, shoving them into Peri’s hands. “Let’s just get these and get nipple-girl out of here before she starts yelling about her other body parts.”
*****
“Jen, the pups can’t even read yet, let alone hold pencils to trace their alphabet.” Jacque looked at the shopping cart that held a stack of preschool workbooks for Thia and Slate. “Besides, who gets their kids workbooks for Christmas?”
“People who want their kids to be smarter than other kids. But these are for Titus. If he’s doing these, he won’t have time to prowl around the mansion trying to stalk me.”
“Ah, I see.”
Jen headed down another aisle of the bookstore. It was a much quieter atmosphere than the toy store where they’d spent almost two hours. Elle had flashed to their hotel room three times already to drop off bags of purchases. Jacque texted Sally earlier to let her know that Titus was good to go on gifts, and that Santa Jen might have gotten carried away.
Sally had responded with an eyeroll emoji.
“She’s like a machine.” Elle watched Jen pull books off the shelves and toss them into the cart.
“Does she even know what she’s grabbing?” Rachel asked.
“I’ve learned that sometimes it’s better to just get out of the way and not ask questions,” Jacque said. “She’s a bit like the CIA. The less you know, the safer you feel.” They followed behind Jen laughing as she grabbed books, glanced at them quickly, and either tossed them into her cart or back on the shelves.
They turned down another aisle, and Jacque began to browse the shelves. Her eyes widened. “Jen, I don’t think we need any more of these kinds—”
“Too late,” Elle said. They watched Jen grab an armful of books and dump them into the overloaded shopping cart.
“I think it’s time to intervene,” Rachel suggested.
“Yep,” Jacque agreed. They hurried toward Jen, who was trying to grab another armful of books that covered her favorite topic.
“Let’s check out.” Rachel grabbed the cart and began steering it toward the cashier.
“Yes.” Elle nodded. “I’m starving, and I’ve never eaten mall food.”
“But—” Jen started. Jacque grabbed her hand and dragged her from the aisle. “There’s so many of them.” She sounded like a kid who’d just dropped her ice cream cone on the sidewalk.
“There can’t be that many different positions, Jen,” Jacque pointed out.
“Well, now we’ll never know. You made me drop the one that said, ‘all new positions and the pleasure they bring.’”
Elle laughed, and Jacque pulled Jen faster. “Can you help Rachel pay for the books?”
“On it.” Elle followed the healer, and Jacque tugged her BFF toward the entrance of the store and back out into the mall.
“You totally just killed my fun, Red.”
“You can always order them online,” Jacque pointed out.
“It’s not the same as picking them up and smelling them.”
“The fact that you're distraught over not being able to smell sexual instruction manuals in a public bookstore is a little disturbing.”
“Just a little?” Jen smiled.
“Depends on what they smell like,” Jacque replied.
Jen laughed, her irritation gone. With a sigh she said, “I needed this.”
Jacque nodded. “I know,” she said softly. “We all did.”
Elle and Rachel came strolling out of the store, no bags in hand. Elle must have used her mojo to get them back to the hotel. “Where to next?” Rachel asked.
“Food,” Elle said.
The group all muttered agreement and then located a map to point them toward the food court.
“I’ll text Sally and tell them to meet up with us.” Jacque already had her phone out and was typing away as they walked. Though they’d flashed a lot of places, they all seemed content to meander at the moment. The Christmas music playing around them was cheerful, and the chatter of all of the shoppers seemed to have made their group eager to be a part of the human world and all its normalcy, including a lack of instantaneous transportation.
Jacque tucked her phone in her back pocket and couldn’t help but grin as she looked around. There were Christmas decorations everywhere, stores trimmed in garland, Christmas trees in every window, and a massive tree in the very center of the mall. It brought back good memories of Christmases past.
“I’m sorry you haven’t had this since you met me, Luna.” Fane’s voice rumbled in her mind. “You’ve given up a lot to be my mate.”
Jacque should have known he would be listening in, even though he had been trying to give her privacy so he wouldn’t know what she was buying. “I’ve also gained a lot by being your mate,” she said. “I wouldn’t give any of it up, Fane. I wouldn’t change anything.” She thought about Alina and Vasile, and her chest tightened. “Okay, maybe I would change a few things, but I don’t think those things would be in my power to alter.”
“I love you, Jacquelyn.” His emotions enveloped her through their bond.
“And I you, wolf-man. Kiss our son for me.”
“Hurry up and come back to us so you can kiss him yourself. And me.” His voice dropped to a growl.
“Soon,” she told him, using the word he’d muttered to her so many times when she wanted him to hurry.
He chuckled. “Soon.”
*****
“When were you going to tell me that you called your parents?” Decebel’s deep voice reverberated through Jen’s mind while she laid on her stomach in the quiet room where she was currently getting a massage. The rest of the girls were laid out on the other tables that were lined up in two rows of four. Jen was so relaxed that she must have let down some of the barriers she’d had in place to keep that tidbit from her mate.
“You’re interrupting my massage. Franco had me in a state of zen, and you’ve totally un-zened me, B. Not cool.”
“Franco had better be short for Franchesca, female.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.” Jen snorted.
“Will it make sense when Franco—who better be Franchesca—loses his hands?”
Jen sighed and put a lid on her irritation. It was her own fault. “I knew it would upset you that they upset me, and I didn’t want to put that on you.”
She felt his frustra
tion ease a little. “I’m your mate, Jennifer. Part of the honor of having that position is getting to bear your hurt, burdens, and pain with you.”
“I also felt ashamed. I haven’t made an effort to stay in touch with them. I haven’t shared anything about my life with them. Honestly, at first, I was just glad to be free of the constant arguments that me and my mom always had. Is it horrible that I didn’t really even miss them? At least not until recently?” She felt his hand on her cheek and took a moment to appreciate the bond that allowed them such intimacy even when so far apart.
“You love your parents, baby. I know because I can feel it when you think of them. But you haven’t had the best relationship with them. Maybe you’ve needed time to get past old pain. And they love you, too. They’ll come around, and if they don’t, then we’ll just show up at their house with their granddaughter. After they meet Thia, nothing else will matter to them.”
The tension that had been a constant companion since Jen had had the phone conversation with her parents started to ease. Part of it was because she’d made things right with Decebel and no longer concealed a secret from him, and the other part was because he was right. Once her parents met their grandchild, they’d be putty in her hands. But they’d have to work on Thia’s vocabulary, or at least bribe her not to use her new favorite words while with her grandparents.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I promise one of these days I’ll get this whole healthy relationship thing down,” Jen said and then groaned as the masseuse rubbed a spot on her back where some serious stress knots had formed.
“We both get it wrong a lot, but we’re still learning. Now, back to this Franco guy who has a death wish.” His voice suddenly hardened.
“Slow your roll, B.” Jen laughed. “Like I’m dumb enough to let a dude put his hands on me.” She sent him a mental image of the room around her and all the female masseuses.
“Why are you all wearing nothing but sheets?”
Jen rolled her eyes. “We’re getting massages, Decebel. We can’t very well get them with our clothes on. Not to mention, I just showed you that it’s chicks, not dudes, rubbing our stressed-out bodies.”
“I could have taken care of your stressed-out body,” he muttered.
