“One restless asshat full of angst breeds another,” Philip rolled his eyes. “I have a good mind to call someone to banish you myself.”
“You could, but you won’t because Ferrick is so enraged. He won’t be as easy to banish as I would. I’m not enraged and youneed me here to help you all keep him locked in that book. Plus, I believe once they watch the security footage you’ll find it wasn’t a spirit at all but a badly timed spell cast by someone with the aim of a drunk raccoon trying to toss a rotten orange at a possum.”
“For your sake, you better hope you’re right because Canton’s coming back. I’ve gotten softer as I’ve gotten older, but he takes even less bullshit now,” I said and poked him in his ethereal chest. “Now, leave me alone and go back to your book. Ruined a perfectly good moving party and got all these people upset. You and everyone else ought to be ashamed of yourself. If you had a jawbone, I’d break it.”
Pras disappeared and I heard the familiar rumble of a work truck. I took my time walking over to where Canton always parked his truck. He was back earlier than the others predicted. Hauling four kids under ten around the Moonscale Territory probably wasn’t as fun as it sounded. At least not for him and Bellamy. The whimpering bark of a puppy echoed around.
“Forgot he was bringin’ back a baby,”my bear rambled off into my thoughts.
“What in the hell is going on here?” Canton asked, hoisting Marabell onto his hip. The four-year-old rabbit shifter had her ears out and her nose twitched like her sire’s always did when he wasn’t sure about something. “I’m getting calls from teenagers that someone smashed up The Cuddle Club?”
“A ghost or a spell. No one was hurt but also no consensus on what the frick happened,” I said, reaching out for Marabell so that Canton could pull her twin sister Tarabell out of her booster seat. The little girl wrapped her arms around my neck. “I’ve missed you too. Did you have fun driving all the dragons over there crazy?”
“We got a puppy. His name is Gooseberry. We were doing a hike, and he ran out of the bushes. Thought he might eat us but now he’s ours. Tarabell fed him chocolate and almost murdered him. She’s going to go to jail,” Marabell said.
“Am not!” Tarabell called from inside the backseat.
The puppy whined on from some unseen location. He smelled like someone dosed him with sugar and three espresso shots after pulling an all nighter. No wonder Canton had called a trainer.
“No one’s going to jail for giving him a snack, but now you have to be as tall as me to give Goose a snack,” Bellamy said. He wore a chest carrier with their five-month-old baby boy who was fast asleep despite the chaos of little voices and the whining puppy. “Brought him back here for Evie to take a look at. Seems fine but it was a whole bar of that bitter cooking chocolate Tarabell’s taken to eating.”
“He liked it,” Tarabell shrugged as I moved her sister to one side so that Canton could hand her off too.
Canton bent back into the truck to retrieve his sleeping two-year-old son who was out cold in wolf pup form. He batted at the air with one paw as his daddy lifted him up into his arms.
“We need to take them down or do you think we’re in the clear?” Canton asked, his nose twitching. He was fighting off the urge to thump his foot because he didn’t want to wake his baby.
“We’re in the clear,” I told him. “It was all downtown. I don’t think the dead want to come here and mess with us. We’ll bury them again.”
My bear chuckled. Over the years, Canton and I had cleaned up our language more than ever. Sure, sometimes those words little mouths should never say slipped out but sometimes we caught ourselves spelling out those words even when the kids weren’t around.
“So, the party’s in the Burrow?” Canton asked and I nodded. “I never liked her,” he continued.
“Who, Daddy?” Tarabell asked.
“Eh, some big ole meanie who won’t go to bed in the Other World when she’s supposed to,” Canton said.
“Uh-oh. She won’t get her extra cookie tomorrow,” Marabell chimed in.
“She might never get one again. She’s beenthatbad,” Canton said, his face animated as we carried the rugrats toward his house.
Beside him walked Bellamy with a giant, black and grey cotton ball on a leash. Gooseberry growled every few steps. Those were the growls of a puppy who did not do well with tension. I made a note to ask what sort of dog he was because I’d never seen one quite like him. Whatever his mix, he seemed to be a nervous wreck.
Chapter 8
Vatten
Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory
We took the steps up to Eran’s apartment because the idea of getting inside an elevator with all the tension in the air made me want to run away. Eran didn’t even stop in front of them as if he picked up my mood by scent or perhaps how hard I was holding his hand. Ghost or not, I wasn’t about to let anyone hurt my guy. I might’ve been a duck toller but that just meant I knew how to take care of foul things.
Inside the house, I realized I had brought none of my stuff and was very bad at moving in with someone. I’d have to go back to the farm later. Eran locked the door behind us and pulled the chain too. I looked around and found an armchair that I considered sliding in front of the door but figured that might be overkill. My nose twitched, picking up all the scents of the people who must’ve been here earlier to help Eran’s roommates move out. My whole body vibrated again.
“You can sniff around if you want,” Eran said. “Make yourself at home. It’s a bit of a mess in the hallway. That’s where I test products.”
“Products?” I asked.
“I run a small business making toys and enrichment items for domestic cat shifters,” he explained as I shifted down into my dog form.
