Page 12 of Last But Not Leashed

“Why would you quit?” Jerome paused and sighed. “Oh, right. No, you don’t. The CDC should accommodate you two love birds, I’m sure. If you’re leaving the singles market, I recommend you take the rest of the week off. She’ll wear you out and then some. Also, I have been told from a very good source if you do a swapping blood transfusion, one bag each, you’ll give your mating bond a good jump start. Of course, you’ll need to get in a few rounds of actual mating in first, but I’m sure Allison wouldn’t mind doing the transfusions.”

“I’m not his blood type,” Ethel growled.

Allison bounced into the bedroom. “That’s why you have to get in a few rounds of mating first. Establish the mating bond and the virus will take care of the rest. I’m available tomorrow afternoon before work if you two decide to get it on and need a boost to your bond. You could send him back to his contracting work on Thursday morning. Also, I find it amusing you know his blood type.”

“It’s my job to know.”

“Sure it is. Because you know the blood types of all your contractors?”

My boss’s face turned a suspicious shade of red. “Allison!”

“I’m really good at getting people to tell me my name. I think it’s a magical power. Do you think the CDC will upgrade my rating, Jerome?”

“Keep dreaming, dear. Stop butting in. I was trying to get them to take the entire week off.”

“Ethel is involved. She’s not going to take an entire week off. She’ll fret over work, then Dale will get worried and start fretting, then we’ll have to deal with them being anxious.”

Either I was still asleep and dreaming or my life had taken a sharp left into the weird unknown. “Say what?”

Allison glared at me. “Dale, quiet. I’m busy making certain you’re happily mated by the end of the week. You’ve got the relationship skills of a train wreck.”

I sighed, shook my head, and considered getting out of bed and finding a quiet, private place to shift and get dressed so I wouldn’t have to put up with the alphas on a mission, no matter how much I liked the idea of them succeeding at their twisted plan. “Train wrecks don’t have relationship skills.”

“Exactly. Now shush. Ethel, you’re going to have to use a blunt bat on him. Until you get him to per—”

“Control your mate!” I howled, twisting to swipe at Jerome as Allison would kick my ass into next week. I got tangled in my boss’s blanket and crashed to the floor, the breath whooshing out of my lungs.

My boss crouched beside me. “You okay, Dale?”

“Please make them stop,” I begged.

“No, I don’t think so. He’s right. So is she. You’re denser than a rock.” Smiling, she patted my head. “It’s okay. We can take our time. I need to get you to call me by my first name, which will be a challenge. As long as you’re aware I’m claiming you, I can be patient.”

Jerome crouched beside me and poked my nose. “Please let her claim you. Maybe she’ll stop wearing that damned wolfsbane perfume all the time.”

I flattened my ears. “I like her perfume.”

“That’s because you’re stubborn and obsessed. The rest of us don’t like it. It burns our noses. I would’ve brought her into our pack years ago if it weren’t for that damned perfume.”

My boss chuckled. “Once I’ve staked my claim and the CDC has a chance to evaluate how it influences our mating bond, I’ll stop using it. It’s just part of the test study to see what happens if I express interest in a male. If it prevents the mating bond from taking hold, we’ll submit the test results and I’ll stop using the perfume. We might need to borrow you for testing, Jerome.”

“Spray that shit on me, and I will dump your ass into the harbor, Ethel.”

“Like hell you—”

My boss clamped her hands around my muzzle. “Down, Dale. No killing Jerome in my trailer. My trailer won’t survive if you romp with him in here.”

“I’ll keep an eye on you and sniff whenever I see you. When I notice anything, I’ll tell you. Really, I’ll have to watch Dale. For someone as hopeless as he is, there are a lot of ladies who’ve asked me if he’s available. He just has no interest in anyone,” he complained.

I had plenty of interest in someone, but I still had a lot of thinking and planning to do before I could move to the next stage, which involved accepting her claim.

Thinking of her as Ethel rather than my boss rose to the top spot along with finding a new place to live coming in as a close second.

Allison snickered. “There’s nothing wrong with being last but not leashed. Hell, half the time I wish I’d waited before I got leashed to this lout. He’s a pain in the ass. I’m pretty sure Dale will be a far superior male, Ethel.”

“Allison,” Jerome complained.

“You deserve it for teasing him so much. I swear, you’re the pack’s worst gossip sometimes. Ethel is perfectly capable of figuring out how to stake her claim before someone else does.”