Page 84 of Murder Mittens

Sebastian leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Come on out of there. Nobody is going to be upset with you. Are you sure you’re going to tell them to truth?”

“Do you think they’ll believe it?”

“Well, we’ll find out in about five minutes. If you want to hide behind me for a few minutes until you’re ready, that’s fine, but you have five minutes to get your ass in gear or I’m going to help you put your ass in gear.”

“Don’t get a job as a shrink. You’d be terrible at it.”

“You don’t need a shrink. You have a lot to get used to, but it’ll be fine. They love you no matter what your face looks like.” Sebastian unbuckled my seatbelt, took hold of my hands, and pulled me out of the car. “I’ll even toss myself in front of your family as a sacrifice and use the ring if you think it’ll distract them. But you need to show them your face.”

“I could wear a bag. There’s a gift bag in the trunk big enough.”

Sebastian went to the trunk, popped it open, dumped the present out of the bag, and returned, shoving it over my head. “Now you’re gift wrapped. Excellent. You’re just going to have to follow my lead on this. You waited too long, so you lose.”

“What did I lose?”

“Your pride and dignity. You’re wearing a bag over your head. Now, move. I’ve got your purse. The bag had spa stuff in it, and I’ll clean it up after.”

With Sebastian’s help, I began the march to the front door. “Now I really look like an idiot.”

“Well, yes. You’re the one making a fuss over this.”

“It happened so soon!”

“So did the probable litter, because they usually don’t give lycanthropes pixie dust after operations. They use a harder sedative, which tells me they were giving you everything safe for expecting women. And they would have known from the incubus if you were, and it meant he wouldn’t have had to do any actual work on you beyond prepping for the curse. Which, by the way, is still intact. I asked.”

“Were we tricked?”

“It’s CDC policy not to notify in the first two weeks of a pregnancy because of the high rate of miscarriage. But with an incubus on board? You’re not going to miscarry. The incubus would have resolved any problems.”

Huh. “I had no idea.”

“They try to keep that one under wraps, but I’m in the know, because they have policies for rape victims. We fall under the mated couple policies, which means they try to do no harm. That, plus they needed you for the job, and if I thought you were pregnant, there would have been no completed job.”

Right. Overprotective male lycanthrope. I sniffed my arm. “What does pregnant lycanthrope smell like?”

“That’s the problem. I have no idea.”

I knew who would, and I tore off the gift bag and stomped towards the house. “Mom!”

Behind me, Sebastian sighed. “You’re something else, Harri.”

“What? I want to know!”

My holler brought the entire family to the front door, and I plowed through my brothers in search of my mother, made it two steps past my father, and came to a halt when he snagged me by my collar. “Hold it right there, missy.”

Busted. Wait. My father had how many litters of children? I turned, and I shoved my arm in his face. “Smell.”

With a worn, tired sigh, my father obeyed. “What are you trying to do?”

“Figure out if I’m having a litter yet? What else would I be doing? I don’t know what litter-bearing lynx smells like. You should. So, smell!”

“Would you care to discuss why we got a call about an emergency operation?”

Crap. Right. The operation. “I disliked my old face, so I got a new one. After an unfortunate side-job incident, my virus crashed, which meant I could have the operation at normal human prices.” Not only had I gotten the operation at normal human prices, the CDC honored the intent of the contract, meaning I wouldn’t worry about money again anytime soon.

Instead of millions for specialists and extra work to contain my virus, the CDC had only needed an eighth of the proposed amount, and they’d been worried about tapping my virus too much rather than controlling it, requiring Sebastian’s virus to bolster mine rather than knock it out of operation.

My father’s eyes widened. “You got your scar removal done on your face for the price humans are charged? Did you get a loan?”