Page 73 of Whiskers on Kittens

“And what awards did you give your Lexus?”

“It depends on if I involved her in my petty mischief,” I confessed. After a moment, I gestured to the box. “Let’s see if your brother resisted the urge to preach at you.”

Easton huffed, but he tore off the wrapping paper to reveal a plain cardboard box. After a brief disagreement with the tape, he got it open. Sure enough, the box was packed to the brim with various books, including three different versions of the Bible.

Each version had a variety of marked pages, using the thin, translucent flags I bought in bulk for marking contracts. Puzzled, I picked out the first one, which was an old, battered copy. According to the front page, which listed the printing year, his brother had gone on a scavenger hunt for a pre-emergence Bible. “I may not approve of prejudice in any shape or size, but he went through a great deal of effort to find this.” Out of curiosity, I went to the first of the flags to discover his brother had highlighted a passage on forgiveness. Flipping through, I quickly identified a trend. Nodding my satisfaction, I closed the Bible, set it aside, and picked up the next one, discovering it was also from before the emergence. While there was some overlap in verses, he’d gone with the theme of pride and the consequences of pride.

Interesting.

“This brother seems to be either asking for or requesting forgiveness and seems unable to communicate in a normal fashion. But I tip my hat to him; he has put in a lot of effort into this.”

Easton frowned, picked up the first Bible I’d looked through, and flipped through the pages to examine the highlighted passages. With furrowed brows, he closed the book, set it to the side, and continued to dig through the box of books.

The nature magazines confused me, but then I realized they had a theme: evolution. Puzzled, I went through the titles as Easton set them aside. At the bottom of the box was a collection of children’s fantasy novels, which earned a weary laugh from the wolf. “I loved these books as a kid. He hated them because they were not appropriately themed for young men of good upbringing.”

“Which brother is this one?”

“The oldest of them. Salem.”

Well, Salem had done some thinking before I had brought a bunch of irritated archangels into the mix. “I’d almost feel badly about last night except I really don’t.”

“Don’t worry about it. Salem has always been among the first to think but last to act. This is his version of putting his toes in the water.”

“Right. Done in a fashion where you can make guesses without having to look you in the eyes while apologizing?”

“Precisely.”

I heaved my most dramatic sigh and attempted to use my saddest expression on him. “I’m going to have to cultivate these people into being tolerable in-laws?”

Easton considered me before raising a brow. “I feel like you’re getting the short end of this stick, Kelsie. I’ve met your parents. But since you asked, yes.”

“Am I playing at being patient and moving along at your speed?”

“It really depends on what the other options are.”

“Engaging in as many sins as we possibly can solely to upset the future in-laws comes to mind,” I admitted. “I can’t help it. It’s my petty criminal mischief ways. I’m sure I can find some law somewhere in this country that covers pre-marital sex as a law. I’ll turn myself in so I can have a new tally on my record. And since you’re a goody-goody, I won’t even tattle on you.”

“Some laws are meant to be broken, and I feel those sorts of laws should be broken with pride. While I am a supreme example of a goody-goody, I think we can come to an agreement if we’re defying idiotic laws in mutually beneficial fashions.”

Ha! I grinned at the wolf while my virus waited for even a scrap of positive attention. “Maybe you should hide any presents I got you until later,” I confessed.

“Did you give me a series of hints on what you would like for Christmas?” he asked, and the wolf smirked at me.

“That may have happened.”

“I received the hint yesterday around the time Lucifer informed me you were going out of your mind because you were trying really hard to give me space because you are assertive normally and I am not. I question why my wolf is thoroughly invested in a cat of all things, but as far as cats go, you have superior spots, and I really cannot blame Lucifer for his enjoyment of his wife’s spots. Spots are fascinating.”

“Unfortunately for you, I do not have spots in any interesting locations.”

“Ah, but you will soon enough. I have the hybrid form, which means you’ll develop it eventually. It may take time and a rather exhaustive campaign on my part, but I will one day have spots in fascinating locations to work with.” Packing the books back into the box, he went through the gifts, identified which ones had come from me, and put those in a pile. “I do believe I shall accept your advice about opening these in private. You should invite me into your bedroom for this purpose.”

Meow. “I really should because I know there are good things for me in those boxes. I’m selfish. I’m a cat. Everything about those boxes is really solely for my enjoyment.”

While Easton was untamed, his snort indicated he hadn’t been born yesterday and fully understood I wouldn’t be the only one enjoying our evening. At the confirmation I had the wolf in my sights and wouldn’t be letting him leave without a fight, my virus settled, waiting with admirable patience.

Easton picked up one of the other gifts, which was marked as coming from Satan rather than Santa. We exchanged looks, and without a word, he put the present in the pile with my stuff.

“When in doubt, expect perversion,” Easton stated.