Page 47 of Hot Summer's Prey

Making sure Teresa has her legs steady, I turn to the waters, ready to dive in and fight him. Teresa pulls me to her instead, laughing hard.

“We can get him back later. You owe me a date to your fancy underwater garden, and seeing you all green again is getting me all sorts of hot and bothered,” she says. “Besides, look at this poor pup.”

Black eyes and a little black nose stare back at me from a mess of matted white curls.

“He is much tinier than I thought he was,” I say.

“You’re just a little guy under all that puffy hair, huh, Slugger?” Teresa coos at him. “Aww, look how pathetic you look. Let’s get you home, buddy.”

I try not to feel jealous as she coos over and coddles the dog. As she said, we have a date underwater, where I will have her full attention. And then she can coo and coddle over me and I can do the same for her.

21

NOTHING WEIRD AND KINKY HERE

TERESA

“What the heeeeck happened to you?” Dawn asks, her jaw fully dropped.

Maybe it’s because I’m half-dripping in the entryway of the house. Not just from the ocean water drenching my clothes.

“Hottie with the dog,” I say, biting my lip to stop from grinning so hard. “I won.”

It’s hard to hold in, but I did, actually. I blew his whole world inside out, and while this stopped being vengeance a long time ago, I am still going to celebrate the fact.

“His dog?” she asks, eyeing Slugger in my arms.

I had to carry him, because otherwise Pacari might start changing again. He had another set of clothes in the cave, but I didn’t have the fortune of a second set of clothes in the sex cave. Maybe I’ll work on that—put a pin in that for later.

“Oh no, he’s right—” I turn to look behind me.

Blinking, I survey the gravel road, the long plants that surround the property, the area around Dawn’s little hybrid—Zephyr’s car is gone. They must be out with some of the others. It might just be Dawn at the house.

“Pacari?” I call out.

“Yeah!” he calls back. “Be right there.”

He stands up, his torso peaking up from behind the tall brown grass behind the white picket fence.

I tilt my head in confusion as he comes forward.

“You getting cold feet or something?” I joke.

He furrows his brow. “My feet are always cold.”

I shake my head with a laugh. “What were you doing over there?”

“I felt a—I saw this,” he says, holding up a necklace.

A locket, rather. Antique gold in the shape of a heart, dangling from a bow with a pearl mounted on the center of the heart. I take it from him and look it over, try to open it—but no luck. Maybe Dawn can figure out how to open it. In the meantime, I’m more concerned about the fact that Pacari was prancing around in the grass.

“You should check for ticks,” I huff.

“What are ticks?” he asks.

I roll my eyes and bend low to check out his legs. He’s wearing sandals, so I don’t have to check his shoes. I shove Slugger and the necklace in his hands. He holds Slugger at a distance from the rest of him, just to be safe. Unfortunately, his hands still transform after a few moments.

“What do you mean ‘what are ticks?’ You’ve never dealt with ticks, running around in the dark and all?”

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