Page 41 of Help Wanted, Vampires Inquire Within
Skyler
Mason wouldn’t get into the SUV. He wasn’t drunk-drunk, but he wasn’t being cooperative either. He kept trying to get them all to walk to the beach, even though Downward Dog wasn’t anywhere near the beach.
Wrestling a massive gargoyle, even when he was in his human form, wasn’t easy. All the wolves were staying back. Mason didn’t have a soul bond with them, and they liked having all their teeth.
“It’s this way,” Mason said, walking east and trying to drag her and Jack with him. He stumbled a little and came up against a sign post. “Hey, where’d that come from?”
Skyler had an idea. Stepping away from her side of Mason, she moved to the open door of their vehicle. “Mason!”
When he looked at her, he straightened away from the pole and ended up leaning heavily on Jack. Thankfully, the vampire was more than strong enough to support Mason’s bulk.
“Yes?” Mason said, with a big, sloppy smile. “Why are you so far away? We’re going to the beach. You like the beach.”
Skyler lifted her shirt to show off the lacy bra she’d bought last week when she’d gone shopping with Maddy. “Come get me!”
The playful smile disappeared. Mason growled and lunged at her. He wasn’t as coordinated as usual so with a squeak, she let go of her shirt and scrambled into the SUV before he reached her. Jack and the wolves roared with laughter as Mason clambered in after her.
She put herself at the far end of the middle row. In a blur of motion, Mason grabbed her and sat down with her in his lap.
“Pretty,” he mumbled, nuzzling her face and putting a hand up her shirt.
Skyler giggled and pushed his hand away. “Wait till we get home.”
“Okay,” Mason said without resentment. He dropped his hand to her lap but buried his face against her neck. He loved to do that. He claimed the scent of her skin was the best smell ever.
Jack sat next to Mason. The gargoyle wrapped an arm around the vampire and squished him close. “Also pretty.”
“Thanks,” Jack said with an indulgent smile.
The rest of the wolves got into the vehicle, and Remy settled in the driver’s seat. They’d only traveled about five minutes before Mason’s head fell back against the headrest, and he started snoring. Sklyer tried to move off his lap, but he made a grumbling sound so she stayed where she was. It wasn’t a hardship to sit in Mason’s lap. Through their bond, she could feel that he wasn’t in a deep sleep. The feelings coming from him were fuzzy and adorable.
When his phone started to ring, he grumbled but didn’t try to answer it. Because he was half leaning on Jack, Skyler could pull it from his pocket.
“Hi Elena!” Skyer sang into the phone. She loved Mason’s mom. The woman was a joy and made the best food!
“My son must be asleep,” Elena said, clearly amused.
“Yup,” Skyler agreed. She wasn’t going to out a drunk Mason to his mom. That would be rude. Besides, it was better to keep it a secret until she needed blackmail material! “I can give him a message when he wakes up.”
“I want all of you over for dinner on Sunday,” she said. “We have family visiting, and they all want to meet you and Jack.”
“We’d love to,” Skyler said, already looking forward to the feast Mason’s family would put together. They chatted for a while longer before ending the call.
The wolves in the car had gone quiet while she talked to Elena, but with the call finished, they started being noisy again. The Clover Pack didn’t know how to have a quiet conversation. Everything was done at full volume!
“It looked like you had a good time with the book club,” Jack said as the wolves talked around them.
“It was so much fun!” Skyler enthused. “I can’t wait for the next one.”
“Do you guys pick books or read whatever you want?” Jack asked.
“Both,” Skyler explained. “We can talk about the assigned books or the most recent books we read. If enough people are interested, the book could end up on the list for the next meeting.”
“What’s next on the list?” Jack asked.
She dug her phone out of her pocket and opened the book club group chat. “We’re all going to read eitherAncillary Justiceby Ann Leckie,Mexican Gothicby Silvia Moreno-Garcia, orThe Spy in the Struggleby Aya de Leon. I think they try to pick different genres so more people get to read what they love best, like Tag. He’s a big fan of mysteries but isn’t really interested in other genres. Sopek reads everything so he doesn’t care.”
She felt a spike of curiosity come from Jack and could guess what he was going to say next.
