Moon Glamour by Aimee Easterling (books to read to be successful TXT) 📕

that seemed inclined to be easy...as long as the local alpha never heard about it.

I dropped my standards in another way also. After hitting a town I seldom visited to purchase supplies, I drove up to the Highlands campus. “Harper lost her inhaler,” I lied in the main office. “She needs a replacement.” They pulled her out of class to chat with me as I’d known they would.

“Is everything okay?” My sister was wild-eyed when she met me in the quad. She knew she didn’t use an inhaler.

“Fine. Here, take this.” I slipped her a shopping bag with everything she’d need in it. Gloves. Burner phone. “I was hoping you could help me out with a job.”

“Yes!” Harper sparkled at this evidence of my trust in her. She’d begged for years to be included in the family business. For years, I’d told her it was too dangerous for the underage.

“What do you want me to do?” she continued. “I can sneak out anytime after curfew. Hitchhike to town....”

I held up a hand before my sister could give me a heart attack. “All I need you to do is to take a call for me. Then drop the phone in the culvert at the west end of campus. Fifteen minutes, then you’re back in bed. Do we have a deal?”

Harper wanted a larger part in the project, but she could tell that was all I was offering. So she shrugged and quieted while I provided the rest of the details.

Which is how, by 9 pm, I was ready to put my plan into action. Wrapping the sparkliest collar imaginable around my throat, I shifted at the edge of the park where a muddy morass made it easy to roll soft fur into matted awfulness. My costume was now complete.

At 9:15, a sad, stray version of myself padded up to the guardroom. Security cameras caught every feature in their databanks, but who would recognize me? It’s not like facial recognition works on wolves.

Bullet-proof—or technology-proof at least—I ignored the surveillance and scratched the glass door panel. Whined. Peered up into the guard’s concerned eyes.

The door opened. The guard was even more covered with dog hairs than he had been last time. Curly, white. They belonged to a miniature poodle, if I didn’t miss my guess.

But the guard wasn’t averse to larger canines. Crouching, he held out a hand toward me—the ultimate in dog-greeting politeness. I sniffed his fingers, pretending to hesitate. Then I let him scratch behind my ears.

“You poor thing.” The guard’s hand was skilled. And in the right position so a twist of my neck tapped him with the tag dangling from my collar.

Just as I’d hoped he would, the guard pinched the metal between thumb and forefinger. Rubbed mud off the digits. “Let’s call your owner and get you cleaned up.”

So, yeah, it was going to be the easiest heist of my career. Would have been, too, if Tank hadn’t shown up.

I DIDN’T EVEN REALIZE anyone else was there until the guard sank back onto his heels. “Two strays?”

I craned my neck and took in the wolf who had padded up behind me when neither the guard nor I was looking. Tank hadn’t mudded up his fur like I had, but body language made his tremendous size inconsequential. In lupine form, his scarred face was endearing rather than wince-worthy. He whined and pinned his ears, shrinking in on himself.

The posture had worked on the testy teenagers, and it worked just as well on the museum guard. “You poor thing,” he repeated.

Invisible to our human companion, I glared at the big, burly wolf who was going to ruin my night, my financial solvency, and my sister’s safety. Then I widened my eyes and curled my lips back in silent warning.

This was my turf. Tank needed to move along.

Not that my lupine half wanted him gone. Even as my lips snarled, my body swayed toward him. I sucked up a deep breath of Tank’s aroma, strong and furry and deeply male.

And that’s what Tank chose to respond to. When I curled my lip, he took a step backward. But then he sank down onto his rump and brushed his plumy tail against the dusty concrete. Cocking his head, he whined a second time, the sound as thready as a pup’s.

No wonder the security guard took out his phone and dialed the number from my tag. Tank, of course, lacked both tag and collar.

So that part of my plan was working at least. Together, all three of us listened to ringing on the other end. Then...

“Oh, please tell me you’ve found Princess!”

I winced. Harper was overplaying it. After all, the guard hadn’t even stated his business.

But he was a dog lover. Maybe he believed that someone missing their pet could be as single-minded as my sister, answering every call from a stranger with a heartfelt plea.

“Yes, ma’am,” the guard replied. “We’re....”

“Oh, thank goodness! Can you believe she jumped a ten-foot fence? I really think she might be in heat....”

Tank’s tongue lolled out. I wanted to grab my sister and shake her. The ten-foot fence part wasn’t even in the realm of possibility. The heat part was just plain embarrassing.

“Ah, so this big mutt dogging her footsteps is looking for a date?” The guard insinuated himself between me and Tank. One boot shot out to nudge Tank sideways, as if the guard intended to protect my canine virtue. As if a dog in heat would be waiting to have sex rather than pouncing the moment a male came within range.

A pause. I hadn’t expected there to be another werewolf present, and Harper wouldn’t know what to do with that information. Hopefully she’d realize I always worked solo. Hopefully....

“Oh, no, you don’t need to worry. Cutie-Pie is neutered. But he’s devoted to Princess. He follows her everywhere. Please, can you lock both of them in then stand on the street so I can find you?”

“It won’t be hard to find me, ma’am.” The