Lycan Legacy - Paladin: Tales of Luna White - Werewolf by Veronica Singer (funny books to read TXT) 📕

OK, 1 hour.

My tension rose in anticipation of the upcoming mission. Too keyed up to rest, I searched for something else to do in preparation.

Just enough time to check out my pack and equipment. I inventoried the backpack, and deemed most of its contents surplus. I removed the extra MREs, the canteen, and other tools, leaving lots of space for any demo equipment we might have to take.

Then I checked out the contents of my invisible handbag. Not much in there. I hadn’t brought any potent magical items, aside from my moonstone amulet. That left my iron-knuckled gloves, good-luck charm/lockpick, passports, ID cards, etc.

All the Krugerrands and my last activated BITCHCoin had been turned over to Manny. I still had three BITCHCoins that I could activate, but that would be a last resort. Those and a few more magic hood ornaments were the last of my assets.

Under my probing hand, something slithered against my palm. I jerked back abruptly. Had some desert snake crawled in while we had traipsed through the desert? And why hadn’t my wolf alerted me?

I held the top of the bag closed and sniffed. No scent of reptile. What could it be?

Holding the bag away from myself, I inverted it and dumped the contents to the floor. No snake—just my bedraggled silk climbing rope: fifty feet of line with a baseball-sized knotted end.

Then the rope twisted and contracted, raising its knotted head into the air like a cobra.

Joy flashed through my heart. “Silkworm! You’re alive!”

The ball gave a tiny head shake. “Okay,” I corrected myself, “not alive. But you’re back and I’m happy to see you.”

Silkworm gave an emphatic nod, then slithered up to my feet and rose to waist-height. I petted her head and she rubbed against my palm like a puppy.

“Give me a hug,” I invited. She wrapped around my wrist, stuck her head under my sleeve and coiled her way up my arm to my shoulder to lay against my neck. The length of her rope body coiled loosely around my torso inside the abaya.

“I thought I’d lost you forever,” I whispered.

Silkworm had saved my life when I had fought a time-warping Fae assassin by cocooning the murderer and locking him in place. The assassin had burned out his life force trying to escape Silkworm and had nearly destroyed her, leaving only frayed remains with scant signs of life.

I had probed Silkworm with both werewolf and magician senses, but found no scent of magic, no reaction to my probes. To all appearances, Silkworm was a simple silk rope with a knotted ball at one end.

I chattered away as I gathered all my items and returned them to my bag.

“You’ve missed so much. The twins were born six months ago.”

A slight tightening of her coils stopped me.

“Oh, don’t be jealous of the babies. I’ll always make time for you.”

A gentler hug of reassurance.

“Thanks. Then Mason was injured while saving us from a demon attack. He’s recovering in Fae, but it will be several months before he can come home.”

Another squeeze. “Oh, yes! I miss him so much! But keeping up with the babies, my career, and running the pack has kept me so busy that I barely have time to think.”

The knot pulled away from my neck and poised itself in front of my head. The rope twisted into a question mark shape.

“What are we doing here? Well, Logan’s daughter ran away from home and came here. Logan had the hare-brained idea that he should rescue her by himself. Her friends were ready for a werewolf and trapped him in chains of silver. I felt his pain through our pack link and—here we are.” I was leaving out a ton of detail, but that imparted the essentials.

Another question mark. “Of course we’re going to rescue him! He was my first packmate. But if we get out of this alive, I’m going to have strict words with him.”

The knot nodded again.

“You want to help with the rescue? I would love your help. Are you sure you’re up to it?”

A slightly less emphatic nod, followed by a lowered head.

“I’m sure you’ll do your best. I’ll be grateful for any help you can give us.”

The sound of Manny’s SUV pulling up came from the front of the house.

“I think you should get back in the bag now. I have no idea how Manny will react to seeing you.”

A nod, then the head closed in and nuzzled my cheek gently. In just a few seconds, Silkworm was back in my bag, apparently inert.

Manny entered, carrying a stuffed duffel bag in one hand and a smaller canvas bag in the other. He dumped the large bag unceremoniously on the floor but took great care to gently place the small bag far away from the large bag.

Manny looked at me, staring so intently that I looked down. Damn! Silkworm had loosened my buttons while cuddling, exposing my breasts. I buttoned up quickly.

Manny kept staring. It irked both my wolf side and my woman side.

“You sure know how to welcome a guy back,” he said with a grin.

“What?” I asked sharply. I suddenly preferred the old, grumpy Manny. Maybe I had overdone his cure?

A larger smile. “Is this another example of your feminine wiles?”

“Manny!” I snapped. “I don’t appreciate your tone.”

“You’re naked under that.”

“So?” I furrowed my brow. “Isn’t everybody naked under their clothes?”

Manny looked down at my bare feet and smirked. “Yeah, but…”

Mike entered and saved him before he could crack another joke. He carried several bags that smelled deliciously of roast chicken and side dishes. My mouth watered.

“Manny, you’ve been in this country too long if the sight of bare feet excites you,” he quipped. Then he walked over to the table and opened the bags. “Are you hungry, Luna?”

“Starved. Those leftover MREs were starting to look good.”

Grateful for the interruption, I grabbed clean plates and flatware and placed them on the table.

After finishing one chicken, my irritation at Manny faded. Maybe he had