“What about after that? Are they going to set camp up here?”
“Maybe, but I might be able to take the spot here.”
I sat up from his body, pushing my long, wavy black hair out of the way to look down at him. “Here, why?”
“You’re here, and now that we are, well finding an understanding, I am not going to squander it again. My family might have had a say before, but now, I don’t care what they think.” I blinked; I would have killed to hear that several years ago when he turned his back because of what they wanted. Now, it was, I wasn’t even sure what this was. Sex, of course, but that had never been our problem, we could fall in and out of bed, flat surface, whatever. for sex without issue. But the relationship stuff, that tangled us up into webs. “Aren’t you going to say something?”
“I don’t know. Yes, we have fallen back into our old habits of sex, but more, we are not the same stupid kids we were before. I have changed, you have too. I have control over my nature better than when it began, but it is not perfect. Besides, your family hates my ever-loving guts.”
“I don’t answer to them. Besides, none of their plans have worked out, and I don’t care what they think. You and I though, it never goes away.”
“Can we try to solve the problem we’ve got before handling relationship stuff?”
“Yeah, but we aren’t going to skip it, darling.” He reached up to place a light kiss over my lips, before he head bumps me.
Chapter Eighty-Two
Caleb pulled up the computer map of the city, marking on it where the mages had remembered being taken, where they had worked, and placing marks for cell phone pings that the baddies had been using to call to pass around information. There were only a few large houses in the area he had mapped out. It was the fancier part of the city; my people avoided it given the magic tinges that came up from the rich and security that was not afraid to shoot on sight. Especially if you weren’t as white as they all pretended to be, and I couldn’t pass for that on a good day. Right now, I would be considered the help, but Caleb dressed up and clean would fit in, he had the old stock breeding of years of carefully planned out legacies that mages were concerned about, keeping the magic pure. Speaking with him, he shrugged and went to see what open houses were available.
“Open house?”
“Yeah, we can look and see the area. We will dress you up as my trophy wife or something.” I started to laugh and shake my head.
“I am not blonde and perky enough to be a trophy wife.”
“That is prejudice, darling. Besides no one is going to notice if you will use some of your natural assets.”
“Assets?”
“Really, don’t play stupid. Low cut and high, I am pretty sure we can get a guy to be paying more attention to my sexy trophy wife to be. There is one house on the market, so I will call in to see it ASAP. I need a better phone, so I can get access to my accounts and get clothing.”
“I like you in tee shirts and jeans.”
“I know, but for this, I got to be the part. You too.” I tossed him my phone, allowing him to access his bank to transfer funds and do what he needed to do for this stupid plan. I would have snuck in instead, but getting reshot this week was excessive, even for me. I dug through my closet for club clothing that might look rich enough before giving up since that was not my sufficient scene, and I stuck to leather if I could. I’m pretty sure that was not the look Caleb was going for, though. Once Caleb finished, I took the phone to text my other cat friend, Nikki. She always knew what was in fashion and might have advice for me. She sent me info before she ended up saying she would be by in an hour with clothing and makeup to make me look ‘rich and a hottie.’ It would have to do since my fashion sense went from practical to simple.
I updated Caleb of this latest development and he nodded, retaking the phone to get a car to pick him up to get clothing and supplies. He left, giving me time to enjoy my space alone. I would be going back to work again in the late afternoon tomorrow; hopefully, I would have this handled. If not, Six would understand but would worry and want to know everything. I would get it done beforehand but would also manage my expectations. Once Nikki arrived, she took over my apartment in a fury of the manic energy of a cat and a woman on a mission to make me look the best. She rarely got to play the pretty girly-girl since we mostly hung around guys, not female shifters. She did her magic and got my hair tamed from the wild waves to something slick and away from my face. My face was now full of makeup I never really bothered with and lipstick the color of pink flowers. It stood out on my face; even thinking it was too much she ignored me to continue. My lashes were long and thicker than humanly possible after she added new ones. After ignoring me again, I stopped trying to add my two cents to the matter as she finished dolling me up. She gave me an excellent well-fitted dress in fuchsia, a color that if I had any say would never be seen on my body again. She let me use the simple strappy gold sandals I kept for critical issues,
