Page 53 of A Light in the Dark
“You get the Hunters to do a blood test. We don’t test for it in Stonecreek, so usually, those wanting the test have to make a trip to Moonriver.”
Excellent. That would give me all the excuse I needed to plan a trip to Moonriver in the near future, all without drawing suspicion. “And I can just go to the border and tell them I have an unhealthy interest in luna moths, and I can go get tested?”
“I hate being the one to bust your bubble, but I’m pretty sure there are only two single shifters in the lot who sell their silk and agreed to be showcased. Shifter Five is probably married—or a woman. Half of the shifters are men, half are women.”
I snickered at the man’s tone, which bordered on dismay and irritation. “I don’t have to marry Shifter Five to get their silk. I just need to earn more bonuses and come here. That means I’m more likely to stalk you, as you’re my current ride to my personal heaven.”
“I feel like I have committed a crime against the entire town.”
“You can sacrifice yourself for the cause. You might not be Shifter Five, but you live next door, and you’ve been busted, sir. Only five people here aren’t luna moth shifters, and they’re the spouses of luna moths. You’re from here, so I can just show up at your door and request a luna moth at leisure. You’re the one who committed the crime against your fellow shifters, now you must pay the punishment.” I smirked, raising a brow at him. “You’ve been busted, Joel.”
Joel opened his mouth, closed it, and stopped the SUV, lowering his head. A few moments later, he began to laugh. “And here I thought I was supposed to be the kidnapper and you the cooperative victim.”
“I’m cooperating! I’m just busting you left and right for everything that isn’t kidnapping. If you hadn’t slipped about the numbers in town, I would have only been strongly suspicious rather than absolutely certain that you’re the luna moth that got absolutelyshitfacedon my roses. In good news, I am jealous and want to lure more luna moths to my garden, so I’m going to pretend I don’t know your dirty little silkysecret. That said, I’m not above extortion, so I’m thinking I need to charge you a single percent of your silk production.”
“You have no idea how much silk shifters produce,” he warned me.
“I will eventually get enough silk to spin into yarn, which I will learn to dye, and I will go purchase everything else from Shifter Five. And who knows? Maybe with my tender, loving care, your silk might be equal to Shifter Five’s.”
“A single percent of silk would give you probably a hundred pounds of silk a year,” he informed me.
My eyes widened. “Pounds?”
“Pounds. And I produce particularly pristine silk, if I do say so myself.”
With a hundred pounds of raw silk to work with, I’d be able to enter spinning heaven and stay there however long I wanted. “My plan does not require any changes. I will merely dedicate an entire room of my home to my silk yarn stash. You may bring over my share in ten pound intervals. I’m sparing you the hike to my home.”
“You’re really going to take me out for a hundred pounds of silk a year!”
“Damn straight I am, buddy. If you’re nice, I’ll even share the yarn stash with you once I’m done playing with it.”
He eyed me. “I could use some yarn, I’m not going to lie. How much are you going to charge me for the spinning work?”
“Materials only. It’s only fair to supply my supplier with goods if he’s allowing himself to be coerced for silk.”
Heaving a sigh, he said, “I’m going to end up telling my parents about this, and they’re going to laugh at me. I’m never going to have any dignity ever again.”
“You could earn your way out of extortion if you tell me your last name,” I offered. “Everyone on the street is curious, and there’s enough money in the betting pool I could buy more of Shifter Five’s silk.”
“I knew people were betting on it, but I had not known the money had gotten to be significant. I only kept it secret because it was driving the assholes down the street wild.”
“Which assholes? Most of them are assholes. But everyone adds a hundred to the betting pool every year that we can’t figure it out. My contribution is up to four hundred. It goes up a hundred a year. The librarians are in charge of keeping the money safe.”
“All right. I can understand how this came to be, but I think it’s a little crazy you increase the pool by a hundred per person each year. As for the assholes, you’re definitely the sweetest person on the street, but the librarians come in a close second and third. Everyone else has been a certified asshole to me at one stage or another. Honestly, everyone except you has, but I forgave the librarians because one of the other assholes had lied to them about something. We cleared that up pretty quickly.”
“What happened?”
“You know the bitch at the very end of the street?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Unfortunately. I bet she’s the shit stirrer who started the stair drama.”
“She really is. Anyway, she told the librarians I was a convicted felon who was living in the place as part of an ex-felon program so I wouldn’t commit further crimes.”
My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open. “You?”
“She doesn’t see me leave for work because I drive in, so she has no idea that I work weekdays like everyone else. Shealso never asked. Nobody on the street has actually asked what I do for a living.”
“You work weekdays?”
