Page 15 of Plaidypus
My eyes widened. “Godiva? You hidGodivaup there?”
He waved the tin and lured me in the direction of the kettle, which he grabbed. “You must use the milk warmer you bought, as this deserves milk. And yes, I hid luxury cocoa above the fridge, where my sister would never look for it in case of a true emergency. This is a true emergency. Right, Leonard?”
I gasped at his boldness. “That is my kettle, Matthieu Lavigne!”
“It is your kettle, but I am not giving it back until you make a proper cup of hot cocoa. Once you make yourself a proper cup of hot cocoa, I will give it back. Don’t scald your milk, so heat it low and slow. If you’re extra good, I will go retrieve one of the candy canes I have hiding in my lair.”
“You did not keep any candy canes from last year,” I muttered, well aware we both had issues when it came to candy canes.
“I ordered a box online for emergency situations. This seems like an emergency. Make your milk, nice and easy, or the kettle gets it.”
Asshole brother. I wrinkled my nose, went to the refrigerator, and dug out the milk, set it on the counter, and retrieved the milk warmer, which was nothing more than a regular pot and a fancy frothing stick so I could have warm, bubbly milk in my cocoa. “Would you like a cup, Leonard?”
“I’ll pass and wait for the excessive supply of hot chocolate to arrive, but thank you.”
After a long pause, so my brother understood what I sacrificed making the offer, I asked, “Would you like a cup, Matthieu?”
“Only an idiot takes your precious premium cocoa. I shall go into my lair and bring out the frou-frou coffee I wasted money on a few weeks ago. Can I interest you in a cup, Leonard?”
“Do you happen to have any Timmy’s coffee?”
My brother snickered. “As a matter of fact, yes. Thatismy frou-frou coffee. My sister is just a snob, who believes the only good cup of Timmy’s comes from the shop.”
What had I done to deserve my brother? “Do you know why you got turned into a vampire? You got turned into a vampire because you are pure evil.”
Matthieu laughed and headed for his basement lair, leaving me alone with Leonard.
What use was a brother when he went away, leaving me to deal with the handsome male wolf? The last thing I needed was a man complicating my already complicated life.
My beasts disagreed with me, and the platypus in me wanted to take Leonard for a test drive. The wolf approved of my platypus’s idea. I did my best to ignore their signal I should make some effort to attract the man who’d come at my brother’s request.
One day, my brother would pay. How remained a mystery, but he would pay.
In the meantime, I would ignore my beasts and do my best to remain a polite hostess. “While Matthieu’s gone, mostly so I can hold it over his head, what species of wolf am I?”
“According to the scanner, you’re a Bernard’s wolf, a species of wolf native to the Arctic Archipelago, specifically two islands in that region. This says they’re a variant of gray wolf, although they tended to be white with black tipped fur along the spine. Information on the species is limited, but a DNA sample was acquired from a frozen specimen located during an expedition. The lycanthropy virus is fascinating in that way. While wolves are the predominant species and the first discovered, there is more and more evidence that the virus can adapt and use DNA from any natural animal. Avian, amphibian, and reptile lycanthropes have been discovered. All known types of mammals, including whales and dolphins, are also on record as having been found. Let’s just say the whale lycanthrope got quite the surprise when he went water skiing and shifted for the first time following a wipeout. The dolphin shifted in her swimming pool, which created issues. Dolphins do not appreciate chlorine. Needless to say, her pool was converted to be a saltwater system. These are recent developments, and much like you, they were infected with the virus from a hotspot.”
Damn. Leonard was a fountain of knowledge. “Do you just read textbooks in your free time?”
He grinned. “Not precisely. It’s my job to know, as I help other lycanthropes adapt to being lycanthropes. I find people tend to relax and are more inclined to trust me when I can answer their questions without having to check a manual.”
“That meter can really tell you things like that?”
“Absolutely. It’s a high-end model with a live-updating encyclopedia. I can also transmit test results to the CDC’s databases, which will save you a trip to a testing center. You’ll appreciate that later.”
“I appreciate it now,” I admitted. “In a town like this, it’s hard to dodge the CDC. They skulk around as persistently as the undead. You can’t even apply for jobs here without undergoing testing—and it isn’t a CDC representative who handles the test. Testing positive as an undead? That’s a fast way to die here.”
“That is something that will be addressed. Vampires and a few other types of undead count as sentients, and killing them for no reason other than their status as an undead is murder.” Leonard frowned. “I had not realized the problem wasthatsevere.”
“If it makes you feel better, the vampires we get tend to fall more into the mindless predator category. They don’t even try to talk to anyone. They just try to kill everyone they can.”
While Leonard still frowned, he relaxed somewhat, resuming tapping at the meter in his hand. “Once you’re shifting, there’ll be a very nice paycheck in your future if you agree to have some blood taken and run through some basic tests. There are no known Bernard’s wolves of any sort alive. This makes you unique on both fronts, as there are no direct matches for your platypus genetics.”
“Great. I’m an endangered species.”
“Endangered species have excellent protections with the CDC. You’ll enjoy being protected until you have your choice of mate, you’ll have your pick of packs around the world, and you’ll be given lucrative offers from the CDC to help add to the knowledge databases. As a common-as-dirt timber wolf, I don’t get any of the benefits, although I could put in a request for a specific pack if I wish to join one. Right now, I’m a lone wolf, as packs get quite irritable when someone in their pack donates to vampires. I don’t partake of their incubus or their feminine charms, and they respect my boundaries. Because it hurts like hell, they limit how much they drink, and they limit their drinking to what’s absolutely necessary for their survival. They’re aware I can retaliate if they go too far with their drinking.”
Interesting. “My brother doesn’t do that. He always stops when I ask him to, except the one time he experimented with extending how often he drinks. We did not repeat that experiment.”
