Page 30 of Plaidypus
Even the bar shut down early, sending the determined off to somewhere safer for their evening entertainment.
While I pondered what to say, my brother waited. Once the wait dragged on for some thirty minutes, he sighed. “It’s going to be one of those trips, isn’t it?”
“No, not really. I’m just at a loss where to start even thinking about it. Interesting is an understatement. Should something like this happen again, warn me you contacted someone. I about had a heart attack when they came calling.”
My brother grunted. Then, after a few minutes of silence, he replied, “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you. I didn’t think you’d have that much of an issue with strangers. I specifically asked they send someone from out of the area, citing concerns regarding the town. I didn’t want to get anyone in trouble, but I also didn’t want to end up as the latest notch on some vampire hunter’s belt.”
“I get that. I’m not an idiot.”
“You’re a lycanthrope, and lycanthropes are protective around family and friends. You’re also a shapeshifter, which means you have a double dose of those traits. Add in that you’re part platypus, and it’s no wonder you’re a mess right now.”
I raised a brow at that. “I’m a mess? You’re the mess. You’re the one who became a vampire. I might be sharing my skin with a predator and a prey species, but at least I didn’t actuallydie.”
“You’re not going to let the whole death thing go, are you?”
“I hit a moose, and the moose flew into the cab of my truck. And killed you. Why would I let that go?”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
I wrinkled my nose and kept an eye on the road rather than shoot a glare at my brother. “I don’t care how many times you tell me that, but it was my fault. I hit Icy.”
“Yes, you hit Icy, but you weren’t driving fast, you were paying attention, and nothing was distracting you. You had no time to really swerve or hit the brakes. Icy came out of the brush and got in front of you. Stop blaming yourself. And you can’t blame Icy, either.”
“I never blamed Icy. She’s an animal. It’s not like she attended moose school to learn how to better destroy humans.”
“They come able to destroy humans by default and don’t need any additional education,” Matthieu muttered.
I laughed because it was true. “The geese sucked away all Canadian malice, and what the geese didn’t take, the moose did. Take Icy for example, eh?”
“So, you’re basically saying there is zero malice left because the geese got it all.”
“Basically.”
My brother sighed. “I know you don’t want to leave home. That’s ultimately my fault.”
“Just because I don’t necessarily want to do something doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it. Home is what I know. If I think of this as some great, big adventure, it won’t be too bad, right? And no, it’s not your fault. It’s the fault of the people in town, who kill undead on sight without asking if the undead is hungry or interested in having a snack of human. Only an asshole would stay in a town like that when their family is on the chopping block. As I’m not an asshole, I’m moving.”
“Leonard thinks I should fly to New York with some Toronto vampires. It would prevent some issues with traveling, and he thought you might like time to, uh, be your own woman. His words, not mine. Youareyour own woman, you arenotmy babysitter, and I don’t care what our parents say, birth order doesn’t actually matter.”
I snorted, marveling at the audacity of the wolf. “Did he actually say that?”
“He really did.”
“Brave man.” I thought about the trip between Toronto and New York, decided it made sense, and I’d be able to maintain some semblance of a reasonable sleep schedule if he did the sensible thing and flew to our new home. “I will go along with this with a few conditions.”
“Okay. What are your conditions?”
“First, you need to coerce Mom into making poutine for us when I arrive, even if she has to make the damned squeaky cheese herself. Second, I will require a list of all eligible men, with photographs, printed out in advance along with the sworn notarized word of both parents that after I review the list they won’t bother me regarding said list unless I bring up the subject. Third, a place to park my truck must be secured.”
“I can do that. Smart move about the men, too. Dad’s going to be a problem.”
“When isn’t Dad a problem?”
“He won’t be a problem once we’re both safely married to reasonable adults he approves of.”
As my brother was right, I settled for a shrug. “Eh. We’ll probably survive.”
“Probably.”
