I saw his shadow pause outside the shower door. When he spoke his voice held a hint of doubt. "You think so?"
"That we need to focus? Yeah," I replied.
"Not that. The part about the life-or-death situation."
"You don't think Cranston or his goons were going to kill us?" I asked him.
Luke moved away from the shower and I scrubbed the glass clean in time to see him put his towel back on. He sat down on the toilet and leaned back against the tank in a position very leisurely for a mostly-naked man. "I'm not so sure he intended to kill us. He certainly didn't send enough guards after us to do the job."
I scoffed. "Six against five wasn't enough?"
Luke smiled. "Think about it. Alistair, Baker and I have a great deal of experience in fighting, and Stacy and you are werewolves yourselves and could have handled at least one between you."
"Maybe he slipped up?" I suggested.
Luke tilted his head toward me. "Do you think a man like Cranston slips up that badly?"
I sighed and shut off the water. "Then what are you getting at?"
"I'm wondering if maybe he wanted us to escape. That maybe our troubles with him have just started."
"Well, they'd have to keep going because we need to save Stacy's dad from his hypnosis or whatever it is," I pointed out.
He furrowed his brow and shook his head. "That won't be easy, and to be honest I don't think we'll be able to do it."
"But we've got to try," I insisted. I opened the shower door part way and scowled at him. "And you have to get up."
He raised an eyebrow and a mischievous smile slipped onto his face. "Why is that?"
"You know perfectly well you're sitting on my towel," I growled. I'd put my towel on the closed toilet lid upon which he sat like a king.
"We could always share a towel," he suggested.
"And you could always get off your throne and toss me the towel," I countered.
Luke sighed, tilted to one side, and pulled the towel out from under him. He tossed it at me, and I wrapped it around myself and stepped out. "You know you don't have to be shy around me. I've seen you naked before."
"Every time I'm naked in front of you you get these wolfish ideas," I pointed out.
"I am a werewolf," he argued.
I grabbed his hand and yanked him off the toilet to the shower. "And a dirty werewolf at that, so get into that shower and clean off some of those dirty thoughts." I don't know why he was surprised by y pushiness, but I managed to drag him to the shower, shove him in, turn on the cold water, and shut the door. There was a horrendous howl from inside the shower, and soon there was a knock on the bathroom door.
"Is everything all right?" Stacy called to me.
"We're fine. Luke's just cooling off," I called back.
There was a tingle of laughter in her voice. "All right, but you hurry out. There's something you and I have to do."
17
I stepped out in my towel, and Stacy was standing there to whisk me away to her bedroom. She herself was dressed, and on her bed was laid out another fashionable skirt with a nice blouse top. "I think these will fit you. I would offer you some pants to wear, but you're a little too short to fit into mine."
"I'm sure these will work," I assured her. I was just happy to have clothes.
"Good, because we're going to be going out and you'll catch a lot of unwanted attention in that towel," she told me.
I whipped my head over to her and blinked. "Going out? What about the guys?"
"They have to stay here. I don't have clothes for them, and that's one of the reasons we're going out. We just need to get sizes and preferences, and then we can leave."
"But what if the patrols find us? You're kind of known around here," I pointed out.
"It'll only be for a while, and I'll wear a nice, foppish hat with thick glasses that will cover most of my face," she assured me. She stepped over to her nightstand and removed a few rolls of canine bills which she stuffed into her purse. "Besides, we have to start an early search for costumes for that ball tomorrow night. We'll be lucky to find anything decent to wear."
We jumped when there was a knock on the door. "That sounds a little dangerous, don't you think?" Luke called to us.
Stacy frowned, stalked up to the door and swung it open to reveal Luke standing there dripping on the floor and clothed only in his towel. "Do you have a better idea than you walking down the street looking like that?"
An evil smirk slowly spread across his face. "I might have something." Luke pushed past her and strode over to the bed. He looked over the outfit on the covers, and turned back to Stacy. "Do you have these in a size thirteen?'
Stacy blinked, and her mouth slowly dropped open. "You're not serious, are you?" she asked him.
"Deadly serious. If my mate is going out into a dangerous city I want to be accompanying her," he insisted.
I held up my hand. "Could you two bring me up-to-date on what you're talking about."
Luke turned to me with a big grin on his face. "I'm coming with you, but in disguise."
"Disguise?" I repeated. My eyes wandered down to the feminine outfit on the bed. That's when the bolt of lightning struck me, and I whipped my head back to him. "You're not seriously coming with us dressed as a woman?" I exclaimed.
"Exactly, and I'm sure I'll pull the part of well." He crossed his arms and his towel fell down to the floor, revealing his, ahem, not feminine parts.
Stacy laughed as he hurriedly gathered up his towel. "I'm sure you'll do fine, just tell everyone you had a freak accident and the doctors had to give you some permanent attachments."
Luke glanced over his shoulder and glared at her. "No one will know I'm a man after you're done with me, and I am going."
Stacy, still with a smirk on her face, shrugged and wandered over to her closet. "All right, but don't let me catch you looking at the women mannequins."
He swept his arm in front of him and bowed at the waist. "You have my word as a gentleman."
I scoffed. "We can sue you for false advertising."
"None of that now, children. We have to hurry or the stores will be filled with shoppers," Stacy scolded us.
I dressed, and then we hauled Luke to the center of the room for his transformation. It required a lot of makeup, pins, and prayers, but we finally managed to fit him into one of Stacy's largest dresses with a bonnet over his head. When we finished there was a knock on the door. "Miss Stacy, is Master Luke in there?" Alistair called to us.
"Mistress Luke will be out in a moment," she replied.
"You're enjoying this far too much," Luke commented.
"There's no such thing, now get strolling and show us how you move in those high heels," she ordered him. Luke took a few wobbly steps forward and I caught him before his face kissed the floor.
"Looks like me my first time walking in a pair of those," I teased.
Stacy sighed and shook her head. "It'll have to do. Nothing else matches that dress. Come on, let's show the world what a beautiful girl you are." Stacy pushed him out the door and I followed behind with eager anticipation. We found Baker and Alistair in the living room, and they casually glanced in our direction. When they noticed Luke their eyes widened and Baker jumped up from his chair.
"What have you done to him?" Baker exclaimed.
"He wants to go shopping with us so we attired him appropriately," Stacy replied.
"And it was the only clothes Stacy had," I chimed in.
Alistair stepped up to Luke with a horrified expression on his face. "Master Luke-"
"Mistress, Alistair. At least for now," Luke corrected him.
"Sir, I must protest. Your father-"
"-isn't here at the moment, so I can't give him a heart attack," Luke interrupted him. I noticed a warning glint in his eyes that cowed some of Alistair's indignation.
"But is this really necessary?" Alistair persisted.
"Do you want to go in my place and protect the girls?" Luke wondered. Alist
air straightened, and bowed his head.
"I will defer to your judgment, sir."
"Then my judgment is for you two to remain here and wait for our return. We shouldn't be long," Luke told them.
I walked up and slipped my arm into his and an evil grin onto my face. "You have no idea what a shopping trip is, do you?" I asked him.
Luke's face paled and he pulled a little away from me. "This will take long, won't it?"
"Half the day if we don't get moving," Stacy spoke up. She looked to the pair staying in the apartment. "If the phone rings it's safe to answer it. Only Rick has the number and he might have info later from some of my sources."
"We'll listen for it, Miss Stacy," Alistair promised her.
She turned to us and smiled. "Good. Now let's get moving."
Stacy and I helped Luke walk down the treacherous stairs in his treacherous heels. "Easy there. Just one step at a time. Nice and gentle," I encouraged him.
Luke frowned at me. "These things aren't that hard to-ah!" His heel slipped on the wood floor and he toppled backwards, sending me along with him. Stacy was ahead of us and turned to find us both sitting on the stairs.
"If you two are done making out on the staircase then we should get on our way," she scolded us.
"He started it," I argued.
Luke whipped his head over to me and gave me a fine glare. "I started it? These dang heels started it!"
"Don't go blaming a wardrobe malfunction on the-well, wardrobe," I teased.
"Children, please. We don't have much time," Stacy spoke up.
I smiled, helped my mate up, and we made it down the steps without another mishap. Stacy went over to the desk where sat Rick. I wondered if he was glued to the desk with an endless supply of newspaper to read. "I'm going out, Rick, but if there's any news you can call the two fellows in the apartment. They can take any message you might have for me," she told him.
"All right, Miss Stacy. Ya have a fine day," Rick promised.
"The same to you, Rick," Stacy replied.
Stacy led the way outside into the bad neighborhood. Without our obvious male entourage we attracted a lot more attention from the neighborhood greeting committee. A few of the mugs-er, lugs sauntered over to the apartment building stoop and leaned against the bottom cement railing. One of them, a large man with werewolf eyes, leered at all three of us. I had to hide a snicker when his eyes fell on Luke. "Haven't seen you around here, sweety. Want a tour of the place?" The three men around him laughed.
"I'd rather not," Luke replied in a high-pitched and squeaky voice. It was like listening to someone run a mouse's voice through a helium balloon with a couple of cigarettes to give a little hoarseness to the whole thing.
The guy jerked back in surprise, but the smirk reappeared quickly. Too quickly. He walked up the first few steps toward us with his friends behind him. Their eyes were aglow with promises of pleasure for them and trouble for us. "Come on, ladies. Let's all have some fun."
"I'm with Lucretia. I'd rather walk through a cat show," Stacy spoke up. Luke snapped his head toward her and scowled, but she smiled and shrugged. The men kept coming, and Stacy and I backed up.
Luke stepped forward, grabbed the leader by the upper arms, and smashed their heads together. I expected the noise to sound like coconuts, but it was a hard, heavy, painful knock. The leader stumbled back and collapsed atop his men. He was unconscious when they pushed him off them. Luke turned to us. "Come on, girls. Let's go have some fun." He strode past the shocked men in those fashionable high heels and down the street.
Stacy and I looked at each other, smiled, and hurried after our new girlfriend.
18
We reached a busy street and Luke stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, unsure where to go. Stacy stepped up beside him and smiled. "Follow me, Lucretia, and let me show you how to have fun."
Stacy led the way down the busy boulevard and into every shop that was opened and had clothes. At least, I think some of those things were clothes. One of the shops had mannequins in their brightly lit windows that looked like they wore strips of cloth strapped on with double-sided tape. Stacy turned us into that bright shop. It was a large square with racks in the center of the floor and shelves that covered the walls. I had to contain my long-held desire to crawl under the racks and play hide-and-go-seek. The scents wafting from the clothes rack helped stifle that urge. It smelled like everyone in the city had pinched the clothes and left their mark.
I noticed that while the werewolf fashions matched those in the human world almost exactly, there were some strange changes. The collars were only worn by kids and had names and addresses on tags in case the kids became lost and were found. Hair colors were dull, from brown to gray. The clothes themselves were thin and expandable. I walked over and tested a dress. It slightly resembled a diver's wet suit and had more elasticity than a bouncing ball.
"Do you like it?" a female employee asked me.
"Huh? Oh, um, kind of, but why is it so rubbery?" I asked her.
The woman looked me up and down, and smiled. "You must be a new one."
I shrugged. "Pretty new."
She stepped up beside me and draped the cloth over her palm. "These new clothes are the hit of the city. They're specially made to survive the transformation. Once you change back they should still fit you. Unless you change completely, and then you can slip out and carry the cloth with you."
"That's really neat." I looked at the price tag. Suddenly they weren't so really neat. "Um, do you have this with fewer numbers in front of the decimal point?" I joked.
Stacy came over and looked at the tag. "We'll take five pairs in these sizes." She handed over a slip where she'd written all the sizes for the men and ourselves.
The employee bowed her head. "Very well, Miss Stacy. Would you like them delivered to your apartment or your father's home?"
"Neither. We'll carry them off as soon as you can have them ready."
"Very well, Miss Stacy. I'll get right on it." The saleswoman scurried off to fill the order.
I glanced at Stacy. "Shouldn't we be somewhere where you wouldn't be noticed?" I asked her.
Stacy shrugged. "I'm afraid I get around in all levels of society so I'd be recognized even in the dingier places."
Luke came up to us and looked around. "Do you usually receive this many stares?"
Stacy didn't look around, but she shook her head. "Not usually. People mind their own business and the salespeople are trained not to stare."
Luke nodded at a pair of employees who stood along the wall in the back close to the counter. They whispered between themselves and cast furtive glimpses at us. "Their training is faltering," he commented.
Stacy glanced to me. "Becky, could you be a dear and find out what they're talking about?"
The color drained from my face. "Me?" I squeaked. "Why me?"
"Because between the three of us you're the least recognizable, and you're so clumsy no one would suspect you're a werewolf and can overhear their conversation," she pointed out.
My shoulders slumped and I frowned. "I'm not that bad at being a werewolf," I muttered.
"No, but right now being a good one isn't what we need. We just need you to be invisible," she persisted.
"But they're just going to smell me," I argued.
"Not if you hide in the clothes. Those things are so full of scents from everyone touching them that you could hide a party in there and no one would smell it." She grasped my shoulders turned me at an angle toward the pair, and gave me a push. "Now go find something to look at," she whispered.
I stumbled forward, shot a glare at her over my shoulder, and shuffled over to the wall against which they stood. My shoulder brushed up against one of the racks, and a delicious idea hit me. I whipped my head around and, seeing no one watching me except my mate and Stacy, I slipped into the rack. I slunk through the hanging clothes and popped my head out the other side while a James Bond soundtrack played in my head. The coast was clear so I
jumped into the next rack.
I winced when I hit the center post and the whole thing shook a little. I could just imagine Luke shaking his head and Stacy smiling. Once the clothes stilled I peeked between some shirts and found myself right next to the employees. Fortunately they still cast furtive glances at my companions who were no doubt knowingly playing the part of the decoy. Now I was close enough to hear what they were whispering about.
"I heard they got kicked out of the Hair because they refused to pay their bill," the taller one commented. "You know those rich types. They think the world owes them everything so they can get richer."
"I heard they were dragged off and beaten up because of some fight at Sanctuary," the other countered.
Her friend scoffed. "Do they look like they've been beaten up?" she pointed out. "Besides, the patrol guys don't usually rough people up. They like to try to get them through psychological means."
"But why'd they want to do that to the lord's daughter?" the second one wondered.
The taller one shrugged. "I don't know, but did you get a look at that dog-faced woman with her and that other girl?" She shuddered. "I've never seen such a face."
"Yeah, that's pretty bad, but what I'd like to know is why the patrol wanted her bad enough to get her from the Hair and then toss her back out so she can flaunt her money again."
"Maybe those rumors about the traitors are true," the tall one suggested.
"What rumors?"
"Oh, just something spread around by the red bands," her friend offhandedly commented.
The shorter one frowned. "Out with it," she growled.
The taller one held up her hands. "All right, don't be pushy. Besides, I don't know if I believe what they're saying any more than what I hear from the green bands."
"But what'd they have to say?" her friend persisted.
"They said something about the High Lord looking for traitors in the regions. He's been sending out Protectors, and I heard one of them didn't report back. That one went to Spatia."
The shorter one snorted. "That would be the problem. He probably got eaten by the hillbilly werewolves up there and they're snacking on his bones right now."
The taller one shuddered. "That's absolutely disgusting."
"No, what's disgusting is you two standing around here while customers wait for help," a voice spoke up. I ducked down when the speaker, a middle-aged woman, stomped toward them. Nothing was more frightening than an angry manager. "Now get back to work or you're both fired."