Chapter 3 #2
“Nooooooooooo!” Arthur howled. Pushing himself between the newcomer and me, his tune changed. “Mooooooona!”
“Who?” I snapped, looking into the big, soulful eyes of my furry buddy.
“Mona!” He pointed with the tip of his black nose. “She’s my sister.”
“Your what?”
“My sister.”
“Your actual sister?”
“Yes.”
More confused than the day I woke up to find DD breasts where my perfectly flat chest used to be and the Puberty Pixie standing at the end of my bed looking pleased and punch, I blurted out, “You mean one of the girls you went to obedience school with, and she’s looking you up for a reunion?”
“No, I mean we had the same parents, were born on the same day, and shared a teat.”
“Wait a minute.” I held up my hand, turning my head to the side, and narrowed my gaze. “The one who disappeared when you were a pup?"
“Yeah, yeah,” Arthur offhandedly mumbled, his nose under his sister’s tail.
Turning away, I waved in their direction.
“Good. Good.” Nodding like one of the bobblehead dolls on the dashboard of Miss Maxine’s, the Mane Coon Shifter’s 1979 bright yellow Cadillac El Dorado.
“Y'all go ahead and reconnect.” Taking a step towards Zelda, I added over my shoulder, “Just wipe your noses on your towels before you try kissin' me.”
Continuing my journey of four steps to properly greet my bestie, the toe of my bright pink tennis shoes hit the corner of a pile of Magical fire-extinguishing foam, and I was once again falling face-first toward the asphalt.
Turning in midair, I was lucky enough to land on my left butt cheek, but the resulting aftershocks had me thinking I might just start living life on my ass.
And that’s when a shadow fell over my face. Looking up, I saw the smiling face framed with bright red hair that always made me feel better.
Before she could do more than chuckle, I sighed, “You gonna help me up, or do I need to call the Edwards Brothers?”
Zelda blinked. “Who?”
“The Edwards Brothers. They are twin Elephant Shifters, tow truck operators.” When she continued to stare, I kept going, “They've got a hydraulic lift capable of hoisting my ‘badacious’ booty back to standing position.”
“And do they have ten yards of bubble wrap to wrap you in afterward?”
“Ha. Ha. Ha.” I pretended to grumble.
“And shut up about the whole crane thing…”
“Hydraulic lift.”
Dismissing my correction with a wave of her hand, she countered, “Whatever. Just stop. Your butt is perfect.” Reaching down, she winked. “Now give me your hand.”
I had been upright for exactly three seconds when an unfamiliar, cold, wet nose slid into my hand. Spinning toward the intrusion, I saw the gorgeous female Wolfhound with light fur and big blue eyes. Then my eyes went to Arthur, who was standing next to her in full-on protector mode.
Before I could ask what was happening, Mona whined. Swinging her head towards downtown Dragoon Bootay, she whined again, louder and with way more feeling.
Unsure what was happening and why she wasn’t talking like my boys, Arthur took over the conversation.
“No one ever taught Mona to talk. She was forced to live as a dog… like a real, non-Magical dog.” The disgust in his voice was palpable.
“She only got in here when Miss Maxine had to pick up her son from college and opened a portal.”
“Oh.” I nodded. Holding up the scrap of Kai’s T-shirt, I asked, “So, where did she get this?”
“That’s what she was trying to tell you,” he explained. “She found it near the Hoopingarner House.”
Mona yipped.
“She says there was smoke,” Arthur went on.
Another yip with a grumble at the end from the furry lady.
“There was Magic,” my big guy recounted.
Mona gave four short, staccato barks. Arthur’s eyes got big. Otis gasped, and Chewy huffed, “Well, shit.”
“What?!” I demanded. “Tell me.”
“Mona says there was a hole.”
I froze. “A hole?”
Arthur’s big head went up and down right before he repeated, “Yes. A really big hole,” in a low, hair-raising tone.
“Nope.” Zelda shook her head with such exuberance that her red curls flew in every direction. “Absolutely not. Nobody gets to say ‘hole’ in a creepy voice. That's how people die in horror movies.
Coming out from behind the bigger dogs, Chewy, fifteen pounds of chocolate fur, squishy face, bushy tail, and attitude, adamantly agreed, “She's right.” Looking from Zelda to me, he added, “Let’s get tacos instead.”
“YES!” Otis, the younger of my boys, a Wolfhound with dark gray fur, chimed in. “I vote tacos.”
“No.” It was my turn to shake my head until the marbles I called brains were shimmying and shaking. Stopping, I glared in their direction. “Kai is missing."
“Mona says she can take us there,” Arthur exclaimed.
“Then what are we waiting for?” I was game. Hell, I was already turning toward the shop to go get my keys. In fact, I’d made it two steps when Zelda put the kibosh on my plans.
“Backup?”
"I am the backup."
“That's what I’m afraid of.”
“Fine,” I snapped. “Theresa and Maeve are in the shop. Are they better?” Throwing my hands in the air, I kept right on going. “I can call Maisie, and she can bring the triplets. How about that?”
Spinning in a complete circle, I added, “Or what about the Edwards Brothers?” Holding up my hand when she was about to interrupt, I huffed, “Hell, I have a hotline to Fate. How would that…?”
“Yip-yip! Roo-roo! Yaroooo!” Mona barked as she took off at a high rate of speed.
Looking up just in time to see Maisie appear in the drive-up window and toss me the keys, I caught them by the huge, punk, rubber Dragon keychain. Turning towards my bright red 1980 Ford Bronco, I ignored Zelda’s dejected groan and called over my shoulder, “Come on, boys, Let’s saddle up.”
“What about Mona?” Arthur asked.
“We’ll get her on the way.”
Opening the big back door for the dogs to pile in, I blew out an exasperated breath. “Hang on, Kai.”
Slamming the door shut, I went to the driver’s side and climbed in as I kept talking to my Mate both mentally and aloud. “I'm coming, Fairy Man.”
Shoving the key into the ignition, I looked at Zelda when she patted the back of my hand. “If that man has gotten himself kidnapped two weeks before our Mating Ceremony…”
Putting the SUV in reverse, I backed onto Huff-N-Puff Road while continuing, “I swear on coffee, chocolate, and every pair of bedazzled tennis shoes I own...” Pushing the gearshift to D, I pushed the accelerator to the floor and added, “I'm gonna kill him myself.”