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I put my hand to my chest. This was the first time it felt this tight in a while. Drinking their blood correlated with how well I felt.

“Let’s go in here.” A squeal escaped with how quickly he pulled me to the left.

My other arm was snatched midair and I was pulled the opposite direction. I gasped at the force against my joints.

“You’re tugging her around like a ragdoll, Asher.Ta hand om hennes kropp,” Jax snapped.

I gawked. Asher narrowed his eyes. He didn’t get angry often, but when he did, his irritation couldn’t be missed. I whipped my head from one to the other. His eyes briefly flashed red. Okay, time to break it up.

I jerked both arms away and rubbed the wrist Jax had held. His grip had tightened painfully. “I can walk by myself.” I put both hands up and shuffled into the brightly lit clothing store.

In every direction I looked there was some name brand, but I didn’t want to be obvious about wanting to leave, so I looked at the closest rack. One of the dresses caught my attention. A black number with straps; simple and elegant. A lace slit hugged the hip areas.

The silk fell through my fingertips. Such buttery consistency would kill my bank account. I let it slide out of my fingers. Not like I owned one anymore since I was classified as a dead person. I could accept everything insofar since they literally set everything I owned to flames, leaving me with nothing, but this price tag was excessive. I cleared my throat and made a show of continuing to rifle through the rack. Nothing was in a frugal price range.

A hanger screeched. Asher plucked the dress from the rack and a store clerk hurried to grab it from his hands.

“What are you doing?”

“You liked it.”

“It’s unnecessary,” I retorted.

“Humor me. You’ll be modeling it.”

“But—”

“There won’t be any budging him, Cat, you’re just going to make him bitch more,” Jax drawled from a few feet ahead of me, arms crossed.

I puffed my cheeks out. Fine, but I’d look for some clothing that I wouldn’t feel guilty about selecting. Moving through the racks, I quickly found that would be an impossibility. My mouth watered with every graze of soft, expensive fabric. Pieces that I’d seen in recent collections.

Everything I even peeked at was snatched up by Asher. The poor human girl had started a pile in the fitting room. I scowled back at him, then changed tactics, moving to the men’s section.

Jax followed close by. His attention had been focused on me the entire time, curiously watching me shuffle through everything so far. “What are we doing here?”

“To get clothes for Bastien.” His eyebrows raised but he made no comment.

I pushed back the hanger to look at the polo shirt.

Asher folded his arms on the display, his chin on his fist. “He wouldn’t like that one.”

“What would he like?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Believe it or not, but before he lost the plot, he was more of a 1920’s suit sort of guy.” The only image I could conjure of the style was of hats with a dark strap at the base.

“The 20s were glorious,” Taylor murmured, her eyes taking on a faraway look. “Such order.” She sighed.

Okaaaay.

“We have a selection over here that may suit that taste.”

I stopped in front of a mannequin wearing one of the outfits that were much different to the current style. It had a higher waist and wide lapels, the pattern looked retro vintage in its dark blue color with lines a shade darker running through.

I grabbed hold of one of them and approached Jax. I crooked my finger down and his nostrils flared but he bowed so I couldlift the coat to his shoulders. Bastien’s shoulders were much broader than this.

“Put it on?” Jax blinked and his palm settled over mine.

“Hate to interrupt the soulful looks, but I know his sizing,” Asher interjected from his spot leaning on the stand. I yanked my hand out from Jax’s touch and cleared my throat.