Page 21 of Taming the Beasts

I stopped pacing in Kebe’s room. “You were watching?”

“Of course,” he said. “You told me which bank you were robbing. I wanted to make sure I could hack something in case actual cops showed up. It’s always my job to save your sexy ass.”

I probably should have felt violated. But it was just Grudge. I couldn’t even count the number of times he’d masturbated to me. Besides, it was actually very sweet of him to make sure I was okay.But…“You didn’t interfere when we got caught though.”

“It seemed like you had it under control in that outfit. And I was curious about what you’d do with those security guards. It was fucking hot, Zoey.”

“They’re not security guards. They own the bank. Those were three of my boyfriends.”

“Threeof your boyfriends? How many did you say you have?”

“Five.”

He whistled. “I can’t wait to watch that. Any room for a sixth?”

“No! And there will be noyouwatching that!” We were getting way off topic here. “Grudge, I need your help.”

“Then you should probably stop yelling at me.”

I groaned.

He laughed.

“Kebe disappeared with the Anubis coin we stole from the vault.”

“The what coin?”

“Wait, did I not tell you about the coin? It was the whole reason I broke into the bank...”

“Ah yes, the magical coin that’s supposed to have a cure for your boyfriends and for Emma’s boyfriend? No, you didn’t tell me. But I overheard.”

Right.

“You should send Emma up here by the way so we can have an open and honest discussion. I think better when you’re both in the same room. Maybe you could make out a little and…”

“Grudge,” I said firmly. “Emma’s downstairs distracting my boyfriends and you know it.”

“Oh, I know it.”

I frowned. “What does that mean? What is she doing?” I walked toward the door.

He sighed. “Just talking to them, unfortunately. She’s not using the catsuit as well as you did earlier.”

I stopped before walking out into the hall. “Because she has a boyfriend, Grudge.”

“But he’s not here right now. And now apparently I have an affinity for watching foursomes…”

“Grudge, focus. Kebe took the coin that we need.”

“Yeah, about that. I tried looking it up and I couldn’t find anything about it online. Like…nothing, Zoey.”

Kebe said she’d read an article about the coin going missing from a museum or something. It’s how she’d convinced us to go through with the plan. She also said she knew how to use it. “Researching it isn’t my top priority right now. I just need it back.”

“It should be a top priority,” Grudge said. “I mean, what the hell would an old coin with an Anubis head on it have to do with curing werecats or vampires? And why would the cure be the same for both things? I feel like a cross or something would be for a vampire. And werecats…well, there’s not much info about them. But you mentioned them searching for Egyptian relics to reverse their curse. Anubis is Egyptian, but he’s the god of the dead. It doesn’t make sense. Sekhmet is the goddess of lions. And Baset is the goddess of cats. So wouldn’t the cure have to do with Sekhmet or Baset? One of them is probably the goddesses they pissed off.”

Those were all really good points. But I could think about all of thatafterI got the coin back in my possession. “I was just going off what King told me.”

“Yeah the weirdo in an Anubis mask. He seems real trustworthy, Zoey.”