“Are you going?”
“Nope.”
“Come on, Nick, it’s for your pup’s.”
“Nope, and I could say the same to you, Z.”
“And face the mobs all trying to get the same one item on sale? No thanks. Those humans can be worse than hungry wolves facing off at a kill.”
Nick leaned forward on the cush chair they kept in the corner. “So, we forget this crazy notion?”
“It’s not crazy, Nick.” Ziva sat up and faced her mate. “That big name store off the highway scored a hell of a deal on rawhide chews and are offering it up at a can’t miss price.”
“Did we check with Glenn? I know he sells mostly fetish gear out of the pet shop, but he’s started to offer up some honest to goodness pet goods.”
“I checked with him and he tried to get a large batch, but being that they are homemade, the seller had run out and was not expecting to make any more for the holiday season.”
“Are we sure the pups need them?”
“Coop’s catching up with his sister in the shifting department and their wolf teeth are starting to come in, but they’re still too young for bones. Human teething rings work fine in their human form, but not so much in pup form.”
“Do we know anyone going that way today?”
Nick and Ziva sat staring at each other, each weighing the “who to call” options.
“Mooney!” They both hollered, each jumping for their cells.
###
“I can’t believe I got suckered into doing this again after last year’s fiasco.” Mooney grumbled, dodging crazy people all beating feet to score junk for under their Christmas trees.
Mama Kin, Ziva’s ringtone, blasts from close by. He stopped, mid-flow, to dig the phone out of his pocket. Ziva, rarely called to chit-chat, but she always let him know what was going on with his niece and nephew. He adored those little buggers. He hoped there was nothing wrong. “Yo, Z, what’s up?”
“Hey Mooney…”
“Put him on speaker.” His brother demanded in the background.
“…shh Nick! So, Mooney, where ya at this fine morning?”
“Down at the…” Mooney took the corner of a cart to damn near the inner thigh by a crazed shopper. “Holy Lupa, lady…watch where you’re going, you almost took out my balls!”
“Screw you…”
“Geez, you kiss your dame with that mouth?”
“Ah Mooney…” Ziva called through the phone still at his ear.
“Sorry, Z, there are a bunch of crazy apes at this store today. What did you need?”
“Raging Randi’s Rawhide Chews. They’re homemade and crazy cheap there today.”
“Hell Ziva, those are on the other end of the store…can’t Nick get his own secret midnight snacks?”
“Why that little, mutt…just wait until I see you again, Moon” “Shut up, Nick!” Nick growled and Ziva laughed. “Please, Mooney, I’ll pay you for what they cost and I give you a solid ‘I owe you’.”
“Ooh, I like the sound of an IOU…” Mooney responded, already turned and moving in the direction of the rawhides. He’d just come from grabbing the boy’s gifts—military grade hunting knives. Sure, they were wolf shifters, but they couldn’t always shift. For those times they needed to know how to protect themselves and their loved ones. Now that the new alpha was here, they need to start training to protect her.
“Would it help if the rawhides were for the pups? They’ve started teething.”
“I figured,” Mooney laughed, but don’t tell Nick that, he’s just so fun to tease.
Ziva laughed, “you are so ballsy, Mooney. I love it!”
“How many do you want?”
“As many as you can get Mooney, as many as you can get. And thanks!”
Mooney hung up and proceeded to empty Raging Randi’s bin. He also grabbed an extra-small bone he intend on titling Nick’s Bone and leaving under the tree at the Gazette. Ah brotherly love in the holiday season.
~~~
Stay safe, everyone and have a wonderful weekend!
Serena
