212 Grace: The Great Laundry Dilemma

    “Hah! You said underwear!”

    No replyes, leaving me with a 50/50 chance of reliable protection.

    Jer bends over with a maniacal grin, now pointing directly at his sister’s face.

    Seriously, the desperation of a single mother knows no bounds, apparently. No idea how they do it, because I’m already lost.

    I’d dodged the question with all the crity of a gazelle under hunt (if said gazelle had four broken legs) and I don’t think my blush faded for at least fifteen minutes, but that is inot /ithe issue here, okay? Not. The. Issue.

    Over Bun’s head, I survey the remaining chaos–Sara and Jer are sprawled on opposite ends of the couch, their shirts decorated with a modern art masterpiece of juice, applesauce, and what I think might be chocte.

    d to go

    I love him so much in this moment, I’d tell him yes in a heartbeat if he public. Or be his Luna. Or do anything. Have twenty kids? Sure, no problem. Jump on his dick in public? Absolutely.

    Maybe the clothes canst another day? I nce at Jer and Sara, trying to calcte just how much worse those stains could possibly-

    Would be nice about now.

    I take a deep breath, trying to assure myself everything’s fine and the world isn’t on fire. I lived here for six years. I know this pack’s territory like the back of my hand- well, at least the parts of it with roads.

    All the fun stuff in this camper, and Lyre skimped on a freaking washing machine… Hmm. Yes. Perfect. A creepy guy watching me is exactly what I want in life.

    The words leave my mouth, and I immediately regret them. Leaving Bun with these two is like asking pyromaniacs to housesit a match factory. Stupid idea, impossible execution, a fat neon N–O in skyscraper–sized letters.

    Sure, he’s probably powerful enough to keep me safe, but it doesn’t mean bhe /biwill /ibkeep /bme safe. Lyre seemed to think he would step up when ites down bto /bbit/b, bbut/bb.. /b

    b212 /bbGrace/b: The Great Laundry Dilemma

    My head throbs. I should have held Ron back. Should have asked him to stay, bexined /bI needed him to stick around while I got theundry done. But I’d kind of forgotten about it all, focusing instead on how awkward it felt to gomando without bthinking /babout the ireason /iI’mmando.

    My phone dings, and I shift Bun to my hip to check it.

    Sadie, who’s been curled beneath the table, raises her head and lets out a sharp bark, and I swear I can understand exactly what she’s saying: iTerrible /iidea, absolutely not.

    Bun grabs my leg, her tiny fingerstching onto my jeans as she babbles something that sounds vaguely like “Go–go–da–ma–ba” with a whole slew of other sounds and strange inflections mixed in. I have no fucking clue what she’s saying, and little rabbit ears have popped out from her dark curls, twitching frantically.

    Ignoring the fight happening in real time in my living room, Sadie’s sudden surge of barking, the cat jumping from counter to couch to the dte table to swat at the dog beneath it, and literally everything to do with decorum or manners. and yank it open, my hopeful gazending on the younger, vaguely Lycan standing in front of me.

    Har–looking

    “Too bad I don’t have any clothes,” he announces, not sounding particrly bothered by this development as he then proceeds to yank his shorts down.

    Somehow, “You’ll start following me tomorrow” turned into Ron asking to follow Caine today, leaving me alone with three younger children and a bleeding new–mama heart, which with a side hustle of arousal thanks to Caine’s wicked little whispers in my ear, we are inot /igoing into, thank you very much.

    My eye twitches involuntarily as he calmly pulls the soaking shirt over his head and tosses it onto the floor with a wet st.

    Lovely.

    [GRACE HARPER: Will you help me if Ellie’s goonse after me again?]

    “Ew!” Sara gags. “At least take your clothes off in the bathroom like a normal person!”

    Taking three kids to theundromat sounds like a great way to get in massive trouble, but also being naked isn’t really a great option.

    “Do either of you have any other clothes to change into?” I ask, already bknowing /bbthe /b

    212 Grace: The Great Laundry Dilemma

    answer in my heart.

    I’m about to separate them when there’s a knock at the door. A polite, unfamiliar voice calls out: “Miss Harper? I was sent by the High Alpha to watch over the children.”

    [CAERIEL: Don’t worry. My eyes are on you.]

    The word hangs in the air for a split second, and I fight the urge to close my eyes and pretend nothing’s happened.

    The tension drains from my shoulders so fast I nearly stagger. A babysitter. Caine sent

    a babysitter.

    “Ha–yo,” she chirps, with the cutest little voice and oh my Goddess, why is she so

    adorable?

    Wait–no. Not sure how babysitting turned into dirty thoughts, but that’s a big no, and the memory of his whisper against my ear needs to be locked away until the children are in bed and I have the wherewithal to be Grace–with–needs and

    Grace–who–needs–to–doundry–and–doesn’t–have–panties.

    I stare at my hand, turning it over as if I might find instruction manual etched into my palm. The re of power I’d used to escape Ellie would sure be helpful to call on demand.

    “It’s Venom, you idiot!” he retorts, like that helps literally anything about this situation.

    Then there’s another notification beep.

    Damn.

    “Why? I’m gonna be walking around naked anyway.” Jer kicks off his shorts, then points suddenly across the room. “Wait, what’s under there…?”

    Sara follows his gaze. “Under where?”

    “Oops.”

    Does the App read minds?

    It has to read minds.

    [ASSIGNED MISSION: Investigate thepromised artifact located bat /bb‘/bbWash/bb–/bN–Were‘,

    3047 N. Moonlight Ave.]

    212 Grace: The Great Laundry Dilemma

    “What’s wrong?” Sara asks, her face appearing out of nowhere.

    “Nope,” Jer says, not even bothering to look at his own clothing as he grabs a cup of juice from the cupholder at the end of the couch.

    Obviously, Wash–N–Were is theundromat. Fantastic naming sense aside, it’s clean and reasonably priced and definitely where I was going to go.

    I stare at it, unblinking.

    Even the cat–who wants to live under the sink forever as far as I can tell–emerges from its dark little kingdom, leaps gracefully onto the counter, and fixes me with a judgmental stare and a yodeling meow.

    I know, okay? Grace Harper is not good mom material. Grace Harper did not doundry. Laundry is like, tier one mothering instincts. Clothes are important. Grace Harper does not remember to do things likeundry when she’s on the run from weird supernatural bullshit.

    dry. Any

    I look up, forcing a neutral expression. “Nothing. Just thinking about chance you two could watch Bun while I run a quick load to theunc. omat?”

    Her expression goes from confusion to rage so fast I almost miss it. “You’re underwear! Your whole family’s underwear!” She grabs a throw pillow and hurls it at Jer with surprising force. “No one wants to see your stupid Spider–Man underwear! Get out!”

    My heart melts into my freaking socks (also in low supply, now that I’m thinking about it) and I scoop her up, savoring the warm weight against my chest. At least someone still needs me and doesn’t dash off to do boring alpha things with boring alpha men. She immediately jams her face into the crook of my neck, her soft baby breath reeking of applesauce and peanut butter.

    For a second, I want to just nom on her cute little toddler cheeks and bask in the joy and glory of a sweet, freshly bathed baby, but there are important issues at hand, a naked child in my living room, and a full–on brawl starting.

    Please let it be chocte.

    Seriously, my own (kind of) son–sh–younger–brother just ditched me to follow his dad (???) to bring–your–son–to–work day.

    “Get down,” I hiss at the cat, nudging it off the counter. “And you,” I point at Sadie,

    212 Grace: The Great Laundry Dilemma

    “calm down. I’m just thinking out loud.”

    So I blurt out the most important question: “Please tell me you have experience with babies.”

    But that was before Ellie and her urge to bury me six feet under.

    Jer now has an empty juice cup in one hand and a fruit punch–saturated, already filthy shirt on. His pants are coteral damage to the spill.

    I type back quickly:

    “No problem!” they chime in unison, their enthusiasm doing nothing to reassure me.

    The whish is real and my thoughts are getting seriously parenthetical. I haven’t been a mom long and now it feels like I need to worry about my child’s rent and college tuition, before I’ve even figured out my own…

    Note to self: Don’t adopt older children, they grow too fast.

    He was definitely here before, but I don’t remember his name or anyt Bun, still on my hip, waves at him.

    Sara shakes her head as she picks at a crusty stain on her sleeve.

    More brilliant life choices, courtesy of me.