Four

four

Zhen

I laid out the equipment I wanted to bring for tonight on our hotel bed. Dao , because I’d need slashing, two small hand grenades to blow this thing out of the water if it decided to retreat—’cause this boy don’t go swimming after monsters, no siree—plus a high caliber shotgun in case Jake and I needed to bait and switch.

Kris had already cleaned and prepped her Glock, which was what she was comfortable firing, and it was a fine choice for tonight’s hunt. I had no intention of switching it for something else.

“We’ve got about four hours to kill before it starts getting dark,” she mentioned from behind me. “Should we eat before we go?”

“That’d be my suggestion.” I turned to face her and then paused. “Um, lǎo pó ? Why did you change into that?”

Kris blinked at me. “You said to put on something I can move in.”

Well, I had, but…

Normally I didn’t care what my wife wore. If she was comfortable and confident in it, cool beans. This, though, this was problematic. She wore tight leggings and a loose-fitting shirt, but the problem was the colors. The shirt was a neon green, the leggings a kind of mermaid iridescent pattern. She be shiny.

Shiny was not good.

“My darling wife, Bloody Bones are very, very easily distracted by shinies.” I indicated her shininess with one hand. “You will be obvious bait if you wear that.”

“Oh.” She looked down at herself and grimaced. “Shit. Um, this is the most comfortable thing I brought with me, though?”

Well, hell. “Emergency shopping trip. I do not want you as bait tonight.”

“For that matter, I don’t want to be bait tonight.” Kris immediately went for her purse. “Let’s see what, if anything, this small town offers in the way of shopping.”

Yeah, I didn’t think we’d get much of a selection.

She frowned down at the phone in her hand. “There’s a single hunting goods store about twenty minutes away.”

“Then let’s go. Camo will be so much better for tonight anyway.”

“Works for me.”

We promptly left, although I went to the room next to ours and gave the door a quick rap. “Jake?”

“What’s up, buttercup?”

I rolled my eyes and opened the door. Jake was relaxing on the bed, a laptop balanced on his thighs, and he grinned at me over the screen. “Whatcha need?”

“Your keys. Kris only has shiny things to wear for tonight’s hunt.”

His nose scrunched up in distaste. “Oh, hell no, that’ll make her the bait for sure. Keys are right there next to you.”

I saw them sitting on the edge of the TV bureau. “Thanks. Be back in an hour.”

“Sure. Just let me know if you’re running late. Do dinner separate?”

“Yeah, let’s plan on that.” I gave a final salute and then took off.

Kris was already outside, leaning against the side of the Jeep, when I caught up with her. She was on the phone and seemed really excited about whatever she was discussing. I only caught part of it as I came within earshot.

“—you’re sure about that timeline?” Kris queried as she gave me a smile and a thumbs-up—why?—before heading for the passenger side. “That’s awesome. Yes, that’s the best way in. Front door’s deadbolted, and that key doesn’t work for it.”

She was talking about the house?

“Sure, sure. Just let me know if there’s an issue.”

I slung myself into the driver’s seat, buckled in, and started the engine. Might as well get us in motion while she wrapped up the conversation. We were short on time as it was.

“Thanks so much. Bye.” Kris hung up and made a very satisfied noise, like she’d been offered a box of chocolates and she didn’t have to share. “So, that was our floor guy.”

“Oh!” What I’d heard suddenly made sense in context. “He’s coming in soon, right?”

“Tomorrow. Said his crew was having trouble with the front door lock, but they’d gotten in through the back, and prepped all the floors for sanding. They wanted to take things out through the front door because dumpster’s closer, wasn’t sure if the door was working. Anyway, they’re clear now and working.”

I thought about that. Thought about how the rest of the house was either plywood or really bad laminate, and honestly felt like this didn’t make sense. “I’m sorry, they were able to prep all of the house?”

“I misspoke. They’ve ripped out all of the bad stuff and discovered there’s wooden floors hiding under the laminate and old carpet.”

I let out a low whistle. “I did not know that. What an amazing find.”

“Isn’t it? Sorry, I forgot to tell you that earlier. I made an executive decision and told him to sand those too, as we want to preserve the original hardwood.”

“Damn straight we do. So that’s what you meant. Honestly, I’m relieved. I didn’t want to replace the flooring with something laminate or engineered. Felt wrong. Phew, the floors were the biggest time suck for us.”

“I’m so glad you agreed to hire that out.”

I was glad I had too. It hadn’t taken much convincing. With me gone half the year and needing to stay with Kris because of the damn bond, it just wasn’t feasible trying to do everything myself. Could I have sanded and finished my floors by myself? Sure. If I didn’t want to live in the house for another ten years.

Frankly, at this point, I wanted to be in my house. I wanted my wife to be in my house with me. It wasn’t too selfish to want that.

Kris tapped on her phone screen. “All right, I’m going to mark tile floor for master bath off, as they’re basically there. Next, we need to get the drywallers in there. Most of the house has no walls, and that absolutely must change. I’d like to get paint chosen now, too, so the painters can just go in and do it after the drywall’s been prepped.”

I made a face. Eww, that sounded bothersome.

“Zhen,” Kris said in a warning tone. “I narrowed down the choices for you because you don’t know how to make a decision. Just choose between the three colors.”

“That sounds so impossibly difficult.”

“If I end up making this decision for you, you’re not allowed to whine later.”

I perked right up. “Deal!”

“I shouldn’t have said that,” she grumbled.

I cackled because, honestly, having a wife was working out well for me. I sucked at choosing colors, and she was good at it, so why not delegate? That was my story, and I was sticking to it.

We arrived, and the store was more or less what I’d expected—a random standalone building on the side of the road, without any other business close to it, with a big green sign and the store’s name in golden letters. It looked like a converted mom-and-pop restaurant, honestly. It likely had been.

We went in, and it was immediately apparent from the front door where we needed to go. All sorts of hunting rifles, bows, and other weapons of choice were on display to the left. The clothing, boots, hats, ponchos, and such were off to the right.

Off we went to the right, and I stood there and vetoed anything that wouldn’t work.

“Will I need boots?” she asked me as she beelined for the clearance rack. “I’ve got black tennis shoes.”

“Those’ll work. You don’t need boots for tonight.”

“Awesome.”

She riffled through a few pants and shirts, then settled on an outfit, although I wasn’t sure why she was frowning at it.

“Problem?”

“These might not fit,” she said with growing concern. “Is there a fitting room—oh, there it is. Gimme a minute.”

“Sure.”

I stood around looking decorative outside the women’s fitting room, hoping those did fit, but we had time for her to try on something else if necessary. She was maybe in there two minutes before she came out again, and she made a face.

From what I could see, the black shirt and camo pants looked like they fit fine. Hmm. Well, or not. Definitely too short in the leg for Kris.

“The problem with having all my height in the legs”—Kris sighed—“is pants are often a little too short. I’ll feel stupid wearing these.”

They did look like she anticipated floodwaters. “Maybe get boots anyway? To disguise the length.”

“I guess I should. These pants fit perfectly everywhere else, so going up a size would not fix anything. Zhàng fu , pull me a size nine.”

“You got it.” Seriously loved it when she used that nickname. It put a spark of joy in me.

I speed walked over to the boot section, found a pair of combat boots in the right size, and pulled them before heading back to her. Kris came out a few seconds later, her merchandise in hand, and sat in the waiting chair to try on the boots. She struggled a little to get them on—boots were notoriously difficult—but once they were tied, she gave an approving nod.

“Size seems right.”

Kris was of the demographic that if she was buying shoes, they’d better be comfortable. I knew this because she stood up and did a quick jog to the front of the store and back again, then did several stationary bunny hops. A thorough testing.

“Yup!” She made a satisfied sound. “These work great. Let’s check out.”

Apparently, she was also of the demographic who didn’t really like to shop. I knew for a fact her exception was bookstores because I’d taken her to several, but when it came to anything else? She’d beeline for the thing she needed, head straight to the register, and go skipping out the door. Window shopper, my wife was not.

We checked out, bags in hand, and got back into the Jeep. I looked up places to eat around us because it was time to eat before heading back. I hated hunting on an empty stomach.

“How about Dave’s Bar and Grill? It’s got great ratings, and it’s a whole five minutes away.”

“Sure, sounds good.” She waved me on. “I’m hungry.”

“Me too.” I got the Jeep in motion and headed out as the GPS directed. Then I felt it only fair to ask her, “You nervous?”

“About tonight?” Kris shrugged. “Not really. I’m just there to be a lookout and provide support, right? You and Jake have got this.”

“Your confidence warms me. Um. What about your huodou ?”

“They’re fine. I’ve only got two with me, and they’re patrolling around the town for the most part.”

“You think you can get them to patrol a wider area?”

“Uh…why?”

“It would be helpful to know if there’s something else lurking in this area before we leave. I’d rather not come back anytime soon.”

“Ah. Well, I can try and ask them. You know they don’t like to get far from me.”

“Yes, trust me, I know.”

She snorted, amused at my dryness. Then again, she’d also been a bit peeved at them because they didn’t really understand human boundaries. Let’s just say we had to have a very firm talk about them coming into the bedroom. In a word—no. I liked my alone time with Kris, thank you very much. I did not need spectators.

“Also, Jake wanted to know if they’ll help fight the Bloody Bones.”

“I’m sure they’d be okay with it. They like fighting things. But I’ll ask them.”

I was sure she was right and they’d be willing to fight. Anyway, once we were fed and Kris changed into the right clothes, we’d be set for tonight.

A little zing of anticipation went through me at the thought. Let the games begin, fufufufu .