Full Moon Strays Ch. 08

"Hey," Mindy started. "Red thought that Russ here might need some stealth training so . . ."

"Red told you to keep an eye on me and you knew it would be boring so you brought the new guy," Jane said. She hugged her friend. "It's okay. It's nice to see you anyway." She shook Russ's hand. "Bored yet?"

Russ blushed. "Well . . . uhm . . . not really . . ."

Jane's eyes shot open. "You had sex with him, didn't you?" she asked Mindy, who just developed an evil smirk. Jane smiled. Mindy was a Stray, through and through.

"What? We've got a two hour shift, so . . ."

"Shifts?" Jane interrupted. "You're babysitting me in shifts?! I don't need a babysitter! I'm an assistant manager now and . . ."

"Jane, calm down," Mindy said with a grin.

"Your hair is doing that thing again," Russ said, making a waving motion with his finger.

Jane glanced out of the corner of her eyes and saw that her hair was flitting around a little bit like it did when she was excited. "Sorry." Her hair fell back into place. "Listen, you guys really don't need to stick around."

"If we took off, Red would have our hides," Mindy said. Russ just blanched. Red scared him. "Wait . . . you're an assistant manager now? Congratulations!" Mindy cooed, giving Jane another hug.

Jane proceeded to regale them with the story of her promotion as the threesome walked back towards the building. She'd just tell Earl that they were friends who had dropped by and hope he didn't notice there were no cars in the parking lot. But as they got to the front of the building, a limo was pulling in.

"What the . . ." Jane started. They didn't get much uppity traffic on that route.

The limo pulled up to the pumps and the door opened.

"Anya!" Jane squealed and rushed forward to meet the beautiful woman. Anya had been out of town on a shoot for a couple of weeks, and Jane was happy to see her.

"Hey little one," Anya said, picking up the smaller girl and twirling her around. "I've got so much to tell you about the trip, but first . . ." She stood back and waved at the door. That was when Red got out.

"Sweetie! What are you doing here?" The two women exchanged a kiss.

"I could ask THEM the same question," Red said, looking at Mindy and Russ.

"Sorry," Mindy said.

"Don't be mad at them," Jane said, trying to look petulant. "You're so overprotective that it's obnoxious. You shouldn't . . ."

"I should," Red interrupted, giving Jane another kiss. "And I will, so don't bother telling me to stop." Then she whispered into Jane's ear, "I promised that I'd never let anything happen to you, remember?"

Jane grinned shyly. Red made her feel safer than she could ever have imagined, even when she wasn't around. The red-haired warrior had helped put the Strays back together, including bringing back old members as well as training the few new ones. She was one of the Strays who refused to take a second job. She protected those that needed it, and she'd never do anything else.

"ANYWAY," Anya said, unhappy that her story had been interrupted. "When I got back to town, I gave Red here a call. She and Croc had been fighting some new . . . what?"

"It was a Falloc Shadow. Don't ask," she told Jane. "They're just creepy."

"Anyway, Croc had to split so I told the honey here that we'd pick her up in the limo, drop off my agent and then the car would drop us off here."

Red actually looked uncomfortable. "Anya, do we really need . . ."

Anya placed a finger on Red's lips. "Yes, we do. Well, as SOON as the door opens and my agent sees Red here, he had dollar signs in his eyes and a hard-on in his pants! He was offering her all sorts of modeling work . . ."

"Cool!" Jane said. She looked at Red. "Are you going to . . ."

"No."

"But . . ."

"No."

"Would it . . ."

"No."

Jane gave up, and let Anya finish the story.

"I mean, WE all know how hot Red is. That curly red hair, the white lock, the killer bod in tight leather . . . hell, even the eye patch is sexy on her."

"I'm going inside to get a drink," Red muttered, but Jane grabbed her hand and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"I'll get you one in a minute. At LEAST tell me that you refused politely and . . ." Jane noticed Red's expression shift. "You weren't polite, were you?"

Anya had to talk between sudden bursts of laughter. "She pinned him to the side of the car and started to growl at him. Said if he didn't shut up, she'd rip his stomach out through his colon. He . . . he said . . . (chuckle) . . . that the bad-ass bitch thing worked for her! Said they could make millions!"

"I've never threatened a masochist before," Red muttered.

Jane was smiling. "You could you know . . . model. You're beautiful . . ."

"It's not me," Red replied, wrapping Jane up in her arms. "That's not my world. This is."

Anya was tipping the driver and sending him on his way. Her agency knew that she lived in some "hippy commune" and were actually figuring out ways to use that, so the driver wasn't surprised at her drop-off point. "Never expected you to," she said, giving the Red / Jane collective a joint hug. "Just needed to tell your woman that she's not the only one who sees how smoking hot you are."

"I already knew that," Jane said warmly, snuggling up against her girlfriend. "But they can't have her."

Red grinned. Her mouse was growing teeth. She glanced up, past the garish lights of the gas station sign and into the night sky. "Full moon," she said. "Been a while since we were able to sit back and enjoy one," she added, mostly to Mindy. Even though lycanthropes didn't actually change in the light of the full moon, they did feel a special kind of rush when illuminated by its glow. "Hey, why don't you guys take the rest of the night off? I'll keep an eye on Jane."

"An eye . . . sure," Anya said with a wink.

"Take care ladies," Mindy added, grabbing Russ's and Anya's hand and leading them towards the woods.

"My shift is another three hours," Jane said. "You don't need to stick around."

"You lookin' to get rid of me?" Red replied.

Jane just breathed in her lover's scent. "No. But I really DO need to get back to work," she added, not making any effort to pull away.

Red looked towards the store. There were no cars, and Earl was paying no attention to anything but his porn. She slowly started to rock back and forth, enticing Jane into a nameless dance.

"But I'm an assistant manager now," Jane mumbled dreamily.

"I know," Red said. "I saw the badge. It doesn't surprise me. You're better at more things than you know."

Jane smiled up at Red. "You know . . . I kinda need to organize some . . . uhm . . . crates around back."

"Jane, are you trying to get me alone?" Red asked, chuckling all the way.

Jane blushed and nodded.

"Go tell your coworker that you'll be busy for a bit," Red whispered huskily.

Jane quickly strode into the store, told Earl that she'd be doing some more work out in the lot for a while and then quickly moved around the side of the building. She and Red faded into the woods, halfway between civilization and the wild. It was a place of compromise and one where they could lose themselves, if only for a little while. There would be more dangers for sure, but for the moment, there were only the two lovers, the hum of crickets and caressing glow of the full moon.

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The End