Free Croc and the Fox by Eve Langlais Page A

he’d even go to a dentist and freak them out with his numerous, pointy teeth, anything to avoid a trip to a store. An avid internet shopper, he bought everything online and paid for delivery.
    “Then I’ll take her.”
“No!” Both he and Renee shouted it at the same time, which caused another round of knowing smiles he didn’t appreciate.
“I stay with him,” Renee explained, wrapping her arms around his waist and locking her fingers together.
“It’s my job to protect her,” he added, knowing it sound lame the moment it left his mouth.
“Sure it is,” Miranda said rolling her eyes. “In that case, you’d better get the office to send the paperwork home, because this might take a few hours.”
Hours? No. They wouldn’t. He was a decorated military man. An agent with innumerable skills. But the pregnant bunny with a one-track mind didn’t care.
Unwilling, and yet unable to leave Renee’s side – and ordered by his boss with a snicker – Viktor got roped into going shopping. For clothes. Worst mission ever.
*
    Renee could tell Viktor didn’t care for the turn of events. But it wasn’t her fault. The crazy blonde insisted she needed proper clothes, and truthfully, Renee wanted some too. Something pretty like the other women wore. Something to make Viktor’s eyes look at her with the same warm light Chase and Mason’s did when they glanced at their mates.
    His boss Kloe, when Viktor reached her by phone in a desperate attempt to forestall the expedition, said nothing needed his immediate attention and when he still begged for an excuse, ordered him to go. Penned in by bears, a slightly lunatic pregnant lady, a smirking Jessie, oh, and one scowling croc, Renee ended up piling into a large vehicle with tinted windows, a minivan, Mason announced when she eyed it. Even though it had enough seating, Renee still preferred her spot in Viktor’s lap, which for some reason had Miranda laughing so hard tears ran down her cheeks.
    At least Renee no longer wanted to scalp the perky bunny – even if she overheard Chase mention that rabbits made the best muffs, a discussion Mason disagreed with claiming swans down was a better place to lay his head. Not understanding the conversation, or the laughter, she nevertheless relaxed and dropped her plan to maim because when she’d first seen Miranda enter, and toss herself at Viktor, she’d seen red. It didn’t help the woman kept mispronouncing his name with a familiarity that made Renee grind her teeth. The fact the bunny turned out mated and harmless – if you didn’t mind your teeth aching from her sugary personality – eased Renee, but not enough to want to go somewhere alone with the woman. Loud, bouncy bunny, grizzly bear of a husband or not to accompany them, Renee trusted only Viktor to keep her safe, because as she well knew, the mastermind was still out there.
    A part of her wondered if she should speak up and tell them the little she knew. But really what could she add to their repertoire of information that they didn’t already know. It wasn’t as if she was privy to the mastermind’s secret plots. Renee didn’t know where the mastermind fled. She really knew nothing at all other than the unforgettable face of evil and bad acne.
    She kept silent as they drove to a place Miranda called a mall, listening to the banter between the couples, Jessie having elected to join them for a lunch break while her computer decoded more of the information downloaded from the lab.
    When Viktor quietly mentioned her phobia of the open sky, Chase, with a nod, drove into a covered parking area with a sea of cars. They piled out of the vehicle and Renee held Viktor’s hand as they entered the shopping place, trying to walk without looking like a fool in the flip flops Miranda gave her to wear. Apparently, slippers weren’t meant for public places. Viktor groaned when Miranda added shoes to their shopping list.
    The vast amount of people moving in the mall gave her a