The Werewolf Wants a Prenup

How it begins

The first item on the damage claim was a sofa. The second was a sofa. The third was an apology to the owner of the first two sofas.

Mina turned the page.

Across the workshop table, Theo Venn folded his hands. He was large enough to make the chair beneath him seem provisional.

"I understand how it looks," he said.

"It looks expensive."

"The first sofa was already broken."

"And the second?"

"I fell asleep on it while repairing the first."

Outside, rain tapped the workshop windows. Every piece of furniture in the room had been mended beautifully. A green armchair wore new brass feet. A dining table gleamed beneath a single work lamp. Someone had embroidered PLEASE ASK BEFORE SITTING on a cushion.

Mina checked the date of the claim.

"Full moon?"

"Tuesday."

"That wasn't a full moon."

"No. It was a very long Tuesday."

She put down her pen. The insurer had described him as an uncontrolled magical hazard. He had made tea in cups with matching saucers and asked whether she wanted the window open.

"The report says you refused an inspection."

"The inspector wouldn't come inside."

"Why?"

Theo glanced toward a framed photograph above the kettle. A silver-haired woman stood beside him holding an enormous bunch of flowers.

"He said he didn't do kennels."

Mina drew a line through a sentence in her notes.

"That will need correcting."

For the first time, his shoulders lowered.

Then he reached into a drawer and placed a velvet ring box beside the claim forms.

She looked at it. Then at him.

"If this is an attempt to influence an assessment, it's unusually elaborate."

"It isn't," he said. "I have a separate problem."

Mina closed the file.

"Separate problems get separate paperwork."

"Good." He pushed a blank sheet toward her. "How do you feel about a prenup?"