“So, you didn’t forcibly disarm him and bring him in under guard?”
I winced. “Well, yes, actually we did do that,” I confirmed. “Initially, we were going to take him back to the road and hand his knife off to the police, but something seemed off about the entire situation. Since he hadn’t done any damage or stolen anything, I instructed Kade to just return him to walking distance from his camp by the road, but he reacted strongly to that.”
“Reacted strongly?” Sonny questioned.
“Insisted that he is a prisoner of war so we can’t return him,” I explained. “He seemed quite desperate not to be sent back.” Sonny quirked a brow at me and I sighed. “Conveniently, the security cameras were rolling, so we have video proof, if it helps. He’s very young, was dirty and scared, and looked underfed, so we gave him a bed, a shower, clean clothes, and a meal.”
“But he is locked in a cell?” Sonny questioned.
“Nope,” Kade interjected. “He’s in a standard room that locks from the inside, but he hasn’t locked the door or tried to leave. Want to see?”
When Sonny nodded, Kade began flipping through his phone, tapping away until the remote viewing screen on the wall lit up, showing the youngster in question curled up in a ball on the bed covered with just a sheet, fast asleep with an empty breakfast tray on the table beside his bed.
As we watched, the door opened and Fang stepped in. He paused long enough to tug the blankets up to the young man’s chin and stroked a single finger over his cheek before lifting the tray and closing the door behind him. That was enough to disturb the young Hunter and he sat up, looking around as though confused.
Rising from the bed, he crossed over to the bathroom and Kade killed the feed to restore his privacy.
“Ah, well,” Sonny said, trying to hide his smile. “Obviously, it would be better for no one to be touching him without his permission, but he doesn’t look like he’s being mistreated.”
From the scowl that had crossed Kade’s face as he watched the footage, I was quite sure that the security team was going to be having a discussion about consent and such things pretty damn quickly.
“Of course,” I agreed quickly, hoping to cut Kade off before he exploded. “That wasn’t ideal, obviously, but the fact is that young Archman Allan hasn’t made any attempt to leave and is not being restrained. Honestly, if you can convince him to allow us to return him, that would be our preference, but I think he might have been mistreated.”
Sonny nodded. “I’ll want to speak with him, of course, and as long as he tells some version of the same story, I’ll reach out to the local Sheriff and see what agreement we can arrive at to make sure he gets any help he needs.” Sonny made a note on the paper in front of him and then looked up expectantly. “Okay, I’m ready to move on, then.”
My cell phone picked that moment to chime with an incoming text. Glancing at the preview on the screen, all I saw wasWTF?under Jules’s name. Confused, I double tapped the screen to open the message and froze when the screen filled with the image of a werewolf in full shift that appeared to be advancing on the camera.
Grabbing the phone, I jumped from my chair and ran for the door, voice-texting a response to stay put as I hit the hall. Racing toward the scent of fear wafting down the hall, I lost the battle against my inner beast and he began to claw his way through.
Julian
With Chuck heading off to save the world -or at least our corner of it- I was left on my own for the morning. I filled a plate in the dining room and grabbed a cup of coffee before scarpering back to Chuck’s suite to enjoy my breakfast in private in front of the television.
When I finished eating and the morning news had turned to a game show, I gave a half-hearted thought to shifting and popping over to check on the Hunter encampment but a flash of lighting through the bedroom window promptly had me rethinking my plans. Granted, it’s not like I’d melt or anything, but no matter how many times I was assured that my shifter genes were canine and not feline, I still hated wet fur with a passion. Besides, I’d already delivered the full notes of what I knew into Kade’s capable hands, so surely, he and Chuck had already put a plan in place, right?
Having adequately convinced myself that there was no need to brave the weather, I settled on spending the morning catching up on some reading. Remembering the small library that I’d seen in passing during my initial tour from the infirmary to Chuck’s suite, I tucked my Kindle under my arm and set off in search of a cozy spot to read with the rain in the background, but I didn’t make it far.
Rounding the corner, I didn’t have time to react before the person running down the hall bowled me over, knocking my breath out of my chest and leaving us in a tangled pile on the tile floor.
“Are you okay?” I asked when my lungs reinflated.
Instead of answering, he made a whimper noise, his black eyes wide with fear as he struggled to regain his footing.
A growling noise from a little further down the hall caught my attention at the same time that my inadvertent assailant began to shake.
“What the hell?” I twisted my neck to see a werewolf striding toward us, it’s face twisted in a horrible snarl as it growled. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, knock that shit off. You’re scaring him!” Scrambling to my feet, I hauled the boy up by the back of his loose scrub-like shirt and shoved him behind me, his back to the wall as I stared down the hulking monster. “Fucker, I said stop it!”
When the beast stopped advancing but continued snarling, I pulled my phone from my pocket and snapped a picture, immediately texting it to Chuck’s phone with nothing butWTF?
Don’t move!
Chuck’s response was immediate but rather unhelpful. Exactly what the hell did he think I was going to do with that mess in front of me and the scared kid huddled behind me? I didn’t have time to wonder much more or even think about responding before a door slammed behind me and the sound of shoe leather slapping on the tiled floor echoed through the hall.
Behind me, the kid let out a bloodcurdling scream and I glanced over my shoulder, gasping in horrified amazement as another huge, hulking beast raced toward us, wild hair and misshapen jaws stretched over blood-tinged fangs and the beautiful pinstriped shirt Chuck had buttoned on his way out the door a few hours earlier hanging in pieces from an almost obscenely muscled torso.
Sliding to a stop in front of me, the creature blocked us with his body and stared down the other werewolf, snarling loudly.
“Well, this is a shit show.”
