“Shut up,” Arlo answered with little heat, but his eyes were wary when they met Taggart’s. “It could be dangerous. I need to focus on what I’m doing.”
“Yes, Daddy, and that’s why we should be there,” he explained, giving Arlo begging eyes, having seen how they work when Soren did it. “Then you’ll know me and Soren are both close by and no one will be able to do a surprise attack on us when you aren’t there to protect us.” He’d made sure to add that bit when Soren thought it.
“Damnation! Stop looking at me like that.” Arlo actually looked pained, but Taggart sensed the second he caved and did the sensible thing and kept his grin hidden.
“Are we all going?” Bash asked when Arlo said no more, Bash’s gaze moving between them, looking for the answer.
“We are,” Romy answered before anyone else.
This got Bash frowning, but whatever argument he and Romy were having, they did it privately through their link. The way they were staring at each other, Taggart laid bets that Romy would win too.
“We’ll need to take my car, it’ll be big enough for everyone,” Bash stated a minute later, sounding more than a little pissed.
“Right,” Arlo nodded, and followed Bash, who stomped to his vehicle, Romy walking at a pace to match Taggart and Soren.
When they were in the car, strapped in, Arlo got in the front and twisted to look back at them as Bash started the car. “I need you to do exactly what I tell you to when we get to the storage unit. No if’s but’s or maybes. You do not question what I say, do you understand?”
Taggart noticed Romy nodded at the same time as him and Soren, with him being sat in the middle seat so as not to squish the two smaller shifters.
“Good. We don’t know whether the tiger we’ve met is part of what’s happened or if it’s just a co-incidence and despite what Soren reported about the tiger being chained, bleeding and held against their will, they could be involved in this shit up to their necks, so we don’t take any chances.”
More nods got Arlo finally turning to face forward, just not before Taggart witnessed the flash of fear in Arlo’s eyes.
“Daddy, we’ll have your back, we swear it,” Taggart murmured with conviction and took solace from Soren as he threaded their fingers together, clinging on tightly. He pressed his lips to Soren’s cheek, kissing him, then nuzzling down his jawline under his chin to press his nose against his fluttering pulse.
We’ll be there and help Daddy.
Yes, we will.Taggart kept his thoughts closed off from Arlo. He needed to keep his focus on what he had to do. Taggart had not found Arlo or Soren to let someone take them away from him. He’d learned that lesson already at Arlo’s hand. They were a team, and Taggart would do anything to prove it.
The drive was made in relative silence, with only the occasional comment from Arlo giving Bash directions of which street to turn down.
Taggart was nervous, and that made it hard for him to sit still, not that his overactive thoughts helped. Soren repeatedly squeezed his fingers, giving him an encouraging smile, while Romy stared out of the car window, making Taggart wonder ifthe rhino was thinking about what Taggart had discovered. He had to know that Taggart had watched some of the things they’d done to him, didn’t he?
There was no way he was going to ask. Romy had suffered, and seeing how smiley Romy was around Bash, eased a little of the distress Taggart felt. Romy was brave. Soren had been brave too today.
Do you think so?
Taggart looked at Soren.Yes.
“Looks like our tiger is just coming onto shift,” Arlo muttered, drawing Taggart’s attention out the front window. The tiger was bigger than he remembered, and he shuddered against his will at having to get anywhere near it again. There’d been no footage of tigers that he’d seen, but he trusted what Soren said.
“I’ll drive right up to the office.”
“No, go to Taggart’s unit, it’ll make it seem like we’re here on business. Let’s see if the tiger will come to us like last time.”
“Which way?” Bash questioned, looking in the rear view mirror at Taggart.
“It’s on the far side of the compound. If you head straight ahead, then take the second left at the end of this row and keep going until you get to the end of the block of units, you’ll find mine is the last one on the right.”
As he spoke, Bash slowed and did as Taggart instructed.
Taggart kept his gaze on the tiger long enough to notice he had watched their approach, but he couldn’t see his expression with how far away he was. Just how his huge shoulders seemed to stiffen before the tiger, who had opened the office to enter, changed his mind and shut the door, turning to walk away from the building and in their direction it seemed.
His stomach doing somersaults, he clutched a little tighter to Soren as he lost sight of the tiger.Here we go.
Soren
A second guard stepped from the shadows between two buildings, meeting up with the first several feet away from Taggart’s unit. From the way they pressed their heads together, Soren could tell they didn’t want their conversation to be overheard.
