He considered me for a moment before grinning slyly. "You sure?"
I nodded eagerly. He pulled out his phone and fired off a message. "I've got one of my wolves heading a mission, but we can take it over. It's one of my favorite things to do."
"What?" I couldn't imagine what kind of mission he could mean.
"Free a bunch of trafficked women and hopefully kill their traffickers in the process. Or at least, get them thrown in jail."
"And you've just...hada wolf on this?" This was his idea of a date? I’d call it more of an adventure.
"Sure. We shift near known trafficking areas, in this case at the docks, and as long as we stay out of sight, we can suss out a lot of information with our sniffers."
I felt an admiration for Rey I hadn't expected. He and his wolves were risking their necks to save people from terrible situations. I was down for that.
Still, I couldn’t fight back a grin. “Your idea of a date is definitely going to take some getting used to.”
He grinned at me and then tapped out a message. "We just gotta wait for the signal. If we go in at the wrong time, we could blow the whole thing."
We headed for his truck, one I'd never seen before. How many vehicles did the man have?
"So, how many vehicles do you have?" I asked.
He hemmed and hawed. "Err, I think ten? Or so." He wasn't sure. I didn't even know what to do with that information. I knew he’d been able to save up some money, but apparently, it was quite a bit more than I had managed to wrap my mind around thus far.
We drove to the docks and waited. And waited. Until finally, we got the call.
We rushed into action, everyone heading into a massive warehouse. I don't know what I expected, but this wasn't it. Inside the warehouse was empty, rather itseemedto be. We crept forward, and some of the wolves shifted, some walking on two legs. Reynard stayed with me, and we kept to the back. He didn't say it, but I was sure it was, so I was in minimal danger. He'd probably have been shifted and at the front of the pack if I hadn't been here.
I hoped I wasn't holding him back or cramping the thrill he got from doing this, but I was just so excited to be part of it I couldn't worry about him holding back just now.
We reached a closed door, and one of the wolves shifted and opened it with ease. Inside were a dozen scared women and a few men, all of them chained up. Without a word, the wolves began to break the chains while Rey and I helped out. I talked to them, trying to figure out where they'd come from. Their accents varied from Slavic to Spanish to African.
Finally, they were free, and we ran out of the building, the wolves in their animal forms leading the way.
"Now the hard part," Rey said. "It does no good to free the trafficked if they're just going to go find another dozen people to traffic."
"So, what now?" I asked, intrigued at the process. "And when do the police get involved?"
He swallowed. "Sometimes it's easier to involve them. Tonight, the traffickers aren't showing their faces. Either they figured us out or we're unlucky. My wolves will stay here and pose as trafficking victims inside. Won't those men be in for a surprise."
Rey pulled a little vial out of his pocket. "I swiped some of the alchemists’ potions. Er, powders." He peered into it, using a streetlight to see. "Whatever, this one is labeled truth. We'll get to the kingpin and make him confess to the police."
"And the rest of them?" I asked. "Will they confess too?"
He grinned. "Every last one of them."
We got back in his truck and headed back toward the city. Even this time of night, traffic was awful.
"We'll do this every night," Rey said.
I looked at him, surprised. "Seriously? Every night?"
"Yup. As long as there's a need for it, we'll be out there. We'll help as many people as we can. It's not always trafficking. Sometimes it's helping an abused woman escape her husband or father. Sometimes it's stopping a gang from going too far. We've been doing whatever we can, and it gives us a way to use our natural predatory senses without being destructive. It keeps the coyotes and ravens out of trouble since they’re being nosy with a purpose. And Rissa yells at me less often about our people getting into trouble. Win-win.”
"That's incredible," I said, admiration in my voice. I low-key loved that he was out here being a modern-day Robin Hood. Besides, he was right. It was a great way to help our world and let out their more feral natures in the process.
"It's what we do," he said. “Do you know anything open this late? I’d like something sweet.”
“Actually, I do. It’s a great donut place and open twenty-four hours.” I got the address and set my phone to give directions.
