Midas clutched his hair, scandalized by the thought.
Wren chuckled. “Even then it probably wouldn’t work. You were born with that face.”
“Without all the dirt, bandages, and animals that make grown men piss their pants you would have this problem too,” Midas grumbled. “You’re a walking doll.”
Wren stuck his tongue out and headed for the door, surprised when Midas slipped off the bed and followed close behind.
He looked over his shoulder and tilted his head in question.
“Be careful,” Midas signed.
Wren raised a brow. “Didn’t we just go over this? Did the spirit of Fix crawl up your ass?”
“Hope you crash.”
Wren grinned. “There he is.”
Midas laid a hand on his arm, then signed, “Seriously, though. It’s not about the driving. People in the city have been antsy lately.”
Wren didn’t often go into the city if he could help it. His presence in HQ, although mandatory, was something he avoided if he could find a good enough excuse, and his cases had been keeping him on the outskirts lately.
“Antsy?”
Midas nodded. “Nothing I can put my finger on exactly, but things have been getting strange.”
“I don’t think it could get stranger than finding out that curses can suddenly change or move, cursebreakers can be cursed, The Thousand Cuts myth is real, or that there’s this weird evil eye—which must be a cult—on the loose with some mysterious list of people that keeps popping up. Also, Nexus sucks ass.”
“I feel like that last thing wasn’t related to the rest.”
“I know,” Wren said. “I just wanted to say it.”
Midas almost laughed. It was a rare sight. “Just…keep your eyes peeled.”
“I have eyes in the back of my head, don’t worry about me.”
Midas glanced up at Blu and shook his head.
Wren made it back to his room silently, where he skimmed the case file on his phone before sliding Noodle back into his cage.
Teddy’s note fluttered to the ground and Wren panicked, nearly cracking his knees on the floor in his rush to pick it up. The sheer anxiety he felt wasn’t normal, the dark room swirling around him.
He rested his hand against the wall of rodent cages to his right, gerbils and chinchillas and hamsters all happily tottering around or running on wheels in the dark of the night.
Breathing came hard at first, before easing.
When he felt steadier, he placed the note back into his pocket safely and exited the room, heading straight out the front door.
Chapter 2
Wren
The moon shone high against its inky backdrop, and Wren wished he could break the tree line and get lost under its gaze for a while. Pretending he was just another animal among those he protected was the only thing that made him feel free. Not chained by Nexus and their rules, forced to live his life around everything they demanded.
The fact that innocent creatures needed him was the only reason he hadn’t run away like he had so many times before.
He checked that his trailer was still attached and had the right supplies before jumping up into his SUV. He looked ridiculous driving this thing, but he needed something with the horsepower to transport whatever he might find on the other end of a case.
He cupped Blu and placed him in the nest he’d built into the passenger seat—meaning he had destroyed the previous seat by inserting a blue bird house where a blue bird house shouldn’t be inserted and roped Fix into making sure it was secure.
