He made it look like a cuddle session, but Teddy could see that he was checking each animal over carefully.
“This is definitely the spot,” he whispered to Teddy after a few minutes.
“How can you tell?” Teddy asked, and Wren turned the lizard around to show him a series of numbers on the lizard’s stomach.
“Sable has these tattooed inside his ear. Liam’s dog, King, too,” he said. “The organization provides animals for illegal fights. I’ve been tracking them for years. Cut off so many limbs but never managed to get to the head itself.”
“I doubt these animals are good fighters,” Teddy said, trying to lighten the mood to stop himself from joining Wren in his rage.
“Apparently they’ve updated their list of services,” Wren said. A blue flash fluttered next to Teddy’s head and he watched as Blu landed on Wren’s shoulder. Wren chirped at him, a tiny little tinkering trill, and Blu flitted from one animal to the next for a few seconds before returning.
Wren’s cursemark glowed brighter for a moment before dimming to its usual shine, and a tiny smile flashed across his face. “We got here in time. None of these are cursed yet, but they need somewhere to go. The ferrets I believe will be okay to just be released, but the rest don’t have a natural habitat anywhere near here.”
He pulled his phone out and dialed, holding it between his unoccupied shoulder and ear.
“Bianca,” he said when someone on the other end clearly picked up. “Do we have space for a few new darlings? Yes, that was a rhetorical question. I’ll need pickup for a parrot, a snake, and a tarantula in Arcstead. How fast can you get that organized? Perfect. I’ll text you the address.”
He cut the call and stood up, still decorated with all of the animals.
“Bianca will have pickup for them arranged tomorrow,” he said.
“Are they gonna be safe here until then?” Teddy asked, and found himself on the receiving end of a look that clearly called him a moron in several animal languages.
“We are obviously taking them with us,” Wren said, tucking the lizard into one of his sleeves and the tarantula into the other.
“I doubt Echo will be happy with that,” Teddy said.
“They can join the unhappy club, then,” Wren said. “We can even make them president.”
The man on the floor stirred.
“Wren…”
“I am not leaving them here, Teddy,” Wren said.
“I’m not saying you have to.” Teddy pointed. “He’s waking up.”
“Oh. Good for him.”
“What the fuck?” The man grunted, lifting a hand to his face and looking around himself, disoriented. His eyes widened when he caught sight of Wren, and he scrambled backward until his back hit a wall.
“Who is the lizard for?” Wren asked, and the man shook his head.
Wren advanced, covered in animals, looking like a feral creature out to destroy.
The man clearly had some wit to him because he wasn’t underestimating Wren for all his small stature. He looked terrified out of his mind, and Teddy was sure if he could have he would have merged with the grubby wall behind his back.
“I won’t be asking again,” Wren said. “Who is it for?”
“You know—” Teddy went to crouch next to the man, holding out a hand toward Wren, palm up, as if to stop him in his tracks. “—my partner here has a very, very short fuse.”
“And he is at the end of it, so move,” Wren said when Teddy looked up at him and threw him a soft wink. A sign.
“How about you tend to the animals and let me and Mr.…?” He trailed off, looking at the man.
“Adam,” the man said.
“Mr. Adam, have a tiny little chat,” Teddy said.
