“How’d you get out?” Dylan asked, his eyes moving from Felix to Will.
“I have the same question for the boy right there,” he said, pointing to Felix.
Felix was a cage fighter? He looked 25, tops.
“That's not something he’d like to share,” Jackson spat out, keeping his eyes trained on her dad.
“How could I forget WL?” Felix muttered to himself, running a hand through his hair and staring off into space.
“Okay,” Flora’s dad acknowledged before continuing. “I escaped the ring by accident. The guards left a starving, angry panther in an unlocked cell. What I do now that I'm free is take down other rings and set other survivors free. Emery helps draw in the collectors who frequently try to kidnap strippers — people who typically have no one to miss them if they disappeared.”
Flora knew this was what her dad did. Escaping a cage fighting ring was unheard of, and apparently, there were two people in the room who were successful at it.
Dylan, and his sock-covered feet had been making their way in her direction. One step after the other, she stared at his feet before he finally made it back to her. He stood behind her chair, tracing his hand up and over to land on her right shoulder. Taking the tense weight that was there, he replaced it with a warming, comforting feeling.
“So, Emery is officially off the suspect list?” Flora asked, hopeful.
“Yes, she is, kitten,” Dylan assured with a deep laugh.
“Kitten?” Flora’s mother teased, wrapping her own hand around Will’s hand.
“Now you are welcome to stay here in the Packhouse so that you could be closer to your daughter if you’d like —” Jackson began to offer.
“We’d love that.” Lola’s heavenly voice cut through as she stood to meet Jackson’s welcoming hand. Will chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, following Jackson to their guest room.
27
DYLAN
Somehow, in some way, Flora slunk past her parents’ room and into Dylan’s, much to his relief. A few nights apart didn’t kill him, more like it prepared him for what was to come. They were on limited time. He knew he should be distancing himself, but he couldn’t resist a morning cuddle.
Except this morning something quite different was next to him when he dragged his hand up to her side of the bed. Being met with rough animal fur, he nearly fell out of the bed, catching himself on the headboard. He awoke to the sight of a black panther in his bed. The following growl from his lack of contact made him quickly cuddle back, petting the animal’s side.
“Flora,” Dylan questioned, snuggling his dark head of waves against her panther’s head. The purr that followed sat comfortably in his chest. He was growing to love her panther as much as he was growing to love her human. “Are you coming back to me? We’re not allowed to shift in the house.”
A growl met with another purr, a silentno. Knowing he had to get the panther out of the house before Jackson saw and lost his shit, Dylan dragged his body away from the panther and to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
“Your sharp eyes following my every move would be scaring the shit out of me if I didn’t know you liked me.” Dylan had no clue what to do with the 140-pound panther in his bed. Suddenly, she shot out of bed and darted toward the door.
Dylan followed after her, unsure of what the hell was happening. She pawed at the door, thankfully not using her claws in the process. He slid out the door keeping her inside. Something was riling her up. The scraping noise got louder and louder as he made his way out front. There Ryder, River, and Felix were trying to get a large bed frame through their front door.
“Damn,” Dylan huffed, leaning against the staircase’s banister.
“Yeah, tell me about it,” River said. Even with super strength, getting that huge ass frame through the door had to be a feat. Dylan was thankful Jackson hadn't asked him to help.
“Need any help?” He didn’t want to ask, but knew he’d have to offer. He hoped they'd say no, because he had a restless panther losing her damn mind upstairs, still pawing his door down.
“Nah, we got this,” Ryder said, lifting the bed frame towards the stairs. “Get that panther outside before Jackson realizes.”
“Already working on it,” Dylan laughed, rushing up the stairs and sliding back into his room. The noise of furniture being moved was setting Flora off, so it was definitely time to figure out where to go for the day.
“Let's go for a walk.” There were only so many places to go as a Shifter. Even less if you were supposed to be in hiding. Cassandra and Romeo could be anywhere.
“Wanna go to the cabin?” he asked. Flora's head shot up in interest.
Bingo. That worked out perfectly for what he actually had planned for the day. Hopefully, at some point, Flora would shift back. In case of that, he packed a bag filled with clothes for both of them along with snacks.
“Alright, let’s go, kitty cat.”
