“I appreciate that, Brother Larry.”
They’d fucking better be.
* * *
Brother Larry returnedto his inner sanctum or whatever the hell was behind the interior fence, and Macon and I rejoined the others. I pulled Kitten aside because I had a feeling he was going to have some objections to this plan.
“Their noses are so soft,” Kitten said about the calf that was now eating bunches of grass directly from his hand. “Feel it.”
I rubbed the calf’s nose, and it was soft, as soft as velvet, as soft as Kitten’s cheek, and I thought back to Ansel’s comment about Kitten and I being an odd couple. We were, in a way, because he was a life-bringer, a nurturer at heart, and I was a life-taker. Kitten was thinking about raising children and feeding animals, and I was contemplating how to eradicate the local Rabid population. I suspected that I was far less suited to this simple, pastoral way of life than that of Rabid Country, but for my family, I’d adapt.
“What did Brother Larry say?” he asked.
“He’s going to let us in, but I have to do something for him first.”
“What is it?”
“There’s a midwife who may be lost in the woods. I’m going to track her down.”
“Why you?”
“Because finding people is what I do.”
“Who’s going with you?”
“No one. Artemis and Macon are staying behind.”
“Let me come. I can help.”
“I’m going alone,” I said firmly. It was too dangerous, not to mention he had a heavy foot and bad hearing. “I need you to stay here with the others.”
“Why can’t I come with you?”
“Because I can’t be worried about you while I’m out there, and I want you here, where it’s safe.”
“But it’s okay for me to worry about you? It’s okay for you not to be safe?”
“Kitten…”
“No.” He shoved my hands away from where I’d tried to reach out to him. “I’m tired of you always putting yourself in danger. That isnotgood boyfriend behavior.”
He turned and ran from the pavilion, sprinting across the green grass until he reached a lone live oak tree, similar to the one I’d been resting against when I first spotted him digging in his garden months ago. There he sat in a huddle, knees to his chin, probably crying.
“Give him some space,” Artemis said. Macon must have briefed her on the condition for us to enter Promised Land.
“It should be a straightforward mission,” I told her, “but in case it isn’t…”
“We’ll take care of him, Cipher, of course we will. He’s one of us.”
TWENTY
KITTEN
Cipherand I were in a fight, even if he refused to acknowledge it. I was pissed, mainly at him, but at Macon too for letting him make a deal like that. And I was pissed at the other Assholes for not backing me up when I brought it to a vote later that evening. They were unanimously against me, which never felt good.
Why couldn’t we search for this missing person as a group? Why did Cipher always have to go off on dangerous missions alone?
The cows were asleep so I asked these questions to Little Miss Purrfect as I teased her with a cat toy. The “Fellowship” helped us set up tents to camp in overnight, and I was hiding out in one of them, avoiding the rest of our crew even though I smelled meat cooking.
