Narrowing his eyes, Carter pointed toward the back of the house. “Bed, brat! You have work tomorrow.”
“You’re welcome!” Hudson singsonged before scurrying from the room.
Aaron laughed softly. “I like it. Aragorn for the bigger serious boy. Legolas for our little chaos gremlin, and Arwen for our sweet girl.”
Our. Each time that Aaron said our, Carter’s heart filled with hope. “See! Now they’re named. That wasn’t so hard.”
“Because your brother named them!” Aaron reminded him.
“I’ll get them collars tomorrow,” Carter decided. He also needed to find a vet. Being a pet parent was going to be expensive. And time-consuming.
“I can take them to the office with me when you’re working,” Aaron offered. “I’m sure Aspen would love to help with puppies.”
“Aspen?” That was a new name. And why did Aaron smile so sweetly when he said it? Carter rubbed his chest, irritated, even though he knew he shouldn’t be.
“Our fae receptionist.” Aaron wiggled his eyebrows. “Sweet kid. First job and the first time in this realm. He’s young and excitable. Kind of like Legolas.”
“The blond?” Carter had remembered seeing a young man hovering when he’d carried Aaron into the office after the vision he’d had on the street.
“That’s him. We’re still setting up the office, so there isn’t much he can do yet except make coffee and help empty boxes. Eventually I hope his natural friendliness will put our clients at ease,” Aaron said.
“Your paranormal clients,” Carter replied.
Aaron nodded. “Yes. We want to offer help to those in the paranormal community who either don’t trust the paranormal council or don’t want to involve them.”
This Carter was excited to talk about. He wanted to know more about Aaron. “Why wouldn’t they trust the council? You said you used to work for them.”
“I also said they’re assholes,” Aaron reminded him.
That was true. In Carter’s experience, most government agents were kind of dicks. When Carter had worked with federal agents before, they had always rubbed him wrong. It seemed that there weren’t many differences between the human and paranormal world. Other than the whole turning-furry thing. Carter wasn’t sure how he was going to deal with knowing his future brother-in-law, or was Bas already his brother-in-law? Anyway knowing Bastian could turn into the cat Bas was just strange.
Aaron sighed, drawing Carter’s attention back to him. “There are some good people in the council. It’s just that the missions should be about helping people and it’s more on making sure the council’s rules are being followed.”
“Like most government agencies,” Carter offered. See! He had been right. It actually made Carter feel better that he wasn’t completely out of his depth here.
“Pretty much. We’ve sat down with Axel and the other guys. Talked to them about what they’ve run into over the years. Where we could do the most good. Shifter communities were being used and wiped out by magic. There was a brief resurface of a hunter group. As far as I know, the council hasn’t done much about any of that. We want to be the ones that people can call on when they’re really in trouble.”
“It would be hard for them to go to human authorities,” Carter said. What could he do if a paranormal being caused trouble in his town? Before he’d known about the paranormal, Carter would have tried to help, but he wasn’t sure how that would have been possible. There was so much that he didn’t know.
“Exactly. These communities are at a disadvantage if they don’t have a strong alpha. Sometimes even if they do. Bas traveled around the entire country after he retired. When he came across communities or packs that needed helped, he stepped up. We’re hoping some of those people can spread the word that we want to help them. That we’re good guys.”
“It can’t be easy. Organizing all this,” Carter said.
“We are in the very beginning stages of planning. It’s moving a lot faster than I’d thought.”
“But you don’t actually have anything you’re working on?” Carter questioned.
Aaron paused. “Not exactly.”
That surprised him. “Already?”
“It’s a town thing,” Aaron said. He seemed reluctant to share the information, but Carter knew how to push in just the right way. It was his job to get people to talk to him. “There is a concern that a hyena pack that seems to cause issues wherever they go might be around. With the fires around town, the two might be more connected than we’d first thought.”
“We’re looking into the fires,” Carter shared. “There isn’t much there. Arson is probable but nothing much left behind. Luckily no one has been harmed. Yet. And it is a big yet. Fire is not something to play around with.”
“I know. Axel has a copy of the police files. Bas has been going through them.”
“How?” Carter demanded. That is something that should stay within their precinct. Carter couldn’t help but wonder just how much power the paranormals had.
