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CHAPTER SEVEN 
     
QUINN
BAM!
“Jesus Fucking Christ!” Ari yelps, making me leap awake.
It takes me all of a second to know just who might be banging away against the glass. “Shush, quiet,” I whisper as I climb out of bed and walk through the dimly lit room to the balcony window. Slowly, I push the blinds back and look out at the snow leopard looking in at me.
I stare at him.
He stares at me.
Then he just leaps out of sight.
With a sigh, I unlatch the door and slowly push it open. I look left and right, but I have no idea where he went. Did he go back into the other room? What the hell is he doing?
Suddenly, I hear purring from above me and I look up as he stands on the railing from the room above us and peers over the edge, eyes glowing in a light from the street.
“Oh my god! Get down before you plummet to your death! Did you forget you can’t even climb the roof of my house? You’re now on the fifth floor!”
He doesn’t seem concerned at all as he leaps down and pummels me to the ground while purring and licking the side of my face. He’s rubbing all over me as the rumbling of his purrs fills the air.
“Rowan, what are you doing?” I whisper.
“You guys are into some real kinky stuff,” Ari says.
Rowan freezes with his pink tongue sticking out. He sucks it back in, stands up very straight and looks at Emery and Ari, who are watching us.
“Nothing. I’m… no… just… wanted to use your bathroom.” He races off into the bathroom and I’m left following him.
“They’re so weird,” Ari whispers, like he wouldn’t be doing the same thing with Logan around.
“I don’t get paid enough for this shit,” Emery says.
“Hold on… why are you getting paid?” Ari asks.
“Will both of you shut it?” I whisper. “Let’s not wake anyone else up.”
When I reach the bathroom, I find Rowan in the tub, still in his leopard form. His back is rigid and he’s sitting as majestically as a floofball can sit. He’s got this stoic thing going on with his tail wrapped around his feet.
“Whatcha doing?” I ask as I close the door.
“Contemplating my life choices.”
“Yeah? And how’s that going for you?” I kneel in front of the tub, but he refuses to look at me.
“Not well.”
“You know there’s a door between our rooms, right? Like you could have gone through the door instead of out the glass door and onto the balcony and onto another balcony and then in here.”
“I am majestic like that. I fear no heights.”
“I’ve noticed. But I do fear the heights for you because you’re not exactly the most skilled yet. So please don’t fall off.” I reach out and scratch under his chin which doesn’t even get a purr out of him. He must really be working hard to contemplate life, oh… wait… there it is.
His purr fills up the room as he leans into my touch.
“I… I can’t shift back,” he says as he leans into my scratching fingers.
“Well… I guess just sleep like that, then. Come on,” I say as I give his tiny ear a gentle tug.
He follows me back into the room and when I get in bed, he jumps up and sits on Ari’s chest as his tail flops onto his face.
“I’m suffocating! What the hell!”
“He dare sleep with my mate,” he says, even though Ari can’t hear him.
Ari starts struggling, which makes Rowan pin him down harder and enjoy it a little more. He’s purring for a whole new reason now. “Your fluffy balls are in my face, man! What the hell!” Ari cries.
“He must suffer for trying to steal my mate.”
“He’s not trying to steal me!” I assure him.
“Ew, no! I only kissed Quinn once before realizing it wasn’t very fun,” Ari says, which is definitely not the right thing to say as Rowan turns to murder. He shifts his green eyes onto Ari and extends all of his claws as Rowan places his paw right on Ari’s face.
“Deglove the face or the balls?” Rowan asks.
“Your fucking hair is in my mouth!” Ari cries as he tries battling Rowan off him. Rowan just flicks his tail back onto Ari’s face, letting him drown in the fluff.
“Better than his fluffy balls, I guess,” I say.
“You kissed him?” Rowan asks.
I sigh as I realize I need to end this before the sassy leopard becomes murder leopard. “I did not. Ari kissed me once trying to make Logan jealous. It was… sad and made me feel pity more than attraction.”
Ari finally tackles Rowan off. “I will have Logan make mittens out of you,” he growls before pulling his covers over his head.
Rowan just lies down on top of Ari’s body, like he can make him disappear by covering him up, and purrs as he stares at me, eyes half-closed.
      
“Well… I guess not the worst thing to wake up to,” Katalina says as she hesitates in the open doorway. I open my eyes and look over at a butt-naked Rowan sprawled halfway over Ari and me. While I definitely wouldn’t complain about the view, I could see how others could be a little… surprised that the fluffy snow leopard has been replaced.
“He shifted into his leopard form and couldn’t shift back,” I explain as Rowan wakes up with a look of horror before trying to cover himself with the blankets.
She just winks at me. “That’s what I tell Apollo when he finds Harper naked in my bed,” she says before heading off.
Harper… Apollo’s other mate? Is Katalina in a relationship with her?
I store this information in the back of my mind for later.
“Definitely in my top ten worst things to wake up to,” Emery says as he stares at us. “I wake up and look over to find a weird ol’ man pile going on. A part of me is horrified and another part of me feels kind of left out that I wasn’t invited, you know? Like I was the last pick in gym class.”
I sigh as I look at Emery. “If you want to sleep with those two flopping around, be my guest, I’ll take the lone bed.”
“Nah. I’d rather complain.”
“That’s Ari’s favorite thing to do as well,” I say before getting out of bed to find Rowan some clothes.
“He was so warm,” Ari says. “Once Rowan fell asleep, I just snuggled his warm and fluffy ass all night long. It’s like having a massive stuffed teddy bear.”
I stare at him while a war rages inside me. The thought of even my best friend hugging what is mine irritates me. I narrow my eyes as he slowly turns to look at me and gives me the evilest shit-eating grin. He knows what he’s done and he’s proud of himself. That’s more than clear.
We get ready to head out to Rowan’s father’s house, but we don’t know if anyone is watching it, so we have to be quick when we get there. Once we’re all dressed and ready and have eaten breakfast, we drive to his house.
“I can go to the hospital and stab him for you,” Emery says, like this is the correct response to what’s happening.
He seems weirdly less threatening looking like a twenty-three-year-old with a sweet face. The untamed look really did give him some power.
“No, that’s okay, thank you, though. If anyone’s stabbing him, it’s me,” Rowan says, which seems to please our little blood-hungry Emery.
Inside the house, I start searching for the cell phone that belongs to George, Rowan’s father, since it didn’t seem to be on him when we got him help. Rowan calls it using Katalina’s phone, but it must be on silent or not in the house. As I hunt every nook and cranny, Rowan sits down in front of his father’s computer and starts on the task of figuring out the password.
We’re all hoping no one is watching the house for any activity because none of our endeavors are going quickly.
That’s when I hear a noise that I know is made by a happy ocelot.
I go into the living room to find Ari, in his ocelot form, holding the phone in his mouth. His adorably pink nose is twitching as he prances. Seeing me, he leaps off the couch, trusting that I’ll either catch him or he’ll shred me to cling on. I grab him and he climbs onto my shoulder as I take the phone from his mouth.
He seems rather pleased as his tail whaps me in the eyeball.
“Good job,” I say as I head back into the kitchen where Rowan is working on the computer. They must have gotten it unlocked because Emery is taking hold of Rowan’s chair and dragging it back, like he’s trying to get rid of him. “I found your phone,” I announce.
Ari, who’d been purring since he was so proud of himself, immediately stops as the words sink in.
“Great work, thank you,” Rowan says as he takes the phone while Ari starts batting the side of my head.
“Ow! Ari! Dammit!” I cringe away from the vicious attack.
He hisses at me and then begins yowling.
“I take it Ari found the phone,” Rowan says.
Ari, pleased by Rowan’s detective work, jumps onto his shoulder and makes a show of staring me in the eyes as he purrs and rubs on Rowan. He’s marking him with his scent… claiming what is mine.
My eyes narrow at him. “How dare you,” I growl.
He starts kneading Rowan’s shoulder as he watches me. Stupidly cute pink nose wiggling, whiskers twitching, that’s a fucking ocelot grin if I’ve ever seen one.
“Oh my GOD. You’re shredding my shoulder. This hurts!” Rowan cries as he tries peeling Ari off him.
Ari is determined to stay on—he’s not yet done harassing me—and it turns into some kind of torture game for Rowan who is trying to unhinge Ari’s claws. When he finally does, he holds the ocelot out to me, which I take.
“I got the perfect spot for you,” I say as I hold him over a trash can.
Ari spins around and leaps onto my head before biting my ear, reminding me that I really shouldn’t harass anyone with horribly sharp claws and fangs.
“You’re evil,” I hiss.
“Wow, you guys are very hard at work,” Katalina says, coming in just in time to watch me battling with a twenty-something-pound cat.
I straighten up and Ari jumps off before strutting away to find his clothes. “We’ve found the phone.”
“I can’t get into his work email, but through his personal email, it looks like he’s been in contact with a woman by the name of Natalie Davis,” Emery says as he clicks something on the laptop. “She claims to be the doctor in charge.”
“So is she the person ‘prescribing’ the drugs Rowan was on?” I ask curiously.
“She could have been,” Rowan says. “I never got any information from the name on the bottle. I don’t know if it’s even a real name.”
“Do you have a bottle with you?” Katalina asks.
“No. I might have an old one at my house, but I don’t have anything here,” he says.
Emery taps at the screen with his finger. “With the emails, it’s clear this Natalie Davis has more information. I vaguely recognize the name. I feel like Mercer talked about her before or something.”
“Maybe if we hadn’t lost Scott and Gina, we could’ve asked Gina if she knew who this woman is,” I say with a sigh. “How the hell do we contact them? If Gina can’t find the pack, which, how would she? It’s not like they have a Google address; they try to keep things under wraps.”
“At some point she has to have taken Scott to the hospital somewhere. We can search all the local hospitals if we don’t hear from her soon,” Rowan suggests.
“Okay. At least we have a name. Now let’s see if we can get more information on it,” I say.
“I want to talk to my father again,” Rowan says. “He has information we could use. What do you think about hanging around another night and seeing if he gets released from the hospital so we can talk to him without dealing with security?”
I look over at Katalina, the only one with us who might have to get back.
“I’m game,” she says. “Until then, let’s just take this laptop with us and do some research in our hotel room. If this Natalie Davis woman was ever licensed as a real doctor somewhere, we could find some stuff by searching her or her license.”
“Alright, let’s go before we’re noticed,” Rowan says.
      
Hours of research in the hotel room gets us very little. We find a few doctors by that name, but one’s halfway across the country and the others don’t really fit the bill, but we still write them down.
Around dinner, we had swung by George’s house on the way to get food, but there was no sign of him yet, so we decided we’ll wait until morning to see if we could figure anything out. Even now as we head to bed, we have little to show for our day of hunting besides frustration.
Katalina waves Rowan off as he follows her toward the second bedroom. “You guys can sleep in the same room. I know you’re together.”
“We’re not,” I say, then try to explain, “He just doesn’t really know how to handle his leopard side yet and likes being near us since we’re pack.” And even though she can probably tell it’s a huge lie she just shrugs.
“You guys can all pack into the same bed for all I care. Whatever you do, it’ll have to be better than the leopard prancing around the room for half an hour while I tried to sleep before he figured out how to unlock the balcony door. Prance here. Prance there. Ooh, what’s this? It looks like a ball, I better bat it around for a minute. Oh wait! I was trying to escape. But how can I escape when there’s a belt hanging from the door I must smack around first?”
Rowan stands stone still, like maybe no one will notice she’s talking about him if he doesn’t move.
“I’m glad my mate ain’t that weird,” Ari says before covering his mouth. “Whoops. I mean… my hunkalicious of a man who I most definitely am not bumping uglies with.” Ari whistles as he hurries off to the bathroom.
Katalina shakes her head as she gives me a smile. “I don’t care. I’m not going to tell Apollo about any of it. I think we’re all very aware that some of you were in relationships before coming here. It’s stupid of Apollo to think you can just immediately stop. But that’s how he is. He wants everyone to know exactly who is in charge and does so by being controlling and whiny and…” She shakes her head. “Good night. I’m going to leave the door open so the prancy leopard doesn’t have to take the long road around.”
Rowan pretends like he didn’t hear her as he heads to the separate bed again, even though I do want to share with him, but I really don’t know how much I can trust Katalina. We would be blatantly going against Apollo’s wishes if we slept in the same bed… and it’s only for one night.
When everything gets better, I can spend as much time with him as I want.
      
The noise of something moving outside wakes me, as does Ari punching me in the face.
“Ow. Hell,” I groan as I cup my hand over my nose.
“Whoops. Can you tell Floofy Nuts that I’m not fondling you and to go to sleep?” Ari whispers.
I sigh, wondering what chaos Rowan is up to, until I hear the noise outside the door leading into the hallway.
My wolf is telling me something’s not right as I slowly sit up and turn my attention to the door.
“Shh,” I say, snapping Ari to attention.
He looks over to the door I’m still staring at. “What’s wrong?” he asks in a hushed tone.
“Wake up the others. Tell them to be quiet,” I whisper as I listen closely before I realize what I’m hearing is the sound of someone sniffing outside the door. I think I can hear more than one of them creeping around, hunting us. I slowly get out of bed and walk over to the door where I peer through the peephole a moment before a face is pressed up against it. I jerk back as I realize it’s Diego, the shifter whose arm I’d broken when Mercer had been keeping Rowan and me caged up.
Fuck.
How did they find us already? Was it because of Rowan’s father? Did they follow us from George’s house?
I quietly step away from the door as I hear something land heavily outside the balcony window.
Emery is up and tearing through his clothes as he shifts just as Katalina comes in and gets a look at him.
“What the fuck is that?” she cries as she jerks back, slamming into Rowan who’d been coming in behind her.
“Shh,” I whisper. “It’s Emery, he’s fine. Emery, come.”
Emery is facing the balcony door, every muscle in his body tensed like he’s ready to destroy anything to get to them.
“We have to quietly get out,” I say. “I want all of you shifted and together. We move as a pack. Everyone listens to me. Do you understand? Emery?”
He gives a curt nod before stepping up close to me, surprising me he’s so willing to listen.
There’s no hesitation as everyone other than me undresses and shifts. “Where are the car keys?” I ask.
“Nightstand,” Rowan says, his voice in my mind. I step back toward their room as I hear the glass of their balcony door shatter. Instead of going for the keys, I jerk back and slam the door shut between the rooms, locking it a moment before the intruder slams against it.
“This way, the one at the front door has a broken arm,” I say as I take my shirt off and toss it before dropping my pants. I look through the peephole one more time to see the monster moving outside the door, looking for a way to enter.
I switch the lock off, pull the door open, and shift before it can swing shut. I slam into Diego, driving my weight into him as he reels back with a cry while trying to protect his broken arm. He’s currently in his shifted form, a mixture of what looks like a bear and wildcat. His snout is long, but it doesn’t match the rounded head like a wildcat. He’s unnatural looking, but there’s still clear power as the muscles in his body tighten.
“Move for the stairs,” I say as Rowan tries to hang back to help. “Rowan, lead the way.”
Diego seems to think better of the predicament as he hovers down low, a clear sign of defeat. Once it’s apparent he’s not going to rip my back open the moment I turn, I race after the others in time to hear some of them cry out.
No, no, no. I shouldn’t have sent them ahead without me.
I rush into the large stairwell to find Raylon, Mercer’s largest shifter, dragging Katalina in her lion form by the leg. He looks like a mixture of a big cat and some canine-type animal. While he doesn’t have fangs like a large cat, when he bares his teeth I can see they are pointed. Another mutated shifter has Ari and Rowan cornered as they try to find a way to dart free.
Emery slams into Raylon who snarls, letting go of Katalina.
“Well, I’ll be. The useless reject thinks he’s found a pack who wants him. No one wants you,” Raylon growls. “You’ll always be alone.”
“I don’t care as long as I can stop you,” Emery growls back as Raylon grabs for him. I rush to help Ari and Rowan just as the shifter cornering them strikes. Ari skirts out from under his paw as Diego comes hobbling around the corner and lunges for Katalina.
I rush him, driving him down as Katalina gets her bearings, when I hear a horribly loud noise. Looking up, I see that Raylon has Emery slammed against the railing before trying his hardest to shove him over it and down the three flights of stairs. There’s a gap in the middle where the stairs wind around that would allow Raylon to drop him straight down. Emery fights against him, but his balance is off and the moment Emery starts to fall, he snatches onto Raylon’s neck, tearing him over the edge with him as his weight draws Raylon after him. They both plummet down the middle just as I reach the edge, no longer able to help. Raylon snags onto the railing of the third floor as Emery catches onto the one below before losing his grip and falling the final flight. Before Emery even hits, Raylon is up and running for him, hell-bent on killing him.
“Everyone, run. Get outside and run,” I order as I race down the stairs with my pack behind me.
Raylon doesn’t even care about me coming up behind him as I leap and land onto his back, using his own momentum to shove him down, making him slide the rest of the way down the flight of stairs. Rowan jumps off somewhere behind me and lands on the ground floor where he shifts into his human form and tugs on Emery. I push past Raylon the moment Rowan has Emery up, knowing I need to just get my pack out to keep them alive. And as Rowan pushes the door open, I join my pack as we escape into the dark city.
“Emery, are you okay?” I ask.
He’s silent as he moves with Rowan, who’s shifted back to his leopard form, but I can’t tell if that’s because he’s hurt or because he doesn’t want to talk. But pressing him for answers will have to wait until we’re somewhere safe.
I don’t even know what to do, I just know I need to keep my pack members safe, but I’m starting to question how.
We were foolish to stay in this area after we knew Brennan had attacked Rowan’s father. I just assumed they wouldn’t realize we were here unless they’d been watching the place, or someone told them.
Would George have told them? He’s clearly been in touch with them. But would he really contact the people who tried to kill him? Unless Brennan went off on his own and attacked him without orders.
Ari, who’s in the lead, slips down an alleyway before skidding to a stop as one of the mutated shifters blocks the other end.
“Keep going, there are more behind us,” I say as I charge ahead, my claws digging into the asphalt. The shifter’s muscles bunch, and just as he goes to spring at me, I slip to the side and attack him.
As he pulls back, my other pack members skirt past before reaching a road where Katalina would have slid right into traffic if Rowan hadn’t grabbed her tail.
When there’s a break in traffic, we rush across and run. Pushing my pack as hard as I can, I beg we’ll lose them. But in this city of lights and life, it’s hard to find a place to hide. As the tall buildings shift to trees, I realize we’re looking at the entrance of a park. Just as I aim my pack for it, Ari trips on something and falls. Knowing I need to get him up, I stop to get my bearings and look around.
The park is darker but the lights lining the path brighten the place up. We have little options as I realize that I can hear the monsters all around us, surrounding us. I turn slowly, allowing my ears to tell me where each of them stands as they create a circle around us, coming from all areas.
I nudge Ari back to his feet as I question how the hell they constantly know where we are. They might have followed behind us, but to be in front of us as well? Are they communicating with each other somehow? Shifting and calling Mercer or their other pack members who’d be too far away to hear?
“How the hell do they know where we’re at?” I ask as I look around, noticing the eyes glowing in the light of the dim lanterns. They’re closing in on us as I rack my brain for an outcome that doesn’t leave one of my pack wounded. Emery takes a step forward, like he’s going to take them all on himself, and I nip at him, driving him back into the tight circle of shifters I’m prepared to protect.
Suddenly, the sound of sirens makes them still and a moment later, they all disperse as four officers come rushing onto the scene.
“Shift back and get on the ground,” the closest yells, oblivious to the shifters who’ve just run off.
“Do as they say,” I tell them, since Mercer’s crew has faded away, giving us some breathing room. While the police aren’t much better, the likelihood of them killing us is significantly less, so this might be a blessing. Especially since it seemed to completely make Mercer’s pack rush off. I shift and lie down in the grass as my pack follows suit.
“We weren’t doing anything wrong,” Katalina says.
I’m sure the officers aren’t going to care what we say. The one closest to her proves it by saying, “We received a complaint about a group of shifters tearing up a hotel and causing chaos across the city. You’re under arrest as we figure out what happened.”
“That’s not fair. We were attacked,” Katalina says.
“Just let them take us, it’s getting us away from them,” I say, and even though it’s clear she’s not pleased, she sinks onto the ground.
The humans are on us instantly, roughly handcuffing us as I look out into the distance where I can still sense Mercer’s crew, but they’re not willing to take on the police. They’re surely displeased over the turn of events but seem to watch quietly as I’m pulled to my feet and walked over to a car. I would love some clothes, but instead, they drape us in blankets before I’m shoved in the back, squished between Rowan and Emery. Katalina and Ari are placed in another car as I look over at Rowan.
“Well, this is a fucking mess if I’ve ever seen one,” Rowan says.
“They’re following us somehow.” I turn to look at Emery who is bleeding, eyes staring straight ahead as the officer begins to drive, his partner in the passenger seat. They didn’t read us any rights as we got in—they always act like they don’t have to when dealing with shifters.
“Emery, are you okay?” Rowan asks.
Emery slowly looks over at us and I notice there’s blood on his face and his lip is split. “I used to care so much about him. Raylon… you know, the man who just threw me over the fourth-floor railing. It wasn’t love or sexual but we were just… we were there for each other. We used to tell each other that as long as we had each other, it’s all we needed, and my god do I fucking hate him,” he growls. “He is a monster just like the man who created him. He can blame it on what Mercer has done to him, but Mercer did worse to me.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, unable to imagine how hard it had to be to deal with Raylon after that.
Emery turns his attention to me. “There’s no reason to apologize. There’s nothing that can be done about it. Clearly, I should have been a better judge of character.”
“You were locked up and tortured; I’m pretty sure you didn’t have much in the way of choices.”
Emery doesn’t respond and returns to looking out the window as I press myself against Rowan.
Once at the police station, they parade us into a room where they at least unhandcuff us and give us clothes before sending us to a cell.
“I’d like to talk to someone,” I say as they try to urge me through the cell door.
“We’ll let you know when we figure things out,” the officer says as he grabs my arm.
“Yes, but until then, I’d like to give my side of the story.”
My words fall on deaf ears as I’m pushed into a cell with the others. At least they’re not separating us. “If we need your side of the story, we’ll let you know,” he says.
“Please wait. At least two of my pack need medical attention.”
“We’ll determine that ourselves,” he says before slamming the door shut and heading on his way.
Katalina sinks down on the bench with a groan. “What the hell are you guys caught up in?”
“The very question we’d like to know the answer to as well. We have no idea why they’ve set their sights on us, but they’re not going to stop until we stop them,” I say. “Now, are you hurt?”
“Just a few punctures. I’ll be alright,” she assures me, but I’d still like to get her some medical attention before they get infected or swell, and Emery has to be hurt after falling so far.
I try pestering a few people in the hopes they can get some medical attention for Emery and Katalina, but in the end, a female officer seems to take pity on us and comes in with a first aid kit. She cleans Katalina up before heading toward Emery, but Emery quickly shies away from her.
I take some stuff from her and clean up Emery myself before sinking down on the bench next to Rowan. It’s around that moment that I stop giving a shit what Katalina tells Apollo and lean against Rowan, needing a moment of stability. He sets his head against mine and I close my eyes while trying to pretend he’s the only thing there—not the uncomfortable bench, not the cell, not the noise, not the smells.
Just Rowan.
It’s like I’m able to recharge just from being with him, just from touching and feeling him. He reaches down and takes my hand but keeps it between us, so as not to draw attention to it.
“Emery, do you have a tracking device on you somewhere?” Rowan asks, and I open my eyes.
Emery slowly looks up from where he’s picking at the bandage I’d put on his arm. “A tracking…? I don’t think so… but I don’t know. I don’t remember a lot of what happened to me. He did so many things… I mean, he could have.”
“But wouldn’t Mercer have found him when he was running free in the woods then?” Ari asks. “I mean, it makes sense Mercer would want to keep track of his shifters, but Emery was free quite a while and Mercer never got ahold of him.”
Emery shrugs and finally stops picking at the bandage when Ari pulls his hand away from it. “I was constantly moving, and I did see them a few times, but I’m a faster runner. I could usually outrun them. How the hell would we know if he did have one on me?”
“Maybe a doctor could figure it out,” I say.
“Good luck even getting one to look our way,” Ari says.
“We can’t go back like this. If he does have a tracking chip on him, it means they already know where we’ve been hiding with Apollo’s pride,” I say.
“I don’t think he could take on a pack that large,” Emery says. “He doesn’t have that many shifters to spare that I’m aware of. He likes playing dirty, picking away at little things he wants. We just can’t let him pick too hard or he’ll destroy all of us.”
OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER EIGHT 
     
ROWAN
Ari is curled up on the bench using Quinn’s lap as a pillow. I kind of want to gently push his head off while the rational side of my brain tries to remember that they’ve been friends for years and a friend laying their head on another friend’s lap while imprisoned probably isn’t that weird. Especially when they’re shifters and much more touchy-feely than I’m used to.
But I give his head just a little push anyway. Just a little two fingers to his forehead puuuush right off his lap.
Whoops.
“Fuck off, Floof Boy,” Ari growls before wrapping his arms around Quinn’s body and snuggling in closer.
This has displeased me even more.
I stare at him for a long moment before I use three fingers to push against his head. He’s surprisingly resilient against my attack and snuggles in even more until I pluck him right between the eyes.
His head snaps back as he stares at me with huge eyes. “Quinn, Rowan’s abusing me!” Ari cries.
Quinn has his eyes closed as he leans against me, but he doesn’t seem to be sleeping… maybe thinking?
“What a fucking mess,” he whispers.
“I know, right?” Ari asks. “Cottontuft is over here trying to push me off your lap when I need comforting.”
“Not that,” Quinn says as he pats the side of Ari’s face.
“But one plus side is that we’re all together and haven’t been eaten by Mercer’s demon horde,” I say.
“You’re right. You’re the only one allowed to nibble on me.”
“Ew, gross,” Ari says before pinching me, like I said it.
“Why are you evil?” I ask, but he just opens his big eyes and gives me a cute smile that makes me try to shove his face off Quinn’s lap again. Maybe this time I’ll push his entire body off the bench.
That’s when someone enters and walks over to our cell, saving Ari from any further abuse by my hands.
“Which one of you is Rowan Sinclair?” the man says.
“I am,” I say as I tear my eyes away from Ari.
“I see…” He looks down at his paperwork. “A human… who turns into a… snow leopard, is it?”
I stare at him and he waves me off.
“Whatever. Who needs technicalities? You can call me Officer Shaw. Rowan, I’d like you to give me a statement to explain the events of last night.”
“Uh… of course, but Quinn is alpha and probably better at… explaining things.”
“I know, it’s ridiculous and unfair, but they prefer hearing from a ‘human’ that was there.”
“You’ll be fine,” Quinn says as he squeezes my hand before letting go.
I stand up and walk over to the door of the cell where the officer lets me out. He takes me into a room and closes the door.
Officer Shaw gives me a warm smile. “I apologize for the injustice you and the others have been treated to. While they had a right to question you guys and get to the bottom of what was happening, they had no right arresting you, not allowing a statement, and then ignoring you until morning. My daughter-in-law is a shifter and it really opened my eyes to the injustice between humans and shifters, and I’ve been trying to do everything I can to help keep shifters from falling into these kinds of things. So for my own department to treat you like this has me quite upset and I’ll be sure to have them reprimanded,” he says before waving to a chair. “Have a seat. Would you like a coffee?”
“Um… sure. That’d be great, thank you,” I say.
He retrieves one before sitting down across from me. “The hotel staff called in a disturbance claiming that a group of shifters tore up their rooms before causing chaos. Not long after, they called again to state that they weren’t pressing any charges and would like to drop the claim. By that point you guys were in our care and should have been released, but you weren’t. Can you tell me what happened?” he asks.
“I can, but I feel like it’ll be a waste of my time and yours because no one will do anything about it,” I say.
Shaw nods as he seems to think about this. “I understand that, but why don’t you try me?”
“Okay. Then I’ll start from the beginning,” I say as I tell him everything. From the escaped convicts to what I found, to my father and brother up until we ended up here. He just stares at me when I’m finished before clearing his throat. “Well… that’s quite the tale.”
“Told you it was a waste,” I say.
“No, no, no,” he says as he waves me off. “So what I’m going to do first is set up an appointment and get your two who were hurt looked over. While there, we’ll have them do a full-body X-ray to check for a possible chip on the one. And then I’ll look into your missing scientist. I’ll see if they got arrested or what happened with that. While I get everything situated, stay here and I’ll be back shortly.”
I stare at the man, confused by his willingness to work with us when so many seem to prefer working against us. It even sounds like he’s going to keep my shifter side a secret. “I’ll be right back,” he says before heading out the door.
When the door opens again, it’s the rest of my group with Officer Shaw trailing behind. “Okay, I know it’s not ideal, but with everything going on, I don’t think I’ll be able to get a doctor to remove the chip if there is one. But I do have a friend that’s a vet who would be able to do it if that’s okay? She can do the X-ray and get the chip removed.”
I shrug since there are few options elsewhere. Especially when Emery doesn’t have a license or insurance or anything.
“Yeah, okay. That’ll work.”
“Perfect. Can I get a phone number to be in contact with one of you when we get some answers?” he asks.
Quinn looks suspicious as hell of him before nodding. “Uh yeah… okay. Um. Katalina, do you guys have a main number or something?”
“I can give him my number. It’s better than giving him Apollo’s,” she says as she writes it down.
He thanks her and heads out the door, leaving us alone.
“That was… strange,” Ari says as he glares at the spot the man had stood. “Suspicious. Weird… unnatural…”
“I agree,” Quinn says as he folds his arms over his chest. “But… he seemed legitimate. At least they’re letting us out.”
“Maybe they’ll have a muzzle for Emery at the vet. He talks too much,” Ari says. “Ooh and maybe they can buzz off the rest of his hair. I don’t like that he’s suddenly cute. It annoys me.”
Emery glares at Ari who just smiles at him as sweetly as he can.
After they tell us they had someone bring our car from the hotel, they give us an address to the vet, so we head over.
“Alright, Emery, you have to promise us you’ll be a good boy,” Ari says.
“Do you think they’ll keep Ari? Put him up for adoption?” Emery asks Quinn.
Quinn nods slowly as he considers the idea. “Maybe they’ll even neuter him.”
Ari gasps as he grabs his chest and falls into Katalina’s side. “The horror!”
Quinn snorts as he gets out of the car and waits for the rest of us. Together we walk in where a woman is there to greet us.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Ridder, right this way,” she says as she ushers us back.
“Question,” Ari says.
“No,” Quinn says, interrupting him, but he should know by now Ari cannot be interrupted.
“Of course?” the vet says.
“My friend here needs to be neutered,” he says as he pats Quinn’s back.
She just laughs and continues on.
“And my friend here would like to be put up for adoption. Do you take strays?” Quinn asks. “He’s really cute as a cat.”
“I’m sure he is,” she says with a smile. “Now, who needs the X-ray?”
Quinn pushes Emery forward since Emery’s turned mute. Not even Ari whispering things about the “cone of shame” will get him out of it.
When the vet finishes with X-rays, she calls us back to talk to us.
Dr. Ridder smiles at us before tilting her computer our way. “I can see something here,” she says as she points with her pen. “It’s close enough to the skin we could go ahead and remove it now, if you’d like,” she says as Emery looks at the spot on his left arm like he might be able to see it through his skin.
“Yeah, that’d be great,” Quinn says. “Thank you.”
And while I don’t know anything about X-rays, I notice inconsistencies in his bones, telling me of breaks that didn’t heal properly. I can’t help but wonder about everything Emery went through.
“Were you… in an accident?” she asks Emery.
He refuses to talk to her and just continues to feel over the spot where the chip is. She eventually turns from him and looks over at us.
“Did he have other issues? I don’t know if he actually told you anything, but he fell over a stairwell railing,” Quinn asks.
“Looks like some swelling and bruising, but no broken bones. He’s very lucky, then,” she says.
“Great. Thank you.”
“Of course. Let’s get some things settled and we’ll go ahead and remove that.”
“Thank you for all your help,” Quinn says.
      
When we go back to the hotel to gather our stuff, we find everything destroyed or trashed, from our clothes and Katalina’s book to Rowan’s father’s laptop. After gathering what is salvageable and trashing the rest, we head for Winterhaven.
Taking the car that we’d driven here back to Apollo’s probably isn’t the smartest in case Mercer’s pack is following it, but we have little option. I’m not sure it matters when they likely already know where we’re staying due to Emery’s chip. Even so, we leave it about half an hour away and have someone from Apollo’s pack pick us up.
Once there, Apollo is right inside the door to greet us.
“My, what a long single day you were gone!” Apollo says, surely alluding to the fact that we were gone for more than the promised day.
It instantly irritates me the way he steps into Quinn, like he wants to crowd him. Quinn doesn’t back down but stays pretty neutral in his expression as he nods. “Yeah, we had some issues. I thought Katalina called and told you we’d be a day late?”
“She left me a message and then refused to answer when I called her back.”
“We were in jail,” Katalina says. “The guards weren’t too keen on the idea of letting me keep my phone.”
Graham looks alarmed as his attention snaps over to Quinn. “What happened?”
“Yeah, I can explain everything. Let’s go to the dining hall to talk?” he suggests.
Apollo leads us there where he sits at the head of a table and has the rest of us sit around him. Quinn goes over everything that happened and I find myself uncertain how I feel about Apollo knowing what’s going on.
I don’t trust him. His kindness on the first day seems to be bleeding into something else, something controlling, and I don’t like it. I don’t like anyone getting in Quinn’s face, though, so maybe I’m being unreasonably testy, which isn’t farfetched.
“I understand if I’m involving your pack too much, and you’d like us to leave,” Quinn says.
“No, no, you guys will go nowhere,” Apollo says. “I assure you my pack is large enough they can hold their own with no issues. My pack is much stronger than many and will be unlike anything this Mercer guy has gone up against.” He seems quite proud of this fact as he talks.
Quinn gives him a nod. “I’m sure they are. Well, we got no sleep last night, so the four of us are going to catch a little sleep, if that’s alright? Has my pack been of help?”
“Of course. It’s rather nice having some new members with different talents to join us,” he says. “Get some sleep now so you can be fresh and ready to face tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” Quinn says as our pack members get up and head for the door. About halfway back to our building Quinn hesitates. “Shit.”
“What?” I ask.
“I was going to ask him if there was a laptop or something we could borrow to research that Natalie Davis and Mercer.”
“Oh, I can ask,” I say. “I’ll be right there. You get everything settled with the pack.”
“Thank you,” Quinn says, and I grow irritated yet again that I can’t touch him.
But I push that aside and begin to walk back when I notice my shoestring is untied. I stoop down to tie it as I hear people heading toward me. Instead of standing up and moving forward, I stay squatted down as quiet as I can, feeling untrusting and rather nosy as I listen to what Apollo is talking about.
“So, what’d you find?” Apollo asks.
“Not much, honestly. He’s been very truthful and informed you about everything that happened. He didn’t leave anything out,” Katalina says.
“Come on, there has to be more.” Apollo sounds annoyed, like she’s causing him some issue by not handing over information about Quinn, but why does he need it? What does he want to hold over Quinn’s head?
“But there’s not. We were attacked. Quinn and the others don’t seem to know why they’ve been targeted by Mercer and suspect it was all revolving around how close Mercer’s building was to their pack. But Apollo… the shifters that attacked us… they’re not normal. They’re insanely strong—”
“So Quinn… is he with Rowan?” Apollo asks, and my irritation spikes. Why is he so obsessed with Quinn? Does he think if he finds out Quinn and I are together, he can hold it over Quinn’s head?
“Apollo, I think we have better things to worry about,” she says.
I can hear his foot tapping, like he doesn’t have time for her more realistic concerns. “Katalina, did I ask what we had to worry about? Or did I ask a question?”
She sighs loudly, clearly wanting him to know her displeasure at the question. “They showed no more familiarity than he showed the others. He seems very close to all of his pack members, even the new one, Emery. I think it’s just the way he does things. The moment I was attacked, he rushed in to help me instead of caring about himself like another alpha I happen to know.”
“That, Katalina, is because he’s a fool. A pack should always put their alpha first.”
“I… I never said they didn’t put him first. They always do. I just said he protected us. He cared about what happened to us—”
“And put himself at risk. Now are you sure you weren’t just oblivious to him and who he’s with or what he’s doing?”
“Why does it matter what he does? He’s not staying, so why do we care?”
“Because that one is conniving, Katalina. That man there will flash you a smile and stab you in the back in the same minute. He’s one you can’t trust, but being the good man I am, I took pity on his pack and chose to protect them. I just hope they don’t make the same mistake I have.”
“What did he do?” Katalina asks.
“Well, aren’t you a nosy one all of a sudden? You didn’t care a minute ago, but you sure do now. It appears that he likes you, so keep an eye on him and report to me the moment he does something… wrong.”
“Yes, alpha,” she says, sounding irritated more than anything.
He rushes out the door without even noticing me and carries on. Katalina, on the other hand, clearly has better perception because she looks over at me, startled.
I finish tying my shoe and stand up before facing her.
“I can only assume you heard pretty much everything?” she asks.
“I was just tying my shoe. I had a question for you. Is there a laptop or something we could use for research?” I ask.
She takes a deep breath before nodding. “Oh, yeah, of course. Let me get you guys something.”
She doesn’t bring the conversation up again as she heads off and gets me a laptop.
“Thanks,” I say as I turn to head away.
“Rowan… you guys need to be careful. Your threat isn’t only outside these walls.”
“We will. Thank you,” I say.
She nods, but she looks like she wants to say something more before giving me a soft smile and turning away. I watch her walk for a moment as I wonder if we would be safer outside the walls. If we could find a place tucked back in the woods where no one would harass us.
When I walk back to the pack, they’re all huddled around Quinn who doesn’t seem to be doing anything worth all the attention.
“They’re going to serve food in an hour, so if you need a shower or anything first, you might want to get it,” Quinn says.
“Okay… can I talk to you and Graham for a moment?” I ask quietly, although everyone is staring at me, so I’m sure they all heard.
“We’re clearly not important enough to be part of the big boys’ club,” Ari dramatically says. “And I can’t even allow any big sexy men to comfort me.” He looks around then reaches past Kaiya to give Logan’s arm a tiny squeeze.
“He’s so weird,” Graham whispers before following us upstairs to the meeting-style room.
“What’s up?” Quinn asks.
“So when I went to ask Apollo for the laptop, I heard him talking about you, Quinn. He’s just way too nosy. He was asking Katalina all these questions, but she said she didn’t know anything that he didn’t already know. Then he was trying to tell her not to trust you because you were conniving, and he was just waiting for you to stab someone in the back.”
“That might be because we didn’t leave on the best of terms,” Quinn says as he folds his arms over his chest. “He didn’t want to let us go because he saw value in us. He’d been trying to train Graham and me like little guard dogs. But when we got wind that he was doing sketchy things, we decided we wanted out. He would lie and tell us certain people were trying to harm the pride and ask us to ‘discourage’ them, but it didn’t feel right. Things were… weird and Graham and I didn’t like it, so we decided we’d leave. Apollo wasn’t too fond of that idea and tried forcing us to stay. When I decided enough was enough, we got in a slight tussle before he eventually told us to leave and never come back.” He glances over at Graham who doesn’t say anything.
“You think it’s safe being here?” I ask.
Quinn watches Graham for a moment but Graham doesn’t seem to have an answer either because he just shrugs. “I think? I think it’s safer than being out there. Apollo’s going to be an ass with his stupid rules, but ultimately, he’s not hell-bent on killing us like Mercer’s crew,” Quinn says.
Graham slowly nods. “It fucking sucks, but inside these walls is our safest bet. We don’t have enough money to keep our whole pack going. While you were gone, he didn’t do much. One of his pride members went through and figured out our best set of skills and set us to work. It might not be fun work, but he is potentially putting his pride in danger for us, so we have little choice. I think… it is what it is at this point.”
“We’re just going to be careful, take things a day at a time, and if things start to seem too sketchy, we’ll get out,” Quinn says with a shrug. “We’ll get through this as a pack. We have a new direction to head in, and we just have to keep moving forward.”
I nod, knowing that I need to trust him, and I do. I just hate the idea of him in danger.