Page 52 of Cats Never Fly

“Gageis a demon guardian.Fewwill want to take him on.Hismagic is tied toWillowLakeitself, and you are part ofWillowLake.Youare under his protection, and now, by extension, so isOgden.Andit helps thatOgdenwas summoned.Theymay think the device malfunctioned when it suddenly showed him so far away from where they’d held him.”

“Ihope you’re right,”Simonmuttered.

“Ineed to get back to the station and see what this little baby can tell me,” the hellhound said, tapping the pocket where he’d hidden the jar.Van’seyes shone with the fire of his hellhound.Hisbeast had to be close to the surface, perhaps eager to be on the hunt. “Weneed to act fast before they realize we’re on to them.”

“Willthat little thing really help you track them?”Simonasked.

“Yep.”Hegrinned as he walked us back to the garage.

“Letme know when you track the signal to a location.Iwant to go with you,”Isaid. “Ican help.”

“Ogden…”Simonsaid my name like a plea as he spun to face me.

“Ihave to, sweetheart.”Myfingers brushed over his cheek. “Iescaped, butIcan’t stop thinking about all those supes in there.Ican help.”

“But…”

“Theymay have nabbed me once, but now thatIam aware of the threat, they won’t catch me so easily again.AndIcould actually be quite useful.”

“Youknow how to fight?”Vanasked.

“Well, not recently, butIfought in the dragon wars…”Iwas smart enough not to oversell my abilities, butIwouldn’t undersell them, either.Thedragon wars happened centuries ago, but some things you didn’t forget. “Imay not have current fighting experience, butIam a water dragon.Ihave fire and electricity.Alldragons are natural predators.AndIdo have a personal stake in this.Iwas the one they kidnapped.”

Iwas counting on the doctor not having told anyone about my current problems.Nothaving access to my full abilities might be a bit of a liability, but it was only temporary.Theywould return.Soon.Iwas depending on them.

Vanconsidered me for a moment.IfIwas a human victim talking to a human police officer, the officer would never entertain my request, but the supernatural community didn’t work that way.Aftera moment, he nodded. “Okay, but you have to listen to me.”

“Ofcourse,OfficerHellhound.”

Herolled his eyes and opened the garage door.

Insteadof retreating to the driver’s side likeIexpected,Simonstepped forward and stopped the hellhound from leaving. “Ifhe’s going, then so amI.”

Andjust like that, the axis of my world tilted.Painsliced across my chest.Howcould he not believe he was brave?

“Simon…”Iwhispered.

Hecrossed his arms over his chest and met my eyessteadily.Hischeeks were flushed, and his pulse raced, betraying his anxiety, but he didn’t back down.Damnit.Iwouldn’t be able to stop him.Whydid he have to discover his cat’s inner stubbornness now?

Still, if the situation was reversed,Iwould never let him go without me, either.

Buthow wasIgoing to keep him safe?

Chapter Seventeen

SIMON

Ihadn’t expectedVanto call so soon.

I’dthoughtI’dhave time to get to knowOgdena little better.Totalk to him.Tokiss him some more.Tohave him try on some more of my clothes.

Instead,Vancalled an hour after we’d leftDocRobertsand said he’d been able to pinpoint where the abductors were monitoring the tracking device.Isuspected magic was involved, butVandidn’t elaborate on how he knew all that.Lessthan thirty minutes after the call, we were on the road.Andnow, it wasn’t even lunchtime, and we were already seeing signs forAspenBay.

WhenI’dheard my brothers talk aboutAspenBay—andTheDrunkenDrakestrip joint, in particular—I’dimagined it was a long way fromWillowLake.Idon’t know whyIthought that, since they could go there and be back in an evening.But, in my mind,I’dbuilt it up as some placeother.

ArrivingatAspenBaynot too long after leavingWillowLakedidn’t seem right.AspenBaysounded exotic to me—like it should have a bunch of fancy hotels along the waterfront with fancy patio restaurants overlooking the water where fancy colorful drinks came with fancy little paper umbrellas.Instead, from the outskirts of town where we were,AspenBaylooked a lot likeWillowLake, which looked a lot like every other small rural town.Therewas nothing inherently exotic about it at all.

Iwas a little disappointed, to be honest.