Page 99 of Cats Never Fly

Andto make his point, he’d bought heaps more ofeverythingfrom online stores.I’dthought after last week he wouldn’t need to buy anything more for me.Iwas wrong.Sinceour mating, his current obsession was finding clothes and furnishings that matched the green of our mating mark.

GivenOgden’slove of buying things, we’d need to move soon.Therewas almost too much stuff in the one-bedroom apartment already.Consideringhow little there’d been in my place beforeOgdenmoved in, that said a lot about how much he’d ordered.

Surprisingly,Ididn’t mind wearing the clothing he bought me at home or even at work, but now thatIwas standing in front of the door to theWillowLakePub,Iwas tempted to go back home and change.Bywearing such different and colorful clothing,Iwas just asking for peopleto look at me and talk about me.Imean,Ialready expected people to talk to us and about us, given what happened inAspenBay, butIdidn’t see the reason to give them even more things to talk about.

Ogdentightened his grip on my hand and hauled me inside.Fora smaller guy, he was really strong.

Assoon as we stepped inside, cheers went up around us.Mamarushed over and hugged me.Thenshe broke away and started patting my arms and chest as if to check that all my parts were still where they were supposed to be.Whenshe finished fussing over me,Popsgrabbed me and tugged me close.

“Wewere worried, son,” he said. “Butwe’re so proud of you.Youdid good.”

Myeyes burned by the time he let me go.

Thenmy brothers all came over and slapped me on the back.EvenJustinwas there.Ihadn’t seen him in a long time, soIwas surprised when he hugged me almost as long asMamaandPopshad.

“Ihope you don’t plan on fighting any more bad guys,” he whispered.

“Nope.I’mdone,”Isaid.

“Good.Youaren’t meant to do that.Youneed to leave that shit to…”Hepaused, his arms tightening around me. “Well, just leave that to other people,” he finished.

Somethingabout the way he said it made me wonder what he’d been doing since he leftWillowLake.

“Getyour asses over here,”Vancalled from one of the tables, “soIcan buy you a drink.”

Mama’seyes went wide when she realized the hellhound was calling me over to sit with him,Gage, and theothers.Sheshooed me over, then pulledPopsand my brothers over too.Shewouldn’t miss out on an opportunity to be seen with the demon guardian.Thiskind of social currency would keep her going for weeks, maybe even months.

Iglanced around the room.Almostevery supe in town was here tonight, with two notable exceptions.

“WhereisHayden?”Iasked after we’d pushed a few tables together and sat down.

Vanpursed his lips and glanced atGage.Thetwo of them exchanged a long look before they both nodded.Thesilent communication thing was impressive, but it worried me.Vanheaved a sigh, then looked at the people sitting around the table.GagenudgedIsaac, who was sitting closest to my family at the other end of the table.Heleaned forward and boisterously regaled my parents and siblings with some story about when some wolf shifters had captured him and tried to ride him like a horse.Hisanimated tale captivated everyone exceptJustin, who was watching my end of the table with keen interest.

“Thiscan’t go any further, but we’ve been meaning to bring you into the loop.Anyextra eyes on the situation would be welcome.”

Iswallowed.Ishouldn’t be brought into any loop.Iliked living loopless.

ThenIpaused and thought about that.Thatseemed likeold metalking.Newmewasn’t all that different fromold me, but ifHaydenand the others needed me,Iwould go.Imight not have in the past, butIwould now.They’dbeen there for me whenIneeded them most, andIwould be there for them in return, not out of obligation or debt, butbecause these people were my friends.Myfamily.Iwanted them to be safe and happy.

“We’llhelp any way we can,”Ogdensaid, echoing my thoughts.

Vanrubbed the back of his neck. “Wethink he’s searching forRobbie.”

“Alone?”Iasked.

“Yep.”Vannodded. “Theasshole.Hekeeps forgetting how a pack works.Thinkshe isn’t the alpha, even though he is absolutely the alpha.Thinkshe doesn’t have a pack, even though he does.Andnow he thinks we’ll let him go all lone fucking wolf.”

“Whatdo you need?”Ogdenasked.

“Just…Idon’t know.Keepan eye out or something.Ifyou see him skulking around, see if you can figure out where he’s going.”

“Whynow?Whygo after his brother after all this time?”NormallyI’dnever ask a question in a setting like this, but everyone else seemed to know aboutHayden’snocturnal activities already, soJeremy,Ash, and the others weren’t asking the questionsI’dhave expected of them.

“Ithink it started when we foundBrodieandDakotaout onRobbie’spack lands, but we haven’t seen him in two days.Notsince we got back fromAspenBay.”Vanleaned forward. “Iguess we haven’t told you yet, butNorbertand his team found evidence thatRobbiewas working with that mage.”

“Fuck,”Imuttered.

Mamamight not have heard anything else we were saying, but she heard me swear.Herhead swiveled in mydirection so fast it was creepy.Herdisapproving gaze locked on mine.Icringed.