Chapter Twelve #2
They had him, son of a bitch, they had him.
The squirmy bastard had turned to smoke several times while Arlo was wrestling with him.
He’d seen nothing like that before. Then Bash had blasted him with the contents of the fire extinguisher, and suddenly he was solid and beatable again.
They issued a thrashing he’d never forget.
Stomped a muddy wallow in him. But when Arlo went to kill his ass, Bash pulled him off and held him at bay, despite the swings Arlo took at him.
He just absorbed them all and stayed between Arlo and their fallen foe as the rest of their rhino brethren stomped into the destruction of Taggart’s office.
The construction crew had tried their best to help in the fighting, but they weren’t trained warriors, and the smoke had turned them into as much of an obstacle as help.
Breathing heavily, he tried to clear his head and noticed Bash having a little difficulty as well, though he hadn’t wrestled with that thing for as long as Arlo had.
How much of it had they inhaled and what the hell was it doing to them—that was what Arlo wanted to know as he doubled over and coughed up his guts. His lungs felt as if they had shards of glass in them.
“You good?” Bash asked, keeping an eye on their enemy.
Arlo hoped like hell he’d stomp the asshole again if he so much as twitched, though at the moment it didn’t seem like he was going anywhere.
“Not… sure yet,” Arlo rasped, vision still spotty as another coughing fit kicked in.
Arlo worked on getting his bearings while Bash called their crash alpha to let him know what the fuck was going on.
“Two of you go wait out front, the rest of you circle the house and keep watch for anything headed in our direction. Arm yourselves with your tools and any wood and stone you can grab and don’t hesitate to use them if anything smells or feels off about anyone, understood!
” Bash instructed the moment he’d gotten off the phone.
“Yeah, yeah, moving,” someone murmured, other voices chiming in with the affirmative.
Arlo was grateful to Bash for taking care of security, because now that he was breathing easier, a new kind of panic set in. Whipping his head around, he scanned the destroyed room, searching for his boys and seeing nothing, not even a hole in the window to suggest they’d fled into the yard.
The bathroom.
He nearly bounced the door off his forehead as he ripped it open so hard.
Judging from the way the knob wiggled in his palm before he released it, he’d have to repair that too.
The light was off, the bright bulb nearly blinding him when he turned it on.
Spots danced in front of his eyes, and the room tilted as a wave of vertigo washed over him.
Okay, maybe he still wasn’t all the way okay after dealing with all of that foul smoke.
It took a moment for everything to settle and for his vision to clear.
When it did, he saw the room was empty, with no sign showing that they’d been in there.
Charging back into the office, he saw Bash still keeping watch over the vicious thing, but his boys were still nowhere to be seen.
Then he heard a little burring sound, like a whimper, coming from behind the door, and stomped down on the shadow bastard’s head on his way to get to it.
What he saw, when he carefully pulled the door away from the wall, was a meerkat huddled against the dented plaster, whole body covering all but the tip of a tiny bird’s wing.
Oh no.
Oh shit.
He didn’t so much kneel as collapse onto the floor beside them, unsure of which to touch first but desperate to see the damage that had been done.
Taggart, Taggart darlin’, it’s Daddy, I’m right here, can you look at me? He pleaded and only let out a relieved breath when Taggart twitched, and his head bobbed before their eyes met.
S-Soren!
Arlo’s eyes darted from his meerkat to his oxpecker mate’s ruffled feathers and dribble of blood near the edge of his beak.
Arlo’s heart clenched despite feeling the connection, though weakened, it was there, which meant Soren was still breathing.
As long as he kept doing so, everything else could be fixed, he assured himself.
I-I don’t even know if I should touch him. Arlo’s panicked thought got a sad-eyed expression. He’s so tiny, so fragile in this form.
He tried to protect me. Taggart’s teary voice filtering past his panic, his heart became gripped with terror at the thought of potentially losing them both.
Because he’s a brave bird and you were very brave, protecting him back here while we dealt with that, whatever the fuck he is. Arlo gave reassurance knowing they both needed it.
Why was he here? What did he want?
I don’t know, darlin’, but we are damned sure going to find out and make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.
As carefully as he could, Arlo brushed a fingertip along Soren’s body, trying to smooth one of the ruffled feathers back into place.
He didn’t even twitch. The one tiny eye Arlo could see was closed.
Hatred and fury boiled through him at the very thought of the stinking wretch in the center of the room as he vowed then and there to be the one to end him the moment his alpha gave the word.