Chapter 8 #3
“We consult on cases all the time, Heir,” Trace said, and Teddy noticed he’d opted to stand facing the rest of the team with his shoulder brushing Teddy’s. Intentionally or not, he had placed himself at Teddy’s side, and it meant a lot.
“But we don’t ask for consults. We’re the best team out there,” Heir said.
“Hardly,” Eerie said coldly, pinching one of his feathers between his fingers and dragging them up until it slipped from his grasp.
“We are good,” Echo said, sipping their green juice.
“We are good,” Teddy confirmed. “But teamwork is the essence of cursebreaking.”
“Are we now outsourcing teamwork as well?” Heir asked with an edge to his voice. “Last I checked we were your team.”
“You are. And if Saint and I thought we could handle this alone, we would have. But we can’t.”
“Why not?” Echo asked.
“The case crossed city borders. Slatehollow has reports of cases exactly like ours. Wren was working one when their PUMA branch reached out to us. We need to cooperate to get this thing sorted to stop more people getting hurt.”
“Can’t he consult remotely?” Heir asked, and Teddy almost felt Wren stiffen next to him.
“No,” Teddy said, his voice turning sharp.
He rarely exercised his authority because he truly believed they were all equals in the team, but the truth was he was the one essentially running it.
And sometimes, in moments like these, he just had to embrace that.
“Saint and I have hit several walls. We can’t drag this out while people and animals are getting hurt.
Slatehollow’s PUMA team has information we can use and Wren has experience none of us here have. He’ll be an asset.”
Heir held his hands up at his tone. “Fine. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, just double-checking.”
“Well, double-check complete,” Teddy said. “Like I said, this will be a multi-team operation. We might have to bring other teams into it as well, since it seems to be spreading faster than we can keep up.”
“Shit,” Trace said. “Is it as bad on your end?”
Wren startled slightly at being spoken to directly but quickly composed himself.
He gave a short shrug. “PUMA had a few that were a bit worse in terms of destruction. And I’ve had one so far that might be related.
But I’ve had cases in the past that started simple enough and grew into nightmares.
This has that potential and I’d rather not let that happen. ”
“Agreed,” Saint said and Teddy noticed Wren’s posture stiffening at the agreement. The look he’d given Saint at PUMA flashed before his eyes. The words he’d said before turning his back on Teddy and leaving echoed in his mind.
He glanced at Saint’s clothes. Beige, knitted, worn, and comfy looking. Echo’s. Something akin to relief flooded his chest and he didn’t want to dwell on it in front of everyone.
“Is he staying here?” Echo asked.
“Yes,” Teddy replied before Wren had the chance to. “He’ll be staying in my room. My couch folds into a bed so it won’t be a problem.”
Wren’s stare bored into one side of his face, Trace’s and Saint’s on the other.
“Yes, but does he have any allergies? Any health issues? I heard there was a pretty severe case of the flu in Slatehollow, so he might have brought something…”
“He’s healthy, Echo,” Saint said.
“You don’t know that.” Echo reached over to the side table for their glass of green juice and a few boxes of different supplements and vitamins they’d been taking in the past couple of months.
“Have this.” They walked over to Wren and thrust the glass into his hand, along with the pills. “It’s good for you. You can also join in on our morning yoga sessions to re-center yourself.”
“Thank you,” Wren said, actually taking the juice. He didn’t reach for the pills though. “I’ll pass on those. I promise I’m not sick or contagious in any way.”
Echo blinked at him before shrinking away, double dosing on their vitamins as they went.
Wren lifted the glass, taking a sip under the watchful eyes of Teddy’s entire team. He swallowed a mouthful and then went for a second one.
“This is really nice. Thank you,” he said to Echo, who looked as if they’d seen a ghost. Nobody liked their juices. They tasted foul, and while all of them forced them down to avoid upsetting Echo, seeing someone actually look like they enjoyed them was strange.
Wren had always been unique.
“Psycho.” Heir shook his head, his own glass still full. Heir despised the juices more than anyone else. And he was quite a baby about drinking them, too.
Teddy squashed down the immediate urge to snap back at him with something more cutting, reminding himself that this wasn’t directed at Wren, it was just how Heir talked.
“Okay,” Saint said, “back to the matter at hand. The case.”
“Right,” Teddy said. “Wren came here because he has some new info for us. And we need a plan for how to follow our last lead. All of you can help with that, actually. Eerie especially.”
“Me? Are we…terminating someone?”
“Termi—we’re not killing anyone, Eerie, for fuck’s sake.” Teddy ran his fingers through his hair.
“Pity,” Eerie said, but he leaned back, linking his fingers on his thighs in a universal sign that he was listening.
“What’s the new info?” Saint asked.
Wren pulled his phone out, tapping on it a few times before handing it to Teddy. He took it, suppressing a shiver at the brush of their fingers, and looked down at the screen.
Chills rushed through his body and he felt his stomach turn at what he was seeing. Cage upon cage upon cage, stacked and pushed against each other. Filled with every animal imaginable. Filthy and clearly malnourished.
Trace leaned over his shoulder and growled low in his throat at the sight.
“Shit,” Teddy said, passing the phone to Saint, whose usually calm and serene look turned murderous.
“I say we rethink Eerie’s plan,” he said through gritted teeth, knuckles turning white where he gripped the phone.
Heir, Eerie, and Echo gathered around Saint, looking down at the phone, and Teddy watched their reactions as they took in the photo Wren had given them.
“I have connections,” Eerie said simply. Teddy didn’t miss the look he sent Trace’s way as he said that.
“We might need them,” Wren said and Teddy realized he should most likely keep those two away from each other. He realized they were polar opposites but on the same spectrum. Where Eerie was willing to do anything because he didn’t care, Wren was willing to do anything because he cared too much.
Them having a shared goal could be catastrophic.
“Where did you get that?” Teddy asked, trying to bring their attention back to the matter at hand.
“An unknown number sent it to me,” Wren said.
Trace hummed next to them. “An unknown number? It could be a trap. A ploy.”
“It could be.”
“You don’t think it is?” Teddy asked.
Wren shrugged. “This same person sent us vital info in several past cases.”
Teddy’s eyes went wide. “Is this…?”
“The same person who directed you to us when Hart was cursed? Yes.”
“You trust them?”
“I trust about ten people in the world and none of them hide their identity from me, so no, I don’t trust this person.
But I know that, for whatever reason, they have been helpful in our past cases.
Do I think they have a hidden agenda? Sure.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t think this should be looked into. ”
“The tips they sent before,” Saint asked, “were they always this vague?”
“This one is the least vague so far.”
“Lovely. We have zero clue where or how to find this place.”
“But we do know where to find someone who might know,” Teddy said.
“Worthingham.” Saint nodded.
“The playboy, socialite, waste of money and space, Worthingham?” Heir asked.
“Not a kind way to describe him, but yes,” Teddy said, turning to Wren to fill him in.
“He’s the son of the owner of a country club that had been half destroyed.
She is unwilling to cooperate and never mentioned him being around at the time of the destruction.
We found evidence to the contrary and we’d like to question him, ideally without him knowing he’s being questioned. ”
“Nepo baby,” Wren said. “Enough said.”
Teddy smiled, wanting to chuckle at his grumbling.
“Undercover work?” Trace asked.
Teddy tore his gaze away from Wren and cleared his throat. “He clubs constantly, and we’ve noticed he’s always surrounded by attractive young men.”
“We also noticed he has a type,” Saint said.
“Yup,” Teddy agreed. “Tall, skinny, dark hair and eyes, femme.”
“Eerie,” Echo said.
Eerie perked up. “Fun.”
“No.” Teddy shook his head. “We need him relaxed and willing to share info, not terrified for his life. And we don’t have the time to coach you to act…you know…”
“Human,” Heir supplied, and Teddy wanted to correct him so badly but he didn’t really know how to put it any differently.
“Fine,” Eerie said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“We will need your help though,” Teddy said. “We’ll need you to make Saint pretty. Well…prettier than he is right now.”
“I’ll step out,” Wren said suddenly. “You work on your plan with your team.”
“You don’t have to—” Teddy started, confused, but Wren was already on his way to the front door. Blu was fluttering next to his head and then Teddy heard the soft but distinct sound of gigantic paws on their wooden floors.
A piercing scream ripped through the air and Echo jumped behind the couch, their arms flapping around in panic as Sable padded into the room, following Wren.
“OH MY GOD I’M GONNA GET RIPPED TO SHREDS!” they screeched, inching along the back of the couch toward Saint. “Where are your tranq darts?!”
Wren froze in place, then turned around as if in slow motion and caught Teddy’s eye. His hand went to Sable’s fur, holding him against his leg protectively.
“If he touches Sable, I’ll kill him,” Wren said, voice low and menacing in complete contrast to that angelic face Teddy had spent hours admiring.
“Them,” Saint said softly.
Wren snapped his head around. “What?” he asked as Echo whimpered, hiding behind Heir.
“Echo goes by they/them pronouns.”
“I apologize for misgendering you,” Wren said to Echo, and something warm pooled in Teddy’s chest.
“But not for the threat?” Teddy asked.
“That stands,” Wren said. “Anyone touches Sable and all bets are off.”
“One more for the kill Echo team,” Heir said, turning around to ruffle their hair.
“If anyone’s killing Echo, it’s me,” Eerie said, glaring at Wren as if sussing out his competition.
“You are not killing anyone,” Saint said. “I worked too hard keeping you out of prison for your unhinged bucket list to send you there.”
“I’ll be outside.” Wren spoke over them before slipping out of the house, Sable hot on his heels.
“That’s him, huh?” Trace whispered from behind Teddy, his voice nearly drowned by the mayhem.
“Yup.” Teddy stared after Wren, trying to figure out what had made him run again the way he did.
Trace nodded in approval. “I like him.”
“He’s never met a rule he liked.” Teddy fought a smile and a surge of anxiety at the same time.
They were so fragile, the two of them. So terrifyingly breakable.
Every word felt like a potential final blow.
And for the first time in his life, Teddy didn’t have the right words.
He didn’t know if he had any that would help them go back to that quiet comfort they used to find in each other.
“It’s not crazy to not want to live with a violent animal,” Echo said loudly, bringing their attention back to the team.
“It didn’t look violent,” Eerie said.
“Nothing looks violent to you,” Heir said. “Your bar for violence is literally in hell.”
“Not everyone is a weakling.”
Teddy sighed.
“Work on your plan,” Trace said. “I’ll go check on him.”
“Thanks,” Teddy said, following the large man with his eyes as he slipped unnoticed from the room and out the back door.
He turned back to his team, but his mind and his heart were on the other side of those walls.