Chapter 20
Indrik looked over his shoulder at his cousin, Owen, and whispered, “The house should be on the other side of those trees. Stay here.” After receiving a nod, Indrik pulled his hood further over his head until his face was hidden.
Then, silently slipping through the deep shade of the forest surrounding his target, he stopped at the edge of the clearing where the old wooden house stood, to check for guards.
Finding none, he quietly approached the front door, raised his hand, knocked twice, and then three times more. The door slowly swung open.
“You’re late,” the human growled.
“Yes, sorry about that,” Indrik murmured. “May I come in?”
“Do you have the money?”
Lifting a worn duffle bag by his side, Indrik said, “I do.” But when the man went to grab it, he quickly moved it out of the human’s reach and said, “Uh-uh, I want to see the merchandise first.”
Grunting, the human stepped back and turned around before heading into the dark interior of the house.
Somewhat surprised at the human’s swift compliance with his demand, Indrik hesitated for a moment and sniffed.
Once satisfied he wasn’t walking into an ambush, he followed the human into the shadows.
Peering out from his hood, Indrik’s eyes took in his surroundings before coming to an abrupt halt in front of a cage.
Staring at the poor animal locked up in a space too small for it to do anything other than lie down in a ball, Indrik’s eyes flashed fiercely with the fire of his ancestors before he quickly concealed his fury from the human.
“There it is,” growled the human. “Now gimme my money.”
Indrik kept his eyes on the animal as he threw the duffle bag over to the human. Ignoring the curse that erupted when the bag hit the human’s chest with a thud, he watched the caged animal, relieved when it finally sensed his presence. Soon, my little one.
“Fucking asshole,” the human muttered, lowering the bag to the ground. Bending over, he unzipped it and pulled it open, his eyes gleaming with greed at the bundles of cash inside. This was the easiest money he’d ever made. Eager to leave, he zipped the bag closed.
Without waiting for the human to fully straighten up, Indrik shifted one of his hands into his wolf’s paw, extended his claws, and slashed the human’s throat.
He saw the shock on the man’s face as he grabbed his neck in an attempt to stem the flow of blood, but to no avail.
Within seconds, he fell to the ground. Only the last few gurgles of blood trickling onto the floor broke the silence in the room.
Satisfied the human was no longer a threat, Indrik shifted his paw back and then crouched down and unlocked the cage.
Slowly reaching into it, he held his hand close to the animal’s nose, and murmured, “C’mon, little one…
no one will ever hurt you again.” It took several minutes before the small animal moved, and then it was only to lick Indrik’s hand, but it was a step forward for the cub—one that would ultimately lead him to freedom.
Although Indrik could see that the cub’s doubt about his rescuer had been dispelled, the cub was still shaking with fear.
Slowly withdrawing his hand from the cage, he sat down on the filthy floor.
He remained quiet for a moment, softly murmuring encouragement interspersed with words of comfort.
But, when the cub still failed to respond, he racked his brain for another idea.
Then it came to him—the song his students loved to sing.
Humming the first few opening notes of its melody, he smiled when the cub’s eyes looked up at him, and then he began to sing.
In the forest deep and wide,
Little bear cub loves to hide.
Tumbles down with a silly grin,
Gives a growl and starts to spin!
I’m a fierce bear cub, grr, grr, grr!
Growl so big from a body so small.
But when the day is done, you’ll see,
I’m still just cuddly, snuggly me.
Before he could continue with another verse, the small white cub launched himself out of the cage and into Indrik’s chest, cuddling against him.
Grinning, he tightened his arms around the cub, kissing the fur on its head before he carefully rose.
Glancing down at the cub’s captor, he stepped around the pool of blood and headed out of the house, leaving the door open behind him.
Retracing his steps through the trees, it didn’t take long for Indrik to reach his cousin, who’d been waiting for him.
“Shit, what took you so long?”
“Had a very frightened cub who didn’t want to leave,” Indrik murmured, looking down at the bundle of fur in his arms.
“Is he okay?”
“He will be,” Indrik replied. Then, glancing at his Owen, he added, “Can you go get the bag? The human was the only one waiting for me, and he’s dead now.”
“Sure, I’ll be right back.”
Sitting down on a tree stump, Indrik watched his cousin hurry toward the house before turning his attention back to the cub in his arms. His eyes roamed over the now-sleeping cub, searching for signs of physical abuse but finding none.
While he was thankful for that, he knew the cub had a long way to go before the emotional damage caused by the human would fade.
But having rescued others, he knew being with them would help, as they’d experienced the same trauma.
Hearing approaching footsteps, Indrik looked up and saw Owen emerging from the trees with the duffle bag.
“What a fucking mess you left.”
Grinning, Indrik asked, “Did you leave the door open?”
“Yup…how long will it be before he’s found?”
Lifting his head, Indrik sniffed, then said, “The scent of his blood is already in the air, so by tonight, the predators in this forest will be enjoying a tasty meal.”
Picturing the human’s body being torn apart by the bears and wolves that lived in the forest caused a full-body shiver in Owen. He’d seen feeding frenzies in the wild before and had no desire to be so close to another. “Uhm…are you ready to go?” he asked.
Rising, Indrik nodded. “The sooner we are out of here and back with the others, the better it will be for this sweetie.”
“I hope this is the last human involved with this mess,” muttered Owen, falling in behind Indrik.
“He’s the last one I know about, but there has to be a paranormal involved because humans don’t have the ability to detect which ones are shifter babies.”
“Unless they see them shift,” Owen replied.
Indrik growled, “True...but someone took all these babies before they could shift.” “And whoever took them was very powerful—strong enough to kill the parents. Humans can’t do that unless they use guns…and no one shot any of the parents.”
“So, you think there’ll be more?”
“Yeah…unfortunately,” Indrik murmured.
“When you first told me about the humans, I thought you were talking only about two, but never expected there would be so many,” Owen said.
“Me neither…it was just luck that I learned about humans selling shifter babies.”
“You never mentioned how you found out,” Owen said. “Are you keeping it a secret for a reason?”
Shaking his head, Indrik replied, “A student told me someone had killed his neighbors overnight and their baby was missing. He was upset and frightened because he’d overheard his parents talking to the Alpha about it happening elsewhere.
Shortly after that, he and his parents moved away to a different pack.
I spoke to the Alpha, and he suspected it was someone with ties to our world…
but that was all he could tell me. So I started my own investigation and found out humans were selling shifter babies… and well, you know the rest.”
“Yeah…but what are you gonna do with them when you leave for your new teaching job?”
“Take them with me, of course.”
Owen’s eyes widened. “All of them? I thought you were gonna find their relatives.”
“I tried, but it appears the different Alphas didn’t file any reports about these killings, so it’s impossible for me to match up the babies I rescued with their blood relatives.”
“Did you ask the Alpha of the new pack you’re moving to if it’s okay for you to bring them?” asked Owen.
“I mentioned it in my letter, and when Cody Blackwood wrote back, he said it was okay,” Indrik said.
“Wow! A wolf pack that agrees to take in other types of shifters? Unbelievable!” exclaimed Owen. “How did you find out about them?”
“Through a teacher I knew. He told me about a pack that was starting a home for gay shifters whose parents didn’t want them, and…”
“And you thought they would need a teacher,” Owen said, grinning.
Shrugging, Indrik said, “Well, it sounded like it would be a perfect place for me. Luckily, I was the first one who applied.”
Owen frowned. “Doesn’t that seem odd to you?”
Glancing over his shoulder at his cousin, Indrik said, “Odd? Not really. Why?”
“Well…why did they hire you so quickly? Shouldn’t they have interviewed more teachers? It just seems weird that they made a decision so quickly.”
Stopping, Indrik turned around and looked at Owen for a moment before saying, “Maybe, but I wasn’t gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. I needed a job that came with a place to live and would accept the babies.”
Dropping his gaze, Owen shifted from one foot to the other nervously for a moment before muttering, “Did you tell them exactly how many little ones are coming with you?”
Turning back around, Indrik resumed walking, keeping silent for several minutes before saying softly, “No…I figured it was better to ask forgiveness later than to ask permission first. And besides, I didn’t know how many I would find when I first contacted the Blackwood Pack.”
“Good thinking…I guess,” Owen said. “I just hope they don’t change their minds when they see all of them.”
“They won’t,” Indrik said forcefully, trying to convince his cousin that everything was fine, but deep down, he wasn’t so sure.
Cody assured him other kinds of shifters wouldn’t be a problem, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t change his mind when faced with them in person.
Sighing quietly, he picked up the pace, hoping his cousin wouldn’t ask any more questions about the Blackwood Pack since his research hadn’t given him a lot of information about them.
~/~/~/~/~
Before Fionn could knock, the door flew open and his brother, Alex, trailed by a grouchy tiger, stood there grinning at him. Waving at both of them, he said, “Hey Alex, Glenn, where’s Sawyer?”
Alex rushed into his brother’s arms and hugged him tightly. “I’m so glad you came…I need your help.”
“Sure…what’s up?” Fionn murmured, refusing to let go of his brother even though Glenn was giving him the evil eye.
Breaking the embrace, Alex grabbed Fionn’s hand and pulled him inside. “I need help in figuring out what I should do if my cub doesn’t turn out to be a fox.”
“I thought he’s a fox,” Fionn said.
“And a white tiger,” growled Glenn.
“I know…but Mac isn’t sure now,” Alex said, wringing his hands.
“Why does it matter?” asked Fionn.
Alex’s eyes grew round. “Because then he’ll be a dragon, that’s why!”
Confused, Fionn shifted his gaze to Glenn for a moment, but all he found was the same grumpy expression the tiger always had whenever Fionn was around his brother. Turning back to Alex, he asked, “Shouldn’t you ask Mac about it? I know nothing about giving birth to a dragon.”
It took a moment for Fionn’s words to sink in, but when they did, Alex grinned at his brother.
“I mean, I need your help in figuring out what to do about his hoard. I never had one…well, not until you gave me one…so I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.
Should I divide my hoard and give him half of it…
or maybe I should sell some of the gold statues and stuff and give him the money I get for it…
and what about the chateau? Should I give him half of that too? See what I mean? I’m so confused.”
“Oh, now I understand,” Fionn said. Then, thinking for a moment, he continued, “Usually when a dragon is born, all of his relatives give a present made of gold. It can be like the statue I gave you as a mating gift, or it could be something else…something the giver values highly…or it could be gold bars or even coins, although that doesn’t happen very often since it would have to be a lot of them in order to be considered a worthy gift. ”
“But you’re the only dragon relative I have,” Alex said sadly. “Other dragons will laugh at my baby when they find out how small his hoard is, especially if I can give him only one gift.”
“They better not!” growled Glenn, wrapping his arms around Alex. “I won’t allow it, sweetheart, and Sawyer will back me up.”
“Hey,” Fionn said softly, “what I said only applies to dragons whose births the Dragon Council registers...but since you won’t be doing that, we can make up our own rules regarding my soon-to-be nephew.”
Alex’s face lit up with happiness. “You’re right! I don’t have to follow their silly rules! I can give my son my entire hoard if I want to.”
“You can,” Fionn said, “but that would leave your own dragon without one, and trust me, you don’t want to do that to him.”
Nodding, Alex said, “Yeah…as much as he would be happy for my son to be a dragon, I guess he’d be kinda pissed if I gave his hoard away.”
“Especially after going without one for so long,” Fionn added. “But I have an idea…why don’t we go to the hoard cave and let your dragon think about what he’d be okay with giving if your son turns out to be a dragon.”
Alex looked at his mate and asked, “Can we, Snow White?”
Inwardly sighing, Glenn looked at Fionn and asked, “Do we have to do this now? Or can it wait until the baby is born, since if it’s not a dragon…”
“Dragons need time to decide when it concerns their hoard,” Fionn replied, “especially Alex’s dragon since he hasn’t had a hoard for very long.”
Grunting, Glenn muttered, “Okay, but we have to wait for Sawyer.”
“Where is Sawyer?” asked Fionn.
“Dylon needed him for something,” Alex said. “It sounded like it might be another secret mission, and hopefully he’ll let me go with him.”
“Now, sweetheart,” Glenn murmured, “you know it’s not up to Sawyer or me whether you can go.”
“I know,” Alex replied, rolling his eyes, “but Dylon will listen to you if you insist I’m needed, right?”
Fionn hid his smile at Glenn’s frustrated growl. It would be a sure bet that his brother would eventually persuade his mates to let him go on one of their secret missions since Alex had both of them wrapped around his little finger.