Chapter 3
“Teddy? Are you awake?”
The door opened, and bright light streamed into the room. Teddy covered his face with the fluffy pillow they’d given him. “What time is it?”
“Almost noon” came the reply.
Teddy bolted out of bed. “Oh, Alp, I am so sorry! Give me a minute, and I’ll be right there.”
He grabbed the clothes he’d worn last night and threw them into the corner. Later he’d have to get to know the layout of his room, so he knew where everything should go. He’d spent way too much time outside, but the run with Callum was worth it. When they made it back, he’d sat in the makeshift shed and allowed Callum to lay his big body on Teddy’s lap as he stroked fingers over the bull’s head.
One of the books in Teddy’s collection was about a necromancer named Angel Salvatore. Teddy wished they lived in Angel’s world, because he’d pay to have Hyde brought back to life so Teddy could kill him repeatedly. He showered quickly, then put on some clean clothes. He never slept this late, and it sure wouldn’t put him in a good light with Mal and Alp.
When he got to the office, they sat inside. Alp handed a mug of coffee to Teddy, who took it sheepishly.
“I’m so sorry, First and First mate. I never oversleep.”
Mal smiled. “Alp checked on you at six, and he said you were snoring away, so we decided it was best to let you rest. You had a long trip to get here and had to be worn out.” Mal stood and stretched. “And we don’t really have a time clock here. You start when you feel is best. Cece said you’d give us more than a full day’s work in six hours, and that means a lot. And don’t worry. If you work six hours and you get everything done, we’ll still pay you for a full eight.”
Teddy cocked his head. “Pay me? I thought I was here to help.”
Mal’s gaze went to Alp, who stared back at his mate, then focused on Teddy. “I’m sorry, but you know this is a job, right?”
“Yes, First—Mal. But I don’t need money. I only wish to help.”
Mal squeezed his eyes shut as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Teddy…. Everyone who works gets paid. Sure, the government might not know, but we would. No one goes without, and no one does something without being paid. Dr. Hamilton volunteered, but I went to the Council to ensure she gets paid. What if, I don’t know, you wanted to buy something in the future? A car? A house? You’d need money for that, right?”
Teddy gestured to the bunker. “You give me food. You allow me to sleep here. What more do I need?”
“I’m sorry,” Alp said, his eyes hard. “Should I call Cece and ask her where you slept? If you ate your meals with them? Whether or not you and your brother got a paycheck?”
Heat flooded Teddy’s face, because he knew what the answer would be. “I’d rather you didn’t.”
“This is your home, but you’re also part of the family business. That means, like us, you get paid.” Mal inclined his head toward Alp. “Keeping this one in carrots is an expensive proposition.”
“Oh! Ha. Wow, that was hilarious.” Alp stuck out his tongue. “Leave the jokes to those of us who are actually funny.”
Teddy grinned. “Before the two of you decide to have sex on the table, could you tell me what you need done today?”
Two sets of eyes blinked rapidly. “Did you… make a joke?” Alp wondered.
Fearing he’d done the wrong thing, Teddy held up his hands. “I’m sorry!”
“Why? It wasn’t as funny as mine, but let’s face it, what is? Still, it was pretty damned good.”
If pressed, Teddy would admit he liked these two men. When he’d first met them, he felt certain that Alp was flighty and irresponsible, and he also wondered how a wolf and rabbit could become a pair. Looking at them now, their hands on the table, fingers threaded together, gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes, he couldn’t imagine them not being mated.
“So, why were you out so late last night?” Mal asked, a grin playing on his lips. “Logs show you didn’t come back in until five this morning.”
Logs? “What do you mean?”
“They installed a system to show the comings and goings of people. After what happened with Hyde, we’re on the lookout for others who he might have had dealings with him in case they come back.”
Which made sense. “I was out running in the woods with Callum.”
The silence that followed that statement freaked Teddy out a bit. When he peeked up, he was met by Alp’s huge eyes and Mal’s dropped jaw.
“You…. Callum…. How?”
“What do you mean?”
“If anyone here goes out there, he shrinks back and bellows like they’re going to hurt him. We’ve tried repeatedly to explain no one will, but nothing changes. We’ve been trying for weeks to get him to understand.”
Was it wrong that Teddy felt… happy that Callum had opened up to him a bit? Probably, but he didn’t care.
“I went out and heard him. When I got to the pen, he was doing just what you said, but I talked with him, and he let me stroke his face.”
“I… I…. That’s incredible,” Alp gushed. “Were you able to get him to shift?”
Teddy sighed and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “No. I asked, but he didn’t or couldn’t. Still, when I opened the gate, he eventually came out and we went tromping around in the woods. Afterward, he went back to the pen, exhausted, but seemingly at peace.”
Mal leaned in closer, his expression serious. “Would you be able to get him to go out with you again? Lydia—Doctor Hamilton—thinks the fact that he won’t—wouldn’t—leave the pen is what’s keeping the drugs in his system. She feels that if he moved around, he’d have a better chance of burning it off.”
“Sure, I can try.”
“In fact, if you’re amenable to it, I’d take it as a personal favor if you’d work with him. He needs to trust someone, and it seems you’ve got a leg up on the rest of us.”
Teddy had no issues working with Callum. Even if he wasn’t able to shift yet, Teddy wanted to spend time with him. Before meeting Callum, Teddy had usually hung out with Ivan. On occasion, he would go with Ivan to see Cece and Damon, but that didn’t happen as often as the invites came.
He wasn’t sure why, but to Teddy there was always a disconnect between him and everyone else in his old pack. They treated him fine, great even, but he couldn’t really be comfortable there.
You know why, yet you pretend you don’t. Because you failed. It’s because of you those kids died. Because of you, Hiram got away with what he did. If you had been strong, a real bear, you would have stopped him.
A familiar shame swept through Teddy. He hated himself, because so often when he closed his eyes, those kids—the ones he was responsible for—begged and pleaded with him to save them. When they’d found their bodies, Teddy had seen what was done to them. It wasn’t quick, and it wasn’t clean. It was obvious the killer took his time, toyed with his victims. Only after Teddy found out it was Hiram….
A hand on his shoulder startled Teddy out the memories that assailed him.
“Hey, you okay?”
He jerked his head up. “What? Oh, I’m fine,” he lied. “Tired.”
“Do you think you can work with Callum? We can put off the project we had for you for now.”
“What? Oh, no! I can do both. I truly believe that if I was with Callum all the time, he might be annoyed. He seems… I don’t know how to say the word. Perhaps broken?”
“Everyone who was held here is broken in some way,” Alp reminded him, holding up the arm that no longer had a hand. “I’m getting fitted for a prosthesis soon. Some of these people can’t get that. No amount of surgery can fix missing eyes.”
Teddy swallowed hard. “I wish….” He bit his lip, trying to keep the tears at bay.
“So do I,” Alp replied. “We all do. It wasn’t one person’s fault, and there is way more than enough blame to go around.” He patted Teddy’s arm. “But you? You and Ivan aren’t at all responsible.”
“Neither are you,” Teddy insisted.
“I am to a degree,” Alp admitted. “If I had been content to stay home like my siblings, I never would have been brought here. They would never have been able to experiment on me.” He straightened his shoulders. “But then I never would have met Mal, and we—all of us—never would have stopped Hyde. My therapist says I need to count wins, not losses, because I came out alive and helped everyone. It’s hard, and I know that, but I have to believe her.”
The people who made Wald their home were incredibly resilient. Against the worst odds, they forged a bond. From what Teddy could see, the kids all looked to Mal as their First, and to Alp as his mate. No one cared that Alp was a male, only that he gave hugs, kisses, and would read stories to them.
Teddy was surprised when Alp settled onto a couch, mug of cocoa on the table beside him, and opened a book that he began to read into a microphone.
His voice, mellifluous and soft, warmed Teddy as he told a story about a boy, his shifter friend, and the world they were forging, where everyone was cared for and loved and had a place to call their own. It made Teddy ache to think of such a thing.
“Alp?”
“What’s up?”
Teddy drew in a breath. “Would it be possible to pipe sound out to Callum’s pen? I think your stories would mean the world to him.”
Alp sat a bit straighter, a mega-wattage smile on his face. “Really?”
Teddy nodded. “I’ve seen how the kids react, and I think maybe if Callum heard you telling a story, they might make him realize that it’s not Hyde in charge anymore. It might quell his fears somewhat.”
“Sure, we can do that. Only….”
“What?”
“No one else can get near Callum right now. They usually have to tranquilize him before they can do anything near the pen.”
Teddy was horrified, even though they’d said as much before. Now, after meeting Callum, Teddy didn’t want that for him. “You tranquilize him?”
“What choice do we have?” Mal asked, his anguish clear. “When they tried to go out there, he reacted so violently, they were afraid he’d hurt himself. It’s for his protection, as well as the people who need to be there.”
It sounded wrong, but Teddy couldn’t deny the truth in Mal’s words. That probably went a long way to explaining why Callum was still so terrified.
“You know that what you’re doing probably scares Callum to death.”
“Yeah, but I have no idea what else we can do to keep everyone safe.”
That made sense. He’d hate for Callum to hurt someone in fear, or to end up injuring himself. “I understand.”
“Is there any way you could run the wireless speakers out there? Devereaux could show you how to set them up.”
When Alp was showing Teddy around, he introduced him to far too many people, which would take time to learn about. One of them was Andrew Devereaux, the self-described tech genius who was upgrading all of the systems in Wald. With his flaming orange hair and two different colored eyes, he was someone Teddy would remember. He listened intently as Andrew told his story. When he’d heard of Wald, he immediately offered to come, because he’d done all he could with his old pack’s systems and now there was a chance to do a whole new setup to his specifications, not someone else’s system that he’d had to keep upgraded.
Now? He was the man responsible for the WiFi that Wald used. He also built the computers he was teaching the kids to operate. He truly seemed happy with being part of training the next generation of shifters to be in tune with the world that existed outside of Wald. Teddy also believed that the special needs of the people here made it a challenge Andrew hadn’t been getting elsewhere. It made Teddy ache slightly. He wanted to do something with his life, but he had no idea what.
Alp stood and wiped his hands on his pant legs. “Okay, I have to go help out in the kitchen so we have lunch ready after the kids are done with their morning classes. Today we’re having regular meatloaf for the carnivores, and some veggie loaf for us non-meat eaters, plus mashed potatoes, corn, and apple cobbler for dessert.”
Teddy’s stomach rumbled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten last night. “Is there anywhere I can find some carrots?”
“Sure, there’s a big bag of them in the pantry. Anyone in the kitchen can show you where they’re stored.” Alp grinned. “Going to take some out for Callum?”
“If that’s okay.” He didn’t want to cross any lines or break any unwritten rules.
“You don’t need to ask. If it helps Callum feel safe and comfortable, and if it gets him to shift, we’re all for it.” He kissed Mal. “Will you be in for lunch?”
“Depends. Will you have time to eat with me?”
“Yup.”
“Then I’ll be there.” He squeezed Alp’s hip. “Love you.”
Seeing Alp’s cheeks flush a moment before he turned and hurried down the hall was so worth it. Teddy appreciated that they didn’t try to hide they were together. And after movie night, he could tell that not one of the people who saw them cared.
Mal, a huge smile on his face, turned back toward Teddy.
“First? Can you show me where I’ll be working?”
Mal winced. “I can, but…. Well, I don’t think you’re going to like it too much.”
“Oh? May I ask why?”
Mal stood and beckoned Teddy to follow him. He led Teddy through several corridors lined with doors. These had been a few of the labs that were converted to rooms for the people who lived in Wald. They continued on for a way, shocking Teddy, who hadn’t seen the entire complex and had no idea how large it was. When they got to their destination, Mal stopped and regarded Teddy with a sheepish grin.
“This will be your office. Kinda. It was really a storage room that we’re using for an office until the other wings can get done. If you find you like the job, we’ll see about getting you an actual spot of your own.” He scrubbed a hand over his head. “This might be the most difficult assignment yet.”
He twisted the knob and pulled the door open. Teddy gawped. The place was piled high with boxes of all shapes and sizes, stacked from floor to ceiling, most overflowing with papers, some of which had fluttered to the floor. He stood there, stunned.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” Mal said.
“So many boxes,” Teddy whimpered.
“This is only one room. There are three more, all stacked to the ceiling with boxes like these. And each of them has papers in them that have to be scanned into the computer. Lydia will need access to them, as much of what’s in here contains the files on the shifters Hyde used for his experiments. She wants them in digital format to ensure she can check them from here or her other job. She does some covert testing for us over there.”
“Why aren’t they on the computer already?”
“A lot of stuff is, but Hyde was paranoid about his research and kept hard copies in a locked vault. We had to get someone in here to drill out the lock, and when they opened it, we found this.” Mal sighed. “If this is too much work, or?—”
“What? No, this looks like fun.”
And it did. Teddy was over the whole bodyguard thing. Sedate and quiet sounded good to him. Plus, they wanted him to work with Callum, so that was a bonus.
“You and I have very different definitions of fun,” Mal griped. “Mine involves a certain rabbit.”
Teddy shook his head. “I don’t need the details, but thanks.”
Mal threw his head back and laughed long and hard. When he finally got himself under control, he leaned in close to Teddy. “I wasn’t talking sex, you nit. My ideal day would be to take Alp down to the lake, so we can lay back and watch as day turns to night. We haven’t had a lot of free time, so I’m keeping that thought tucked in the back of my mind just in case we do at some point.”
That sounded nice. Teddy had never had a lover. Most of his time was spent with Ivan, and when they were out on a job with Damon, they never had a chance to relax. On those few occasions they went with the family, once Damon had everyone sequestered in their rooms, he would tell Ivan and Teddy to go out and have some fun.
Ivan, of course, being the garrulous person he was, loved to drink and socialize. He’d sit at the bar and down black Russians. Though the drink wasn’t created in their homeland, it seemed to make Ivan a little nostalgic about the place. Teddy hoped he’d never have to go back there again. Not only for their stance on LGBT people, but for their crackdown on dissent in any form.
Ivan teased Teddy and told him he was what Americans called woke , and Teddy wore that as a badge of honor. He had a thing for the underdog and was forever rooting for them, hoping to see them come out on top.
“Teddy?”
He shook his head. “Sorry, I was lost in thought.”
“I could tell. Again, if you’re too tired, you can start this tomorrow. Or if you want to go spend some time with Callum, that would be fine too.”
“I will see him this evening. After dinner, I’ll stop by the cafeteria and see about finding him something special.”
“Talk to Lydia. She knows a lot about what we like in shifted form.”
“Thank you, First. I’ll do that.”
After Mal explained some more of the job, the machines Teddy’d be using, and the like, he left Teddy to settle in. As Teddy began to put the mess into some semblance of shape, his thoughts drifted to Callum.
He couldn’t wait until this evening.