Chapter 12
Braun
We have a problem.
The first text hadn’t been helpful but it’d gotten my ass in gear and I was out the door before the second one had come through.
Emeric smelled someone familiar in Aldi. He’s scared but we’re safe for the time being.
It was technically more information but it wasn’t enough to make me happy, so I ordered the car to call Dorian’s phone and waited for it to connect. The handful of seconds it took for the call to go through were the longest of my life.
“It’s me. Uncle Dorian is packing the groceries, so he told me to answer the phone.”
Emeric.
“First question, am I on speakerphone?” The call sounded odd and it took a few seconds of fumbling to get an answer.
“Not anymore.”
Ancestors above.
Why did kids always answer on fucking speakerphone?
“Thank you.” We were going to have a talk about that. “Are you safe for the moment? Answer yes or no if there are too many humans around to have the conversation discreetly.”
“Just people who know stuff.” I could hear the shrug in Emeric’s voice. “I don’t know what the cashier lady is but she’s smart.”
She giggled too based on what I could hear in the background.
“And one of the parents of a kid in Uncle Dorian’s class. He’s—” Emeric paused as I was fairly certain I heard Dorian whisper for him to be polite. “A cat of some sort, maybe? He’s not—”
Based on the way he stopped answering and sighed, I was going to guess he’d been going to say something rude.
“But he’s being nice now and is going to stay with us until you get here.” Emeric let out a slightly shaky breath before I could answer. “You’re coming, right?”
Yes.
“I’m already on the main road.” And technically driving too fast but that couldn’t be helped. “Are you at Aldi or Winn-Dixie?”
What had that text said?
What kind of cat?
They were all prickly as fuck and fun to rile up, but I really didn’t want to get into a shouting match in the grocery store parking lot.
Not if he’d been helpful.
“Aldi.” Relief was clear in Emeric’s voice. “We…we got a lot of groceries, though, and…and we picked out stuff for meals. My mom used to say that if she wasn’t careful she’d get home and nothing made a meal.”
I’d run into that issue the last time I’d gone to Walmart, so I couldn’t argue with it even if I couldn’t explain it. “I don’t know how that happens either but it does.”
That got a laugh out of Emeric and I could hear Dorian sighing in the background. It sounded like relief, so I took that to mean they were still safe. “Did he buy so much it’s taking you guys forever to check out?”
Another giggle and a frustrated huff said I was right…but possibly in trouble.
“Uncle Dorian wants to know whose fault is it that your pantry is bare.” I’d heard Dorian grumbling but Emeric was back to snickering as he relayed the teasing.
“That’s a damned good question and we’re going to figure it out.” It’d gotten to the point of unmanageable. “What did you buy for us?”
Keeping him talking seemed like the best thing I could do at the moment, so I asked one ridiculous question after another and promised to help him look up why there were so many different types of cabbage.
“What are you going to do with it, though? Coleslaw is disgusting and can’t actually be considered a vegetable to have at dinner. ”
“I know.” His excited response got me another five minutes of ranting about weird stuff grown-ups said were healthy. It passed the time but I’d never heard anyone call that shit healthy even if they were trying to get me to eat it.
“But then we got the stuff for salad…oh…we’re done.
That was fast.” Emeric’s distracted conversational shift almost made me laugh.
I would’ve described it a lot of ways but fast wasn’t one of them.
“We’re going to wait for Uncle Dorian’s friend Mr. Stein to walk us to the car.
He went outside but he’s back. Are you almost here? ”
He’d gone outside?
To check things out?
“Yes.” I shouldn’t have been as close as I was but thankfully the roads were fairly empty. “I’m pulling into the parking lot right now and I see…yes…I see Dorian’s car.”
As well as five other trucks that seemed to be strategically placed around it.
“Did Mr. Stein ask some of his friends to help keep you guys safe?”
Before Emeric could answer, a deep voice came from the phone. “My brothers.”
Interesting.
“Thank you.” I blocked in several vehicles as I parked halfway between the building and Dorian’s car, but I wasn’t worried about it. “I’m here. Let Mr. Stein know I’m wearing a black T-shirt and jeans.”
There was no point in confusing worked-up cats who’d gone into defensive mode.
“He heard and he’s texting the men outside.” Emeric still sounded excited and not afraid, but I wasn’t sure how much was relief and how much was him ignoring reality. “I…I think I’m ready to go home, Alpha. We…we could go on a run or…or watch a movie?”
So both…but he was just really good at ignoring realty?
“We are going home right now, and if we’re lucky, my mother will leave us alone long enough to pick out the best goodies to snack on while we’re putting stuff away.” Emeric found that funny, so I kept chattering as I jumped out of the car. “She woke me up first thing being nosy.”
“Uncle Dorian was right.” Emeric snickered as I climbed out of the car. “He said she wouldn’t leave you alone too long.”
Sighing, I played up the drama to make him laugh again. “You guys left early just to put me at her mercy and save yourself.”
“Uncle Dorian rolled his eyes.” Emeric thought that was hilarious. “But we’re bringing home food so you have to pretend he didn’t try to throw you under the bus to save himself.”
“And you.” I couldn’t let him forget that part. “He saved you too. I’m the one he ditched.”
“You got to sleep in, drama queen.” Dorian’s teasing was cut off by the cat making a godawful noise.
It even startled Dorian because he stopped halfway out the door of the grocery store as he pushed one cart and pulled another. “Are you alright?”
No, cats were too easily riled up to ever be considered anything other than insane and high-maintenance.
“Okay, the grocery to bus ratio is good enough that I won’t complain too much.
” My ridiculous response got a laugh from Emeric as he raced the last few feet and threw himself at me.
He was technically too old to carry but I swept him up in my arms. “As long as you got me something to eat. I’m starving. ”
Grinning ear-to-ear, he cocked his head as he grabbed onto me like a monkey instead of a wolf. “Your mom doesn’t feed you either?”
Good fucking grief.
“Nope, but I bet Dorian will.” Yep, he was trying to shake his head and look like he thought we were ridiculous but I could see him weakening. “My ace in the hole is going to be to remind him that I didn’t have any healthy food in the house, but I’ve got lots of coffee.”
Dorian knew his job and groaned on cue but he confused the cat that was following close behind him. “Don’t tell me that.”
Emeric pretended to be sneaky and whisper. “Did you eat the brownies?”
“Ancestors above.” Dorian went back to shaking his head. “I don’t know how you haven’t died of scurvy yet.”
I could tell Emeric had added something new to his list of questions, but the cats chose that moment to circle ranks around us.
It cut off the teasing but I tried not to look too serious in front of Emeric.
“Okay, you’re going in my car this time because I think Dorian’s going to need all his room for groceries. ”
He was at Jenga levels of stacking and I wasn’t sure how he’d get it all in the car. I was just going to leave the safety issues unsaid for the moment. “You plan what we’re going to have for dinner while I help Dorian.”
I took him over to the car and set him down, then handed over my phone and traded him for Dorian’s. “You figure out that cabbage question. No calling Mars, though. I don’t think my plan will work there.”
He went back to giggling as he climbed in the back seat with his new treasure. “I don’t have anyone to call. You’re both here.”
Emeric clearly thought I was ridiculous but I could see the cats going still.
They were going to have questions, but they waited until he was safely in the car.
“The pup was scared.” Pointing out that the cat already sounded weird would’ve made me a dick, so I nodded and kept my smart-ass comments to myself. “He’s not related to either of you.”
“We’re the closest thing to family he has at the moment.” Dorian seemed to decide he needed to save the cats. “There was an accident…at least…we were told it was an accident but it might not have been.”
Yep.
“Some packs don’t have a healthy dynamic.
” That was a fucking understatement and had the cats looking confused.
I was pretty sure they thought I’d defend other wolves to the death but that was stupid when it seemed like they were fighting to the death.
“He came here because his aunt is part of my pack, but it seems like he was followed?”
It was more of a question than a statement and it got a nod from Dorian. “That seemed to be what he was sensing but we didn’t have enough privacy for him to explain it.”
“Thank you for watching out for them.” Looking around the parking lot, I couldn’t see or smell anything out of place, but I didn’t know what I was looking for. “We don’t go after pups, so I didn’t think it’d be dangerous.”
Who the fuck thought even following him around the grocery store would’ve been a good idea?
“It was no problem.” The cat Dorian seemed to know looked like his fur would’ve been standing on end if he’d been in his other form. “We live close.”
He was weird…even for a cat.
“I appreciate it.” Having questions didn’t discount that. “Can you stay around while we load Dorian’s car? We’ll be safe once we get back to the pack.”
I wasn’t stupid enough to chase off the only help I had if something went wrong.
“Yes.” He seemed to speak for the rest of the men because they nodded along with him. “The store felt…odd.”
Well, that wasn’t good.
“We’re going to try not to bring trouble to the area.” I wasn’t going to promise anything, though.
“Sometimes the fates have different plans.”
Wasn’t that the truth.
Who’d have thought I’d agree with a cat about anything?