Chapter 35
Havoc
“So, what's on the schedule for today?”
She grimaces, gesturing around the empty lobby.
“You're looking at it.” She sees my confusion and sighs, leading me down the hall.
“I get most people in Mercy Ridge don't have pets, but what I don't understand is apparently I've got this fantastic reputation that brought Stryker here searching for me, and even at the fundraiser, some rich asshole was talking about sending people to search for the ‘Angel of Mercy,’ but none of them could find me?
I don't get it, it's not like I'm keeping this place a secret.”
My stomach swoops as it clicks. Any time I heard a whisper of someone searching for her, I killed them.
The King of Carnage isn’t my only enemy, and even though I’ve taken care of the rest that I know about, there’s always someone waiting in the wind to get revenge. It was better to be safe than sorry.
Fuck. Fuck.
“I'm sure business will pick up.” Now that I’m not murdering your customers.
She shrugs. “Hopefully. But as soon as I get the check for the house I'll have plenty of buffer room to figure out a way to drum up business. Maybe invest in some advertising.” With a glance over her shoulder, she declares in no uncertain terms, “You're not getting that back, by the way.”
“I don't want it back. You're my mate, Kiara, it's my job and privilege to take care of you.”
She makes a dismissive hum under her breath and opens the door. I react on instinct as something flies at my face, catching a furious raccoon in one hand and holding it as far away from me as possible.
“What the fuck!? We need to get better locks on these cages.”
“Oh, that's just Marco, he lives here. Careful, he bites.”
As if wanting to prove her point, the rabid little beast stretches forward and sinks his sharp teeth into my arm.
Motherfucker that stings.
Kiara clicks her tongue. “Now Marco, that's not very nice. Havoc here is the reason I'm going to be able to finally spring your mate from this joint.”
I swear, the little monster is able to understand her perfectly, slowly releasing my arm and shooting me a dirty look before squirming free.
He skitters back to Kiara's side, and I take a step ready to intervene, but it's not necessary.
He rubs himself against her leg like a cat before crawling into a large box underneath the metal exam table.
I nervously crouch down beside Kiara to see, half expecting the beast to lunge for my face, only to see him protectively curled around the top half of another raccoon, licking the top of its head.
This one barely acknowledges me at all, nestled in a sea of blankets, scraps of paper, and untouched food.
“What's wrong with it?”
My sweet mate brushes her fingers tenderly across the lethargic one before moving to the counter to wash her hands and pull a vial out of her messenger bag.
“Burned the heck out of her leg a few weeks ago.
I got her healed up, but the fur hasn't regrown for some reason, despite the fact there's no scar tissue there.
Checked her for mange and everything else I could think of, but she's perfectly healthy.
The issue is that it's cold as hell outside.
If I were to release her right now, she'd end up with frostbite or worse because it's such a large area of exposed skin.
So I've been keeping them here while trying to come up with a long term solution.
Bandages, socks; any of that will be filthy and torn in no time.
Honestly, I was drawing a blank and reached the point of training Marco to do laundry.
Good little mate that he is, he's been an A+ student.
The problem is he can't hang dry socks in this weather, they'll just freeze.
On the bright side, he's become a fantastic assistant around here. Downside, Polo is depressed and getting worse by the day.”
I knew my mate was too sweet for this world, but this settles it. She should have been able to turn to me for help. I'm the king of all assholes for leaving her alone long enough that she trained a raccoon to replace me.
“So are we adopting them as pets, then?”
Over her shoulder, she gives me a curious look. “Have you met a raccoon? They'll rob you blind.”
“Sounds like they'd fit in perfectly at the guild.”
She smiles softly, and my heart skips a beat. It's not as free as the ones she used to give me, but it has just as much power to bring a man to his knees.
“Well thankfully, we won't have to find out, thanks to you.”
“What do you mean?”
Reaching up on her tiptoes, she grabs a silver bowl and bag of chips from the cabinet, pouring a few in before uncorking a familiar vial of iridescent powder and carefully tapping it so only the lightest dusting covers the chips.
“Antlers from a white stag are basically a cure-all for physical ailments in animals. It feels sacrilegious to sprinkle it on Doritos, but desperate times and all that jazz.”
That tiny vial alone cost five million dollars.
Well, it would have if I hadn't stolen it, but in my defense, the guy was trying to sell off two of them on the black market while his own daughter was in the hospital.
I didn't feel an ounce of guilt killing the bastard, and the first stop I made was to his daughter.
The rest of the vial went to a myst nurse working the NICU.
It may not be a miracle cure for humans the way it is for animals, but it still does wonders to speed up the healing process and give them a fighting chance.
Two million dollars an ounce, and she's feeding it to a depressed raccoon on a Dorito. I'm not sure if I'm about to have a heart attack, or kiss the hell out of her.
The injured raccoon perks up, her fur starting to regrow right before our eyes. Marco is chattering and excited, pacing the confines of the box, Polo is confused, but perks up even more when Kiara says, “This calls for a celebration!” And dumps half the bag into the bowl for them to devour.
I shake my head in disbelief. “Is this a normal work day for you?”
“Oh no, these are actually my first long term patients. Usually I sit around calling pet stores and other places to try and collaborate to drum up business, but all of them want a stack of business cards or a financial donation as incentive to hand them out. Seeing as I have neither a car nor money, it’s never gone anywhere, so I tend to clean or doodle until closing time unless I get a walk-in. ”
My heart breaks for her, realizing I’m the reason why her business is struggling. “Kiara, I-”
The faint tinkling of a bell chiming in the lobby has her face lighting up. “Well hot damn! Looks like you're my lucky charm, Vic. I might have to bring you to work more often.”
I swallow the apology on the tip of my tongue.
Because as sorry as I am, no good will come from admitting I was killing her customers.
The best I can do now is find new ones. Not to mention, now that her ‘assistant’ will be released back into the wild with his mate soon, she'll need an extra set of hands around here.
I just need to prove I'm more useful than her other mates.
I take a deep breath and release it slowly.
No, I need to prove I can work with them.
Kiara’s already got Stryker and the feral shifter wearing her mark, not to mention whoever the fuck this Devlin guy is they're living with.
She's not going to leave them all for me, and she shouldn't have to.
I've always known she'd build a bondgroup, and though I wish I was there to watch it form, I can't go back in time.
If I want a future with Kiara, I need her to see I can fit into her life and make it better, not harder.
The guy that stumbled through the door looks like hell. No coat, streaks of mud up his arms and jeans, cheeks red from the cold. “I’ve been searching for hours for a myst-run vet. Please tell me that’s you,” he begs, chest heaving.
“Tell me what happened,” she demands.
“I-I don't know,” he stutters. “He crashed onto my farm about four hours ago.
Checked his wings, but they look alright.
He was having trouble breathing, so I made sure he wasn't choking, but didn't see anything, and he's running a super high fever. All the vets nearby my place are run by humans though, and I couldn’t risk bringing him there.”
“Show me,” she says, pushing him out the door and running outside without her coat. I snag it before following her out to a truck hauling a massive horse trailer behind it, parked haphazardly in front of the building.
“You said wings. What am I walking into, here?”
He glances around to make sure the coast is clear, looking from me to Kiara before pleading, “Don’t tell anyone about him.
I thought my granddaddy was full of shit there was a reason our crops did better than other farms, but he was right.
People will hunt him down if they realize they still exist.”
Nervous now, I watch as he unlocks the trailer and drags the door open, revealing a soaking wet beast sprawled out, breathing labored. And the sight steals my own breath away.
A thunderbird. One large enough it could swallow me whole, with feathers that look like varying shades of smoke, tipped in an electric silvery-blue. Claws of molten gold that reflect the sunlight, each razor sharp and at least six inches long. It’s awe-inspiring, even on death’s doorstep.
My mate recovers far faster than me, climbing inside without a single ounce of fear that it’ll rip her throat out.
“Hey there, handsome,” she says gently, kneeling beside its head and petting his neck in steady, soothing strokes.
“Bear with me while I see what’s going on, and then I’m going to make it better, alright? ”
A frigid wind races through the slats, breaking me out of my frozen state. Careful not to move too quickly and startle the beast, I wrap Kiara’s coat around her shoulders, crouching beside her to block some of the wind.
A soft silver glow emanates from her palms, her eyes closed as she works.
Seconds turn into minutes, and I fall a little more in love with her every one that passes.
Whatever Kiara does, she’s all in from the very first moment.
And I’m a damn fool for not realizing how sending her away would hurt her more than protect her.
Slowly, the thunderbird’s breathing levels out, the tension in its body ebbing until it peels one tired eye open to stare at my mate.
There’s an intelligence there I’m not surprised to see; a mythological creature as rare as this doesn’t stay alive this long unless it’s as wise as it is old.
It rakes its gaze over Kiara before shifting to me.
It’s slower to dismiss me as a threat, more acknowledging that I am one, but accepting I’m not a threat to him before letting his eyes fall shut.
“There,” Kiara says wearily, sitting back on her heels. “Should be good as new after a solid night’s sleep.”
I rise to my feet, offering a hand to help her up, but she tries to quickly tug her sleeves down. Frowning, I gently grab her arm, rolling her sleeve up. The ringing in my ears reaches a fever pitch as I study the black veins across her hand, extending up her arm like poison.
Aware we’re not alone, I carefully roll her sleeve back down to cover the evidence before scooping her up, holding her against my chest as I jump down from the trailer and stride past the guy that’s worn a rut into the ground from his anxious pacing.
“What the heck has gotten into you?” she asks. “Let me down!”
“Humor me.”
Upon seeing us, the guy jogs forward. “Is he going to be okay? How much do I owe you?”
My mate squirms in my hold, but quickly realizes her escape attempts are futile and sighs, slumping against my chest. “He’ll be good as new after some sleep, and don’t worry about it. It was payment enough to actually see one in person.”
Oh, fuck that.
I hold out my hand. “How much you got?”
The guy hastily pulls out his wallet. He’s got all of forty bucks, so I pluck out a twenty and hand it to Kiara. “You really want to thank her? Spread the word to any mysts that are good enough people to make it through Mercy's wards.”
“It’d be my pleasure. Thank you again so much,” he says, nodding in respect to my mate before heading back to close up his trailer.
I flip the lock on the front door and stride back to an empty exam room, setting her down on the table and inspecting the damage to her hands that she hasn’t reacted to. Which leads me to believe this is normal. And that I had no idea just how badly my mate’s been suffering in silence.
“Explain.”