Chapter 4
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I was right to worry. My remaining brothers and Jade piled into my house soon after Kendal was off the phone. Even Roul showed up. My house wasn't set up to accommodate all of us, so I ended up backed into the far corner of my living room with Jade and Kendal squared up in front of me.
"See?" Kendal waved her hand at me. "Something's wrong with him."
Jade tilted her head. "He doesn't look any different to me, Kendal."
Kendal grunted in frustration. "He's acting weird."
"Weird, how?"
"This is disconcerting." I decided to chime in, since I was the subject of their scrutiny. They continued like my input wasn't necessary or wanted.
"I don't know. Something's up with him and he won't say what it is."
"How do you know something's up?"
Kendal squinted her eyes at me. "He squeezed me too hard."
Drym stepped forward, snarling. I held my hands up. Kendal waved behind her. "It was fine. It's just... he never does that. Never. If anything, his hugs are so light they tickle."
My ears drooped. "I tickle?" I tried to sort through how that made me feel.
I mean, on the one hand, that was awesome.
On the other, I didn't want my hugs to tickle.
Couldn't say why, exactly, but I wasn't allowed to dwell on it much.
Not with my family watching me like I might sprout a second head.
"So he needed a tight hug this morning?" Jade side-eyed Kendal.
"Exactly." Kendal's face was the picture of smug satisfaction.
Since Jade was being a voice of reason, I decided to go with it and see if I could come up with something that would throw Kendal off.
The last thing I needed was for my brothers to start hovering and asking questions.
I shrugged as casually as I could manage while my brain cast about for a reasonable excuse. My eyes landed on Cavi.
"I had a nightmare."
His head dipped and I winced. I wasn't sure how many of the others knew about his struggles in the dark. I quickly averted my eyes and deflected. "It's rare, but when you showed up, it was still sticking to me. The hug was nice. Made me feel better." I shrugged again.
That one earned a sideways glance from Kragen. He was the last one I wanted paying attention to me. He'd be able to sniff out what was wrong too easily. If anyone could tell the difference between normal wyrfang anxiety and whatever this compulsion was, it'd be him.
I really didn't want to explain that I was obsessed with a human who smelled like candy and felt off somehow.
And I'd only seen her once.
"Why wouldn't you say that to begin with?"
Damn it. Kendal wasn't buying it.
I shrugged. Kragen's eyes narrowed. Fuck.
I really needed to keep my shoulders still.
"You caught me off guard?" I scanned the crowd to see if anyone picked up on how that came out as a question.
Roul rolled his eyes and left. Cavi hesitated, standing behind Kragen, his eyes bouncing from me to him and back.
Kragen's chest rose with a deep inhale that he exhaled into a long suffering sigh.
"I think he's fine, Kendal."
I wanted to slump in relief when he rubbed at his muzzle between his eyes. Looks like I'd get away with being weirder than normal today.
Kendal's mouth dropped open.
Maybe not.
"But he had a nightmare!"
Drym put his hand on her shoulder. "Nightmares aren't uncommon for us, little one."
"You don't have them."
"I have you."
I let out a groan. "Can you all please leave now? Before your goo goo eyes make me sick?"
Jade snickered. "Goo goo eyes?"
I waved a hand at Drym and Kendal, who were looking at each other so hard it was a wonder little cartoon hearts weren't bursting from their eyeballs.
"Yep, okay." Jade nodded and herded everyone out my front door.
I sagged a bit in relief, which she caught when she spun around to grab the doorknob. She hesitated, and whispered, "Please say something if you need help. We all love you, Quin."
I dipped my muzzle, my ears falling low enough for me to see the tips in my peripheral vision. I heard the door shut with a soft click.
Maybe I should confide in one of them, but who? Drym and Thurl were mated. Kragen had a lot on his mind with the hunt for BioSynth ongoing. Cavi already had nightmares every night, so I couldn't add to his burden. And Roul—well, Roul was hanging on by a thread.
A mission might distract him, but not one involving a woman.
No, this was on me to figure out. I had all day to decide how to do that without exposing myself.
The best plan I came up with was to break into her house after nightfall and poke around.
Learn more about her. Figure out why she smelled delicious, but strange.
At the very least, I could get her last name.
With a name, Bacon could get me all the info I wanted.
Bacon was the computer genius who worked with Jackal Division, but she'd become a friend also. Her help had been invaluable in transitioning us to life after the lab. She introduced us to Society—the world of supernaturals—and gave us an overview of how it worked.
Most humans didn't know supernaturals existed.
Some of us could move about like they weren't different.
My brothers and I weren't among them. Having the head of a wolf, horns, and a dragon tail made that impossible.
I'd often wondered why the scientists didn't make us able to shift.
Both of the creatures who provided our base DNA—dragons and werewolves—had human forms. Kragen thought that it was a control measure.
Since we couldn't move freely among humans, we were dependent on our captors.
Not that any one of us would think twice about streaking through the busiest city at rush hour if it secured our freedom, but the added threat that our compliance was the only thing keeping our brothers safe meant we behaved and stayed in the shadows.
Now we avoided detection because we wanted to be good Society citizens. We'd made friends and our circle of those we were willing to protect had grown wider. It was no longer about control. It was about community.
And yes, that sounded just as cheesy in my brain. Didn't change the fact that I was about to use those "good citizen" skills to stalk a human woman.
With a plan in place and my phone tucked safely inside the waist pack Jade gave me all I had left to do was wait until nightfall.
There was movement by Haven's back door, and it wasn't me. I watched as the person shifted from foot to foot, examining something near the edge of the door. I scanned the back of the house and noticed a small camera tucked into the eaves.
She'd gotten a security system. That was good. It made my task of finding out who she was harder, but not impossible. There were a couple of other ways I could go about this. Less intrusive ways. I'd examine why I was disappointed I wouldn't be breaking into her house while she slept later.
Or maybe not.
The other person was doing something. They opened a small panel beside the back door, fingers moving quick over wires and the keypad. A second later, the red alarm light flicked off. They straightened and tilted their neck from side to side. Then they eased the door open.
In the faint light from her kitchen, I saw it was a man.
My lips curled in a snarl. Sure, I had planned to do the same thing, but this was different. I'd come to snoop. This guy had bypassed a brand-new security system like it was nothing. Intent mattered. My fur was ruffled and my chest rumbled with a growl.
He left the door open as he crept inside. No alarms sounded, so whatever he did circumvented her alarm.
I barreled after him, an urgency driving me through the open backyard without thought to who might see. I slowed as I crossed the threshold, tilting my muzzle up to get a read on the new guy.
Under the chemical candy that overwhelmed my senses was the faint trace of another scent. The smell of sweat and fear.
Why would they be afraid of Haven?
They were being cautious, moving slowly and silently, but my hearing was many times better than a human's. I slipped into the shadows in a hallway and watched the figure enter a room.
Ambient light streamed through the windows and lit up a face shrouded by a hoodie. The man stood at the side of Haven's bed. His arm jerked as he tugged something from his pants.
“You shouldn’t exist,” he hissed. “What they did to you—made you an abomination. I have to fix it.”
The certainty in his voice hit harder than the threat. He wasn’t here to scare her. He was here to erase her.
A blade flashed in the moonlight. Haven startled awake, her vision locked on the blade.
She screamed, but before his arm could drop and that knife sink into her chest he was dead.
My claws hooked his neck and squeezed. His body thumped against the floor, leaving me holding his head by what remained of his neck.
Hot blood splattered my fur and the floor, copper sharp under the sugar of her scent.
I dropped the head and turned toward Haven.
She'd jumped out of the bed on the opposite side and was cursing as she slapped around her bedside table. Oh shit. She was going to...
Light flooded the room as she found the lamp switch. I watched her eyes go round. "What the actual fuck?"
I waved awkwardly, realized my hand was covered in gore, and tucked it behind my back. "Hey sweetheart. Weird night, huh?"
Her eyes rolled into her head, and she slumped to the floor in a dead faint.
Shit.
I managed to catch her, without an ounce of grace. She'd have a bruise on her hip and a twinge in her shoulder, but her head didn't hit the floor.
This wasn't going at all how it was supposed to.
Kendal and Jade didn't faint at the sight of a 'fang.
They didn't run screaming or cry curled into a ball like the women the scientists brought in did, either.
Those were the two reactions I thought I'd face.
I sighed and scratched the back of my head.
I couldn't leave her here. There was a dead guy bleeding onto her floor, and she'd fainted.
I'd protected her head, but it's possible she had internal injuries.
From what, I had no idea. All I knew at that moment was my brain making serious leaps in logic to come to what I decided was the right thing to do.
If I stayed there to look over her, the humans would find a body and a monster. Or I could move her, and no one would sound an alarm.
I had to take her home.