Chapter 8
eiGht
HAVEN DECLINED THE TREAT, but everyone else made quick work of the tray. Nanna's snickerdoodles were the best. I was halfway through my third cookie when Bacon and Meanosaurus arrived.
Meanosaurus ran in, head down, spurs out, clearly looking for a fight.
Haven squeaked and tucked her legs under her on the couch.
Normally I would find the situation funny as hell.
Right then, I was angry. I stopped growling when it hit me that I was behaving like Roul.
I wanted to pluck the chicken for scaring Haven.
My instincts hadn't been this feral since the lab.
Not my favorite realization. Apparently I'd graduated from "helpful rescuer" to "territorial murder puppy. "
Bacon was hot on the heels of the bird. She threw her laptop bag on one of two wingback chairs that created a nice sitting area (or so Kendal told me) and grabbed the wayward fowl by its neck.
"You said you were going to behave."
"I... am... behaving."
It was always strange to hear the high-pitched but clear voice emerging from the beak of a chicken. Even when it was being strangled.
"You know what I meant. Go outside and find some bugs before Quin parboils and plucks you."
"He... would never. He likes me!"
"I was actually contemplating a good plucking mere moments ago."
Meanosaurus gasped. "Say it isn't so!"
I shrugged. "You're scaring Haven."
Bacon contemplated the woman with a head tilt. "I think she's more ... confused? Shocked?" She shook her head. "Something, but not scared. To be fair, it would be hard to be scared of a talking chicken."
"I am scary! I am descended from"—everyone in the room finished with him— "dinosaurs."
He kicked his feet and snorted, which was impressive since Bacon still had a stranglehold on his neck.
"We all know. Now, do you want to go back outside or do you want to be locked in the bathroom?"
How Bacon kept a reasonable tone was a mystery. I guess she was used to dealing with his antics. It was almost identical to the tone my brothers used on me, which was a deeply uncomfortable revelation I shoved aside immediately.
"Outside."
A chicken isn't an exceptionally emotive beast, but you could see his pout clearly as he made his way out the door. She closed it behind him.
"Sorry about that." She shoved half a cookie in her mouth. "He's been in rare form lately. Keeps complaining about everyone getting mates but him. I tried to let him down easy, but he didn't believe me when I told him familiars don't get mates."
She slid her laptop bag to the floor and occupied the now empty seat. "So, what seems to be the problem?"
"We aren't even sure there is a problem," Kragen said.
"But... there's a but, right? Why else am I here?"
Oh, there was a problem all right. It was sitting right next to me. The longer this went on, the stronger the dancing blue lights became. Something about this whole thing was off. I hadn't bitten her. She hadn't bitten me. We'd barely spoken or touched. It felt like a trap.
She felt like a trap.
But she also felt like heaven. She smelled wrong, but also delicious.
My physiology was responding to her in a way I'd never experienced. It was like I'd touched a live wire and held on. My brain was scrambled. I was acting mostly on instinct, and my instincts screamed protect, cherish, claim.
And none of it was right. Nothing about this followed wyrfang biology, Society rules, or common sense.
"That's weird, right?"
Cavi must have finished explaining the problem. Bacon had joined team 'staring at us' and I was having trouble not squirming under the scrutiny.
She blinked, grabbed her laptop from her bag, opened it in a move that would have sent me tumbling to the floor, and started furiously typing.
That wasn't good.
"Have you ever heard of this happening before?
" I tilted my head toward Haven. She tucked herself so far under my arm I wondered if she could see anything besides my armpit.
When was the last time I'd bathed? I had yet to join the 'baths are fun' train that Drym and Thurl were on.
Please let adrenaline suppress her sense of smell.
Shit, Bacon was talking to me.
"Bonds appearing without the mate bite? No. I've never heard of that happening. As far as Society records are concerned, it never has." Bacon sighed, her fingers still as she resumed staring at us. "That combined with the unusual way she smells... like chemicals, right?"
I nodded. "It's a good smell,"—probably loads better than whatever was coming from me—"but it's off. I can't explain it better than that."
She tilted her head, focusing on Haven. Or at least, the back of her head.
"And you feel like you'll have a panic attack if you let go of him?"
Haven sat up, turned forward and put her feet back on the floor. I was so proud of her. But that was wrong, too, wasn't it?
"Yes, and I've never had a panic attack in my life."
"Then my theory is that the bond between you is manufactured."
"Manufactured? How? By whom?" I sat forward which pushed Haven sideways, then steadied her without thought.
"The obvious culprit is BioSynth. It makes sense they would try to manipulate the mate bond. They were seeking a way to control you, after all."
Haven was shaking her head. "I'd never even heard of BioSynth before this morning."
I stood and paced to the kitchen. The distress on her face tugged me back, but I spun away.
I trusted Bacon. If BioSynth was behind this, then Haven was a threat.
One more sinister than their drones and electrified nets.
I hit the far wall and pressed my back against it, trying not to focus on the way she took deep breaths, the way her hands fisted the edge of the couch.
The so-called bond lights snapped and flared, brightening like a strained tether pulling taut, the invisible rope between us growing angry.
"You may not have known what was happening." Bacon tried for empathy, but I didn't buy it for a second.
"How would they have done it?" My nose turned toward the witch, but my eyes stayed glued to Haven. Even now I couldn't look away.
"I'm not sure, but I'm guessing some sort of genetic manipulation."
"This is crazy." Her voice trembled, but her chin lifted—pure stubborn courage. "I'm going home. Maybe if I get some distance between us, I'll feel better."
I locked my muscles. It was hard to watch her walk away, but I had to let her go. If she was a plant, then I'd put us all in danger by bringing her here. I should have left her passed out in her bedroom with the dead guy.
Shit. I'd forgotten about the corpse in her room.