Like Cats and... Wolves? The Werepigeon Apocalypse [FREE and COMPLETED]

Chapter 9

Nick tried to fight against the darkness surrounding him, not sure where he was and what was happening. He did know that he was in danger and he was alone, and that was not a good thing, someone was supposed to be there with him, although his tired mind couldn’t remember who. There was some pain as well, his entire body felt sore as if he had spent an entire day exercising with his father yelling at him to go faster, push harder, be stronger! Was that what happened?

No, wait. His father did yell at him, yes, but it was not to train harder. It was to get the f**k out of his house. That’s right, he kicked him out of the pack, Nick was a rogue now, he went to find a place to live and… the cats! They caught him and they shot him up with wolfsbane just when he had a chance to escape. The pain was… Nick barely kept himself from going insane, and his wolf…

“Adira?” he asked softly, trying to reach her in the deepest corners of their mind where she retreated to hide from the pain. She was there but refused to come out or even talk to him, too shaken up by the experience. There were still traces of the poison in his body and, what was worse, there was silver around his neck again, weighing him down, draining the little strength he had.

His wrists were free this time but he could barely move anyway, too exhausted to even lift a finger. A slight haze was covering his mind, his brain felt like it was working only at half capacity. Sedatives. The woman, Kate, gave him sedatives, he remembered now. That’s why he only suffered for maybe half an hour and slept through the rest. Why did she do that? She seemed convinced that Adira was trying to kill her niece, why the hell would she want to show mercy to him? Unless it was all part of some devious plan, and much greater torture and suffering were yet to come? Nick had to suppress a sniffle, not wanting to let his eventual observers know that he was awake.

While desperately trying to figure out what to do he must have fallen asleep because he felt way more rested when he woke up again, his mind clear and his body somewhat compliant. He could maybe even get up and try to run if he wanted to but that would be stupid. Wherever he was now, it wasn’t his cage, and he certainly wasn’t laying on the hard, cold tiled floor anymore. No, he was in bed, on a soft mattress, covered by a thick blanket. Everything around him smelled almost heavenly, so sweet and spicy that Nick was sure there was a blissful smile forcing itself on his lips.

It even seemed to soothe Adira enough to crawl out of the corner. “I told you so,” she growled. It was supposed to sound angry but she was so exhausted it came out as a resigned sigh.

“Yes, you did. Sorry I didn’t listen to you. But I still stand behind not hurting Zoe.” Adira was about to protest but Nick interrupted her. “I know you wouldn’t hurt her intentionally, but damn, your teeth are razor-sharp, you really think you could hold her hostage without breaking her skin? Not to mention that she’d be frightened of us.”

The wolf snarled at him, curling up on the floor. “You are so soft.”

“True. But so are you, my big bad wolf.”

“Hmm.” Adira sighed again, resting her head against her front paws and closing her eyes. “We’re doomed.”

Nick knew that normally she would argue way harder but the wolfsbane weakened her more than she would ever admit. And the silver wasn’t exactly helping her regain her strength.

He tried to focus his senses outwards, trying to find out where he was without actually opening his eyes. There seemed to be a regular, quiet breathing sound coming from somewhere near his legs. Someone was sleeping next to him? He squinted carefully and looked around, taken aback by where he was.

There was not much light to illuminate Nick’s immediate surroundings, a thick drape was covering the window and only a couple of beams of sunlight managed to pass around it. Nick wasn’t sure what he was expecting, probably another cage, but from what he saw it was obvious that the room where he was currently located wasn’t a cell.

It was someone’s bedroom, tastefully designed and furnished. The pleasant impression was spoiled by the messy state of the room, there was a huge pile of clothes on a chair in the corner, plus a couple of random pieces scattered over the floor or thrown over the dresser. There was even a bra hanging from the doorknob. The vanity table next to the bed was overflowing with various lipsticks, mascaras, tiny bottles and tubes of Goddess-knows-what, and other mysterious objects. A large hairbrush was laying under the table, a pile of long, dark hair intertwined between the spikes.

Hearing the person next to him stirr a bit from their sleep, Nick turned his head, immediately looking away when he realized who it was. Zoe was curled up on the blanket next to his leg, which was problematic on its own. The fact that she was completely naked made Nick panic. They nearly overdosed him with wolfsbane when they saw Adira playing with the girl. What were they going to do upon finding her naked in his bed?

He quickly sat up, ignoring his vision whirling and turning black for a few moments, and threw the blanket over Zoe to cover her. “The kid is adorable,” Adira hummed in agreement, “but we need to get out of here before she gets us into more trouble.”

A quick glance towards the bedroom door revealed that it was too late. Nick’s heart sank when he noticed Kate standing there, watching him quietly with her arms crossed in front of her chest. s**t. He stared at her, trying to fight against both his and Adira’s panic. Neither of them wanted to go back into that cage. Neither of them wanted another dose of the wolfsbane. “Say something!” Adira hissed at him, her lips rolled back into a snarl, the fur on her back and tail bristled. She wanted to at least give them a fight this time and couldn’t, thanks to the stupid silver on his neck.

Nick tried to speak, but his panicking brain wasn’t cooperating very much. “I-I didn’t touch her, I swear, she just-” The woman took a step towards the bed, and Nick quickly scrambled away from her until his back was against the headboard. Taking quick, shallow breaths, he hugged his knees, carefully watching her. She didn’t look angry but it didn’t necessarily mean she wasn’t.

“It’s alright,” she said quietly, “nobody will hurt you anymore.” That sounded a bit too good to be true. Nick chose to stay quiet, not wanting to f**k it up by saying something stupid. The way she ran her hand through her long hair, lifting the tresses up a bit and letting them fall down like a black waterfall, was strangely captivating, and Nick had to remind himself not to stare at her too much. Whatever was going on right now, he was still a prisoner and he couldn’t afford to antagonize her.

Kate shook her head upon looking at Zoe. “Honey?” She walked to the bed and leaned over the girl, gently touching her shoulder. “Zoe.” The girl just frowned, murmured something unintelligible, and pulled the blanket closer to her body. Letting out a resigned sigh, Kate straightened up and looked at Nick again. “You think you can get up?”

Not letting his eyes off the woman for a second, Nick nodded and moved closer to the edge of the bed. His muscles were sore and tired but they seemed to be willing to support his weight. His vision rocked slightly when he stood up and he had to lean against the wall for a moment. Kate made a small step closer, clearly wanting to help him, but seeing his frightened face she chose to stay back, rightly guessing he wouldn’t really appreciate her touching him right now. She carefully scooped up Zoe instead, moving her to the center of the big bed so she wouldn’t be in constant danger of falling off.

Her fingers gently brushed dark locks off the girl’s face. “That cat of hers is going to be the death of me,” she mumbled before looking at Nick again. “Come on.” Motioning at him to follow her, she turned around to leave the room, only now noticing the bra on the doorknob. “Oops,” she chuckled, quickly grabbing it and tossing it on the chair cloth pile. “Sorry for the mess, I’m not the most organized person around.”

That much was obvious but Nick kept his mouth shut, not sure what to think of her sudden friendliness. It seemed genuine and she did bring him to her home, let him sleep in her bed. Why?

The living room didn’t look much better than Kate’s bedroom. There were fewer clothes scattered around but empty takeout and pizza boxes made up for it. A sink full of dirty dishes didn’t really surprise Nick either. It looked like aunt Kate wasn’t just a bad cook but also a slob, at least as long as it came to keeping her place clean. There was a pillow and a blanket on the couch and Nick had to wonder what the hell was happening. A few hours ago he was locked up in a cage, chained to a f*****g wall. And now she was sleeping on a couch while he was in her bed?

“Coffee?” she asked him with a brief smile and Nick nodded hesitantly. She had one of those big fancy coffee machines where you just press a button and it grinds the beans and makes you a fresh cup of the delicious hot liquid. It looked like she used it a lot but probably hasn’t cleaned it since she got it.

When she turned around and rose up on her tiptoes to reach for a clean cup, Nick had to force himself to stop staring at her butt. She was wearing tight leggings with little flowers on them and a plain white T-shirt, her hair looking even darker in contrast with the white fabric. What the hell was wrong with him? She kidnapped him, kept him locked up in a f*****g cage, and he was drooling over her ass when he should have been figuring a way to get out of there.

The machine beeped and Kate took the cup, setting it on a table and pointing at one of the chairs. “You should probably sit down, you look like you need it.”

Yes, Nick did feel exhausted as if he had just finished the Appalachian trail and not walked from one room to another. He lowered himself into the chair and grabbed the coffee, warming his fingers on the hot mug. “Thanks,” he muttered, still not sure what to make of this.

“Well, that’s the least I could do, given everything,” she chuckled nervously, running her hand through her hair again. “Look, I… I’m not really good at this, but whatever. I’m sorry, okay? We f****d up, you got caught up in our mess, and… well… I’m sorry.” She sighed, her shoulders slumping as she avoided his gaze and turned to put another cup into the coffee machine.

Alright, that was new. Nick allowed himself a little bit of hope. Perhaps there was a way for him to get out of this. “Okay,” he replied quietly, not really sure what to say. The most polite thing would probably be to say that it was alright, or that he accepted her apology. But there was no way he could make it sound sincere enough. Plus, it still wasn’t clear what did all this mean for him. He might have been out of the cage but there was still silver around his neck and the goons with wolfsbane darts could be waiting behind any corner.

“Right,” Kate sighed again, leaning against the counter with her cup in hand, “I didn’t really expect you to forgive me. I was just hoping to talk to you in peace without your wolf tearing me to shreds. Hence the silver. Sorry about that too.” She leaned over the counter, showing her perfect butt again, and fished out a small key from a box overflowing with pens, scissors, toothpicks, rubber bands, and random pieces of string.

Adira raised her head in careful expectation, no doubt ready to shift and pounce on the woman the very second the silver was off Nick’s neck. He tried to calm her down but something of her anger must have shown up in his expression because Kate hesitated.

“Listen, I’m not going to give this to you,” she raised the key up, “unless you can promise me you will not unleash some bloody f*****g c*****e around here. Adira was it, right? I am truly sorry for what happened, Adira. It was a huge misunderstanding and I’m eternally grateful to you that you didn’t harm Zoe. But I promise you are safe now, both of you, and I was hoping we could talk about this like civilized creatures.”