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

Chapter 22

Of course Kate expected Nick to eventually ask her what she wanted. Yet, the question still caught her unprepared. “I don’t know. I can’t… I can’t think about it right now.” How could they be just sitting here, talking about families, when Zoe was missing? When she was somewhere alone, frightened, maybe even in pain? The birds have already proven they will stop at nothing.

“Right,” Nick nodded, looking a bit ashamed. “I’m sorry.”

His arms around her felt so good she never wanted him to let go of her. Stupid mate thing. This was not natural. She was being vulnerable in front of him and that was unacceptable in her world. Still, she couldn’t help herself but snuggle closer to him and deeply inhale his scent.

She was so sure he was going to leave. After what she told him, after the pain her words caused him. She felt it through that damn bond they shared for some cosmic reason, she felt his pain as if it was her own. That’s how she knew she went too far, the wave of agony that washed over Nick when Kate mentioned rejection seeped through the link to her as well. She was literally hurting herself through him. How ironic.

Not that she actually wanted to do it. Or maybe she did. She liked having Nick around but this mate thing was too serious for her. And serious was scary for more reasons than just losing independence. No, letting someone close into her life also meant you had someone to lose. And Kate has already lost so much that she wasn’t sure she could take it.

And she was about to lose even more now that her stupidity dragged poor Zoe into this conflict as well. It looked like all Kate did was f*****g up the lives of everyone around her. Em, Nick. And now an innocent child. And yet, she was here, lying on a couch, safe, hugged, comforted, while her niece was in the talons of a flock of murderous werepigeons. What a despicable creature she was!

“You shagging the dog?” Victoria’s annoying voice sounded through the mind link.

Kate growled, causing Nick to pull his hand back from her shoulder, probably thinking he did something to upset her. “It’s alright,” she whispered even though the werecat behind the door probably heard her anyway. “Come in, Vicky!”

A tall, dark-skinned woman entered, a contemptuous smirk on her face. “Well, sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt… something.” A corner of her mouth rose up even higher when her eyes landed on Nick. “You sure he doesn’t have fleas or something?”

“Shut up, Vicky.” Cats were such cunts most of the time, it was hell to be around them.

Fortunately, Nick seemed to be quite cool, chuckling over the lame insult. “Shouldn’t you go s**t into some poor kid’s sandbox, pussycat?”

Victoria’s lips rolled back and she hissed violently, taking a step towards Nick while her fingers turned into sharp claws, her fangs sticking out of her mouth. And that wasn’t even one of the most short-tempered cats in the gang.

“Hey!” Kate decided to put an end to this and stood up. “This one is mine!” Fatim supported her and Kate knew her eyes were probably bright yellow at that moment. “You want a dog to f**k around with, get your own, Vicky. But move in his direction again and I will rip that stupid head of yours off your neck. Are we clear?!”

The other woman fumed, clearly furious, but she stepped back. She was not a fighter, she knew damn well there was no way she could win against Kate. Not many cats could. “Whatever,” she shrugged, “I wouldn’t let a filthy canine into my bed anyway.”

“Your loss,” Kate smirked, “their tongue skills are quite something.” Unable to help herself from teasing Vicky even further, Kate stuck her own tongue out and wiggled the tip up and down.

Victoria made a retching sound and turned around, heading for Grams’ desk. Red from head to toe, Nick fidgeted on the couch, clearly nervous about their exchange. It might have seemed like Kate and Vicky hated each other while in fact, this was an absolutely normal conversation the cats tended to have. No hard feelings on either side, Kate even heard the other cat chuckle quietly when she fiddled with Grams’ computer.

“Their security is quite something,” Vicky mumbled, staring at the screen. “I didn’t see Zoe on any of the camera feeds but it’s quite possible there is a separate subnet that handles the areas we haven't been able to get into.”

Kate leaned against the wall and sighed, the mere mention of Zoe summoning all the fear and desperation back into her mind. Nick seemed intrigued, cautiously moving behind Vicky’s back to peek at the screen as well, making sure to stay at a safe distance so as not to make her feel threatened. He really did know his way around cats. “How did you get access to their system?” he asked.

“It wasn’t that hard,” a smug smirk rested on Victoria’s face. “I just gave one of the lab assistants a flash drive with my nudes on it.”

With a reluctant admiration, Nick nodded. “And a trojan to open a backdoor port. Smart. Stupid users are always the weakest point of any security system.”

“Well, look at that,” Vicky raised an eyebrow, tilting her head to the side as she glanced back at the werewolf. “I didn’t know chihuahuas even had brains.”

He just rolled his eyes. “I’m a special breed. Which ports are you using?”

“I have a rolling algorithm that changes them every few minutes to avoid discovery,” Vicky answered seriously, all contempt and mockery gone from her voice. They continued to debate things Kate had no idea about. Hell, she didn’t even understand most of the words they were using.

Of course Nick knew what Vicky was talking about, even though he seemed to only have a basic understanding of the topic. He was so smart and capable which made Kate feel like the stupidest and most useless piece of s**t in the entire universe. Damn, she almost started crying again but managed to control herself, not wanting to disturb their conversation with her pathetic sobbing and sniffling. They were at least doing something that could help Zoe while she was just standing around using up their oxygen.

*-*-*

Despite her earlier hostility, Vicky has actually proven to be quite a normal person. Kate’s words, no matter how incredibly embarrassed they made Nick feel, stopped the dark-skinned woman from openly attacking him again. And it was heartwarming to hear his mate publicly claim him as hers like that. Even if was only as a s*x toy. But it was a start. Also, and he would never admit that one out loud, a huge ego booster. Seriously, how often do you get praised for your tongue skills in front of other people?

Information technologies have always been one of Nick’s passions, much to his father’s dismay. Alpha Christopher came from a long line of traditionalists and sometimes it seemed he would prefer it if the pack grounds didn’t even have electricity. Let alone a fiber internet connection.

A few careful questions about the Trojan Vicky was using to break into the research facility systems seemed to have earned him the woman’s respect, even though he didn’t really know much about it. She didn’t stop with the silly dog insults (honestly, from someone so intelligent Nick would expect something smarter) but they were so lame even Adira ignored them.

Kate looked so lost and desperate, on the verge of breaking into tears again, that Nick quickly moved back to her and wrapped his arms around her. No matter how many times he did it, it still felt amazing. She tensed up for a moment, her brows forming a small crease on her forehead as she frowned. At first, Nick thought it was because of him but then he noticed Vicky was doing the same thing. Talking to someone through the mindlink, most likely.

“Any news?” he asked with a mix of fear and hope.

Kate sighed and shook her head. “Nothing new. But…” There was nervosity in her expression when she looked up at him, clearly not sure whether she should continue. Nick smiled to encourage her. “Well… Did you really mean it? When you said you wanted to help?”

“Of course I did.” That answer didn’t require even a split second of thinking over it. “What do you need?”

“Well, it’s not really your help we could use but Adira’s.”

The wolf smirked viciously. “Oh, now the kitties come crawling to me. Whatever, if it helps Zoe, I’m in. Who are we supposed to kill?”

It was not really an assassination mission but Adira seemed to be enjoying it nonetheless. The area of the research facility the birds were using for their devious science-fiction project was huge. The cats kept watch on the official entrances but couldn’t exactly patrol the entire fence, it would take them hours to run around it on their tiny feet. With Adira’s speed and stamina, she and Nick could do it in under an hour.

It was a pitch-black night and Adira’s pitch-black fur allowed them to be almost invisible. Still, they kept moving slowly, carefully listening to the sounds of the night, making sure they weren’t spotted by a random bird. The cats suspected that there was a hidden entrance to the facility, because some of the birds and even humans who kept appearing inside never passed through one of the main gates. Since it was most likely going to be heavily guarded, the werecats never looked for it. But now it became a vital part of the plan to rescue Zoe.

Despite the dire situation, Adira was more than thrilled to go on a run, and Nick couldn’t exactly hold it against her. In all their time together, she could only enjoy controlling their body once. The other two times ended in disasters neither of them wanted to repeat.

Nick didn’t hear or see anything suspicious but Adira suddenly froze in her tracks and growled quietly. Her night vision was absolutely amazing, she saw everything almost as clearly as if it was dusk and not close to midnight. It was not a movement that caught her attention, the bird was absolutely still, but a familiar shape. The pigeon was sitting on the top of the fence, clearly visible to the wolf’s eyes even in the dim starlight.

“I don’t think he saw us,” Nick whispered, “they have shitty night vision.”

Adira nodded and tried to back off as quietly as she possibly could. “You think we are good? And why are we whispering?”

“Right, sorry.” There really was no reason to whisper when they were talking to each other in their mind. It just felt natural. “I think we are good. Let’s look around, maybe he was guarding the secret entrance.”

They were on a dusty road between two freaking cornfields, that was what passed as “outside” and “nature” around here. Adira turned around to find a way through the stalks that wouldn’t shout “a huge wolf passed through here” to whoever walked around. The flapping of the wings sounded almost obscenely loud in the quiet of the night. Another pigeon landed on the ground about thirty feet from them, a distance too great to cover in one leap.

Adira’s entire body was prepared for a fight in microseconds, her lips rolling back from her sharp teeth in a soundless snarl, her muscles clenching, ready to pounce. She kept still for a moment, watching and listening, but it seemed it was just this one bird. It must have already called reinforcements through their mind link though. And while Nick had no idea how exactly did a flock of birds plan on fighting a bigass wolf, he didn’t exactly want to stick around to find out. Just in case they came up with some dirty play like the wolfsbane.

Adira took a step forward, ready to kill at least one bird before they retreated, but Nick stopped her. Something was not right. Despite the mortal danger the pigeon was in, it didn’t move. No, it just sat there, watching Adira. It even lowered its head a bit, almost as a sign of submission.

“I could kill that thing!” Adira growled impatiently.

“I know,” Nick nodded. “But that bird must know it too. And yet, it’s still there. It clearly wants something from us.”

Adira mumbled something about a gruesome death and suicidal people but took a step back and lowered her head as well. The bird watched her for a moment and when it became obvious she wasn’t going to pounce on it and tear it to shreds, its shape shimmered and the pigeon shifted into an old woman. She was in her sixties or maybe seventies, with short white hair sticking out in weird angles as if she cut it herself in front of a mirror. Her wrinkled skin was covered in bruises of various ages and colors and she shivered in the cold night’s breeze.

“Thank you.” The woman had to clear her throat before saying those words and it almost sounded as if she hadn't spoken to anyone in some time. “I…” she hesitated, looking around and listening for a moment. Adira did the same but couldn’t hear anything suspicious, no other birds seemed to be in the immediate vicinity. The paws made almost no sound plopping over the dirt road as the wolf quickly crossed the distance to the naked woman.

The pigeon lady was shaking like a leaf and the cold probably had very little to do with it at that very moment. No, staring right into the mouth of a huge wolf most likely overshadowed any discomfort her body was experiencing. She slid down to her knees, raising her hands in a gesture of surrender.

“Step away from her. She’s too frightened to say anything.”

“She should be,” Adira rumbled but obeyed, sitting down a few feet away from the woman.

Her eyes not leaving Adira for a second, the woman hugged her chest, covering her saggy breasts. Nick wasn’t looking. He might have been a hormone-driven teenager when it came to having s*x with Kate, but grannies were not his thing.

“You… you are with the cats, right? I have wanted to talk to them for a while but I know they would just kill me on sight. I was hoping you would be different. The girl said you would be.” The scared looks in Adira’s direction made it obvious she was expecting the wolf to jump on her and devour her on the spot. Still, she didn’t move or try to escape. And, as far as it seemed, she didn’t call any of her friends either.

“Zoe? She has talked to Zoe?” Nick tried not to let his hopes up too high.

The woman nodded as if she guessed what he was thinking about. “Yes, I was charged with taking care of her. And… I want to help you rescue her.”

***

Next update: Monday