Chapter 10
2351 Words
Nick took his time, sipping the delicious coffee while he had a quick exchange of opinions with his wolf. “She’s not exactly happy,” he told Kate, “but she will not hurt anyone.” The same promise that had gotten them in trouble before. It seemed different this time, though, and Nick always preferred a peaceful resolution rather than fighting.
“Good.” She watched him for a moment, probably trying to guess whether he was lying to her or not, but she did eventually place the key on the table in front of him.
Nick slowly reached for it, still worried that it was some kind of a mean trick, and got rid of the lock, letting the chain fall down on the floor. The sudden wave of strength almost forced a victorious roar through his lips, and he wasn’t exactly sure whether it was his own or Adira’s. He gripped the table so hard his knuckles turned white, fighting against the wolf’s instincts that commanded them to shift immediately and run away from that place, even if they had to jump out of a window to get out. “Not… yet…” he growled at Adira, struggling to maintain control.
“WHY?!” she roared. “We’ll just end up back in chains if we stay here!”
Yes, there was always that option. But it didn’t seem very probable right now. “We still don’t know what’s going on here. We need more information. Let’s just talk to her.”
“Who cares what’s going on?” she snapped at him. “It’s not our f*****g problem!”
That was true but Nick was curious. What could have possibly been so bad and important that it forced these people, no, scratch that, these werecats to die for it and to kidnap random people off the streets? “It’s Zoe’s problem,” he pointed out. Adira let out an exasperated growl but backed off and stopped trying to take over.
Kate watched Nick carefully the whole time, her stance suggesting she was ready to fight, her eyes bright yellow, her teeth and nails longer and sharper. The idea of the skinny woman fighting against them made Adira chuckle. “Cute,” she smirked. “Can I just jump on her for fun?”
The image of him leaping forward, shifting mid-air, and landing on Kate, flashed through Nick’s mind. Adira’s paws landed on Kate’s shoulders, not hurting her, just holding her down, and her teeth snapped right next to the woman’s neck. In the wolf’s imagination, Kate had so comically frightened expression that Nick had to chuckle as well before chasing the image away. “No way. You want to get us in trouble again? Plus, we would hardly be able to shift quickly like that.”
“Oh, don’t tell me you wouldn’t like feeling her body under yours and making her submit to you. You are an Alpha, you can’t deny that. A truly shitty Alpha, but still.”
It was probably a good thing he was sitting behind a table and Kate couldn’t see his body’s reaction to those words and images Adira kept putting in his head. That would be rather embarrassing. “I don’t think cats submit so easily,” he mumbled, feeling his cheeks turning red. “And stop it, this is a serious situation and you are too distracting!”
He had to clear his throat before speaking again, making sure that all parts of his body, except for his inconveniently erect p***s, were back to their original human shape. “Sorry, it’s all good. We just had a… heated debate.”
“Oh yes, I can sympathize with that,” Kate smirked. “I’ve had plenty of those in my life.”
“So, uh…” Nick said hesitantly, “does this… mean I can go?”
Kate bit on her lower lip and avoided his look, causing Adira to growl angrily. “See?! I told you! We need to run now, while we still can!”
“No, wait!” Kate noticed his anger and quickly put the cup down, raising her hands. “Just… hear me out, please? If you still choose to leave after that, I will not stop you.” Nick narrowed his eyes, watching her carefully, but she didn’t seem to be lying. Much to her relief, he nodded sharply. “Thank you. Look, I told you, we are at war. And our enemies are a big threat, not just to us, but to the entire world. I know it sounds cheesy, but that’s how it is. They covered their tracks well after our last encounter but we managed to find them here. And so far, they don’t know about us, we still have an element of surprise we can use to our advantage. There are no other supernaturals in this city, so they feel safe here. But if they spot a random werewolf wandering through the streets, they are going to start looking around more carefully, and eventually notice us as well.”
Nick frowned. That was a lot of words with no real explanation of anything. Kate noticed his displeasure and quickly continued, her voice sounding a bit more desperate. “Listen, all I’m asking is for you to stay here for a few days. Didn’t you say you were looking for a place to live? There are like five empty apartments in this building, you’ll get food, you’ll get whatever you ask for. Just give us a few days to finally deal with this threat. I swear you are safe now.”
Yes, he was looking for a place to stay for a couple of days to get his s**t together, and a rent-free apartment sounded great. But in a place where everybody hated him? Where he has been imprisoned and tortured? And let's not forget that if the werecats were truly at war with someone, the enemy could discover their hideout at any time and easily burn it to the ground.
“So many arguments against it and yet, you are still considering it,” Adira sighed. “We really are doomed.”
Nick chuckled. “Yea, Stockholm syndrome is some real shit.” He turned to Kate, who was watching him nervously. “I’m not saying I agree to this. But I want to know what’s going on here, not just this vague ‘we are at war’ bullshit. Who are these birds, why are you at war with them? How are they a threat to the entire world? Because yes, it does sound cheesy.”
“You are going to think I’m insane if I tell you.”
Nick finished the delicious coffee and smirked at her. “Joke’s on you, I already think that.” He wasn’t exactly sure why was he suddenly being so brave and fearless around her when just minutes ago he was frightened and ready to beg her to not hurt him again. But now that he was no longer surrounded by silver and his senses were back to their usual sharpness, Kate’s scent was almost intoxicating. Even Adira seemed to have calmed down, taking deep breaths, fighting a smile.
“I can hardly blame you for that,” she grinned. “Do you want some food?” She sniffed the contents of one of the takeout boxes on the counter, her face twisting in disgust. “Okay, not this one. What about that?” There were chopsticks sticking out of the next box and Kate grabbed them, putting a couple of long noodles into her mouth, rolling them over her tongue for a moment. “Uh, probably not.” She swallowed the bite but put the box back down. “Oh, wait, pizza! We had pizza yesterday, that should still be good.”
The pizza boxes were on the coffee table, a whole pile of them, and Nick had to chuckle when Kate erratically searched through them to find something edible. “Ha!” A victorious smirk spread on her face and she put one of the boxes on the table in front of him, taking the empty coffee cup away and carefully placing it on the top of the dishes pile in the sink. The whole thing rocked back and forth slightly but, by some miracle, nothing fell down.
The crust was hard as a rock but the rest of the pizza was still edible. In fact, Nick felt so famished that it tasted like the most delicious meal he has ever eaten in his entire life. His mouth stuffed with food, he mumbled a quiet thank you, earning a shy smile from Kate. “Sorry, I’m not really the tidy housewife type. I know I should be, especially now with Zoe, but… ugh.” She made a disgusted face and waved her hand. “So, I see she told you about the birds?”
“Nothing specific, really,” Nick shrugged. “Just that they killed her mom.”
He caught a glimpse of sadness and pain taking over Kate’s expression before she quickly turned away from him. “Great,” she mumbled, “she hates me but she talks to a complete stranger.” It sounded almost as if she was holding back tears and Nick immediately felt sorry for her.
“She doesn’t hate you,” he tried to comfort her before realizing how incredibly inappropriate his words were. He was an outsider, knew nothing about this family, it was not his place to judge or comment on their relationship in any way. “I mean… I’m sorry, I’ll just shut up.”
“Ha, I’d like to see that happening,” Adira snickered.
Kate looked back at him, her head tilted to the side. “What did she tell you about me?” She noticed his hesitation and gave him a sad smile. “I’m not angry with you, I’m glad she has someone to talk to. Even if it’s a dog,” she smirked. “I guess all kids like dogs.”
“Let me out, I’ll show that stupid cat what a dog looks like!”
Nick failed to hold back a chuckle. “Adira doesn’t appreciate your joke very much.” At least he hoped it was a joke. The woman was so damn confusing, one moment she was all careful and apologetic, the next one she was insulting him. And at some moments, she looked almost vulnerable. Nick realized she wasn’t much older than him and not only did she already have to fight in some mysterious war but also had to take care of a seven-year-old who had just lost a mother. He could not possibly imagine going through something like that. He was barely able to take care of himself, let alone be responsible for a child!
“She said you were really cool,” he carefully picked his words, “I got the feeling that she really likes you.”
“But?” Of course Kate noticed that he was telling her only part of the story.
Nick ran his hand through his short brown hair. “You fight in a war, just like her mother. I think she’s afraid of getting close to you because-”
“Because she’s afraid I’ll die like Em did,” Kate finished his sentence, closing her eyes for a moment. “s**t,” she sighed, “this is all so messed up.”
Was she mad at him for sticking his nose into their family business? Nick really had to be careful. She might have told him he was safe and nobody was going to hurt him but that could change at any moment. And while Nick was free to run and shift now, the stupid tranquilizer guns proved to be more than efficient against him. And Adira.
“Mhm,” she growled, “I’d very much like to see you shoving it up those guys’ asses and pulling the trigger.”
Kate shook her head before turning to him again, looking a bit lost in thoughts for a moment. “Right. Sorry, I… Thanks for telling me. So, you still want to know what is all this about? Fine. Just please, when you laugh, do it quietly, don’t wake up Zoe.”
“I won’t laugh.” That would be stupid and he was a smart guy. Or at least he liked to think he was.
Kate rolled her eyes. “Yes, you will. Alright, let’s get this over with. We are fighting this war because the werepigeons are trying to take over the world.”
“What the f**k did she just say?” Adira rolled on her back and started laughing uncontrollably and no matter how hard Nick fought against it, a grin was forcing itself on his face as well.
Were all these people insane? Was this some sort of a twisted reverse crazy cat lady scenario? Where the lady was normal and the cats were nutjobs? Whatever it was, it only made them more dangerous. But arguing with armed crazy people was a suicide and Nick just decided to go along with it until it was safe for him to disappear.
***
Hello guys, I have a small announcement for you. As those of you that f.ollow my F.acebook page (@AuthorAnnaSvoboda) already know, this book will be on updates every other day instead of on daily updates. It will remain free, no worries about that, and you will definitely get the whole story, since it is written already. But I need more time to work on my next book (yes, it is Whatever It Takes 3, yay!) so it will be ready for you by the time the Werepigeon Apocalypse is done.
I truly hope you won’t start hating me because of this but I am too stressed out by not writing fast enough, which is actually causing me to write even slower, and I would hate for it to turn into a writer’s block.
Next update: Friday
- Writer
