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

Chapter 7

Nick hesitantly wrapped his arms around Zoe who was hugging his chest as if her life depended on it. Damn, how did she get so attached to him? And what was worse, how did he get so attached to her? Her motives were actually understandable, she was feeling lost after the death of her mother, surrounded by people who were fighting in a war and thus were in constant danger of dying suddenly. So she found herself someone who wouldn’t abandon her because he was literally chained to a wall and locked up in a cage. Except Nick was about to run away.

“She’ll live,” Adira growled and although she tried to sound uninterested, there was a pinch of guilt in her words as well. “The kitten is strong, she has her family here, she’ll survive. But we won’t, especially if someone comes here and finds us with their young one in your arms!”

The wolf had a point. Nick didn’t even want to imagine what would Grams or her goons do if they found him roaming free and touching their child. “Thank you, Zoe. But don’t you have your own family? Your… gang, was it?”

“So?” she shrugged. “My friend Pete from science class has one family with his mom and one family with his dad.” Pulling away from him, she gave him a sad look. “You want to leave, don’t you? Because they’ve been mean to you and hurt you. It’s alright. Leila understands. She said that your wolf must hate it here. I sometimes hate it here too”

Nick didn’t know what to say. “I… I don’t really belong here, kitten.” Yes, Grams made that pretty clear. “People around here don’t like wolves very much. I’m glad you and Leila like me but others don’t feel the same way, especially your grandmother.”

“They’re dummies,” Zoe sighed and got up, extending her hand towards him. “And Grams isn’t really my grandmother. She’s the gang’s Prime, she just acts like it for everyone.”

Interesting, it seemed that in the cat's hierarchy this Prime served as a combination of an Alpha and a Luna. “How about you ponder over theoretical questions when we aren’t in danger?” Adira nudged him to move and Nick stood up, grabbing the keys in one hand and Zoe’s tiny hand in another.

After he unlocked the cage door, Nick hesitated. He made a promise to the girl, didn’t he? “You still want to see my wolf?” he asked carefully. For once, Adira didn’t protest, perhaps she hoped that if they shifted, she would just run outside and not let Nick waste any more time. Zoe let go of Nick’s hand to clap excitedly but Nick wasn’t sure she knew what she was getting into. “Really? Adira is very big and she looks kinda scary, are you sure you won’t be afraid of her?” The last thing he needed now was for the girl to run away screaming after she had seen his wolf form.

But Zoe didn’t seem like she would react that way. In fact, she hissed angrily, and Nick would swear her teeth got a bit longer and sharper for a moment before returning to their original shape. “I’m not afraid of anything!” Arms crossed in front of her chest, her chin held up, narrow eyes watching him, she truly looked like a tiny fearless warrior.

“Alright. Turn around.” Zoe hesitated and Nick rolled his eyes. “I need to take my clothes off.”

“Eww.” She turned so swiftly that her hair flew around her like a cape. “Pete showed me his peepee. You boys are disgusting.”

Holding back a chuckle, Nick quickly undressed. He decided to not comment on her words, the birds and bees talk was definitely not his responsibility. “Adira? I know that you are scared and angry. But you will not hurt anyone, understand?” A low growl was the only response he got. “I mean it! This girl has been through enough for us to add to it by accidentally killing or maiming her aunt or uncle or whatever. And unless you promise me that, I will not let you take over.”

“I’m sure I’m going to horribly regret this,” Adira huffed after a few moments, “but fine. I swear I won’t hurt anyone.”

Nick could tell how much she hated him for making her say it and that she was certain it was only going to get them in trouble. But this was a thing he was not willing to debate. “Good,” he nodded at her, retreating into the back of their shared mind. Releasing control of his own body still felt strange and unpleasant but at least it didn’t frighten him anymore. The pain was way weaker than the last time, really nothing compared to what he had been through with the silver chains.

Adira stretched her legs before taking a step towards Zoe, softly nudging the girl’s shoulder with her snout. No matter how hard she tried to hide it from him, Nick could tell that his big bad wolf loved Zoe just as much as he did.

Zoe slowly turned around and then just stood there for a moment, staring at Adira with her mouth wide open. She didn’t look scared, though, more like absolutely astonished. “Wow,” she breathed out, hesitantly raising her hand to Adira’s head. Being a few inches taller than the girl, Adira had to lower her head and let Zoe run her little fingers through the smooth fur. “You are so beautiful,” the girl whispered, “and black, like Leila! And soooo big!”

When Adira playfully licked her cheek, Zoe squealed and tried to push her away, giggling uncontrollably. “Are you wagging your tail, you big, mean beast?” Nick poked her, fully aware that the strong feeling of love towards the child wasn’t just his own.

“Instinctive reaction,” she rolled her eyes in response and continued to tease Zoe, jumping to the side and snapping her mouth inches away from the girl's stomach.

“Bad wolf!” Zoe laughed heartily and smacked the top of Adira’s head, which only encouraged the animal to pretend to attack her again, the sharp teeth nearly touching the child’s neck.

“Don’t worry, I’m being careful,” Adira sensed Nick’s uneasiness from such a violent game and tried to comfort him. “I think her cat likes it too.”

Nick smirked, deciding to trust her. “Now who’s acting like an overgrown puppy.”

“Well, I didn’t really have many chances to have fun until n-”

“NO!” A sharp scream from the door made them freeze in place. Zoe’s aunt was standing there, watching them in absolute horror. Under normal circumstances, Nick would enjoy the sight of her in tiny shorts and a loose T-shirt with an image of a sleeping cat on it, most likely her pajamas. But her presence there now meant only trouble.

Adira’s paws made no sound on the tiled floor as she turned to face the woman, a loud growl thundering in her chest. The wolf’s current stance had nothing in common with how playful she was just seconds ago. No, now she was ready to fight.

Kate raised her hands, taking quick, shallow breaths, no doubt trying to fight the rising panic. “Please,” she pleaded desperately, “don’t hurt her. She’s just a child.”

Zoe’s eyes jumped between the wolf and her aunt, an echo of a smile still on her face, she clearly had no idea why Kate was so upset. To Nick it was obvious. The woman walked through the door to see her own niece being attacked by a bigass wolf. It was not hard to guess what conclusion she reached from that. “Step aside from Zoe,” he told Adira, “we need to convince her we never wanted to hurt the child.”

The wolf didn’t move or even react to his words in any way. Because their minds were so closely connected, Nick could clearly see what Adira was planning and he knew he needed to stop her. “Adira, don’t do that. We will find another way. You promised!”

Another loud growl reverberated through the wolf’s body, this time Adira rolled back her lips, displaying her long, sharp teeth. Even Zoe noticed something was not quite right, the faint smile disappearing from her face, replaced by worry. Adira moved closer to the girl, not letting her eyes off Kate for a second.

“I won’t let you do that!” Although there was nothing Nick could do to stop her, he still tried, struggling for control. “You will not be using Zoe as a f*****g living shield!” Adira moved her mouth to the girl’s arm intending to grab it and take Zoe hostage to make sure the others let them out. Nick couldn’t possibly let that happen. “I will reject you!” he screamed out, not knowing what else to say or do.

Adira hesitated. “You can’t reject your wolf.”

“Like hell you can’t! I might not be able to get rid of you, but I swear to the Goddess that if you do this, I will never speak to you again and I will lock you up somewhere in a corner of my mind and NEVER let you out!” He knew he could do that. While he couldn’t fight her off now, eventually she was going to have to give him his body back. And once she did that, he could just choose not to shift again, shutting Adira out of his mind, ignoring her completely. It would be hard and not very comfortable, but it was possible and they both knew it.

Kate took a small step forward, her hands still up in the air, a couple of tears rolling down her cheeks. “Please,” she begged the wolf quietly. “I’m sorry. You-you can go, just please, don’t hurt the girl.”

“Adira, please,” Nick chimed in, “you like Zoe too. Do you really want her to be frightened of you?”

He could sense the conflicting emotion raging wildly through Adira’s mind. She was scared, the thought of being back in chains almost made her lose control over her fear. But when Zoe turned at her, a warm smile on her naive face, Adira took a step back, slowly moving away from the girl. “Thank you.” Nick made sure she felt the huge wave of relief that washed over him.

Kate let out a shaky breath and closed her eyes for a moment. “Thank you,” she said quietly before turning to the girl. “Zoe? Could you come over here, please?” She tried to sound calm but couldn’t keep her voice steady.

“Isn’t Nick’s wolf just amazing?” The girl grinned, completely oblivious to the situation, which was probably for the best.

Nick registered a sudden surge of adrenaline as Adira’s head jerked towards the door and before he could even realize what was happening, she leaped outside of the cage. She didn’t make it far, though. There were quiet puffing sounds and for each of them, there was a sharp pinching pain in Adira’s side or legs. Tranquilizer guns, they were shooting f*****g darts at them like at some wild animal loose on the streets. Except these darts didn’t contain sedatives.

Dread settled deep inside Nick’s stomach when he felt a burning sensation quickly spreading from the impact points to the rest of Adira’s body, making the wolf squeal in pain and collapse on the floor. Adira’s tortured howl seamlessly turned into Nick’s scream as the wolfsbane forced their body to quickly shift back into human form.

“NO!” This time it was Zoe who cried out and jumped over to Nick’s body, her tiny trembling hands hesitantly touching his skin. “Leave him alone! No! I’m not going anywhere, let me go!”

Nick barely even registered that somebody pulled the girl away from him and led her out of the room. His entire body was on fire, he felt like he was being burned alive. His mouth filled with blood as he bit his tongue while unsuccessfully trying to hold back the screams. There was darkness looming in the corners of his vision but no matter how desperately he wished it would engulf him completely, he knew it wasn’t going to. No, as his father always said, wolfsbane was a perfect torture drug because it kept the prisoners awake the whole time.

Grams’ goons dragged him back into the cage and roughly wrapped the silver chains around his naked body. Nick didn’t even feel it, whatever pain the metal was causing him was easily overshadowed by the wolfsbane effects. How much did they give him? Given how quickly it took over Adira’s body, it must have been a huge dose. He was in for hours of suffering. Adira was right, they should have just fought their way out no matter what.