Page 10 of Tempest

“How badly was I injured?” he finally asked, looking up and meeting the man’s serious eyes.

“Badly,” he said, taking another bite. “We weren’t sure if you were going to make it for the first day or so.”

“But I was able to fly here?” He didn’t really understand. Had he been shot by a hunter? Poisoned with wolfsbane? What could have prevented him from healing for so long?

The older man eyed him speculatively. “You were, though I suspect it nearly killed you. I’ll leave it to our alpha and the head of the coven to explain what we were able to figure out.”

He frowned. Why couldn’t— Wait, what was this guy’s name? “I’m Ore by, the way,” he said awkwardly, leaning over the table and extending his hand.

“Terry,” the cat said, smiling a little more easily as he shook it, “but everyone calls me Pops. I used to be the healer for this pack.”

“Is that why I’m here?” He wasn’t sure how much Pops was allowed to tell him, but he was still kind of confused as to what had happened while he was unconscious.

Pops nodded, finishing off his own sandwich. “We don’t have a new healer yet, so I’m onlytechnicallyretired.”

Ore returned his grin, wondering if it was hard for a pack so small and isolated to find someone to fill such a vital role. Sure, shifters healed pretty much on their own—except when dosed with certain things like wolfsbane or they encountered certain kinds of powerful magic—but they also had witches in their pack, and they were human, without the same healing ability.

The pack healer was an extremely important role, and based on how old Pops looked, one that they needed to fill sooner rather than later.

“When do you think?—”

He stopped, his spine straightening as his eagle trilled happily in his chest.

Craning his head around, he watched the front door open, a massive man in blue jeans and a tight gray V-neck filling the entire width of the doorway. There were black tattoos trailing down his arms and up to the side of his neck. One of the ones on his right arm was glowing faintly, but Ore could barely focus on that.

All of his attention was caught on the glowing blue eyes staring right at him as he was hit with a fresh, overwhelming wave of lavender, leather, and fresh air.

“Oh.”

Chapter 4

Cash

He froze in the doorway.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t known the bird was awake. His grandfather had texted him twenty minutes ago to let him know he’d heard him stirring upstairs and was going to try to feed and talk to him.

Cash had finished with Jorge and hurried home. He told himself it was because he didn’t trust some stranger alone with his frail grandfather, but his panther didn’t buy that, prowling in his chest and eager to lay eyes on the beautiful eagle again. To see his dark eyes once more and not just stare at his listless face as he slept in Cash’s bed.

And yet the second their gazes connected, his whole body locked in place, at war with itself.

He had always been protective of his family. As he’d gotten older, the instinct had expanded to his pack, driving him to look for ways to help wherever he could. He’d become a beta when he was only twenty, under the pack’s former alpha, and he’d taken pride in working hard to keep every single member of his pack safe.

That need to care and defend had only grown stronger as he’d gotten older. When he became an Enforcer, the drive only increased. Every day, he woke up with purpose and a sense of responsibility that kept him grounded. He’d never found someone he wanted to mate and settle down with more than he wanted to dedicate his life to his pack. They were his first priority. Always.

But his panther, the part of himself that he trusted to know what was best for his pack, was at war with his logical mind, urging him to forget everything he’d worked for and all his responsibilities, grab the pretty little eagle, and drag him up to the loft to claim in such a way no one would ever question who he belonged to.

He squeezed his hands into fists and sucked in a deep breath, immediately regretting it when that light, teasing floral scent invaded his senses, dragging him further under its spell.

His panther—and his fucking cock—needed to chill the fuck out.

No matter what his haywire instincts were telling him, the chances of the eagle being allowed to stay in Silver Oak—assuming he wouldwantto—were as close to zero as you could get. Not only did their pack distrust outsiders and rarely allow anyone new to join, but there hadn’t been a non-feline shifter in their pack in over two generations.

Liam hadn’t started the policy, but he hadn’t put an end to it either. After he drove out the old alpha and took over, he’d held a pack meeting. At first, he’d talked about making changes, helping the pack grow and thrive once more, but he’d gotten so much pushback, he’d dialed things way back. People hadn’t wanted things to change any more than having a new alpha and his strange second-in-command had already done so.

It hadn’t mattered much to Cash either way. Whether they were all cats or a menagerie of parahumans, he would do his jobto the best of his ability. But now that he stared into those dark brown eyes, his panther itching to spring forward? He cursed the pack law that wouldn’t allow him to keep the little bird.

Then he scoffed at himself. Even if the policy wasn’t in place, what were the chances that a handsome young shifter like him didn’t have a family of his own? Maybe even a mate.

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