Page 23 of Catnip

The idea held merit, but she would have liked it more if it wasn’t based on her ability to rally hundreds of freaking eagles because of the blood running in herveins.

She’d paced the room as the smug wolf got to work. She’d paced some more as answers came from the various EagleAlphas.

Now she was done pacing, too busy feeling like she was going to throw up. Sixty-two. Sixty-two flocks had answered, within less than an hour. Sixty-two flocks out of the seventy-nine Knox had contacted had agreed to meet her, to see what she had tosay.

Fuck.

“What if it’s a trap? They could just want to get tome.”

“It could be.” Knox never said yes, or no, admitting that every possibility was plausible, which was nothing short of infuriating. “But I have my doubts. For one, they know I’ll bethere.”

Cockywolf.

Ava heard a noise, and turned to the door hopefully; but there was just an old cat of the non-shifting variety, leisurely licking his butt. He raised his spotted head, took one look at Knox, and startedhissing.

The wolfsighed.

“You know, I’m incredibly fond of videos of kittens. Yet I’ve never seen one do anything remotely adorable in front of me. They’re all spitting andhissing.”

“That’s called having good taste,” she muttered, with a last glance at thedoor.

Where washe?

The Wyvern felines had left her with Knox, Rain, and Vivicia in the lounge, while they went out with theirkids.

“They’ve been cooped up in here for too long,” Rye had announced. “We’re going for a run withthem.”

Coveney had attempted to stay behind, but the Alpha had beenstrict.

“There’re too many children for us to handle in town with three of us on patrol,” he’d told him. “And they won’t listen to strangers the way they listen to you. You’recoming.”

In other words, the Wyverns were having a meeting of their own. They hadn’t even been subtle about it. And who could blame them? She’d brought a pile of gooey shit to their doorstep hours after they’d survived their latest shit-storm.

And sheshouldn’tbe so anxious to see Coveney walk back in, dammit. Yes, the guy wanted to fuck her. He’d made that clear. That didn’t mean anything to shifters. They wanted sex, and when their partner was interested, they didit.

Telling herself she was being stupid didn’t stop her from glancing towards the dooragain.

Intervention

Coveney sippedhis chocolate shake and took a bite of his pizza before turning to the play area and waving at the kids. The two eldest were reading on their tablets off to the side because they were too cool for inflatable castlestoday.

Rye had been right. It had been too long since they’d done this. Waiting around for enemies to turn up at their door had thateffect.

Of course, it hadn’t been why Rye had forced them all here, judging by the way everyone stared at him like they were trying to burn holes in hispizza.

He’d pretended not to let it get to him while he ate, because pizza was sacred. Now that he’d finished his last slice, he sighed, plopped his drink on the table, and said, “Alright, start the intervention, if youmust.”

He knew what they were about to say.We don’t know that girl. She’s about to head to God knows where, for God knows how long, and you can’t go. She isn’t part of the pride.And if Daunte had been talking behind his back,you may be mistaken about her being yourmate.

That last part would piss him off more than the rest. The rest were valid concerns, but at each moment he was more certain that his educated guess had foundations. For example, right now, being five miles away from her was almost physically painful. And it had also started something, something deep, rooted in his tiger’s instincts, bleeding through to him. A low, strange vibration that made him practically shake when he didn’t watchhimself.

He’d heard of that,too.

While he’d been close to her, so sure that he would get to touch her soon, fate had left him alone. Now that they’d forced some distance between them, now that they’d made him leave her with a single male - an annoyingly good-looking single male, at that - things had changed. He had mating urges. They were getting worse by the second. Harder.Stronger.

Let them speak and be done with it soon, so he could return to her, where hebelonged.

“Okay, so, don’t get pissed,” Rygan started, cautious. “But we just had to talk to you. For almost ten years, you’ve been a robot, a shadow of yourself. We’ve all seen it, even those of us who didn’t know you before the mess with Lorren. Vivicia may joke and call you Robocop, but that’s what you were, a damn robot. Frankly, it worried the shit out of us. All ofus.”

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