Page 37 of Kitty Cat

“Nice! How did it go?”

They went on talking about girly shit, so Rye turned back to Daunte; he’d just returned from his shift with Ace.

The two often patrolled together, and Rye tried not to be offended by it, but honestly, it hurt. His mate never ran with him in her animal form; he hadn’t been sure at first, but it had been three weeks now, and not once had they been rotated in together. He was pretty sure she did it on purpose.

“Nothing to report. Ace just went to grab a few more boxes from her house.”

She was taking her time moving - another thing that annoyed him to no end.

Rye nodded, and headed out of doors for his turn, when his phone rang.

“Hey pretty girl.”

“The wards have been triggered,” was Ace’s tense reply.

It wasn’t the first time that the wards Rain had set up around town were activated; every time one of their allies stopped by to speak to them, the pride stressed out just as much, thinking that it could be it - their attack.

Rye had enough of waiting for it. If anything, he was actually eager to getting it over with now.

“We’re on our way.”

He called the fighters currently inside the house. Christine took the kids to the kitchen, and he saw Clary standing nearby, at a loss.

“Someone passed the wards. You know the drill. Everyone out - we need to separate and find out who came as soon as possible.”

They’d done it many times, so he didn’t think there was anything to discuss, but Daunte said, “Someone should stay back. In case thereisan enemy, we don’t want the house to be undefended.”

Rygan frowned. They’d discussed it before and decided that, as the house was pretty hard to get into unnoticed, sending everyone out would be more efficient.

Suddenly, Rye understood what he’d missed. Daunte wasn’t exactlyagainstthe pretty assistant, after all.

“It’s a five minute job, Daunte. We’ll be back in no time - and quicker if we all go out. Besides, it’s probably just another ally.”

After a while, Daunte nodded, and they went out.

The last twenty times the very same thing had occurred, they’d found the intruder easily, because they hadn’t wanted to sneak in. When five minutes passed without him getting any message from his Enforcer, his mate, or his Beta, Rye shifted and sent a message through the pride link.

Ace, you know what to do. The rest of us, back to the pride house now.

He was runningtowards their home when a strong vibe running through the pride link made him stop. This time, the disturbance through the pride link wasn’t minor.

Shit.

He was close by now, in the forest right behind the house, close enough to hear some commotion.

Shit.

Ace and Daunte were the first to join him, followed by their Enforcers.

“I can smell wolves,” Ace whispered softly.

Rye nodded stiffly.

Fuck, he couldn’t believe he’d been stupid enough to take his best men with him, leaving the pride defenseless just like it always was in Hsu’s vision.

“How did they get in without notice? As well as the wards, there’s the security codes, and everything.”

He’d like to know that too, but it wasn’t his biggest concern.

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