Page 9 of Kitty Cat

She giggled and merrily skipped away.

As Daunte was back, and the pack had had a second to relax, Rygan started to get organized.

“Coveney,” he said, calling his Head Enforcer, “Check the perimeter, we need to make sure it’s safe. Let me know if you catch any suspicious scents. Then, come back and start digging up what you can about those wolves.” His proficiency with a computer made him the best person for the job, although it wasn’t the first time they’d looked. They just didn’t have enough information to know where to start. “And Jas,” Rygan stopped himself, feeling uneasy about sending her away so soon after she’d arrived. But he put the safety of his pride before anything else, and Jas was his best tracker. Her upbringing also made her navigate the world with ease, passing for a human if she wanted to. The rest of them never quite shook off their wildness, their otherness.

“I’ll be out there at dawn,” she said before he added anything else, knowing exactly what he’d demand of her. “You want me to locate the members of the wolf pack, set up a false trail, and fish for information.”

Rygan nodded, and breathed a little better now they had an immediate plan of action. He wouldn’t completely relax until they had answers, though. What did those wolves have against them?

On another front, Rygan felt just as frustrated. Since their arrival the previous day, they kept Daunte’s word and stayed out of their elusive host’s way, even though, honestly, itkilledhim.

They were all curious by nature, but Rygan was also not used to being told no, so dangling a sexy feline shifter wrapped in mystery, and saying that he couldn’t ask questions about her, was the equivalent of waving a humongous flag in front of a bull on steroids.

Daunte stayed mostly silent although, and despite his little speech, the questions poured from every side, some more obvious than others. He only revealed what must have been common knowledge - impersonal facts. They knew Aisling was a loner, they knew she’d lived in this home for three years, and that they were allowed to borrow her milk if they replaced it; but he said nothing when they asked where she came from, which pride she used to belong to - even her last name wasn’t something he was willing to divulge.

Dick.

“This place is freaking awesome,” Ian told them, coming back from a run. “And itlooksmade for a pride - or a pack. This house might be the first one anyone traveling through the forest by car will come across, but there are others, further into the woods.”

The annoying Beta nodded, “That’s right. There was a pack of wolves settled here, before. They were bad news and the humans in the nearby town were pretty worried. Ace took over; she gets along pretty well with the towners. Owns her bakery there and all.”

Rygan openly snorted at that, making everyone look at him with a questioning expression; probably because he wasn’t the kind of man who snorted. Ever. He just said what he had in mind, and moved on, preferring to keep things simple, straightforward.

What the hell was wrong with him?

“What?”

“You’re saying that a lone female singlehandedly took on a pack of wolves?”

“I never said she did it by herself - Aisling has plenty of contacts, and she could have called them,” Daunte replied, rolling his eyes. “But in this case, she didn’t need them. She challenged the Alpha and got it over with.”

Another snort.

Yes. He was being an asshole. He was questioning what he’d seen with his own eyes the previous night: Aisling had taken Daunte without any issue and Rygan knew his Beta was more dominant, and better trained that most Alphas. But asking questions hadn’t worked and Rygan wasn’t beyond fishing for information instead.

“An Alpha wolf, really? She’s a tiny thing. You went easy on her yesterday, didn’t you?”

He knew Daunte hadn’t, but predictably, he narrowed his eyes and grew defensive.

“Going easy on Ace is nothing short of suicide. Forget whatever you think you know about females. She’s stronger than me, more cunning than Coveney, faster than you…and not very fond of being insulted. You might want to prevent yourself from doing so in her house.”

Rygan flipped Daunte off, before taking a seat on one of the sofas; immediately, the little girl playing on the floor, their youngest, grabbed her toy and climbed on his lap.

“Hey Lola Bear,” he said, some of his dreadful humor disappearing as the kitten beamed at him.

Try as the others might, he remained that girl’s favorite, which meant she’d probably grow up to either be extremely dominant, or extremely submissive.

They’d found her on their doorstep one day, without so much as a letter of explanation. The kid had just been a few days old at the time. Rygan guessed someone had heard that his pride took on kids, and chosen to give them the newborn. Probably a lone female, or someone in danger. They could smell that she was a feline shifter, but at her age, it was hard to tell which kind. They wouldn’t know for sure until she shifted, probably at puberty. It didn’t matter; various members of the prides were of different breeds - one of them wasn’t a shifter at all - but they all claimed each other. Lola was theirs now, just like Hsu, Jasper, Clive, Victoria, Daniel, Will and Niamh. Some thought having so many kids made their pride weak; and in a way, they were right. They were vulnerable. But there was also strength in having something to fight for.

“Did you have fun in the plane?”

She proceeded to babble about her journey, using actual words mixed with gibberish, but entertaining as the child was, his attention was soon diverted.

He felt like someone watched him, and lifting his gaze, it landed on one of the elegant cat trees fixed on the walls.

After their arrival, the animals they’d met the first day had all gone out of doors, preferring to stay in the backyard or the nearby trees, but, calmly lounging on top of the highest piece of furniture, there was one cat left.

Rygan smiled. He didn’t often do so, but right now, he couldn’t help it. The animal was endearing, curled up on its back, stretching languorously. It was one of the fancy pets humans had bred to entertain themselves; something wild mixed with a domestic race.

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