Page 19 of Strays
When the clock finally ticks past the end of our last shift at Greenster Nine PD, I can’t believe it’s real.
We made it.
When we stride out of the station, none of us looks back. We go straight to our truck and speed home.
Everything feels distant, like it’s a dream: locking our apartment door for the last time, dropping the keys in the mailbox, loading our bags into the truck, thecity blurring past us until it’s behind us.
All of it. Greenster. Nine PD. Balls. It’s all behind us now.
I’m so distracted, I don’t even notice I’ve been speeding for most of the way. Even after Jay makes us stop at a diner when we get into the city, we still check in at the MAB a little after eleven.
The housing unit they assign us is the nicest place I’ve ever stayed, and judging by the look on my brothers’ faces, they feel the same. We lived in a MAB facility here in D.C. for two years, right after we got out of the Program, while we completed basic training before choosing law enforcement. But those barracks weren’t anything like this.
The room is wide, with real space between the furniture, all of it clearly aegis-sized. The two big open windows make it feel like I can finally breathe. After years crammed into a human-sized station and a tiny apartment, this feels like luxury.
The couch is massive, and the nest is soft like a dream. I thought I’d be too nervous to sleep, but I pass out the second I hit the mattress.
By the time I wake up, it’s already past ten. Jay and Shane are still out cold, having crashed just as hard as I did. I crawl out carefully, not wanting to wake them.
We’ve been sleeping in a nest together for over fifteen years, and it’s always been Jay on the right, Shane on the left, and me in the middle. I can’t even remember when we fell into this setup, but now, everything’s about to change.
I can’t help but smile, wondering what it’ll be like to have a nyra curled up in the nest with us.
After I entered the strays Program, I never once felt the urge to contact my dads. But right now, if I had their number, I think I’d call, just to say, “Hey, assholes. Your discarded son’s about to have a match meeting with a Prime nyra.”
For the first time, I think about Lydia’s sons, my half-brothers. I never look them up, but they’re probably in law enforcement too. Maddie, my little half-sister, must be a grown nyra by now.
How wild would it be if one day, the poor stray half-brother shows up to visit as a Tier-One, flanked by his pack brothers and a Prime nyra?
I’m still lost in that thought when Jay and Shane wake up. We look at each other and grin like idiots. Right now, we’re three grown-ass aegis acting like giddy teenagers, and I don’t even care.
When we make it to the MAB cafeteria, breakfast is long over and they’re already serving lunch. We eat fast, not even Jay paying much attention to the food, then head to the administrative building.
The officer behind the computer has us sit in the waiting area. For once, the chairs are actually our size, but somehow, that feels weirder than the usual discomfort.
Time crawls.
And when one o’clock finally hits, nothing happens.
I glance at the guy behind the desk, but he doesn’t even look at us, just keeps tapping away at his keyboard. So we wait.
And wait.
By the time it’s almost two, the amount of soothing pheromones we’ve released to keep each other calm is so thick it’s like breathing syrup. I can’t take it anymore. We’ve been waiting for over an hour, we deserve an explanation.
I stand and approach the desk. “Excuse me,” I say, trying to keep my tone light. “Our match meeting was scheduled for one. Can you tell me why it’s delayed?”
He doesn’t even look up. “They’ll call you when they’re ready, Officer Larsen.”
I sigh and head back to my seat. My brothers glance at me, just as frustrated, but there’s nothing we can do. So we wait some more.
By three o’clock, my muscles are so tight I don’t know if they’ll ever relax again.
What the hell is going on? I’ve never been to a match meeting before, so I have no clue if this is normal or a really bad sign.
Jay breaks the silence. “Do you think this is some kind of test? Maybe they’re checking if we stay stable under pressure before letting us meet the nyra?”
That eases something in my chest. Back in the strays Program, they pulled shit like this all the time. “Yeah,” I murmur. “Could be.”
