Page 76 of Missiletoe
Vix scrambled out of Gareth’s arms and tried to follow me, but he was halted when Gareth scruffed him by the collar like he had Baz earlier. It looked like an action Gareth had performed dozens of times.
I turned back around and focused on running.
My leg wound was starting to burn, but I ignored it. If some psycho was targeting me and they got away, they might hurt my bunny or my friends at the shelter. And if that happened…
A film of red covered my vision, and I ran faster. It wasn’t long before I realized Vale was at my side, keeping pace with me easily.
“Do you even know where we’re going?” Vale asked snidely.
“Yes.” Since I didn’t like him and he’d just thrown my bunny like a sack of garbage, he didn’t require more of a response than that.
“How? With your amazing magic powers?” Vale was being even crappier than I was used to, and it was making it difficult to not respond in kind.
“Yes.”
Vale snorted but continued to follow my lead.
My crow informant told me where to turn, so I veered left into someone’s yard, through the open gate in their fence, sailed over their back fence, through a small area of neatly tended trees, and into another yard. When I vaulted over a large, decorative rock, I saw someone climbing hastily into a gray sedan.
My crow friend cawed to let me know I’d found the bad guy, and I put on a burst of speed.
Unfortunately for me, the sedan was a zippy little thing, so when the guy started it, it took off like a shot.
I swore and tried to keep up, but it got way ahead of me in only a few seconds, and I knew I’d never be able to catch it.
Vale, on the other hand, had no problem. He raced past me and caught the car in no time. He leapt onto the roof, ripped the door off its hinges, and snatched the man right out of the car, leaving it to continue down the road until it smashed into a tree.
I trotted up to them and gaped at the man who’d set fire to my shelter, my home, and Vix’s home.
“But you’re a fireman,” I blurted out like an idiot as I took in Mike’s bloodied face. “You’re supposed to put out fires, not start them.” He was also leaking out that weird energy like it was his job. It belonged to a nasty set of shadows surrounding him. I mean, seriously. It was all over the place. How had I missed that?
I was expecting Vale to say something insulting in regard to my intelligence, but instead, he was crouched on the ground next to Mike and panting.
It wasn’t the exhausted kind of panting I would have expected after he’d done such an amazing thing. No, it was more like Vale was holding himself back from doing something, and it was taking everything he had in him not to do it.
I shot a glance at Mike, but he was barely conscious and wasn’t going anywhere, so I crouched down next to Vale. “Hey, buddy. Are you doing okay?”
My instincts were telling me to touch him, but it warred with the memory of him freaking out and running away from me when we first met. I decided to let the two meet halfway and reached out slowly.
Vale hissed at me, and his shadows rippled with something akin to starlight. It wasn’t the soft, happy kind, though. It was almost like the light was tainted with something old, angry, and screaming to be soothed.
It tasted like a bargain basement version of the magic I had inside me, and I had a feeling it was more than the feral energy thing traumatized humans get that Trixie had been talking about earlier.
It was more like maybe Vale had magic too.
Weird, right? I still haven’t figured out what our connection is, but I’m sure I will eventually.
Since Vale wasn’t actively attacking me, I put a hand on his shoulder. I kept the contact light so he could shrug it off if he wanted to and gave him an encouraging smile when he stayed still.
Vale’s body was tense and gave off the impression that he was a coiled spring ready to release, but he shivered and relaxed a tiny bit when my hand made contact.
Poor guy. If he was that wound up, no wonder he was so pointy when he interacted with people. He was like a starved alley cat who’d known nothing but kicks and swears in his life.
I moved my hand to the back of his neck to help ground him. “It’s okay. You’re okay.” I spoke softly in order to not spook him.
I didn’t like how he’d thrown my bunny, but alley cats knew very little about gentleness. I just needed to make sure he didn’t have an opportunity to hurt Vix by accident from now on when he was riled up.
Vale’s attention was fixed on a smear of blood on his fingers.
