Page 68 of The Rabbit's Foot
Then there was the problem Mal would have to deal with right away. The kids.
Some of them, the older ones, shifted right after they were let out of the cages, groaning and stretching muscles that had gone unused for far too long. One of the boys, Kevon, had been there since his twelfth birthday, and he was nineteen now. Like Alp, Hyde had kept him locked in a pen unless he needed him for an… Maker, he loathed saying experiment. It was disrespectful to the people.
No, he amended. It was disrespectful tohispeople, and Mal couldn’t have that. He’d taken to referring to it as the shameful incident. Kevon’s muscles had atrophied and he could no longer stand straight. Lydia had said the bones of his legs had bowed, and she wasn’t sure if it was possible to fix them.
Oh, how Mal wanted to kill Hyde all over again.
Then there were the kids who wouldn’t shift back, either because they were too scared, traumatized, or they’d forgotten their humanity. Those were the ones who cowered in their cages, fearful of everyone, even Alp. One young fox kit yowled every time someone touched her, and she sprayed a noxious odor, which made Mal gag.
Despite the problems, the setbacks, and the uncertain futures of these children, Mal found himself energized. In the last week, he’d addressed the council to advocate for changes to how they dealt with missing persons. Any leader who found a packmate missing would be required to contact the council right away, so that word could be spread throughout the packs. Maybe if they’d been able to do that for the kids, an opportunity to find them would have been there. Maybe there wouldn’t be nearly the level of trauma now.
He’d also butted heads with the council about money. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe that any of the people under his care would be able to pay pack dues anytime soon. The kids, definitely not until they were at least eighteen, and that presumed the psychiatrists working with them would sign off on them getting a job. The ones that Hyde and his people had savaged? Mal knew how strong they were owing to the fact they survived, but their futures were in doubt until they could come to terms with their new reality.
Alp worried that keeping everyone sequestered underground wasn’t going to help, and Mal agreed. He asked Alp to come up with a schedule so that everyone would have chaperoned time outside every day to get some vitamin D and have the chance to simply be kids.
And Mal was astounded with how everyone stepped up. Lydia would come for several hours after she closed the clinic for the day, then stay at the new packhouse for three to four hours a night, not getting back home until nearly eleven. Even Damon couldn’t believe her level of dedication, but she told Mal in confidence that these kids needed someone, and she wanted to be part of it. Mal named her the official pack doctor, even if she could only deal with shifters in their animal forms. Damon arranged for the council to pay her, which left them with their mouths open at the fact ahumanknew about them. Damon railed at them, telling them thishumanhad done more for the shifters in a few weeks than the council had done in years. That shut them up quick.
“Hey, you coming to bed anytime soon?” Alp asked from the door to Mal’s new office.
“In a few minutes,” he replied. “I’m going to try to squeeze a stone and get more money.”
“The council?”
“Lydia needs some equipment, and it’s not going to be cheap. The council and Damon are being extraordinary, but even their pockets aren’t bottomless. We’re funded for a minimum of twenty years, at which point everything will be reviewed, but Damon is certain we’ll be getting money for as long as we live, due to the kids. More than a few are unlikely to be able to work. Marlon can’t have anyone raise their voice to him before he shifts and scurries under the couch. Obviously he will have problems working on the outside if he can’t control his shift.”
“And Teresa,” Alp chimed in. “Anytime someone even gets close to her, she shifts and sprays. I had to burn my last set of clothes, because she was so damned scared.” He grinned. “But there’s good news too.”
“Oh?” Mal leaned forward, elbows on the desk. “Hit me. I need some good news.”
“Do you know Cody?”
“The little blond boy with the big green eyes? Yeah, I know him. What’s up with him?”
Alp came into the office and took a seat. “He was crying earlier. And I mean big, sobbing tears. Teresa came into the room and found him. I was about to try to get her to move along when she did the most astonishing thing. She went to him and curled up in his lap. Cody cried a bit more, then looked down at the kit who was laying on him. He ran a hand over Teresa’s fur and the tears stopped. Then he shifted into his cat form, and the two of them cuddled up and went to sleep.”
“That is good news.”
“I think Teresa is only afraid of adults, which makes sense, given that they’re the ones who hurt her. She seems okay with the other kids. Maybe when she sees us interacting with them, she’ll find out that we aren’t the people who did her harm.”
That was hopeful. Mal hated that anyone was afraid of him, especially a little girl with soulful brown eyes whose wary gaze went from person to person. Was she wondering when they’d do something awful to her?
“You know what?” Mal asked, straightening the papers he’d been working on. He stood and held a hand out to Alp, smiling when Alp took it. Mal pulled him to his feet, then slid an arm around Alp’s shoulder. “I think that’s enough for one night. Cece told me that I needed to make time for us to be together, because you were going to be the one who stood beside me when times got tough. I told her I wasn’t sure they could get much worse, but she assured me it was possible this was the calm before the storm.”
“And are you okay with that?” There was a touch of nervousness in Alp’s voice, as though he was uncertain.
“Let me answer your question with one of my own. Will you be by my side the whole way?”
“Yes,” Alp replied, without hesitation. “I’m one of these people. A survivor. And the wolf that saved me? He’s the one who’s going to save them too.”
“Nah, the wolf is going to need help from his rabbit every step of the way. Tell you what. You help me through the rough spots, and I’ll be there for you too.”
“That sounds like a deal.”
“Now, let’s go make with the sex, yeah?”
Alp snorted. “You know it’s almost one in the morning, right? And we have that meeting with Damon at seven.”
The thought made Mal groan. “So no sex?”
