Page 49 of Feral
Radic snorted. “Couldn’t survive without me, and we both know it.”
As soon as he was out of sight, Courtland grinned. “He’s not wrong. I love that man.” He sat back down in his chair. “Now, where were we? Ah yes, the diaries. Return them when you’re done. He might have been an asshole, but he was a damn good record keeper.” He shuffled a few more papers. “Ah, actually it's fortunate you came down here. Your goats arrived last week. I’ll put out an edict that no one is to eat them, or they can go out into the woods and chew on the grass themselves. Also, I found you two goatherds, assuming you won’t want to do it yourself?”
As much as I loved the woods, I wouldn’t want to be out there herding a bunch of goats every day either. I shook my head. “I think I’ll pass.”
Courtland snorted a laugh. “Understandable. Mean bastards, goats. No wonder Satan is always shown to have goat feet. Which is why I’ve gotten you two equally mean goatherds. My younger sister, Rosa, has recently been getting into fights at school. I’m not sure you’ve met her?” I shook my head. “Sweet kid. But she’s a product of her own upbringing, and she’s taken it upon herself to fight the battles of every beaten down half-blood in the school. Teenagers are mean—you should be glad you skipped that part. Still, no matter how noble her cause, she can’t fight every battle as a tiger.”
“She’s a tiger shifter?” I gasped. I’d never met a tiger shifter before.
Courtland nodded. “Way too comfortable in her tiger form too. So, to solve both our problems—and with a little fortuitous timing—Rosa, and the so-called prince of the high school, Eris, will be your new goatherds over the summer. We should figure out a program for clearing the undergrowth, and they can start tomorrow.”
For the next thirty minutes, the strongest Manix in North America deferred to me on something I felt passionate about, and honestly, I’d never felt more powerful.
29
CORVIN
“How many damn meetings did they need to have just to decide to do fucking nothing?” Beckett grumbled as he went through one of the former Alpha General’s diaries. “Listen to this: ‘Nest mother from the Sanctum set meeting about increased resources. Told her that she was breeding warriors and that knowing desperation would encourage them to be ruthless.’Honestly, I know he’s your dad, but I think we should dig him up and piss on his corpse.”
We’d been at this for three days, so I could understand his frustration.
Kitten let out a little shocked laugh. Then her face fell. “That would have been me in the Sanctum, struggling to find food.”
I pulled her onto my lap and pressed my cheek between her shoulder blades, thrumming softly. “But it wasn’t. Anyone got anything that isn’t further proof Alpha General Huxley was a cunt?”
“Umm, no. A lot of meetings, a lot of scrimping. He went to town a lot during February of the year that we think Kitten was born. Supply runs, according to this ledger,” Coop added. “Only thing he seemed to bring back was a shitload of moonshine though.”
I frowned. That seemed wrong. “Moonshine?”
“Yep, from Ol’ Sam’s Bar and Grill. You think Sam was running a distillery down in the basement?”
I scoffed. “Wouldn’t surprise me, wiley old fuck. Pretty sure he waters down his whiskey too.” We didn’t often go into the neighboring town, but sometimes we liked to let loose, especially when we were younger, and we’d always end up at Ol’ Sam’s. No one asked questions; pretty sure they thought we were lumberjacks or some shit up here. Or maybe they just knew better. Either way, we went down for supplies sometimes, or to pick up odd jobs.
“Is there mention of a party or a gathering or something in the diaries?”
Beckett went back. “What date?”
“Sometime around the twenty-second of February.”
Beckett flicked through. “Nah, nothing that I can see. Considering he wouldn’t even give the Sanctum money for food, I doubt he was bankrolling a party.”
“Well, that is weird,” Darius added from where he was lying on the couch. They’d brought home a print out of the ultrasound, and those first photographs were now stuck on our fridge. I got choked up every time I looked at them.
“Can’t hurt to check it out. We have no other leads so far.” Kitten sounded dejected, so I spun her on my lap and kissed her.
“We’ll find her, sweetheart.”
She shook her head and leaned in so her lips were a breath away from mine. “You can’t promise that.”
“You’re right. I can’t. But I promise you we won’t stop trying until you have some answers or until we reach a dead end.”
She rubbed her cheek on mine. “That’s all I can ask.” When she rested her head on my shoulder, I squeezed her tightly to my chest. She was soft and warm, her skin glowing and her brown hair so shiny that I wanted to bury my fingers in its curling silk.
“Corvin?”
“Mmm.”
“I’m sober right now.”
