Page 59 of Wolves Always Bite

“I’llgo hunt down some boxes,”Isaid, leaving them to gatherJeremy’sthings together.Althoughthat wasn’t allIwas going to do.

Itdidn’t take me long to track downJeremy’slandlord.

WorkingwithGage,Ihad quite a lot of money saved so it was an easy thing to pay whatJeremyowed, as well as his next two months of rent.Ieven paid extra to have him replace the lock.Ididn’t tellJeremyabout it until after it was done,Ijust did it.Hisapartment was small and in a crappy neighborhood, so the rent wasn’t that much.IfIhad my way, he wouldn’t be moving back there again.Itwasn’t safe.Itwasn’t what he deserved.Butwe didn’t have time to pack everything, so paying for a few months bought us—Imean, him—some time.

Okay, soImay have also been assuaging my guilt.IfIsaachadn’t takenBabette’smoney from the market, she might not have gone afterJeremy’scat.Asit was, my team’s actions hadn’t done him or his cat any favors.

Ournext stop was a quick trip to the library to drop offJeremy’sborrowed books since he wasn’t sure when he’d be back next.Thenwe were on our way to our last stop,Babette’sbuilding, where we would hopefully stage whatJeremywas describing asa daring cat rescue.ThistimeJeremysat in the front of the truck withAsh.Hedidn’t know the address, so he had to look for familiar landmarks.

“Okay.We’regetting close,”Jeremysaid as we entered an industrial area on the east side of the city.Thebuildings here were concrete beasts with lots of space between them.It’dbe easy to hide nefarious activities in a place like this.

“Doyou think she’ll hurt him?”Jeremyasked. “Goblinssound like the sort to eat their victims and use their bones as toothpicks.”

“Clawieis almost the same size as she is.He’sa fighter.He’llbe okay.”AshheldJeremy’shand over the center console.

IwishedIwas up there with him to offer more support too.I’dfrozen earlier when he was upset, butIcould hold his hand.Infact, my wolf was demanding it.Thechances of finding the cat alive weren’t great.Weall knew it.ButifIcould do anything to helpJeremythrough this situation,Iwould.Therewas one thingIcould do, though.ItextedGagewith an update.Hemight be our best hope for ending this quickly and gettingJeremy’scat.

Ashwas right about one thing, though.Jeremy’scat, aMainecoon, was a monster of a cat.EvenifI’donly seen him in pictures, he was easily the largest catI’dever seen in my life.IfAshhadn’t assured me the beast was one-hundred percent feline,Iwould have thought it was a shifter.

Maybethe cat would fare better thanIthought it would.

Whenwe finally got toBabette’sbuilding,Ashdrove by it slowly as we all took a good long look at the windowless warehouse and its empty parking lot.Theexpansive concrete wall was broken up by only two doors.Onedoor was human-sized and the other was large enough for an 18-wheeler to drive through.

WhatwouldBabetteneed with a massive door like that?Oncea vehicle was inside the building, no one would see what was being loaded or unloaded.Shecould get away with just about anything with a setup like that.Theparking lot was empty and there was no movement on site.Babettemight have parked inside, but there was no way for us to know that.Ashpulled to the side of the road in front of one of the neighboring properties.

Jeremyyanked on the door handle, but the door didn’t open because the locks were still engaged.

“Whatare you doing?”Iasked.

“Letme out,Ash,” he said. “I’mgoing to get my cat.”

“Youcan’t just go over there and knock on the door.”Ashlooked as shocked asIfelt.

“Whynot?”

“Weneed a plan,”Isaid. “Noneof us are letting you go in there alone.”

“Well…”Dillonshrugged. “IfAshdoesn’t go,I’mnot leaving him alone out here when there is an angry goblin close.”

Ashfrowned at him, andDillonshut up.

Jeremyhuffed. “I’llgo and knock on the door.Youcan use your supernatural superhero powers to back me up.Causea distraction or something.I’llgrabClawieand run.That’sthe plan.”

“That’sa terrible plan,”Ashsaid.

Thankfully, thePinkLadypulled up behind us then.Anyhope of stealth was gone since the beast of a machine was anything but inconspicuous, but it did mean my team was here.

“Whatthe—?”Ashsaid as he pivoted in his seat to get a better look at the motorhome.

Jeremygrinned. “Dimplesis here.Great.Let’sgo.”

Hefinally managed to unlock his door and hopped out.

Iscrambled to get out too, but the child locks stopped me.

“Sorry, sorry…”Ashsaid as he disengaged the locks in the back seat.

Bythe timeIwas out,Jeremyhad already disappeared inside the motorhome.Iran to catch up with him.IdoubtedGagewould take kindly to being ordered around by a human, andIdidn’t wantJeremyto make any rash agreements with my boss.Sure,IlikedGage, but he was still a demon.Ididn’t know what he might ask ofJeremyin exchange for getting his cat back, butIhad a feelingJeremywould agree to anything right now.Hisdetermination—or maybe it was his guilt—was blinding him.