Page 63 of Wolves Always Bite

Stayfocused,Jeremy.Clawieneeds you.

Andthen we were on the move.Thingswere happening rapidly now that the snooping had been done.Weran up to the building.Iwas at the ass end of the group, but not by design.Apparentlysupes were super joggers or something.And, let’s face it, running had never been my thing.

Bythe timeIarrived at the building, the large overhead door was on fire and the lights on the outside of the building were exploding.Ashhooted and laughed like he was on a carnival ride every time something went kaboom.DillonandAdriankicked in the smaller door and disappeared inside.Gage,Nelson, andIsaacfollowed them.Teaguestayed outside the building, presumably to make sure none ofBabette’sgoons escaped and to keep an eye out for more bad guys.

Ashgrinned at me and motioned for me to hurry up.

“I’mcoming,I’mcoming,”Isaid.Iwasn’t going to sit this out.

Iwas wheezing, and a cramp was shooting through my left calf, butI’dbe damned ifImissed out on this.Iwould saveClawie.Ididn’t think anyone butAdrianandAshwould care too much about my cat, but he was my only priority.Iwasn’t stupid,Iknew the rest were just usingORCas an excuse to search for more stolen magical artifacts.

Wait.WasORCright?Ordid theOhave to stay as a full word, which would make itOperation:RC.Thatdidn’t have the same ring to it.WasOperation:AlwaysRescueClawiebetter?Thenit’d beOperation:ARC.

Damnit.

NowIwanted to google things andIdidn’t have time right now.Later, whenIhad time to brainstorm, the name would be spectacular.Afterall, it had to be spot on whenIwrote my future memoir.Sure, most of the world would think my story was fiction, butClawiewould know the truth.

Smokefrom the fire made my eyes sting butIcouldn’t see anything anyway.Itwas eerily dark inside.Glasscrunched under my shoes asImoved away from what sounded like the grunts, groans, thuds, and thumps of people fighting.

IwishedIcould see what the hell was happening.

Asif answering my wish, a glowing globe of magic appeared inAsh’shand.Witha flick of his wrist, he shot it upward.Themagical orb hit the ceiling before exploding in every direction and filling the massive warehouse with light.

Peoplefought immediately in front of us.Iscanned the chaos, relieved to see the good guys seemed to be winning.Adrianhad gone allAnubisagain and was throwing someone to the ground in a move he must have ripped from those wrestling showsIused to watch whenIwas a newly minted gay boy.

Isaacwas part horse and using his back legs to kick the shit out of someone.Thewhirling black fog on the far side of the room had to beNelson.Ihad no idea what he was doing.Icouldn’t see through the fog…Orwhatever it was he turned into.Dillonhad to be the fire-covered dog.Hemight not beCerberus, what with having only one head and all, butIbet no one would mess with him if he guarded the underworld.Andthen there wasGage.Iblinked.HonesttoGod, the guy had leathery black wings.Wings!Hisskin was red like he’d fallen asleep in a tanning bed and stayed there for ten days, and his eyes were glowing red too, like lights on a fire truck.

Thatwasn’t something you saw every day.

Awide aisle stretched out before us.Tothe left of the aisle, behind the fighting, were huge shelves.Afew days ago,Iwould have thought it was inventory for the markets.NowthatIknew magic existed,Iknew better.Isensed something weird from those shelves.Huh.Ihadn’t noticed anything strange about those boxes from the farmers’ market, but standing by these shelves right now,Iswore my skin tingled, and my ears registered a faint humming.Thosehad to be the magical itemsGageand the others were after.Themassive shelving unit was packed.Thatwas way more than the few boxes stolen from theWillowLakeInn.

Basedon where we’d entered,Iknew most of the warehouse stretched out to the right, but it was shielded frow view by a plain eight-foot wall that didn’t reach the high ceiling.Iinched forward untilIcould see what the wall hid.Ifroze at whatIsaw.

Thearea was also filled with ginormous shelves, but these ones appeared to be filled with large animal crates.Therewere no animals, though.Nope.Thesecrates were filled with people.Fuckingpeople.Itwas bad enough whenIthoughtI’dworked for a thief, but this was so much worse.Babettewas trafficking people.Ileaned over and threw up.Ibraced my hands on my knees and willed the bile to stop shooting up the back of my throat.Fromthe corner of my eye,Icaught a flash of green in the gap between the shelves.

“Babette.”Isaid her name like a curse, asIwiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “Handover my cat.Rightnow.”

Ash, who’d been lobbing balls of fire at the assholes who worked withBabette, yelped my name in alarm asIran through the fighting and deeper into the warehouse, following the horrible personIused to work for.Teaguesaid the talisman he gave me wouldn’t make me invincible, butIwas counting on it having enough juice to protect me whileIretrieved my cat.Itseemed to be working becauseIsaw more than one magically glowing orb tossed toward me, but they each veered off at the last minute likeIhad my own person shield.Fuckingawesome.

“Bythe way,”Ishouted after her, “in case you missed it,Iquit.Effectiveimmediately.Notwo-week’s notice for you!”

AsIskidded over the smooth concrete floor around the end of one of the aisles,IwishedI’dworn sneakers.I’msureIstill had the pairI’dworn to high school gym class in a box somewhere, whereI’dshoved them afterIlearned it took more than just being tall to be a good basketball player.Itwas too late for sneakers now though.I’dhave to work with whatIhad to make sure she didn’t get away.Everyoneelse was busy withBabette’shenchmen, which meant stopping her was up to me.

Igrabbed the shelf to stop myself from falling on my ass.Babettewas right in front of me, pumping her little twig-like green arms as she darted down another aisle toward an office space in the back corner.Ibolted forward.

“We’llget you out of there,”Ishouted at the cages of people asIraced past. “Justneed to grab the green monkey lady first.”

ThedeeperIgot into the warehouse, the less smoke there was, which meantIsmelled a lot of other things.Nastythings.Thingsthat happened when living beings were trapped in cages and not let out.Likepiss and shit and…

Mystomach roiled again.

Nope.Icouldn’t be sick again.Iforced myself to breathe through my mouth, which wasn’t difficult becauseIwas huffing and puffing.Mychest ached.Thatcramp in my calf felt like a knife had been wedged in there.Butthis was my glory moment.Icouldn’t stop now.Victorywould be mine, damn it!

Thesound of people running after me ricocheted through the fetid air.Ihoped those pounding footsteps belonged to my people and notBabette’s.Babettecleared the doorway to the office and disappeared inside.Icareened into the office behind her.

Thetiny room was nearly empty.Adesk with nothing on it was against one wall.Avery familiar cat carrier with a hissingClawiesat in the corner.Andthen there wasBabette, crouched behind her rolling desk chair with a gun in her hand.Themetal of the revolver glinted under the harsh fluorescent lights.Myarms wheeled asItried to reverse course.

Babettewas in full battle-ready mode, like she had been when she’d attackedAdrianat the market.I’dseen it then, butI’dbeen too shocked to appreciate her freaky appearance.Hermouth alone, with all those pointy teeth, was the stuff of nightmares.Icouldn’t believeI’dbeen blind to her goblin form the whole timeIworked for her.Imean she had green skin.Howcould anyone miss that?Glamourwas crazy powerful.