Page 29 of Cats Never Fly

“Therewere…Iwant to say… like… twenty or thirty other crates, stacked two high.Maybemore.Icouldn’t really tell from whereIwas.Eachcrate held a supernatural.Everyonewas my size or smaller.Idon’t know if our sizes are important, but it seemed odd to me.Isaw a unicorn, a phoenix, and a few other shifters of various kinds.Basedon the scents, whichI’mnot the best at,Ithink maybe there was a vampire and perhaps a yeti in there too.Maybe.I’mnot sure about the rest.”

Isucked in a breath.Thatwas a lot of supes to hold captive.

“Doyou think it’s the same trafficking ring?”Van’sgaze caught onGage’s.

Myears started ringing.Atrafficking ring?Ofsupes?Howwas that possible?Oneof the best things about being a supe, even a little cat shifter like me, was thatMotherMagicblessed us and took care of us.Itwas just the way it was.Noone could keep a supernatural being contained for long without a lot of effort.Andthe only onesIknew of who had that kind of ability were working under contract for theSupernaturalCouncil, imprisoning criminals.Andeven then,MamaandPopssaid that it wouldn’t be long before theSCreturned to the old ways again and executed their criminals because the effort of keeping them locked up was a waste of magic.

Ishuddered.Icouldn’t imagine being imprisoned like that.Therewas a reasonIacted like a tamed kitten insteadof a wild one.Well, that and the fact thatIreally did like having my nine lives.Thosetwo things went hand in hand.

Wait.Whenwe were at the pub earlier, someone had mentioned something about cages.Wasthis what they were talking about?

“Idon’t think it could be anything else,”Gageagreed. “Itseems like a smaller operation though.Thewarehouse we found had a lot more supes.Soeither they think that keeping things small will help them avoid detection longer and they are still recovering from the blow we dealt them last time, or?—”

“Orthis is a smaller branch of a larger operation,”Nelsonfinished for him.

“Exactly,”Gageagreed.

HolyMagic,Ihoped it wasn’t that last one.

“Didanyone mention a goblin namedBabette?”Gageasked.

Ogdenshook his head. “Noone said much of anything.Noone mentioned a goblin, but a troll came in at one point.Ididn’t see anyone else, which was strange considering the amount of magic needed to contain me.Iwould have expected a coven of mages at the very least.”

Weall considered the implications for a minute. “Thetroll was small for her species.Ihad a feeling she wasn’t a matriarch yet.”Hegrinned a little viciously. “Shetried to poke me with a cattle prod, butIzapped her.”

“Shetried to do what?”Myclaws, which had been poking through the tips of my fingers for most of the conversation, broke through completely on my free hand.Atleast they hadn’t sliced through the hand holdingOgden’s, but my control was shaky at best.Ipulled myother hand out of his soIdidn’t scratch him ifIcouldn’t contain my shift.Theimpulse to go after this troll and shred her was almost too strong.Iwasn’t a big creature, butIcould do some damage.

ThenIfroze.

I’dnever, ever in my life wanted to take my claws to someone before and hereI’dwanted to do exactly that twice in the last few minutes.Somecats might like to fight, defend their territory, let fur fly.Beforenow, that’d never been me.Ipreferred to run and hide.Ididn’t like this change.

“Don’tworry, kitty cat,”Ogdenpatted my arm, oblivious to my scary thoughts. “Shegot what was coming to her.She’llhave those injuries for a few days at least.”

“Soyou shifted?”Iasked. “Ithought you said the cage was small and that you couldn’t break out.Thereis no way your dragon form could fit in the cage you described.”

“Idon’t need to shift to access my powers.Dragonsaren’t like other shifters.Theonly thing that changes whenIshift into my dragon form is my body.Everythingelse—my senses, my strength, my magic—stays the same regardless of which formI’min.Idon’t have to do a partial shift.”

Iblinked.Wow.Thatwas… amazing.VanandGagedidn’t look surprised by this information.Jeremysquealed in delight and scribbled in his notebook.Andme?Iwas blown away.

Gagelooked atHayden. “Areyou still in touch with those wolves fromRobbie’spack?”

Hayden’sface turned stoney and his eyes flashed, showing his wolf. “Why?”

“Weshould ask them if they remember a troll.Theymight know her name.”

Haydenclenched his teeth so hardIthought he’d break a tooth.Thenhe slowly nodded. “I’llask.”

“Ican, if you don’t want to,”Vanoffered.

“IsaidI’ddo it,”Haydensnapped.

“Creatinga spell that could keep so many supes, including a dragon, contained.That’sa lot,”Davinasaid. “Theyhave to be using theCovenofOnering.”

“Thoseonly exist in fairy tales,”Ogdenscoffed.

“Ulrichad been collecting magical artifacts for a long time.Heowned a lot of things that shouldn’t exist,”Vansaid, sounding tired. “Wediscovered tonight that he had one of those rings along with a lot of other dangerous artifacts that were stolen.”

“Well, fuck,”Ogdensaid, summing up what everyone was thinking.