Page 35 of Cats Never Fly

Except… those feelings weren’t so easy to dismiss, soIturned to songs again.Musichad always been my companion.Ifiltered through the many, many songs in myrepertoire.Idecided some more feel-good tunes were in order.Needinga break from the ‘50’s songsI’dbeen singing all day,Istarted humming “Happy” while they reviewed their notes.

“Oh!Goodone, little dragon dude,” the young inquisitive one—Jeremy,Ithought his name was—said as he lifted his hand to fist-bump mine.Thegesture felt refreshingly normal, soItapped my knuckles to his.Thenhe jumped in to sing the lyrics, harmonizing with me.Hehad a decent voice.Wefinished the song, andIwas about to transition to a new tune whenVancleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention.Heseemed to do that a lot.

“Westill have more questions,” he said, punctuating his words with a frown.

“Oops,”Jeremysaid. “Sorry.”Hedidn’t look sorry;Iwasn’t either.

“Yes, yes,OfficerHellhound.”Iwaved my hand, gesturing for him to continue.

Thisround of questions was much the same as before.

“Okay,”Gagesaid finally when it was clearIwasn’t offering any more new details. “Ithink we have a fair idea of what happened.Myteam andIwill follow up with theSupernaturalCouncilto see if there have been more missing persons reported.”

Vannodded. “We’lltouch base when we know more.”

“Doyou have a deskIcan use?”Haydenasked as he stood. “I’llstart calling people.Givethem a heads-up so they’re prepared to leave when we know where we’re going.”

Itwas such an alpha thing to do.Iwondered why the guy fought against the title.

“TalktoDillon,”Vansaid.

ThenGageand his team followedHaydenout of the room—well, everyone exceptJeremy.

“Whencan we meet?”Jeremyasked.

“Jer, not now,”Adriansaid.

“Iknow.”Jeremy’scheeks darkened at the gentle reprimand. “Ididn’t mean like right now or later tonight, but soon?Oh, and you need to come to our next karaoke night.Wecan sing a duet like…Oh!Iknow, “UnderPressure.”We’dbe amazing.Whatdo you think?”

“Later,”Adriansaid.Helooked ready to scoop his mate up and haul him out of the room. “Letthe dragon be.He’sgot other things on his mind.”

Jeremy’seyes looked so damn hopeful, though.

“I’llget in touch when this is done,”Ipromised.

Ienjoyed chatting with people.Owninga bar gave me an opportunity to engage in superficial and easy conversations with lots of people while keeping my lair private.Butall these promises tonight were starting to feel like something else.Somethingmore…personal.

Jeremy’sface lit up with an eager smile.AtleastIcould make someone happy.Although, by the end of the night,Iplanned to make a lot more strangers even happier.

“Comeon,Jeremy.”Thistime,Jeremylet his mate drag him out of the room.ThenIwas alone withOfficerHellhoundagain.

“Howare you holding up?”Vanasked.

Ishrugged. “Happyto be done with all those questions.Thisisn’t howIlike to spend my time.”

“That’sfair,” the hellhound said. “I’vecontacted theAspenBaypolice.They’reheading over to where you saidyou go swimming to see if they can find anything.Inthe meantime, is there anyone you need to call?”

“Yes.Ishould have calledWesley, my assistant manager, as soon asIpopped up inWillowLake.”

“Okay.Let’smake that happen.”

TheGreatBlueHeronshifter would be beside himself with worry by now.Eitherthat or they’d scooped him up too.JustbecauseIhadn’t seen him in the room didn’t mean he wasn’t there.

Vanleft the meeting room to give me a little privacy after showing me how to dial out on the landline.IcalledTheDrunkenDrake, the barWesleyhelped manage with me.

“Hello?”Wesleysounded tentative.Hewas probably confused about why the bar was getting a call from the police.Relieffilled me at the sound of his voice.

“Wesley, thankMagic.Youare okay.”