Page 54 of Cats Never Fly

Isniffed the air to get more information about the new arrival.Hewas a shifter.Thatwas better than human police officers, soIrelaxed… just a little.Imean,Istill didn’t like being surrounded by so many police officers, but at least everyone was a supe.Supesdidn’t look at petty crimes the same way that humans did, or at least that’s whatCliveandWarrenalways said.Ihoped they were right.

Butwhen the officers narrowed their eyes at me as they sniffed the air too,Iwas right back to maximum anxiety levels again.Iswallowed hard and fought the urge to hide behindVanandOgden.

“What’sup?”Vanasked.

“Sinceyou drove all the way over here toAspenBay, do you want to come with us toTheDrunkenDrake?”

“Youhaven’t been there yet,Norbert?Whatthe fire and fury have you guys been doing?”Ogdendemanded, swinging his scowl toward the officer, who he obviously knew.Iguessed that made sense.AspenBaylooked about the same size asWillowLakeand everyone inWillowLakeknew whoVanwas.Ogdenset his hands on his hips in a way that reminded me ofMamawhen she got pissed at us kittens.

“Oh…Oggie.Ididn’t see you there.”Theofficer grimaced.

Oggie?Really?Whydid this guy have a nickname for my dragon?

“Whyhaven’t you been there yet?”Ogdendemanded.

“Itwas locked up tighter than dragon’s hoard—uh, no offence,” the officer said.

“Wesleywas supposed to give you access.”

Theofficer shook his head. “Wehaven’t been able to findWesleyScottsinceVancalled us about him last night.”

“Damnit,”Ogdenmuttered. “Thenwe should definitely get over there.”

Afew minutes later, we were in downtownAspenBay.Theplace could easily have been mistaken for downtownWillowLake.

“Sothis is it?”Vanasked from the front seat once he’d parked.

“Yes.”Ogdenleaned forward in the back seat ofVan’sSUVto peer up at the red brick building.IwishedIcould tell from his face what he was thinking.Theuncertainty did nothing to abate my rampant anxiety.

Istudied the building as if it could give me answers.Themassive two-story structure had five storefronts facing the street, withTheDrunkenDraketaking up one end.Icouldn’t tell if the second floor held offices or apartments.DidOgdenown the whole place or justTheDrunkenDrake?Eitherway, it was impressive.

Vanlooked at us through the rearview mirror.

“Youready for this?”Vanasked.

“Ofcourse.”Ogdennodded as he slipped out of the truck.Hebeckoned for me to follow. “Comeon, kitty cat.”

Iwas moving toward him beforeIeven realized whatIwas doing, scrambling across the seats to go through his door and get to him as quickly as possible whenI’dhad my own door right beside me.BeforeIcould overthink my actions,Ogdensmiled at me like my eager response to his wish made him happy, and that made it all okay.AnythingIcould do to put a smile on his face right now was a win.

Theofficer who’d talked to us at the shack arrived next.Heand a couple of other officers joined us on the sidewalk.

“Wedidn’t introduce ourselves earlier,” the officer said. “I’mInspectorNorbert.Youcan call mePeter.Andthis isSergeantGloverandConstableKeats.”

Aftera quick round of introductions, everyone looked atOgden.Sincethe new officers didn’t ask questions,IfiguredVanmust have already briefed them.

“Shallwe?”Vanasked.

“Followme,”Ogdensaid with a nod.

Ogdenhad arrived inWillowLakewith none of his clothing or possessions.Ihadn’t thought about it until now, but how would we get in if he didn’t have his keys?

Heled us around the side of the building to a narrow walkway betweenTheDrunkenDrakeand its neighboring building, which appeared to be a secondhand store of some kind.Towardthe back of the building, there was a nondescript door painted the same color as the wall.Atsome point, it had probably been red, but was fading to a dull salmon pink now.

Iglanced around for a welcome mat or a hollowed-out rock that might hide a key, butOdgenwent straight to the door.Hetouched a nondescript brick beside the casing.Icouldn’t believe it when the face of the brick swung open to reveal a hidden compartment with some kind of high-tech security pad thing.I’dnever seen anything like it outside of movies.

Ofcourse,Ogdenwouldn’t have something as simple as a key.

AfterOgdentapped in his code and swiped his finger over a shiny black square at the corner of the mechanism, a machine-like hum told me something was happening, which was followed by a small green light flashing on the pad.Somethingclicked.