Page 91 of Cats Never Fly

“Weneed to do something,”Edgarbegged. “Acat is one thing; evenIcan handle a cat that size.Butwolves?Jesus,Vala, we need to get the hell out of here.”Hetried to drag the troll toward the portal.

Everyoneturned to stare at the panicking human.Good.Ittook their attention off me.

“Relax,Edgar.It’llbe fine.Teddyknows what he’s doing,”Valasaid.Thenshe pried her hand out ofEdgar’sand went scurrying back into the stacks of cages.

Ipeeked over the boxes again.Theportal was right there.Isqueezed the pouch.Icould do this.Abraver cat would jump through it, but my priority would always beOgden.Icould do this one thing, though, for that unicorn.Mygaze darted to the group again.Noone was watching me except the demon.Hedipped his head a little, like he was encouraging me to act.Ijumped up and hurled the pouch through the portal.

Iducked back down again and waited for the demon to cry out, letting everyone know whatI’ddone.Hedidn’t.

“Forfuck’s sake.”Themage huffed like this was all a terrible inconvenience.Hepolished the big gaudy ring he was wearing with the hem of hisT-shirt.Thatring was important.Ithad to be thatCovenofOnering.Shoot.I’dforgotten to tellVanabout that, hadn’tI?Sonof a tomcat, how hadIforgotten about that? “Ifthere are only five, we can take them.Thatway we won’t lose all this inventory.Closethe portal, demon.”

Theportal vanished.

“Butthe wolves…” the human complained, eyeing the spot where the portal had been.

“We’vedealt with shifters before.Wecan do it again.Besideswe can make good money if we sell them, even if there are so many of them around.Don’tworry about taking the mage or the medium alive.Nobodywants them.Can’tgive them away.”

Thatwas ironic, right?Sinceit was a mage who said that?Ogdenwould know if that was irony.Hewas smarter thanIwas.

“Okay.Vala, you take—” the mage stopped and scowled.Hecast his gaze around for the troll. “Whereis she?”

Asqueaky wheel, like something you’d hear at a supermarket, announced the troll’s arrival.Theywere distracted, soIshifted to my cat form.Itwas time to sink away and findOgden.

“Whatare you doing, troll?”Teddydemanded.

“Youtold me to get this one too,”Valasaid.Shelooked around and scratched her cheek. “Uh…Whereis the portal?”

“Payattention.”Themage snapped his fingers at her. “Wehave to deal with the intruders first.Gosecure the back door.It’llbe better if we only have to defend from one side.”

Valascurried off to do as he wished.Ididn’t follow.Ididn’t care what she did because my entire focus was on the cage with the squeaky wheel that held my dragon.MyOgden.

Hewas alive!

“Gus, you deal with the cat.You’vebeen bitching andcomplaining about him ever since we retrieved the dragon.”

Uhoh.

Ididn’t hear what order the mage gave toEdgar.Myblood was pounding too loudly in my ears.Thebear shifter’s smirk had a downright evil twist to it as he stomped across the floor toward my hiding place.Fu—Fishbones!Ishould have moved while they were talking.

Ogdenblinked.Hishead wobbled as if he wasn’t fully awake yet.Whenhis eyes caught on mine, he paled.Westared at one another for what seemed like an eternity, but had to have only been a second or two.Ogdenshook himself, as if trying to shake off the lingering effects of whatever they’d used to incapacitate him.

“Youwon’t get away this time,” the bear promised.

Yeah.Thatdidn’t sound good.Thatwas pretty much the opposite of good.

Ogdenstruggled to break the bars of his cage, but they didn’t budge.ThenIhad to look away from my mate because the bear was closing in on me.Myfirst instinct was to run and hide, butIfought it.Icouldn’t abandonOgdento these people.Whatif the demon opened another portal and pushedOgdenthrough it to some faraway place?Whatif he was sent so far awayTeaguecouldn’t follow our connection?

No.Iwasn’t leavingOgden.

Ihad to help him.Ihad to get him out.Andif that didn’t work, and they opened another portal,I’dfollowOgdenthrough it.Iwould follow him anywhere.Istill had eight lives.Icould do this.

Thebear’s deep and menacing chuckle made me hiss.Myback arched.Ididn’t know whatIthoughtIwas doing—no supe the size of this bear would be intimated by my puffed-up size or hisses—but my instincts had taken over and were doing whatever they wanted.

BeforeIcould figure out what to do next, fire and electricity arced out of the cage and hit the bear.Themassive supe shrieked in terror and pain.Hespun wildly.Thefire and electricity didn’t stop.Thesmell of burnt flesh assaulted my nose, making me gag.Thebear staggered one way, then the other, before falling with a thud to the ground.Hisskin was steaming and sizzling, but he didn’t move.

“Simon!Run!” my dragon yelled at me from inside that cage.He’dsaved me.NowIhad to save him too.

“Ogden!”Irushed to the cage.