Soar
I nodded.
“Good.” Jared stepped on him again. “Take care of this piece of shit,” he yelled at one of the Pterons starting in on the cleanup.
“You okay?” Jared asked, eying my wound.
“Yeah. A knife though? Who the hell uses a knife?”
“Weak shifters who don’t have enough faith in their own strength.” Owen spit on the body as we walked away.
“I need to see her.” They knew exactly who I meant.
Jared nodded. “I’ll catch up with you later. I need to check in with Levi.”
“You don’t have to come.”
“You mean fighting shoulder to shoulder hasn’t made us friends?” He smirked.
“No, it means I can stand you now.”
“Yeah, I can say the same to you, but you should probably clean up that bad boy. Don’t want to scare Casey with your war wound.”
“I need to get an update from my cousins. After that, I’m going up.”
“Suit yourself. Let me know if you run into any more trouble.” Jared stuffed a hand in his pocket. He seemed completely unaffected by what we’d just done. I guess I probably seemed that way too.
“Oh, I will. I wouldn’t want you to miss the fun.”
“Keep that in mind when you see Casey.” He winked and took off before I could respond.
“Asshole.”
“I won’t argue with you there. See you around.” Owen took off after him.
I took one last glance at the carnage on the street before heading up to the sky myself. What a messed up night.
Chapter Eighteen
Casey
“This is Toby’s house?” I looked out the car window at the Tudor style mansion. Surrounded by what had to be acres of property, it was the kind of place I couldn’t imagine someone actually owning.
“It’s his now.” Cody yanked open my door. He reached toward me and I flinched.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” He untied my legs and arms.
“You untied me?” I rubbed my wrists.
“Yeah. You’re safe here. I wouldn’t advise running off on your own, but if you really want to leave, you can.”
I looked at him skeptically. It didn’t make sense.
“Toby’s going to get here as soon as he can, but he can’t leave until he gets things in order.”
“So what am I supposed to do until then?”
“Relax. There’s a pretty extensive wine cellar. You can check that out.”
I’m sure my jaw dropped. “You think I want to sit and drink wine after being kidnapped?”
“You weren’t kidnapped. You were saved.”
“I was tied up and thrown in the back seat of a car. That’s kidnapping.”
“I only did it so you wouldn’t scream or try to run away. Those bears would have gotten you.”
“Why should I believe you?” I tried to get all the kinks out of my body from sitting funny.
“Because you don’t have a choice. You did something to get their attention, and they’ve already lost their minds. I wouldn’t suggest spending time with insane shifters.”
“What do you mean they’ve lost their minds?”
“They’re attacking people in an attempt to get attention. That’s asking for trouble. The king will have no choice but to retaliate and they know it.”
“You keep talking about the king. Who is he?”
“He was the prince until a month ago. He’s down in New Orleans with his new queen.”
“Is she a Pteron too?”
He blanched. “No. Pterons don’t mate with Pterons.”
“What kind of shifter is she then?”
“She’s human. We don’t screw around with anyone else.”
“Why would you mate with humans? Aren’t we weaker?”
“We select the strongest. It keeps the gene pool fresh, and the Pteron gene is dominant so we don’t have to worry.”
“Do all shifters do that?”
He shrugged. “Some do. Some don’t.”
I hobbled over to the porch and sat down. My ankles were raw, and I had no idea where I was going. I wasn’t running anywhere. I needed to see Toby. “Earlier…did you really mean it when you said Eric was a bear?”
“Yeah. He kind of looks like one, huh?” Cody smiled and he looked even younger.
“He is big…but why were you working as a doorman? And why the disguise?”
“I work security. Toby doesn’t like to make it obvious he has someone watching his place.”
“But you always know when he’s in or not, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So why did you send Jared up that morning?”
Cody smiled again. “Ah, I thought I’d buy Toby some time. I forgot you were still there. He didn’t bother you, did he?” His body seemed to tense, and I sensed there was more that he wasn’t saying.
“Why would you care?”
“Because Toby’s made his intentions clear. No crow is touching you.”
“His intentions clear? Crow?”
“I already told you that Toby likes you. I don’t need to keep stoking your ego, do I?”
“So his intentions are of dating me?”
“Of mating with you…but you can call it that.”
“Mating?”
“Yeah. We can date who we want, but we generally settle down with one person.”
“Like marriage?”
“Yes.”
“Toby doesn’t want to marry me.” We’d just started hanging out. A couple of intense kisses doesn’t make a guy jump to thoughts of marriage.
“I’m not going to argue about this. It’s really none of my business.”
“Then tell me what you meant by crow?” I stretched out my legs on the step below me.
“We’re hawks. Jared, as well as the king and his family, are crows.”
“Is it random? The bird you’re tied to?”
“No, it’s not random.” He scrunched up his face. “We tend to stay with our own.”
“So Jared’s in New York because…”
“The king sent him.” Cody leaned against the railing. “He’s the head of security.”
“Jared?” My eyes probably bugged out. “He’s practically my age, isn’t he?”
“How old do you think the king is?”
“I don’t know. Forty?”
“He’s twenty-two.”