Happy Friday! Note, this story is NOT polished. I will be posting a scene or chapter weekly. Expect an urban fantasy world. Romance and mystery. And magic, of course. Enjoy!
PART 9
Strangest conversation I’d had yet with Lobo. Well, only conversation to be honest. The rest of our interactions involved the big man grunting orders at me at Feeds.
I moved to the living area to hear better but kept out of sight, peering outside through a slit in the blinds. I hadn’t exactly been smart moving into a small town, but I did have a few brain cells left. Strangers stood out in a small community, so I’d sense the enemy easily. But I hadn’t, not yet.
If they’d tracked me here already, I’d need to get moving right away. Fortunately, I kept my small backpack ready to go above the garage. However, if I had to leave as anything other than a human, I’d have to scrap everything but the essentials. Though I now added a hawk and a fox to my shifting history, I knew it best not to count on anything but my mouse form.
Lobo stood outside talking to a police officer. I saw a patrol car in front of the house. The neighbors on either side had come out to watch as well. I tensed. What was going on?
I put my ear to the window through the blinds, still able to see through a slit in them, and concentrated. In my current form, I could only do what my human body let me. Yet something felt a little different, because I heard the conversation outside clearly, as if the window and blinds weren’t in the way.
“Sorry, Lobo,” the officer was saying. “We’ve been waiting, and it’s been almost three weeks already. Sheriff ordered me to come over. Your new tenant. I need her paperwork.”
Apparently, big cities weren’t the only ones where you had to register when you moved in. Register at the border. Register from state to state. Register in a new city. The government liked to keep tabs on us, for sure.
Crap. Now I’d have to go. How the hell would I ever find the answers to my questions if I couldn’t settle in long enough to ask them?
“Oh, sorry about that, Lloyd,” Lobo apologized, sounding sincere. “I meant to run it in, and I forgot. Red’s my niece. Came over from Portland.”
Say what?
“I didn’t know you had a sister,” Lloyd said.
“Well, not biological. But we were raised together, me and Nessa. Red’s her only child. I look out for her now that Nessa’s moved up to Alaska.”
“Okay.” Lloyd sounded relieved. “Great. Just have her drop it by, or you can, tomorrow, okay?”
“No problem. Sorry I forgot.”
Lloyd tipped his hat at Lobo. The neighbors watched as the officer left in his car. “I didn’t know you had a sister, Lobo,” an older lady said.
“She’s good people, Myra, but she keeps to herself. Red’s like my own kid. I’d appreciate if you’d keep an eye out for her too.”
“I sure will, sweetie.” The older lady smiled at him, then went back inside with her husband.
The other neighbor said something, but my mind was racing. Lobo had lied like a champ. So smooth. What did that mean? I’d owe him now. More than I already did.
He came back in, and I straightened, poised to flee if need be.
“We need to talk.” He blinked at my hair. “So you’re brown now?”
A glance at the hair on my shoulder showed a reddish brunette. I blew out a breath. “I’ll get my things and go.”
“No, you won’t. We need to talk,” he said, repeating himself.
He moved toward me. I stepped back. His eyes narrowed.
Screw it.
I made a break for the back door. I was fast. He’d never catch me before I locked myself upstairs. I only needed a few seconds to drop my clothes and shift and (fingers crossed) I’d be flying to freedom before he could growl a hissy.
But I didn’t make it one foot out the door before I barreled into something. Make that, someone.
“Hold her,” Lobo ordered.
I struggled, but the hands holding me tight might as well have been made of steel.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Lobo barked at him. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”
“You’re welcome,” the stranger said, his voice dry. And deep and commanding. I shivered, not liking the power bleeding through him into me. It felt…welcoming. “Now why don’t you tell me why you didn’t bring her by to meet me, and why you just flat out lied to the police?”