Page 98

Story: Bonding Beasts

I open my mouth to voice my concerns and get interrupted by some kind of chirping that turns my head in Mal’s direction. Everyone else follows suit as he pulls a phone from his pants. I had no idea harem pants had pockets.

“What?” He snarls as he answers, cutting off the chirping. Mal has soothing bird song as a ringtone?Mal?

“Slow down, Mike,” he snaps. “I can’t understand -”

I can’t hear the other side of the conversation, but Mal is getting increasingly tense. To the point that his tail rolls out from wherever it’s hidden and hits the floor hard enough to shake the table. I look at Ben, who seems to follow the conversation perfectly but is bored with it.

“When was this?” A brief pause, then, “But you got it? Where are you now?What?No, stay there! Just… shut up and listen! You stay there, I will come get you. Send me the address…just give me the fucking address, you ignorant Human! NOW!”

He hangs up and stands, gripping the tiny phone tightly in his shaking hand as he points at Mitri, “This isyour fault!”

“Who is Mike,” King asks in a deadly, low tone.

“What’s wrong?” I stand up restlessly, not sure exactly why. Mal’s tension has reignited my own.

“Mike. TheHuman phone store clerkis in danger because Mitri had him playing detective!”

“Was I alone in requesting his assistance? Were you not present?” Mitri continues drinking his coffee like he’s out at breakfast with the Queen of Australia, pinky out, and subdued manners.

Mal lets out a roar that shakes the plates off the table, and I run for it. I make it down the hall and into Ben’s bedroom in record time to snatch up my keys and some shoes. I can hear Mal losing it in a one-sided argument with Mitri.

“Windsor is dead. Whatever he found got him killed. Somebody torched his office. He gave Mike the information to get it out of his hands, and nowMike’splace got torched! He’s in the wind, clutching some dumbass folder of infoyou wanted,and now it’s, oh, well, fuck Mike?”

I rush back in and head for the door when Ben stops me by grabbing my wrist.

“Baby,” he whispers as Mal rants and leans closer to my body, pressing his nose into my side.

“I know,” I mutter back and stroke the top of his head. I can’t explain my crazy to him, but he gets it. He doesn’t like it, but he gets it all the same. He can’t stop me from rushing out the door to help some guy I’ve never met any more than I can stop him from eating a hundred pounds of uncooked beef.

Mitri won’t help unless he wants that information more than he wants to torture and kill someone.

Kimi is off in who-knows-where mentally.

King is obviously a jealous little bitch pouting in the corner.

That just leaves me.

Ben sighs hard enough that it heats my ribs and ruffles my shirt, making my stomach and other things clench. “I’ll watch them until you get back.”

I cradle his head and mutter, “Your service, sunshine.”

I could swear he kisses my side before he leans back, eyes still concerned.

“Mal, let’s go,” I interrupt his tirade and hop on one foot to slide a shoe on.

“What?” King snaps, literally snaps his teeth at me, and begins to stand. Mal is gaping at me, wings fully displayed and his phone cracking in his hand. It looks like a toy phone. His hands are so large. Did he get evenbigger?

“Sit down,” Ben’s dual voice comes out ominously, and King jerks back from him, almost falling on his ass.

Mal also begins to sit, flinching away from his tone before his roar renews, and he begins pacing forward at Ben.

“Mal!” I run up and grab his tail, pulling him towards the door. “We need to go. If your friend is in trouble, he has to stay on the run. It’s dangerous for him to stay in one place.Come on!”

He stands there, mouth gaping as I tug, unable to pull his bulk my way. I’m tempted to throw the other shoe at his head to snap him out of it. “Give me your phone before you break it.”

He meekly hands it over, the weight of his tail going limp in my hands.

“Come on,” I urge and trade his tail for the phone, hopping in place to slide on my other shoe and running for the door.