Page 14 of Enforcer’s Little Warrior (Little Paws Haven #3)
Romy
The initial couple of shifts he’d done at the community center had his nerves kicking his butt, but Sasha was great and patient with him. Two weeks in, he felt like he knew what he was doing and that he’d gotten his first paycheck made him feel all kinds of things. Bash had given him a credit card and money to buy whatever he wanted, and that was wonderful. Yet, this felt different, as he’d earned it himself.
“So, are you gonna go treat yourself to something nice?” Sasha asked, not looking at him as she piled up the toys, whereas Romy was stacking the seats.
He grinned cheekily, thinking about the shop on main street that had the cutest top he’d seen the other day. “I might have seen something.”
On Mondays they shut the center at three-thirty in the afternoon after the last little one got picked up. Looking after the children was the best part of his job. Initially, he’d considered that Sasha had only given him a job because of Bash. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Sasha needed him, and he worked hard to keep up with the children. They really did need eyes in the back of their heads to keep up with the fifteen regular children that used the nursery part of the community center.
There was also an after-school club on Tuesday and Thursday. The older kids came to that. It was more about giving them a place to come and hang out, so they didn’t get themselves into trouble, or that was what Sasha said.
“Might? Or have?” Sasha walked over to him and took the last seat from him, smiling. She had an easy-going nature, unless riled up, that made everyone migrate towards her.
He blushed at how easily she had read him. “There is a top I’ve seen. It’s got these cute little splashes of color like someone has splashed paint on it.” He didn’t say it was a crop top, one he hoped would entice Bash to do more than cuddle with him. Not that the cuddles weren’t amazing, they totally were, but these last few days being so close to him, yeah, he’d like a little more than cuddles.
“Cool.” She checked her wristwatch. “You officially finished ten minutes ago, so go on. I’m sure the money is burning a hole in your pocket.” She winked at him. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”
Out in the bright sunshine when Sasha all but shoved him out the door, Romy waved at a few people as he strolled towards the main street. Every day, he felt more at home with those who lived in the crash. Sometimes it reminded him of what he’d lost, but mostly it made him happy to have found his place. Bash was the key to that. The man made sure he had everything he needed and more. The warm feeling in his chest was a constant. Love, he was sure that’s what it was, only his Little side was brave enough to say it aloud.
He sighed to himself, crossing the street, lost in his own thoughts. He needed to be braver, he did. But how? The top was a step towards that, buying it with the intention of seducing Bash—hopefully.
He’d never tried it before and he’d asked for some pointers from Cosmo, who’d come for a playdate at the weekend. What with the house renovations—which were coming along slowly because of Bash’s work, and he liked to help—Cosmo and him had played in the wallow. Romy kept his impatience to himself with the reminder of how amazing his life was now.
Down the next street, he cut through the alleyway, wondering if he needed to buy the shorts he’d also seen in the shop that looked like they’d hug his bottom and show it off.
So lost in thought, it took a second to register a sound behind him. He turned and yelped when something struck his neck. The sting lasted but a second as his eyes narrowed on the huge shifter dressed in black, only his eyes were visible.
He staggered back, there was something about the eyes that were familiar, turning his bowels to water.
Da-dd-yy-yy-yy.
Legs wobbling, his body felt like it had several weights pressing down on his shoulders as a beefy arm caught in around his middle as his brain became emersed in fog. He struggled, or he thought he did, but his body wasn’t working. Panic flared deep inside, digging at his past, sending him right back to places he didn’t want to go. The scent of rancid meat and filth filled his mouth as he sucked in greedy breaths working to get his lips working to call out. Only no sound came out as the alleyway swam in front of his eyes. A sinister voice whispered, “got you, you little fucker,” right as everything went black.
Bash
Da-dd-yy-yy-yy.
The wail came tumbling through his mind, drawn out and panicked, Romy’s fear immediately translating to him and in a flash, he’d spun away from the rhino he’d been speaking to and raced towards the community center, crashing headlong into Sasha a half a block away. The impact with the ground was jarring, but not as jarring as the echo of Romy’s voice in his head and the silence that had soon followed his heartrending plea.
“Where’s Romy!” Bash asked before either of them could pick themselves up, Sasha looking equal parts pissed and shocked as she sat up on the pavement.
“I… he… something about a shirt!” Sasha stammered, shaking her head while trying to gather her wits after their collision. “What the hell, Bash.”
“Something’s wrong! Did you see which way he headed off in.”
“Obviously not this one or he’d be the one picking himself up off the concrete, which is now cracked, by the way. “
“That was there before, not that it matters,” Bash snapped. “I’m not overreacting, and this is nothing to joke about. Romy is in trouble. He never would have called out to me over our link the way he did, unless something was really wrong with him. You’ve got to help me find him.”
He’d already climbed to his feet and quickly helped her up too, the panic coursing through him making it difficult for him to breathe, let alone focus.
“Call it in and let’s move,” Sasha said, then thought better of it and snatched Bash’s walkie off his belt, quickly informing the head of security that Romy was missing, and Bash would be ceasing his rounds in order to locate him. Even as they raced in the direction of the clothing store, she requested additional security in the vicinity of the community center, and for them to fan out and begin a search.
Moments later, they hit upon a smell that had her back on the radio again, this time reporting the presence of an intruder on the grounds, though neither of them could quite pinpoint the species that went with that smell. Whatever it was bore the stench of rot and disease about it, making it difficult to catch a whiff of what lay beneath the funk.
“It’s stronger this way,” Bash said as he whirled left and began following the traces of it on the breeze.
Dread twisted his guts while the hammering of his heart made it difficult to breathe. The enforcer in him know not to panic while the mate in him wanted to lose his shit and trample everything until his mate had been returned to him. Maybe it was better for everyone that Shaha had the radio because the only words in Bash’s mind were find my fuckin’ mate , and that was sure to earn him a reprimand somewhere down the line, especially if he bellowed it at the wrong rhino.
The phone, the phone, Romy’s phone. The find a phone app. Holy shit! He yanked his own device from his pocket, large fingers hitting the wrong place on the keypad the first time he tried to cue it up. Please do not let him have left it somewhere. Do not let him have left it somewhere . The mantra ran through his mind, a silent plea to the universe to cut him a fuckin’ break here. They needed to find him. He needed Romy back in his arms and fuck letting him out of his sight ever, ever again. It wasn’t going to happen, even if he had to carry Romy in a specially made pack on his back when he made his rounds from now on.
When the blip appeared, almost a half a mile away from them, Bash bellowed and took off, phone gripped in his hand hard enough to crack it. He’d have shifted if it wouldn’t have meant dropping it and leaving him without a map to follow as he sprinted the distance, confused by the lack of scent in the direction the phone was pointing him to.
Sasha hadn’t joined him either. Had she stayed with the scent, or had Bash simply outrun her in his haste to reach the blip on the map?
Right here.
It was right here.
Whirling round and round, Bash looked for anything out of place. Any sign of Romy or the phone Bash had given him, only nothing stood out along the edge of their crash-lands but an uneasy silence and a wild rosebush.
Shiiiinnnnkkkkkkkk.
He ducked the moment the first wiz of sound registered, an arrow imbedding itself in a tree directly behind the spot Bash’s head had previously occupied. A second wiz and he went into a low crawl, concealing himself among the thorns and decaying roses even while he attempted to peer around to see if he could spot where the would be sniper was.
The glint of light off metal caused him to duck his head again, but the arrow suddenly imbedded in his ass was proof positive that the sniper had accurately pinpointed his location and wouldn’t hesitate to rain a hail of arrows down upon his chosen hiding spot. With no choice left but to whirl around and make a mad dash into the first building on the left, Bash bolted just as an arrow bit into the dirt beside his foot.
Fucker didn’t give off the same filth-ridden stench as whatever had been in that alley, but he was an enemy just the same, and currently standing between him and his efforts to locate Romy.