Page 20 of Enforcer’s Little Warrior (Little Paws Haven #3)
Romy
Sharing everything he could remember two days earlier left Romy feeling like a pumpkin shell hollowed out for Thanksgiving. It made everything more real, and that became even more so with him now sat on Bash’s knee in front of Cosmo, Nomad, Harley, several enforcers, along with Evander, the head of the crash, Bree the pack alpha, and Ethan the pride leader who’d helped reveal the shitshow the council were involved in.
The noise in the room was loud and although Bash had invited them all to their home, and they had come, Romy was nervous. That was with Bash’s reassurances, everything would be fine. How could it be when he was once more going to talk about those who had tortured him because of what he was?
Rarely did he talk about his parentage. He didn’t want to think about what made him different from others. What got his parents killed because Romy was different—special to those fuckers.
He felt the quiver start in his belly and he nestled closer to Bash, needing his warmth and solid presence.
Be brave.
Be brave.
He kept up the mantra, shielding his thoughts from Bash, not wanting to worry him.
“Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I know I was a little vague, but Romy is going to explain everything. I ask you all to let Romy talk first and save your questions for when he’s finished, okay?” Bash asked, pressing Romy closer to him as he spoke.
It had taken two days to get everyone in the same room and Romy was grateful they’d all come without really knowing why.
“I’m grateful to you all,” he murmured, then coughed to clear his throat. His fingers curling around Bash’s. “I can’t remember when or how old I was when the council captured me and murdered my family. To start with, I never understood why they wanted me. I was just a rhino from a loving family. Why did they let me live? Their arrogance was how I discovered how rare I actually was. They were so confident in their believe that I was theirs forever they’d talk like I wasn’t even in the room.” Romy wet his lips, meeting each and every person’s gaze, willing his pulse to calm the heck down so he could get the next words out. “I’m a mixed breed rhino.” There were some murmurs, but Romy knew when they stopped, he suspected Bash must be glaring at them over the top of his head.
“I’m a Sumatran and Javan rhino. I’m rare. Extremely rare, as in I believe I’m the only one of my kind. My father was a Javan, my mother a Sumatran.”
Evander gasped, and there were more murmurs between the enforcers. They understood before the others what this really meant.
“Sorry, but what relevance are your breeds to the council?” Evan asked, coming forward wearing a look of confusion. “There have to be others of your kind in the world. What does the combination have to do with anything?”
Bash shifted underneath Romy, and he gripped his hand a little tighter. I’m okay Daddy, honest. “My horn is claimed to have power, some mystical, others in regeneration. My white hide is stronger than some metal’s. Combine the two and you have a rhino with unimaginable potential. They used my biological make-up to create stronger shifters. Create monster shifters .” Raul sprang to mind. The one who caused Romy to avoid—bury—his past deep in his mind to avoid re-living those nightmares. A coping mechanism he had unpicked with Bash to help protect them both now.
“Fuck!” Cosmo ground out, getting up from his seat to go and sit on Nomad’s lap. Harley placed a hand on Cosmo’s knee and the other on Nomad’s shoulder, connecting the three of them.
“They harvested bits of me. They used them to create other things, inhumane things. Monsters with no soul…” Black eyes that had no soul were something Romy used his Little side to hide from—Raul.
“Mother-fucking shitheads,” Evander growled, his eyes blazing a trail of fury around the room.
“They used me. I believe that owl that they created had some part of me in it. The two missing council members… I remember them coming. Bash found their pictures so I could look at them to see if they triggered my memory.” Romy had to stop and wet his lips, swallowing back the bile burning his throat at how distressed Bash had gotten over Romy sharing everything they’d done when he’d opened the vault that was his mind. His past.
“They visited the place they held me. One of them has a mate, Raul, he smells funny, distinct and I think it was him who captured me.” Romy could think of no other way that the smell from his past could be anything else and shuddered at the horror of Raul touching him again. “He liked to torture me after the tests. Hurt me…” Romy trailed off, working on catching his breath. His lungs burned as tears welled in his eyes.
The room was silent except for Romy’s choppy breathing.
Bash helped him, stroking his back until they were breathing in sync. So brave. Daddy’s boy is so brave.
“I think I know where they’ll be hiding. The place I escaped from in the swamps was self-contained, with accommodation at the back of the building behind where the labs were.” He released a shuddery breath, knowing he had no choice if he wanted Bash safe. “I could lead you there. Get you inside through the tunnel I escaped through.”
Bash
Though he had known the moment was coming, hearing Romy’s offer to lead them to the labs left Bash’s heart pounding like he’d just finished sprinting through the forest with hunters chasing them. It took him back to that moment when Romy had been missing and he’d been so desperate to find him that his recklessness had left him with scars where his tail had once been.
Several individuals were talking among themselves, but Bash couldn’t focus on the conversations or make out more than a few of their words, his focus was on his mate.
“You said you think you know where it’s located,” Arlo said. “But if you are wrong, we could wind up marching into an absolute waste of time and leave the Crash lacking protectors in the process. How certain are you that you can find it again after the way we fled blindly through the forest to escape those arrows?”
“Because there are things I remember now that I didn’t when we were fleeing from them,” Romy replied, his voice steadier now, which was the only thing that kept Bash from telling Arlo to just sit there like the hulking mass of muscle he was, shut up and wait to be pointed towards the fight.
Didn’t he get it? Didn’t he understand that Bash could lose Romy for good this time if something went the least bit wrong? And it wouldn’t be the kind of wrong that they could rescue him from, either, it was the kind of wrong that left Bash with no chance of ever feeling his mate in his arms again. Deep down, he knew it was selfish to be focused on that when there was a greater good at stake, but Romy had become Bash’s entire world, and a small, cowardly part of him longed to encase him in bubble wrap and keep Romy tucked against his side for the rest of eternity.
He was an enforcer though, and since the day he’d made his pledge and taken up the mantle as a protector of the crash, he’d become dedicated to a life of sacrifice and ensuring that those around them could live the lives they choose, oftentimes unaware of the atrocities taking place right down the road. If they were ever to return their crash to that level of blissful harmony again, then Romy needed to do this. Bash needed to be at Romy’s side to bolster his confidence and protect him so that if shit went sideways, ensuring Romy survived and get the life they’d tried to rob him of. That’s what it meant to fulfill the oath he’d made.
“We cannot ask others to stand up for us if we are unwilling to take the biggest risks ourselves,” Evander declared, shooting a harsh glare at Arlo. “After seeing the remains of both owls and the devices that were implanted in their eyes, I see no reason to delay what needs to be done. Romy may be the only rhino of Sumatran and Javan descent at this moment, but our thinking and our actions must reach beyond the here and now. In order to protect the future of our most vulnerable rhinos, we need to see this lab destroyed, and those who assembled it rendered incapable of ever causing harm again. That is the only acceptable outcome.” Behind his words was a force that few would argue with if they had sense.
Those in the room were all in agreement quickly became clear, and Bash felt like he could relax a little, knowing that they would have numbers on their side and skilled warriors at their backs.
“If there are more abominations like those owls, then we have a duty to seize the records from the lab so that others might ferret them out,” Evander said. “For too long, the shifter communities have lived separately and allowed miscommunication and distrust to run rampant, keeping them at odds. That is how the council’s misdeeds were able to continue for so long. It took Cosmo finding his mates, other cats he could trust, before he was willing to divulge the full extent of what he’d learned. Let’s all think about that a moment.”
As if to reiterate his point, Evander fell silent, while those in the room sat with their attention wholly fixed on him, but in their eyes, Bash could see the truth begin to dawn.
“Cosmo’s friendship with Gabai wasn’t enough to entice him to turn over his evidence, nor was his allegiance with Bash, despite the knowledge that Bash was working to retrieve our missing rhinos,” Evander said. “Ask yourselves why that was?”
“Why can’t we just ask him?” Arlo enquired, deep lines forming around his lips.
“If you insist,” Evander said, flicking his wrist Cosmo’s way. A gesture that was clearly meant to encourage Arlo to do just that.
“Why didn’t you reveal the evidence you uncovered?” Arlo questioned, his gaze scrutinizing Cosmo.
Bash watched Cosmo lean forward a little, chewing on his lower lip as he looked around the room. He saw Nomad give him a little squeeze while Harley ran a hand down his arm.
“Because I didn’t think it would matter to them unless a bear, a wolf, or a rhino were the one who were under threat,” Cosmo admitted. “But Evander is wrong about me waiting to find other cats to share my secrets with. I wouldn’t have told my mates if they hadn’t had even more training and experience than I did. When I met them, I wanted them to stay away from me. I knew the danger I was going to be in, and I didn’t want them getting hurt.”
Arlo’s face screwed up. “Then who did you intend to tell?”
“I didn’t know who I could tell,” Cosmo replied, giving a small shrug. “Opening up to the wrong person and it would have all blown up in my face. Then no one would have ever learned what was happening, and that scared the hell out of me every day when I had to hold on to my secret.” He waved a hand towards the differing leaders. “The divides within the shifter communities are gaping and difficult to navigate. Some trust the council, some tolerate them, and some are outright suspicious of anyone who represents them. It wasn’t an easy road to travel and I’m glad that I don’t have to walk it alone any longer. No one should be forced to do that.”
“It’s how I felt too,” Romy murmured, his gaze on Cosmo. “If the owl hadn’t come after Bash and they hadn’t snatched me from here, I doubt I’d have ever spoken of what I endured. Here I was safe among you, with a loving mate and a new home with a life I’ve always wanted. I didn’t want to upset that in any way. They made me feel small, insignificant, alone and helpless, with no power to make what was happening to me stop. They are horrible feeling that I hope no others are forced to endure. If I can help stop it, I’ll gladly take the risk of leading you there.”
“Then I believe we have settled on a course of action,” Evander said with all the finality of a slamming door.
And in those words, Bash knew that their fates, good or bad, became sealed and their path clear. The lab and the missing council members, they would destroy along with anyone who stood between them and the justice Romy, along with every other shifter they’d harmed, deserved. It was the only way to ensure a future for all of them.