Page 32 of Perfectly Petite Shorts (Perfect Pixie)

Swift movement above drew my attention. My leap was pure instinct.

Scrambling for any traction I could find, I took off after the skeet.

Boxes fell, tumbling to the floor. The distant sound of glass breaking didn’t break my concentration.

The skeet ran across the wall, its skin changing colors and blending into the background as it headed for a small hole in the wall near the ceiling.

My claws dug into the wall as I launched myself ever higher. Near the hole, the skeet turned and hissed before it slipped into the small hole. A scream tore its way from my throat. I would dig through the wall to get to the little menace!

“What in the…? What in the Goddess’s name is going on in here?” I didn’t stop when I heard Johnny’s irate scream. “Trinket! Get down from there.”

A firm yank on my tail destroyed all my earlier efforts. Flipping midair, I twisted and snapped at Johnny. I was running on instinct, and Johnny was keeping me from my prey.

“Don’t you fuckin’ snap at me, missy.” Johnny let go of my tail, his hands fisted on his hips as he stared down at me. I’d landed on an overturned crate.

Shame filled me. Johnny was part of my tribe.

He was to be protected, not bitten. And I was trying to protect him.

I was trying to protect everyone. They simply didn’t understand.

I chittered out an apology. Johnny’s shoulders relaxed, but he became tense again when he looked around the wrecked storage room.

“She was just chasing after a rat.” Dillon tried to defend me. “I think she had it too. Almost.” Dillon’s lips thinned as he stared up at the hole in the wall. “I think I heard it hiss or something. Do rats hiss?” I wasn’t certain who Dillon was asking.

Johnny’s body deflated as his gaze tracked the mess my hunt left behind. “I’m gonna have to tell Leon, who’s gonna have to tell the boss, that we need to reorder a lot of liquor. I can’t say that’s gonna go over well.”

Ruthie scooped me up, and I wrapped my tail around her small arm. “She really was after something.”

“I’m not questioning that,” Johnny said.

“I’m just upset about the method. Trinket caused a lot more damage going after the thing than that rat would cause on its own.

” Narrowing his eyes on me, Johnny pointed an accusing finger.

“And you know what happened the last time you dug a hole in the wall while going after something or other. We had to replace the whole damn wall. I told you then not to do that again, and if I hadn’t walked in just now, you would have done it again. ”

I opened my mouth, wailing that he didn’t understand. This wasn’t a rat; it was a skeet, and they were a lot more dangerous. But Johnny didn’t understand, and there was no way to make him suddenly hear me.

Johnny waved his hand. “You three get out of here. I’ve got this. Just try not to cause any more trouble. We’re all here to celebrate Wendall and Ray’s bonding. Try and remember that.”

The reprimand hurt, and I swore I could hear the skeet laughing from behind the wall. I was determined to make sure it wasn’t laughing for long .

S keet Annihilation!

“I do not understand this bonding. Why would anyone want to give away such a precious possession?”

I glanced up at Aurelia. She wasn’t hiding this time. I noticed there were a lot of times where I could see her, but no one else seemed like they could. It was another oddity where Aurelia was concerned.

Instinct told me Aurelia was dangerous. Power didn’t leak off her.

Her magic was tightly reigned in. It was like when a human shook a soda bottle.

The pressure built inside, just waiting for a release.

Aurelia was like that. But she’d saved Wendall.

And not just saved him but made it so he could be with Ray forever.

I wasn’t sure if Aurelia was part of my tribe.

I think Alpha Voss and King Moony felt the same. No one knew where to place her.

“Mates are more important than any possession,” Dillon answered with authority, his arms crossed over his chest and small chin jutted out. Dillon was an alpha in the making. He’d make a good one if he followed in his uncle’s footsteps.

Aurelia scoffed. “A foolish notion. Such attachments can be easily exploited. I lured a master to her death once this way.”

Dillon’s mouth slipped open as he openly gawked at the callous remark.

Ruthie slid a little closer to her brother.

I wasn’t sure if Sedrick knew where his niece and nephew were.

They hadn’t left my side since Johnny kicked us out of the storage room, and because Aurelia always sought me out when she visited, she was near at hand also.

“Um…can I ask you a question, Miss Aurelia?” Ruthie politely asked.

Aurelia’s expressionless facade slipped for a moment before freezing back in place. “You may ask, but I may choose not to answer. ”

Ruthie nodded while pushing a wayward strand of hair out of her eyes. “That’s fair. If you think mates are silly, then why did you save Wendall?”

Aurelia was statue still, and I figured she wouldn’t answer. I was curious too and was disappointed it looked like she’d keep silent. That silence was broken when she answered a brief “I am uncertain.”

I didn’t understand Ruthie’s grin. “Okay. Do you regret it?”

Aurelia’s lip twitched. “No. Wendall has proven entertaining.”

Another bright “okay! Thank you” slipped through Ruthie’s lips.

Dillon sighed. He’d planted his butt beside me on a corner table, and his legs swung wide.

Head hung, even the flying, dancing pixies didn’t seem to lift his spirits.

Leaning in close, I rubbed up against him and chittered my distress.

When I didn’t get any answer, I turned to Ruthie, giving her my widest, most sincere eyes.

“Oh, he’s worried what Uncle Sedrick is going to say when Johnny tells him about what just happened,” Ruthie informed me.

I opened my mouth, wailing while tottering back and forth. It was my fault, not theirs. I didn’t want them getting into trouble.

“I know,” Dillon said. His fingers found their way into my fur. “Don’t worry. It’ll be okay.”

Ruthie nodded. “It will be. Uncle Sedrick’s not like Grandpa Arie. He’ll understand what happened.”

I hissed at the mention of Alpha Arie Belview’s name. Technically, the children sitting next to me were of his blood. But they had better blood than that running through their veins.

“Arie Belview was disgusting,” Aurelia stated as a matter of fact. “It is good he is dead. He was typical of many of my previous masters.”

Aurelia’s comments would have seemed harsh, but I figured Dillon and Ruthie understood that better than anyone.

After all, the werewolf had killed his own daughter—Dillon and Ruthie’s mother—and the wolf she’d mated.

Arie’s actions orphaned his grandchildren.

He’d thought custody would fall to him. Oh, how wrong he’d been.

Booming laughter rang over the music and general fanfare. Alpha Sedrick Voss had his head thrown back with mirth. He was surrounded by Warlock Vander Kines and King Lucroy Moony. Vander’s grin was almost as wide as Sedrick’s. Lucroy seemed to be fighting a smirk.

“It is an odd gathering,” Aurelia stated. There was no harshness to her tone. If anything, there was a hint of curiosity.

“It’s a good group,” Dillon affirmed. “We have a strong pack.” I twittered in agreement.

Dillon’s mood lifted as the sound of his uncle’s laughter continued. I was starting to relax a little too when movement caught my eye. There, near the ceiling but moving lower. A low growl rumbled from deep within.

Dillon and Ruthie stilled, but it was Aurelia that said, “What is that? I have not seen such a creature before.”

“What?” Dillon sat up straighter, his muscles pulled tight. “Where?”

Aurelia inclined her head toward the skeet. “It is just there. It is a clever creature. It fades in and out of even my vision.”

Ruthie’s nose twitched as she lifted her head higher. “I don’t see anything.”

“Me either,” Dillon agreed. “But I trust Trinket and Aurelia.” Dillon’s eyes narrowed. “Well, Trinket at least. If she says somethin’s there, then it is.”

“ Something is definitely present.” Aurelia stared at the spot the skeet had adopted. It was joined by a second skeet. “Two. Fascinating.”

“There are two of them?” Ruthie asked.

“If we can’t see them, then we should be able to smell them.” Dillon stuck his nose into the air just like his sister had. “I don’t smell anything. I’d smell a rat.”

“It is not a rat,” Aurelia answered. “I suspect it is something of Fairy.”

I wasn’t sure if they couldn’t smell the skeet like I could or if they simply didn’t know what one smelled like to recognize the scent.

Regardless, my fur fluffed up when the skeets began moving.

They wouldn’t get away from me this time!

I would not allow them to injure my tribe.

Keeping Wendall and everyone else safe was more important than risking a stern talking-to.

“Fairy… But that could mean they’re dangerous,” Ruthie said.

“I believe that is what has the scuttlebutt so concerned.” Aurelia seemed to be the only one that understood.

I let instinct take over. Scrambling over Ruthie’s lap, I used the table to launch myself at the wall.

The sound of clothes shredding filled my ears as Dillon and Ruthie followed my lead, transforming into their furry halves.

Shouts of alarm and censure sounded around us.

I couldn’t let them distract me. I was hunting skeets!

The skeets took off, running in the same direction. I slid down the wall only to land on Ruthie’s back. Her dire wolf form was huge. Digging my claws into her fur, I latched on tight. I wasn’t sure what it was about their wolf forms, but Ruthie and Dillon now seemed able to find the skeets.