Page 32

Ziggy

Ziggy had met Bowie in the parking lot when he’d pulled in to park next to his car.

Bowie had been on his phone and hadn’t initially noticed him until Ziggy had knocked on his car window.

They’d been strolling quietly together to head to where they planned to meet Frey, until Bowie spotted Frey with the stroller, and ran ahead, calling his name.

The other man looked to be lost in thought when he didn’t so much as look in Bowie’s direction.

“Are you deaf?” Bowie asked breathlessly, waving a hand in front of Frey’s face. “I’ve been shouting your name for the last five minutes. I had to run to catch you.”

Ziggy didn’t contradict Bowie when it had barely been a minute, possibly two, before he’d caught up with Frey, who wore a sheepish smile.

“Sorry. I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have a friend like you.”

Ziggy slung an arm over Frey’s shoulder. “What about me?”

Frey glanced sideways, grinning at Ziggy. “You, too… but you will have to learn to bake to gain full friendship status.”

Ziggy groaned and rolled his eyes. “I’m telling you that if you tasted my cakes , you’d never want to be my friend because you’d possibly not survive the poisoning.” He stressed the cake part because were brownies actually cake? And technically, he had poisoned no one when he’d made them.

Frey barked out a laugh as they strolled on towards the concession stand they had planned to meet at.

Ziggy’s attention caught on a giant of a man who looked familiar.

“I hope we got here early enough to nab some brownies.”

Drawing his gaze back to Frey, who had sped up, he increased his pace, groaning, “You and your sweet tooth.”

“I have one, too,” Bowie confessed, so Ziggy shifted his attention to him. “I can’t seem to stop baking or eating cake no matter how many times I get told off by Da—”

“Are you dating?” Frey questioned with interest, before Ziggy could.

Bowie dropped his gaze and stared at the ground intently, his cheeks revealing embarrassment by how they darkened. “Nah… not dating…”

“Then who tells you off for eating cake?” Ziggy enquired in a gentle tone, careful to not act pushy.

“I-I…” He groaned and ran his hands through messy hair that looked like it hadn’t seen a brush in days. “Can we change the subject?”

Ziggy shrugged at the enquiring look Frey shot him.

Whatever was going on with Bowie, he’d clearly been keeping it to himself.

Judging by how uncomfortable he looked, he obviously wasn’t ready to talk about it yet so Ziggy decided to distract Frey.

Placing his hand on the stroller, he gave his friend a pleading look, which made Frey laugh and step aside.

Ziggy caught movement and the man he’d noticed earlier stepped into their path.

“You,” the guy growled, grabbing Frey’s arm in a move that sent alarm through Ziggy. His next words got Ziggy hissing. “How the fuck did you con my son into adopting divergent scum?”

It took but a split second to understand why the dude looked so familiar, despite what he’s said. The dude was a dead ringer for Booker. Ziggy didn’t know Booker’s history other than Lane and Derick Starling had adopted him, same as Jupiter, Laken, Taylin, and Rue.

“Don’t you dare speak about our daughter in that way!” Frey snapped, all teeth.

Ziggy’s snake wanted out, and he was in a mind to let him if the asshole didn’t let go of Frey.

“I can say whatever the fuck I want,” the dude spat. “That thing will never be welcome in our family!”

At Frey’s grimace of pain at the huge fucker shaking him, so hard he almost lost his footing, Ziggy’s fangs dropped.

“Someone call the police, I’m being attacked,” Frey shouted out.

Bowie seemed to gather himself and demanded, in a quivering tone, “You let go of my friend.”

“Fuck off,” the asshole growled, “before I rip your divergent head off!”

It was too much, and Ziggy, who detested violence and abusive dickheads, pushed the stroller at Bowie. “Take Emmy,” he demanded forcefully.

Ziggy waited but a beat for Bowie to do as he requested before he shifted, uncaring how his clothes became nothing more than useless shreds. He receded fully, letting his snake take charge. As big as they were, his snake could move fast.

They chased after the dick, hissing and gathering the scent of their prey while watching others leap out of the way.

Ziggy had no concept of time when two deputies appeared, running towards them.

The bear headed off in a different direction, one officer continuing on with the chase while the other stopped in front of Ziggy, bringing him to a slithering halt.

“Sir, can you shift for me so we can discuss what’s going on here?”

Ziggy eyed the large, attractive, blond-haired alpha and considered his options. His snake wasn’t ready to recede yet after not getting close enough to give the bear a hard squeeze that would crack a few bones.

“It’s not a request, sir,” the guy stated with authority, but not with a shitty attitude.

Ziggy’s head bobbed from side to side, looking at the audience they had and sighed when his snake decided it didn’t care who got to see him buck ass naked and did what the officer asked.

“Thank you,” the officer murmured, keeping his gaze respectfully up as Ziggy moved his hands to cup his junk. “Can you explain why you chased that man around the lake?”

“Could I do that with my clothes on?”

The alpha coughed, his eyes not straying down Ziggy’s nakedness. “Of course. Let’s go back to my car, I believe I have a jacket that you can use.”

Hours later, everything sorted out and Ziggy assured that Frey, Emmy and Bowie were okay, Ziggy found himself back in the police cruiser heading back to the parking lot to get his car.

When Deputy Meres pulled to a stop next to his car after he’d pointed out which one it was, Ziggy peered down at the zipped up jacket to make sure his dick wasn’t hanging out.

Bowie had called Kari, who had collected Ziggy’s belongings including his car keys, phone and wallet.

Someone had bagged his clothes for him in a trash bag, which was the only place for them.

He clutched the trash bag in front of him protectively as he exited the car.

“Thank you, Deputy Meres,” he said when the man exited the car too.

“It’s Bud, and no stress. We couldn’t have you walking around half naked, causing another stir.”

His tone was playful, flirty, and Ziggy responded in the same way. “I’m sure I’ve scared enough folks today.”

Blue eyes roamed down his half covered body, lingering on where the hem of the jacket met his bare legs.

“Scared is not what comes to mind,” he murmured softly. When his attention shifted up, his smile deepened, wrinkles appearing at the sides of his eyes. “It might seem a little forward, and you can tell me to take a hike, but would you like to go out for dinner sometime?”

Ziggy’s eyes widened as his snake hissed, No way.

“That would be lovely,” Ziggy answered without hesitation. Moving on, remember!

“Great, let’s swap details.”

Twenty minutes later, back at home, Ziggy peeled off the jacket that smelled of Bud, dropping it on top of the trash bag containing his clothes.

He headed straight for the shower. He felt dirty after slithering on the ground and he needed to wash away the awfulness of the day, and Bud’s scent.

He also needed a moment to get to grips with the fact he had a date…

an actual date with someone who wasn’t Silas.

You only did it to spite me.

Get over yourself. I didn’t. We agreed to move on.

I never agreed.

Ziggy didn’t wait for the water to warm up before stepping under the icy blast, willing his snake to keep his thoughts to himself.

Never gonna happen. And don’t think I’ll behave either if that blond lug tries to touch us.

Ziggy shivered as the water temperature warmed, and he rolled his eyes heavenward. Why would I expect anything less, you damn diva!