Page 13 of Spark (Damselverse #2)

Chapter thirteen

Nolan

T he sound of Ruby’s laughter echoes through the shelter and back to my heart, making it beat faster as she plays with the two female kittens.

Perhaps they remember her, but the kittens are already coming around. Only the boy so far is still a little wary, but I’m sure we can get him to come around, too.

Ruby manages to get him out from behind his cat tower at least, and he even chased after a piece of string when she dragged it along the floor.

“Would it be bad if I said I wanted them? All three?” Ruby sighs sadly.

I lean against the wall, thinking. Well, I suppose it could be possible. There is fostering, of course.

Ruby would make a brilliant foster.

“We could foster... They have the volunteers here to take care of them, but they need to get used to living in a home environment.”

Ruby smirks. “Even with Xavier around?”

I throw my head back and laugh. “Yes, even with Xavier running wild around the house.”

Ruby thinks about it a moment, and if I’m mistaken, a little trepidation passes through her eyes. “No. I wouldn’t want to put them in any unnecessary danger."

Danger?

I know she isn’t talking about Xavier. While the Alpha can be complicated, he’s not a monster.

“I’m sure they’d be fine…”

Realizing her mistake, Ruby buttons her lips, then pretends to be distracted by the kittens again. “Of course. I’m just talking nonsense.”

I raise a brow, looking her up and down a few more moments before I tell her the good news. I’ve been waiting all morning.

“I’ve got good news…”

Ruby looks up with those shining hazel eyes.

I go on. “We got a call in this morning. A female tabby has been spotted in the junkyard.”

Her eyes light up. “Do you think it could be the mother?”

“That’s what I’m hoping.”

She grins, and my head spins as my Alpha stirs.

Could there be a more perfect woman?

Mine.

I shake myself out of it next, then take my leave. I hate to leave her, but I was planning on getting to the junkyard as soon as possible.

“If you need anything, just let Daphne know at reception. She’d be happy to help you out.”

The Omega nods, then returns to cuddling a kitten. The tiny cat is purring away on her lap. I really don’t want to leave her, but the sooner we can find the mother, the better for all cats involved.

Perhaps we can foster them all together.

***

“Hey there, sweetheart,” I whisper to the terrified cat as she huddles at the other end of the humane trap I set in the yard.

It took a while, but I figured she would have taken the bait of tuna in the trap, considering she's probably starving.

Damn, she’s just a wee baby herself, but let’s hope my hunch is right and that she is, indeed, the mother cat.

“It will all be over soon, and then we can finally reunite you with your babies.”

She answers with a small growl, pupils wide and ears pulled back like the wings of an airplane, and she’s going to be a little harder to socialize.

Finally, I pick up the trap gently, carrying her back to where I parked the car outside the junkyard. I just want to get her away from here ASAP. This end of town has always been shady.

I saw a gang of kids nearby on the drive here, kids who were obviously up to no good, but she’s in safe hands now.

Just as I place her in the back seat, something catches my eye on the ground.

It looks like a pin of some kind.

Going over to investigate, I kneel down to pick up the pin, turning it in my hand.

My hackles raise when I recognize the insignia. It’s a black wolf, and it can only belong to one of the biggest crime lords in the city.

The Wolf. Or Big Bad Wolf, as some like to call him.

Why was he here?

My eyes find the burned-down garage, the one where Dacre found Ruby. I always found it odd that she would be in such a dirty place like this.

Had she been on the run, perhaps?

And why are the Wolf and his Pigs involved?

Shit.

It's starting to make sense, the downcast eyes, the averted gazes…

Was Ruby in trouble with the Wolf?

It's time I get the hell away from here.

There’s a mother cat who’s missing her babies after all.

***

The cat was the mother after all, and to say that she was happy to finally reunite with her kittens would be an understatement.

The cat was ecstatic, licking them nonstop.

When we return home, Ruby runs straight upstairs to shower. But I turn up the hall, searching for my pack brothers.

The three of us need to talk.

I find Xavier alone in his art gallery as usual, and he sighs dramatically the moment I barge in unannounced. “For fuck sake… Knock next time, will ya?”

“Sorry, X, but it's important."

With a roll of his eyes, he covers up his latest project, and it seems he isn’t ready to show us all yet.

“I just sent Dacre a text. There’s something I need to discuss, and this is the only room in the house she avoids.”

There’s no missing the hurt in Xavier’s eyes as he gathers up a stool, but he hides it quickly as he tosses on his asshole hat again.

Dacre soon arrives, and once we’re all accounted for, I pull out the pin.

Xavier growls the moment he recognizes the insignia. “Where did you find that?”

I’m not surprised he knows the symbol, considering it belongs to his estranged twin brother. They were separated at birth, then adopted by families on different sides of the Atlantic.

Wolf was the reason Xavier came to the States in the first place. What he didn’t expect was to find two other brothers instead, Dacre and I, and so he stayed for the sake of his new pack.

He loves us really, but he just has his own shitty way of showing it.

Funny that Xavier would end up being the good twin in the end. Classic Hollywood would have you believe that it's always the British twin who's evil.

The Wolf is bad news, though.

His very name sends shockwaves through the city.

I sigh, handing the pin over to Dacre so he can get a look himself. “At the junkyard...”

Dacre’s amber eyes shoot up to mine. “The site of the fire?”

“Yes,” I reply.

The firefighter shakes his head. “But they said it was arson... They found the bomb. Ruby said that kids had been chasing her.”

I look at Xavier. He’s white knuckling the edges of his stool, staring at the little enamel pin with his brother’s insignia.

His eyes are glowing.

“So… she lied to us,” he whispers.

Another sigh leaves my lips. “Perhaps. We don’t know the full story.”

“Give me that,” Xavier growls, snatching the pin from Dacre’s hand.

He sniffs, and I watch him, confused. Is he hoping to catch her scent?

“Well, it definitely belongs to my brother. I can smell his fucking Pigs all over it," Xavier spits.

“So, it was his henchmen who'd been chasing her…” Dacre whispers, and there’s no missing the hurt in his eyes.

“Looks that bloody way. And she told us it was kids,” Xavier growls, crushing the pin in his fist as if it’s the skull of his brother.

I hold my palm out, raising a brow at Xavier. He concedes in the end, dropping the pin into my hand before he destroys it.

“We don’t speak of this to Ruby, okay?” I announce next.

“If that is even her name,” Xavier scoffs.

I throw him a pointed look.

Dacre is crestfallen, arms crossed over his chest as if to protect his heart. “If it’s all true… then we must protect her, right? Even if the Wolf finds us."

A snarl escapes me at last. “Fuck him. If he wants her, then he will have to get through me first.”

Xavier stares at me with impassive eyes, and it’s hard to get a read on his emotions right now.

Would he protect her from his brother if it came down to it? After all, she is an innocent. We can’t let him get his hands on her again.

And besides, Ruby is mine, and like hell I would ever let her return to him.

Mine.