Page 7

Nari squatted in front of the free-standing wood-burning stove.

She poked at the crackling fire, sending sparks flying up the stove pipe.

Being satisfied the fire wouldn’t go out, she closed the cast-iron framed door, twisting the handle to latch it shut.

She pushed the lever that adjusted the damper and watched the flames through the glass in the door.

Anson still slept—in shrew form—on the small bed of blankets she’d made for him by the wood-burning stove.

He looked like a little ball of fluff curled up on the floor, and she worried about him.

He’d seemed so dazed and confused after the car crash.

He’d looked like a deer in headlights right before she convinced him to shift into shrew form.

He lost consciousness pretty quickly after she picked him and her fanny pack up in her eagle form to fly away.

Luckily, she’d been prepared for something like this and had studied the locations of the FUC safehouses and cabins. This was one of the cabins nestled into the Canadian wilderness in a mountain valley.

She’d used her agent code to access the building through the digital keypad—this would immediately notify FUCN’A that she was alive and had arrived at the location—and set Anson up in his cozy bed, hoping he’d recover quickly.

A quick scout through the place showed the expected supplies and amenities: non-perishable food items, a drawer full of gadgets and digital devices, sheets and blankets, wood for the wood-burning stove, and a selection of sweatsuits for those who’d arrived in their animal form.

There was even a first aid kit and a charging station for her phone.

She was happy to don a comfy pair of black sweatpants, a soft cotton t-shirt, and a grey sweatshirt.

She figured Anson would hate the ensemble, but she couldn’t exactly fly back to the crash site to collect his clothing.

Besides, with him currently unconscious…

Well, it was what it was. He just had to accept what there was to wear here or walk around naked.

Nari tried not to think back to Cass’ car.

That was a topic she was trying to keep her mind away from.

The peahen would kill her for destroying something she held so precious, and Nari would never hear the end of it.

At least she hadn’t wrecked it joyriding.

She wasn’t sure that would be any consolation to Cass, though.

The situation had been out of her hands. She assumed the people pursuing them had been henchmen of Grimm’s, but how had they found them so fast? If the EMP had alerted them to activity at the house, they would have been nearby to have arrived so quickly to tail them.

The big question was, did they know Anson was with her? He’d said he hadn’t recognized either of the two people they’d seen on the street, but that didn’t mean they didn’t know what he looked like.

She wished she knew what the email Grimm had sent Anson had said. And what had Anson replied with? She narrowed a suspicious eye on the sleeping shrew. Had Anson requested help from Grimm? Had he revealed that he escaped from FUC and needed help ditching Nari, and that was why they’d been attacked?

No, she didn’t believe that. For one, Anson had been terrified of their pursuers.

He hadn’t acted like a man who knew it was his rescue team chasing them.

For another thing, he’d actually been nice to her in the car right before the attack.

Had reassured her that he wasn’t mad at her for setting off the EMP and had, in fact, reminded her that Grimm was their common enemy.

As hesitant as she was to trust him, she truly believed that he hadn’t tried to sell her out.

And if that were the case, that was bad news for Anson, because their pursuers had been out to kill. Meaning, Grimm had no intention of attempting to rescue Anson.

Again, she wished she’d known what they’d emailed about.

Nari glanced at Anson to make sure he was still sleeping—and breathing—before she sent a text to Agent Stone.

She’d put it off long enough. She figured they probably already knew—since FUC had been observing her—but she still let him know where they crashed the car and asked him to break it gently to Cass.

She also confirmed her current whereabouts in the woods and asked if FUC had been able to comb through Anson’s house for more clues.

Feathers crossed they’d be able to find more than she had…

And that they’d manage to avoid setting off booby trap devices, unlike her.

She winced at the memory of her first mistake that day, which was followed by her being unable to lose the tail and ultimately crashing the car and needing to shift and flee. Her mission was crumbling around her.

Nari watched the flames wear a pattern across the crisscrossed logs in the fireplace.

The valley where the cabin was felt cooler than the town they’d left—maybe the trees surrounding the place kept the cold and dampness in the air.

The fire helped with the chill, though. She didn’t want to freeze her tailfeathers off in the night.

The temperature started dropping the second the sun started sinking lower in the sky.

She shivered just thinking about the potential temperature after the sun set.

Nari glanced back at Anson in the nest of blankets.

She knew it was time to drop the pretense of working with him and against FUC.

Anson needed to know the truth, because he needed to know that there really was only one enemy.

FUC wasn’t pursuing them, and they hadn’t caused their crash. The only enemy was Grimm.

But how would Anson react to the fact that it had all been a ruse to get him to trust her?

Thinking about him being angry with her stung.

But if she put it off, it’d probably be worse.

Either way, he’d probably never trust her again, but at least coming clean meant he would know that he still had allies with FUC—more people than just Nari who wanted to help him save his sister.

Her phone vibrated. She glanced at the screen, expecting the worst. The reply was just one word: Okay.

Before she could ask for elaboration on any case updates, Anson stirred.

He stretched out his front paws and squeaked before wiping his furry face with a paw.

Nari had never seen a shrew before. She thought he looked like a mouse with a really long snout.

He sat back on his hind legs while wiping at his long whiskers before wriggling his nose.

Anson was somehow cuter as a shrew. Nari didn’t think that would have been possible.

Then he looked up at Nari and blinked. It felt as if he’d forgotten about her.

“There’s some clothes for you right there, but fair warning, you’re probably going to hate them.

I also have a first aid kit.” She pointed to the open box full of bandages, wraps, and antiseptic ointment on the coffee table.

While Anson was sleeping, she’d patched herself up.

While she only had a few scrapes on her hands and forehead, he seemed worse for wear.

He must’ve hit his head pretty hard to be as dazed as he’d been.

She was glad he’d woken up. When she first set him in the nest of blankets, he barely moved.

The tiny creature squeaked an acknowledgement before he started to shift.

Anson grew inch by inch as his fur receded.

His mouse-like ears re-formed into human ones.

Nails replaced claws. Soon, Anson was sitting in the nest of blankets, staring at the fire.

She tried not to ogle the bruises across his chest and lap from the seat belt. Hers didn’t look as bad.

“Where are these clothes I’m going to hate?” he asked with a slight shake in his voice. He brushed the scrape on his forehead and winced. A bruise was blossoming beneath the wound.

She handed him his pile of clothes. “It’s pretty much standard-issue emergency FUC clothes. I did my best to estimate your size,” she explained as he eyed up the pile like an adder might jump out and bite him. “If you need to grab a different size?—”

“It’s fine,” he said before snatching the bundle from her. After eyeing up her outfit, he snorted. “You didn’t know your own size either?”

A blush crept into her cheeks. “I had a bad day and wanted to be comfortable,” she snapped, feeling strangely defensive.

“You’re welcome for saving you, by the way.

” For some reason, she wanted to make sure he knew that she didn’t have to save him from the henchmen.

She could have easily left him behind. While a good agent would never have left someone behind, she was not in the mood for his sarcasm.

Then she realized why she felt that way. Because soon she’d be admitting that she’d lied to him, and she wanted him to know that it wasn’t all deception. She really did want to protect him and help him save his sister. She just happened to fake a little jailbreak to get him to allow her to help.

“I’ve never flown via eagle before,” he said with a small chuckle before raising his arms above his head to don the T-shirt. His face scrunched up in pain as he pulled his head through the neck hole.

“We’ll have to do it again sometime when you can stay conscious.”

“Yeah, I really don’t remember much of it.”

“At least you’re awake now,” she said, not mentioning how worried she’d been for the hours it took him to regain consciousness. “Now, let me take a look at some of those cuts.”