Page 88 of The Tracker's Revenge

I scratched my head, aware that I was wasting my breath. Questioning a cat wasn’t going to lead anywhere.

Jake pulled up to the curb, and Blaze sauntered down the steps and hopped in as Jake threw the passenger door open. They stared at each other, Jake frowning. I got in after Blaze, picking him up and setting him on my lap.

“That was fast,” Rosalina said.

“Yeah, he... um... actually came down in the elevator,” I said.

“He what?” Jake’s eyebrows furrowed, and he gave Blaze another distrustful stare.

I nodded, avoiding eye contact.

Jake’s nose twitched as he took in the cat’s scent. “Is this thing trustworthy?”

“I think so,” I blurted out.

“Where did you find him again?”

“By the dumpster, behind our building.”

A muscle twitched in Jake’s jaw as he silently considered. The Camaro’s engine idled.

“I vote you throw it to the curb,” Jake said after a moment.

“What?! No! I’m not going to do that.” I protested.

Blaze hissed his disagreement.

Jake bared his teeth and growled back at the cat. Any sensible creature would have been terrified of a werewolf like Jake, but Blaze just stood on my lap and, nonchalantly, started licking his paw.

“Let’s vote,” Jake said. “All of those in favor of getting rid of this mongrel raise their hand.” His large hand shot up in the air. We both peered back at Rosalina, who sat in the middle of the backseat, her eyes flicking from Jake to me, looking very much like someone who didn’t want to get involved.

To my surprise, she slowly raised a hand. She shrugged. “Sorry, Toni, but Jake’s right. We’re going into hiding, and the cat is a liability.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I mean,” she added, “if it was Cupid, I’d be all for it. He was a nice fishy.”

“Blaze is a nice kitty,” I retorted.

“This is stupid.” Jake’s hands twisted on the wheel, making the leather creak. “We’re sitting in the open, arguing about a stupid cat. Just throw it out, Toni.”

“I’m not going to,” I spat, my anger flaring, surprising me and the others.

Logically, I knew Blaze would, most likely, be all right by himself, either on the streets or back inside, but I couldn’t leave him. He’d only been with me for a few days, but I felt a connection with him. I couldn’t abandon him. I just couldn’t.

Jake put his hands up in the air. “O-kay, if you feel that strongly about it, he can come. But if he does something suspicious, I—”

“Whatever it is you’re about to say, don’t.”

He squared his shoulders and stared pointedly at the street ahead. After a few deep breaths, he shifted into first, and we were on our way. Once we got on the interstate, Blaze curled up on my lap, purred for a bit, then fell asleep.

As I watched his whiskers twitch with his kitty cat dreams, I petted his head, baffled at how silly we’d been, arguing over a defenseless cat.

It wasn’t long before his warmth on my lap, and the rhythm of traffic lured me into my own dreams.