Page 32 of True Calling
“And I understand that, and we have it on tape, but he will smell the difference in your scent and then you will be the one dead, now back the fuck off!”Garth snapped.
Instead of listening to his mate, Berk held his hand out to the dark-haired man, “Hi there. I’m Berk Carlos, and this is my father, Nort Carlson. Carl’s asked my father to open a restaurant here, and we were checking the zoo out from a visitor’s point of view.”
The man held his hand out, shaking Berk’s, “Dean Johnson and this is my friend Sally Hendrix. Nice to meet you.”
Carl stepped closer to Berk, but he walked towards the woman who was farthest away from Carl. “You don’t look so well. Maybe Carl should get you some water?”
Shaking her head, Sally quickly replied, “No... no thank you. I just need to lie down for a bit. I should be alright soon enough. Pregnancy can be exhausting.”
Berk pretended as if he didn’t know her circumstance and smiled wide. “Well, congratulations. I hear the beginning trimester can be tough. Maybe you should go ahead and lie down for a bit.” Turning to Carl, Berk asked in a faked over-sweet voice, “You’re letting her go home to lie down... right? I would hate for anything to happen to her, or her baby.”
Carl gave Sally and then Dean a scathing glance, but smiled once more at Berk, “Of course we were just discussing that very thing just before you arrived.”
Berk was following Dean and Sally and didn’t realize that Carl had begun to approach him once more. However, Dean’s quick inhale and hissing, “What the fuck!” had Berk stopping in his tracks. Shit, he had gotten too close and Carl had scented him.
Grabbing his father, Berk shouted, “Go!”
“A little help here!”Berk shouted into his mating link.“Carl scented me and he’s after us!”
Nort and next to Berk with Dean and Sally right there with them. Dean pointed towards a building with a metal door. “Go in there! It will help hide our scent.”
Berk went to the place Dean indicated and rushed inside. The heat took his breath away at first. Seeing a broom, Berk grabbed in and shoved it in the door handles on the inside, blocking Carl from easy access. Turning back, he saw the three standing there, looking at him. “It isn’t much, but it should buy us some time until Garth gets here with help.”
“Garth? Who the hell is Garth and who are you?” Dean snarled.
Berk saw the man’s eyes shift for just a second and smiled, “You’re a large cat of sorts, aren’t you?”
Dean gave him a skeptical look, “And you’re human, so how do you know of our kind?”
“I’m mated to a dragon shifter and live with my own zoo I call my family. My mate heard about this place and was checking it out to see if it was a fucked-up place, or if things were on the level. I guess we have our answer.” Berk said, while he still caught his breath, wanting to smack the shit out of Dean for not even drawing a sweat, let alone a much-needed breath.
“Oh, my gods, he got my message? When I didn’t hear anything back, I thought...”
“Yeah, Garth isn’t much on communications. I’m working on it.” Berk said, then jerked at the sound of the door being pulled hard and fast.
“Damn, we better find a good place to hide. That broom isn’t going to hold your boss back for long.” Berk said with a huff.
Dean nodded and they took off once again. “They’ll have blocked off the other door, but there’s a secret exit not many know about. Follow me.”
Berk followed making sure his dad was right there with him. Sally wasn’t saying anything, but Berk could tell she was tiring quickly. This shit couldn’t be easy on her or the baby. “Are we close to this special exit?”
Dean rushed to a large giant red cedar, pulled off his shirt and wrapped it around the thing. He grabbed Sally and placed her in front of him. “I’ll help Sally, can you and your dad climb?”
Berk pulled his own shirt off and looked to see his father doing the same. Nort snorted, “I might be old, but I can climb a damn tree, now let’s get our asses up.”
“Your great exit is up there?” Berk gasped, “That has to be a good two hundred feet up!”
“You only have to hang climb for about sixty, then we can take the branches. Now let’s go!” Dean snapped, taking Sally and climbing faster than any man should be able to. Then again, he wasn’t all man, like Berk and his father.
“Dad, you go first. I’ll come from behind.” Berk ordered, watching the door as it moved inches more each time.
Berk was shocked when his dad started climbing the tree like he was a fucking lumberjack. There had to be a story there somewhere, and damned if he was leaving Florida until he heard it. For now, he needed to get his ass moving.
About thirty feet in the air, Berk felt like his shoulders and arms were going to rip off. The burn was bad and getting worse. He hoped he’d be able to make it. His dad got to the first branch where Dean and Sally were waiting, and Berk started to move once more, when he heard the broom finally snap. Shit, they were coming. Well, if that wasn’t motivation, Berk didn’t know what would be.
Within less than a minute, Berk found himself pulling and crawling onto the first branch.
“Berk! Berk Where are you? What are you doing?”Garth’s anxious voice called out.