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Chapter Eighteen
Right Time, Bad Place
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Kal had stepped backwards. The three massive shifters stepped in after him. Already, Kal’s mind was racing. In some part of his mind, he couldn’t understand what the fuck these people were expecting. One look around their crappy apartment was enough for anyone to know Kal didn’t have any money. Even his beat-up old laptop was hardly worth a damn thing. The only tech in the house that would be worth anything was his and Eli’s phones.
These thugs obviously knew Kal’s father, so they would surely know they couldn’t use Kal as a hostage to extort money from anyone. So why were they here? This had to be more than just a matter of beating the shit out of him to get some sort of grudge out.
‘How much money did he even take from you?’ Kalevi asked, trying to keep some kind of conversation going.
‘Money? Nah, he stole something much more valuable than money. Smug bastard thought he could sell it to the other side.’ Okay. Now Kal was completely lost. He had still held a small speck of hope that this was some bullshit gambling debt. Paying off his deadbeat father’s debts was not something he had on the cards, but at least he would have a baseline to work with.
‘He stole something? What?’ Kalevi asked, very aware of the other two shifters that were sidling in on either wall. ‘Look around. I don’t owe that bastard anything! I would fucking kill him myself if he was anywhere I could reach him. Tell me what he took. I might be able to get it back to you,’ Kalevi said, trying to look pissed off but calm. Hopefully, they couldn’t see the tremor in his legs.
The bullshark snorted. ‘How kind, kitten, but it’s not that simple.’ He looked around the apartment with mild interest and obvious dislike. ‘This place really is a dump. No wonder he was such a fucking deadbeat.’ Kal bristled but managed to keep his mouth shut. Those cold, milky eyes fixed back on Kal. They looked him up and down.
‘Here’s the deal. We need an absolute guarantee that our property is returned and the only way we can do that…’ Kale watched as the man’s teeth sharpened to points. ‘Is if we have something your brother can’t afford to lose. Come quietly and we’ll let you keep all your limbs.’
Well, fuck.
The apartment erupted into chaos. Kal didn’t even bother trying to remove his clothes. He just shifted on the spot. There was a horrific moment where the fabric threated to net him but then he was free and bolting.
‘Grab him!’ The black cat streaked between two massive legs. The door was closed, his phone was on the bed, his laptop was on the kitchen counter. There was nothing he could get to easily. His only hope was the tiny bathroom window that opened onto a ledge that he could run along as a cat to reach the fire escape. He’d used it before to go hunting but never under pressure. It was a narrow ledge. He’d be jumping through the window at full speed and if he missed, he would freefall until he hit the very hard ground in the street below.
His fur prickled, the only warning he got before a mug smashed in front of him. He jinked to the left, the porcelain showering the floor. He cut his paw on a broken piece, hot pain licking up his leg. A hand swiped for him and missed. Kal’s heart lurched violently as a towel was thrown. He put on a burst of speed before the fabric could encircle him and a heavy body hit the floor. There was a roar and a screech. Kal’s paws nearly slipped on the tiles as he made it to the bathroom.
He jumped onto the sink. He was eyeing the window and keying up to jump again when a huge paw smashed into him. The black cat was thrown, tangling in the shower curtain, and hitting the floor. Ears ringing, pain throbbing in his head, Kal rocked back onto his feet, twisted out of the way of another hand, and launched for the windowsill. The panic was so intense he could have puked.
Like an eel, he slunk through the small gap and felt the deadly touch of open space on his side. A hand thrust through the gap. If it grabbed his leg, he would be yanked back inside. He had a nasty image of his leg being completely mangled in the process. Kal looked over to the next windowsill. He needed to get there.
With no other choice, Kal jumped.
The air was icy on his eyes, in his lungs, and pressing in on his body. He was sailing through space, the world in front of him wobbling in and out of focus. His paws found the ledge. It was dusty, covered in gravel, soot, and cigarette butts. Terror filled every inch of his tiny body as his paws slid along the ledge, unable to grip. Carried forward by his momentum, Kal kept sliding. His claws bit into the concrete. He hit the edge and jumped again.
The next ledge he landed on was cleaner, but he landed badly. A car drove by in the street below, its headlights momentarily dazzling him. Space touched him on all sides, and he knew if he didn’t find a way down, then he was going to fall down and not get up again. Further and further from his apartment, the black cat climbed, jumped, and slid until he made it to a narrow rooftop where he could finally land squarely on all four paws.
Only now that he could finally stop, did his brain catch up. He was bleeding and the shifters had a bullshark with them. This wasn’t over. They would track him and if he couldn’t get the fuck out of here, they would find him fast.
Kalevi panted. He could do this. How many fucking times had he walked away from that damn apartment with a bloody face or a broken wrist? His body hurt but so, what else was new? He could take the pain. He knew these rooftops, knew the tiny spaces he’d found that could take his weight and only his weight. Kalevi needed to warn Eli. They couldn’t come back here. Kal didn’t care what happened to him, so long as he could warn Eli away.
The black cat took off, bloody pawprints leaving behind a trail as he started to run.
Warn Eli.
That’s all that mattered.
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‘Remember, Eli. Direct questions only. Don’t let him bait you into saying anything you don’t want to,’ Ben said quietly as they climbed out of the car.
‘Stay calm. Even a partial shift will be noted by the staff,’ Vano added softly as they walk. Eli nodded, his stomach churning. They approached the building. There was a middle-aged woman waiting for them. She gave a friendly little smile.
‘You must be Eli. We are so pleased that you could make it.’
‘I wasn’t given much of a choice,’ Eli said coldly, freezing the woman’s warm smile.
She recovered quickly and continued. ‘Please, I’ll have you three sign in and we’ll get started.’ Eli knew she was just doing her job, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still angry. Her scent was distinctly ursine despite her rather slight figure. Eli was glad Ben and Vano were with him. They weren’t even inside yet, and his skin was already crawling.
To be fair to the Institute, the inside foyer was quite nice. It had a polished white speckled floor and a few canvases on the wall of vaguely mundane clouds and flowers. There were a few couches and chairs for people to sit and wait. The facade of the lovely waiting room was only broken by the heavy doors that seemed to need a swipe card and passcode to get through. The staff all wore the same powder blue uniforms. There was another woman at the front desk and a bored looking teen sitting in one of the chairs, scrolling on his phone. A security guard was posted by the entrance.
There was an overall scent of bleach and unease. It was somehow even worse than a hospital and Eli was deeply glad that his brother didn’t have to be here. Ben placed a steadying hand on his shoulder.
‘Eli, the paperwork?’ Ben said quietly.
‘Right.’ The forms they were given were filled in relatively quickly. Phones, wallets, and keys were left at the front desk. They were each given a small sticker that read “visitor.”
‘There’s no need to look so worried. We aren’t going far from here. There is an office where we will be conducting the interview,’ said the woman who introduced herself as Ingrid.
‘An office?’ Eli wasn’t sure what exactly he had been expecting. Maybe a padded cell with bulletproof glass and several armed guards. It seemed insane to him that the man who had tortured him, made his life hell, stole any childhood he couldn’t have… just another patient to this institute. The idea that his father was just another blip in this universe when he had held such a pivotal role in the destruction of Eli’s world…
‘Yes. He will be restrained and sedated. I’ll show you through now, if you like.’
Eli was just about to say that he damn well didn’t like any of this when Vano gently pressed a huge hand on his back and guided him forward. It took every ounce of control he had for Eli to keep the jaguar contained. That wildcat urge to escape, to rip and tear and run, was enough to set his heart thudding like a drum inside him. He followed Ingrid to the heavy door. He watched as she swiped a card and entered in a code. The door gave a cheerful click as she pushed it open.
Feeling like he was walking toward the gallows, Eli followed after her.
Office might have been a bit of a general title. It was more like an interview room. There were no pictures on the walls, no plants or bookcases or boxes. Just a desk and several chairs. There was a man standing by the wall inside and from his scent, Eli knew he too was a shifter. Finally, in the centre of the room, sitting slumped in a chair, was Eli and Kalevi’s father.
Dion Nikola was somehow exactly like and nothing like the man Eli remembered. Under the bright cheerful lights of the room, the man looked washed out and pale. In Eli’s mind the man had always been enormous, dark, horrific. To be under his gaze was to be prey to whatever drunken stupor the man had put himself in. There had always been hatred and oily darkness in those dark eyes. Now they were glazed over, barely any recognition left. Dion was obviously heavily drugged.
His hair had grown long in his incarceration. His arms and torso were wrapped in a creamy-coloured straitjacket. The man barely moved or blinked as they sat his son down in front of him.
‘Mr. Nikola, you have a visitor. We have some questions for you,’ said Ingrid. She sat down in one of the chairs, one leg neatly crossing over the other. Vano decided to stay standing but Ben sat down next to Eli. Eli’s mouth was completely dry. His fingers were curled into fists in his lap. Already, he could feel the subtle prick from his fingernails as they threatened to turn into claws.
Breathe.
Stay in control.
Eli had a strong suspicion that he was being observed here just as much as his father was. How much of this was to get answers and how much was it just to check that Eli himself shouldn’t be in a place like this. A thin shiver of fear and dread crept down his spine.
‘Mr. Nikola?’ Ingrid promptly again. Those heavy eyes blinked sluggishly, then fixed on Eli’s face.
‘Eli…’ The voice made Eli’s stomach contract. Bile rose in the back of his throat. Eli forced himself to swallow it. He wasn’t a cub anymore. He glared at the man that was his father by biology and nothing else.
‘So, you’ve come to see me…’ The voice rattled, like he was out of practice using it.
Eli decided to get on with this as fast as possible. ‘Some thugs came after us. They said you owed them money. What did you do?’ No pandering, no smalltalk and he managed not to swear. Kalevi would be proud.
For a long time, Dion didn’t say anything. His head lulled to one side as he peered through a curtain of greasy hair. The silence was nasty and oppressive. Eli wondered if the man was even coherent enough to understand the question.
Dion let out a breath. It might have been a laugh. ‘Humans.’
Eli frowned. ‘Yes. Humans came after us.’
‘Did you kill them?’
The question stunned Eli for a moment. ‘What? No!’ His response likely should have been more thought out. He didn’t even need to answer the question at all, he’d just blurted the words out.
Those eyes seemed a bit clearer now. More alive, more feral. ‘Pathetic. Is your useless brother still squatting in my apartment?’ The sentences were getting longer. Ben looked vaguely unnerved. Maybe it was because whatever medication they gave the old jaguar seemed to be wearing off very quickly.
‘Kalevi is not and has never been useless,’ Eli said coldly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ben give an almost imperceptible shake of the head. They had barely started, and Eli was already being led off track.
‘He’s a cat,’ Dion spat. ‘A fucking useless animal, just like his bitch mother.’
‘Let’s try to stay on topic, shall we?’ said Ingrid mildly.
Eli had to take several deep breaths. Hatred like he could never have imagined bubbled in his stomach. The jaguar inside his soul wanted blood. He wanted to hurt this man, hurt him for everything he had ever done to them, but… It would never be enough. No physical claws or teeth could ever do as much damage, cause as much pain as this person had to Eli and his brother.
‘He’s better than you in every conceivable way. What kind of shifter needs to rob humans? It’s you that’s pathetic,’ Eli spat. His father eyed him, the pupils distending slightly, as though trying to take a more feline shape. Could he shift? Surely not. The straitjacket creaked a little.
‘Insane that my blood produced such a waste of fucking space. You’re weak,’ the jaguar hissed. ‘I wasn’t going to give the humans anything. I just made them think I would. Then I had the money and the drive and neither of them was dumb enough to fuck with me.’ He sounded like he was gloating.
Eli frowned. Drive? ‘What drive?’ It was actually Ingrid that asked before Eli could get there. She had been a passive observer for most of this discussion, but now she was staring avidly at the jaguar. Once again, Eli thought that this meeting was more about what the council could get out of Dion than it was about keeping Eli and Kalevi safe. Judging by the stoney expressions on Vano’s and Ben’s faces, they were clearly thinking the same thing.
Instead of answering, the jaguar spat on the floor.
‘Mr. Nikola, your cooperation is essential if you still want to lessen your sentence.’
‘Lessen his sentence? What the fuck are you talking about?’ Eli barked, turning on Ingrid. The guard shifted from his place on the wall and Vano met him by taking a step closer.
Ingrid turned. ‘Mind your language please Eli-‘
‘Hell no. We are so done here,’ Eli snarled.
Her gaze narrowed as Dion chuckled dryly. ‘Sit down,’ she commanded.
‘That’s enough. I think it is very clear to everyone here that this meeting is not at all for the safety of Eli and his brother,’ Ben said angrily.
‘That is not for you to determine,’ Ingrid replied.
‘Eli, we’re going,’ Ben announced. Again, the guard moved forward, but Vano met him chest to chest. Vano was not a predator species, but he was still an immense force. His disposition was commanding, silent and utterly pissed off. He stood at least two inches taller than the guard who was creeping his hand to his belt.
‘Don’t,’ was all Vano said.
Dion laughed again, the sound like claws on a chalkboard. ‘Got yourself some security guards? You’ll need them, whelp.’
‘Tell us what you did with the drive,’ Ingrid demanded.
‘Go fuck yourself, whore,’ was the eloquent response.
‘Come on,’ Ben muttered, guiding Eli speedily from the room. They walked as fast as they could without actually running.
‘Well, that was a complete fucking mess,’ Ben spat as soon as they cleared the front entrance.
‘Language,’ Vano sighed.
‘I’m sorry,’ rasped Eli, still feeling a bit sick. His ears were ringing. What was going to happen now? What the hell had that been all about!
‘It wasn’t your fault. This is exactly why we insisted on coming with you. We suspected… but this is too much,’ Ben growled as they walked.
‘Did you hear what he said about “neither of them?” We thought maybe the shifters and the humans were all part of one group, but I don’t think that’s the case,’ Eli said.
‘I believe you are correct,’ Vano rumbled. ‘It sounds as though your father stole this drive from the shifters and tried to sell it to the humans before stealing the money and giving them nothing.’
‘I don’t like this. We should get back. I’m not comfortable with leaving Kalevi alone,’ Ben said, his expression grim. Eli nodded, but before he could get into the car, his phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and frowned. He didn’t recognise the number. Tensing, he hit the button and put the phone on speaker.
‘Hello?’ Eli said slowly. Ben and Vano paused, listening in.
‘Eli!’
‘Kal?’
‘Don’t come home!’ Kal’s voice shouted from the phone. ‘They’re here. Stay with Vano and Ben. Don’t come home!’
‘Kal!?’ The call disconnected. The three of them were left staring in horrified silence at Eli’s lock screen.
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END
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