Page 18 of The Bull's Head

“Will do. Thanks.”

Mal stepped out of the room, and Teddy went back to it. He pulled open the top drawer of the filing cabinet that stood in the corner of his office. Well, one of them. He had at least six others scattered throughout. Hyde may have been a psychopath, but the man kept every goddamn scrap of paper, as if losing a receipt to Value Village would be a problem.

He grinned. He loved doing this. Yeah, it was mostly busy work, but it was soothing in a weird way. It didn’t require a lot of concentration so he was free to let his mind wander. He thought about Callum and how they’d gotten closer in the last four days. One thing was certain, that guy loved being brushed. Teddy would go to the stall, and the first thing Callum would do was grab the brush and hand it to Teddy. That was fine. It made Callum happy, which made Teddy happy.

He still wondered what they’d done to Callum. When he washed the thick hair, Teddy could see the scars buried there, right below his ear. At some point, it appeared as though they’d done surgery on him. When he brought it up to Dr. Hamilton, she said there was definitely scar tissue, but she couldn’t guess as to what it was. His X-rays were clean as far as she could see.

It worried Teddy that they’d done things he couldn’t find paperwork for. They had a trove of documents, and he hoped that he’d be able to find out. Maybe something in this mess was the key to helping Callum return to human.

He toiled for forty-five minutes, sorting things into piles, before he scanned them and slipped them into the folders he’d created on the computer. When he flipped the page of a bound document, Teddy’s blood ran cold. At the top of the page were the names Callum and Cooper. He had to read the file four times, because no fucking way….

But the truth was there in black and white. Teddy’s stomach burbled, and he tasted the bile a moment before he threw up. The more he thought about what he’d read, the worse it got.

When the door opened, Teddy waved to whoever it was, not wanting them to see him like this.

“Teddy?”

Alp. Of course. It had to be the bunny.

A hand rubbed his back. “Are you okay?”

Teddy wanted to say something, but he heaved again. Tears streamed down his face. His whole life he’d wanted to acquire knowledge. He liked being the smart one. The brainy one. Now he wished he had never set foot in this place.

“Can you tell me what's wrong?”

How could he? What could he possibly say to Alp that wouldn’t terrify the gentle little man?

“Mal!” Alp shouted. “I need you.”

A moment later, the door banged open. “What’s wrong?” Mal rumbled.

“Teddy is sick or something. I found him like this.”

Mal strode forward, the heavy tread of his boots loud on the tiles. A moment later, Teddy found himself lifted from the floor and held to Mal’s big body. “Damon is in my office,” he said. “Go get him.”

Alp scurried away.

“Don’t let Alp be here,” Teddy croaked out. “He can’t know.”

“Know what? What’s wrong?”

Before he could answer, Damon Walker hurried into the room. “Teddy? What’s going on?”

“Alp? Can you go get him some water?”

“There’s some in the fridge,” Alp said.

“No, I need you to go get him some from the kitchen. Take a few minutes, okay?”

Alp frowned. “Oh. Oh, okay.”

A moment later the door closed with a soft snick.

“Tell me what’s this about?” Damon ordered.

Teddy pointed to the folder. Damon picked it up and his gaze traveled over the page. “No,” he whispered.

“What’s going on?” Mal demanded. “Why is this being kept from Alp?”

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