Page 5 of Run Free

“Knock it off, Miriam. They’re here to help,” I scolded her.

“What are Miriam and Alfred doing here?” Dave asked.

“I have no freaking clue, but without them we very well may have missed these guys altogether,” I admitted. I turned to the man who had been speaking with me. “What’s your name?” I asked him.

“Byron,” he said. “Who are these people?”

“Friends,” I said. “You have nothing to fear from them.”

He took a deep breath and pulled back in horror. “Humans,” he spit out.

“Friends,” I reminded him, as much as everyone else, many of whom were cowering back into their cages. “They’re here to help. Please let us do our job.”

When no one made a move to run, I took that as a good sign.

Dave did a quick assessment and began giving orders, while I kept the shifters as calm as possible.

“IVs need to be started ASAP for every single one of them. They are all dehydrated. The ones still in animal form, need to get back to the clinic quickly for further evaluation. Eddie, call in a transport team,” he said to one of the vets.

I was still thinking of them as “vector one through five.” I made a mental note to actually learn their names after this.

“Byron, how you feeling, bud?” I asked. Eddie had already started an IV on him and his coloring was improving by the second.

“Better,” he admitted.

“You seem to be in the best of shape out of anyone here. Do you mind hanging out with me while we get this all sorted out?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said, trying to stand up, but I could see he was still shaking too much.

“Easy there, big guy. I’m going to be hanging out here for a while, so sit and let those fluids do their thing. Are you hurt anywhere?” I asked.

“No,” he confessed. “I learned quickly what they wanted and didn’t fight back.”

“Smart man,” I said, but saw him cringe in embarrassment. I turned to the next cage. “Hi there,” I said, squatting down to the entrance of a cage with a young female inside. “My name’s Clara. What’s yours?”

She shook her head no and backed up further, if that was even possible.

“That’s Tatum,” Byron informed me. “She’s only seventeen and had just shifted for the first time when they caught her.”

Her eyes were wide and terrified. I was beyond furious and my wolf was still growling in my head and trying to get out.

“I know you’re scared, Tatum, but I’m here to help you. I’m a shifter too,” I told her. “My animal is a grey wolf. How about yours?”

“Snow leopard,” she said quietly.

“Shit,” I swore under my breath. No wonder they wanted her for their collection. I didn’t move to force her out. I just needed to coax her, instead. “Are you hurting anywhere?”

She nodded her head, but was still hesitating. “Are you really a shifter?”

I smiled. “Yes, I am. Would you like to see?” I asked, unable to think of any other way to get the girl to trust me.

She nodded again, so I rose and began stripping off my clothes. My team stopped what they were doing and watched.

“You’re going to shift for us? Cool!” Eddie exclaimed.

“I don’t think I even know what kind of shifter you are,” Dave confessed.

“Do you have to take your clothes off?” the girl from vector three asked.

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