Page 7 of Run Free

I grabbed a sandwich from the cooler and a fresh bottle of water since I had given mine to Byron earlier. Then I set off to check on Tatum.

“Hey there. How’s my favorite patient? Chelsea says you’re all patched up and on the mend,” I said as I walked into the room.

Byron was hovering over her, encouraging her to drink. I watched them for a moment.

“Are you two mates?” I blurted out, surprising them both with my presence.

“It’s new, we haven’t bonded yet,” Byron said as Tatum blushed.

“Are you a snow leopard too?” I asked him.

“Of course,” he said. “Tatum is my true mate.”

“That’s so sweet,” I gushed. “I’ll bet the two of you had the owners of this place crazy with dollar signs in their heads.”

Tatum hissed, and Byron growled.

“I’m not saying they were right. I’m just saying that from what you told me about their motives. . .”

Byron put up a hand to stop me. “We know what you meant, Clara.”

“Are you from around here?”

“No, they took us from our home in South Asia. I would rather not disclose the location. Our people suffer enough from hunters. We must live in fear of something like this happening again.”

“I understand,” I said.

“Will you return there?”

“Of course. We will, won’t we?” Tatum asked.

“Yes, of course. As soon as you are well enough to travel, I will find the money somehow,” Byron reassured her.

“As soon as you are both well enough to travel, I will make the arrangements personally,” I informed them. “Wherever you would like to go. I work with this human group because they have many resources that allow me to truly help others, like the two of you. You are welcome to pick whatever airport you wish to fly to and I’ll make the arrangements myself, but first, you both have to get better, and that means listening to my doctors, drinking lots of fluids to rehydrate, and being able to hold food down again.”

“I’m trying, Clara, I really am.”

“I know you are, Tatum. Some things will just take a little time. And for now, no shifting. Promise me. Three days in your skin, then two in your fur and that leg should be good as new.”

That perked the girl up and she beamed at me and nodded.

“So you got them all?” Byron asked, changing the subject.

“All twenty-nine shifters are accounted for,” I told him.

He frowned and shook his head. “There were thirty of us,” he said.

“Afraid not. The last cage was empty when we got there.”

Tatum grabbed on to Byron’s arm and started to cry. “He didn’t make it?”

Byron shook his head frantically. “They moved him. He refused to submit. He was in bad shape when they carried him off, but I have to believe he’s still alive. You have to find him. He’s a wolf, like you, only red.”

“He has to be okay. He has to. Gage distracted them away from the rest of us. Most of us would be dead if not for him. He pretended he didn’t care and was only looking to escape, but he wasn’t fooling anyone. You have to find him, Clara. You have to,” Tatum begged.

“Where could they possibly have taken him?” I asked as a lump formed in my throat at the thought of one of them still out there.

“They dragged him into the office and he never came back out that way. There could be a back door maybe? I don’t know, but you have to look.”

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