Page 35 of I Dated a Retired Hero

Kritz nodded. “They are on repair and record right now. What is she?”

“Multi-shifter with complete control.”

“She copies things?”

“She is an at-will shifter. She just has to think of it.”

“Right. Wow.”

Zera arrived and said, “Litha, how did you meet her?”

“She came to me. Damaged and bloody. I wrapped up her paws, got her eating again, and then came in from lunch, and there she was, sitting at my computer. I looked at her, she looked at me, and I saw the marks on her hands and stupidly called her bunny.”

Feral chuckled. “Litha gives me the cutest names.”

“Rest, you scaly moron. We are going to ask you about what happened when you wake up.”

“I got the last one on my list. Filled my Bingo card.” She chortled. “What’s my prize?”

“Rest.”

Zera asked, “What is she after?”

“I told you, Urradan war criminals and torturers who didn’t make the lists. Feral is feral for a reason. She was dropped in jungles and set to burrow out of sand to destroy vehicles. She’s a one-woman destruction crew if she wants to be. But she also loves gardening and baking.”

Feral was slowly relaxing as the treatment took hold.

Litha walked over and used a light wave to clean Feral’s front. The medics rolled her to her side, and Litha cleaned all the gnarled whip marks and blade carving and helped settle her on clean sheets.

Now that she was relaxing, the scales were fading, and she looked like herself again. Her hands were messed up, and the tingle of her heavy pheromones in the air made her heat more apparent.

When Feral was out, they moved her from the central lab to a quiet room and settled her into bed, and Litha tucked her in with a sad smile.

“You’ll be fine, Feral. I am going to go and talk to my coworkers.”

She left the room and walked up to Zera.

“Where did they find her?”

“On the road about five kilometres from your home. The peacekeeper took a look at her and hit her with a stunner to drop her. From there, it was a call to detention, and he hauled her in. Do you think he assaulted her?”

“No, she was attacked by someone else. That is why she tried to get back to my place. She wanted somewhere safe, and I wasn’t there.”

“You are here now, and the detention centre wants you reprimanded.”

Litha smiled. “For what? I offered them options the entire stretch of the way. I abided by the law. As her legal guardian and requested representation, they had no reason to halt me. Them being scared shitless isn’t a legal excuse.”

Zera blinked. “I have to apologize. I read the initial report, and I thought they were accurate. You were never reassessed?”

“Nope. Not once.”

“So, I have fucked up.”

“My guess is yes.”

“And this is why you snapped.”

“Correct. It is one thing to be alone at the farm and another to be alone in a room full of partnerships. You are lucky I didn’t snap and torch you all.”

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