Page 8 of Secrets and Ruin

Talk about a night of horrible thoughts running through my head after a long fucking week. Heath and I had both jumped up and tried to figure out what to do as quickly as we could. We decided to give it a night since Fenris hadn’t acted on anything he might have heard, then talked to him the next day. Heath had been his Alpha for a not short amount of time in Dallas, but German had never reported as one of Fenris’s languages. Not even Teagan had known he could speak it. All of that was normally written down by Alphas when werewolves were transferred.

“It really threw us for a loop, didn’t it? He didn’t hear anything from Dirk, though, so we were in the clear. Fenris wasn’t lying, and he doesn’t have the Talent or personality to try.”

“Yeah,” I said, sighing. “Though he’s getting better and better since he’s been here. A mistake on his paperwork because he so rarely used the language….” I shook my head. That was what Fenris had said, and to him, it was the truth.

“Callahan was the one who filled it out,” Heath repeated, the same thing he had explained when we had questioned Fenris about being a fluent German speaker.

“I wonder what other little things Fenris can do that never got onto the paperwork,” I said, snorting. “Callahan is personally invested in him. I can’t help but wonder why.”

“It’s all very strange, but so long as Fenris doesn’t lie to us, we have to trust him. I can’t tolerate continuing to treat him like he’s broken when you’re right about one thing… he’s improving. He’s done really well. How he helped last year, even with the other werecats around? That was something I could have never asked him to do a decade ago.”

“Less than that. He attacked me in 2018 when I was helping you. That was only four and a half years ago, five years this August or September. No, I’m not saying we should lock him up here. I was just thinking about how he gave me that spook.”

“It was certainly that. Now, you wanted to know the new roster for Teagan’s work trip back to the city?”

“I did!”

“Aside from Fenris, I’ve asked him to take Carlos and Jenny. They’re a fierce team and can handle damn near anything when they’re working together.”

“Not bad.” I didn’t talk much with Carlos and Jenny, but they never gave me any reason to think they couldn’t handle something like this. Generally, we said polite hellos and went on our way. I had work, and so did they. They were probably the two werewolves who showed up at home the least on top of that.

“Exactly. Now we get to see how he feels about it.”

Turning onto his driveway, we parked in front of Teagan’s house on the large property he’d bought to finish raising his two wards. He walked outside right as we were getting out of the car.

“A house visit?” Teagan’s amused chuckle carried as he hopped down his front steps. “Don’t tell me the boys are in trouble for something.”

“No, not at all,” Heath said, shaking Teagan’s hand in greeting. I gave him a half-wave. “We’re just doing some house visits so I can check up on everyone. Dirk is on a plane, and Jacky needed to move around. You’re just the second stop of many.”

“Well, come on in, and we’ll chat. With the boys at school, we’ll be able to have a real discussion since the walls won’t be rattling from their music.”

I snorted because I understood the pain. Thankfully, Carey didn’t play loud music. Regretfully, I was a werecat and had some of the most sensitive hearing in the supernatural world. It didn’t matter how quiet her music was. I would hear it if there was nothing else. I got good at ignoring music and conversations through the walls, though. I didn’t want to invade anyone’s privacy.

We sat down at a round breakfast table in the kitchen nook that Teagan used instead of a more formal dining table. The dining room was used as a game room, with different televisions and monitors for the boys to play together.

“Did you see my roster for your Dallas trip?” Heath asked as Teagan put a drink in front of him. I politely declined because if I got a drink at every house, I would need to use all of their bathrooms. Teagan put a glass of water in front of me, anyway.

“I did,” he finally said, sitting down with a cup of coffee. “I was hoping to take Ranger and Shamus for the same reason as Fenris, you know. Shamus still deals with his children every day, even though they’re grown, and Ranger just needs more activity. He’s still fussy about driving his truck and doesn’t get out enough.” Teagan didn’t seem hurt, but that he could immediately offer that explanation told me he had put a lot of thought into his plan.

“I figured, but it’s not a good group of personalities. Plus, you deal with stakes that could piss one or all three of them off. You need two cooler heads who don’t feel the need to push their way into situations. Shamus and Ranger aren’t the werewolves for that. They’ll want to get involved and have opinions. By that rationale, Fenris isn’t a good choice, either, but you’re one of the few werewolves I can send him out with.”

“He’s become a staple at the offices,” Teagan confirmed. “He enjoys it. The offices are quiet, and even when people get heated, there’s very little to worry about in terms of violence. Nothing sets him off, you know? I was hoping Shamus and Ranger could enjoy it, but I understand what you’re saying. Both of them are used to being some of the most important people in the room, present company excluded. They would have comments….”

“Does Fenris sit quietly through meetings?” I wasn’t sure I could believe that. I didn’t pry about everyone’s work lives, but it was fascinating to hear about Fenris sitting in a law office and listening to someone prattle on about property values and insurance or whatever Teagan dealt with.

“He does, actually. I think he falls asleep through half of them. Sometimes, he’ll ask a question, but Fenris isn’t uneducated. He knows what to ask.” Teagan shrugged. “I can take Jenny and Carlos. My new condo has the space for them.”

I smiled hearing those two words—new condo. When we’d moved to Dallas, Teagan was the only person we could safely reach out to. He had been in a smaller apartment while trying to handle two teenage boys. It had taken convincing, but Heath worked tirelessly to get Teagan to finally treat himself nicely with the new condo in the city. He had the money but preferred simpler living. Teagan was just like that.

“Do you like it?” I asked, leaning in. “The new condo.”

“Yes, I do. It’s perfect for these overnight visits and lets me put my feet up when I have downtime on the days I’m in the city. It helps that it’s in the building next to the office.”

“Good, good,” I said, nodding happily. “I still have that awful mansion, too, if you need the space.”

“I spend months renovating it, cleaning out all the evidence of the Dallas pack, spend thousands of dollars of her money and mine… and she calls the entire building awful,” Heath said, his face blank at the end.

Teagan laughed, and Heath joined him while I eyed the side of my fiancé’s head, wondering if his children wanted it to stay attached to the rest of his body.

---