Page 26 of Lost and Pound

“Ruth!” Shilo caught her hand in a jovial shake and pointed to the envelope of papers on the counter.

“Awesome! Dr. Finnegan does good work. Hey there, little guy.” She glanced down at me and offered me a hand to sniff. I sat primly and offered a paw to shake, instead. If I was off leash—I’d best play the part of a well-trained pet.

“All trained up! Who did you take him to?” Ruth shook my paw and grinned.

“Nobody. Came pre-trained.” Shilo grinned and jerked his thumb toward the cat cages. “What’s the story on the crazy one?”

“They found him in a bank vault. Dropped out of the ceiling. Damndest thing. Someone had opened up all the grates and was trying to break in and I guess kitty wandered over there. There’s a chip, but the number’s out of service and he’s closing in on hisdate.” She eyed the cat with a suspicious gaze. He was back on the bars again, clutched to them and shivering.

“I like him. Donner needs company.” Shilo stuck his thumbs in his pockets and glanced down at me. I wagged my tail because that seemed like the thing to do.

“No fees to take cats. We’ve got so many kittens on the way that we were having to move arranged dates up and we’re short on help. Not many volunteers want to work here.” She sighed miserably. “But hey! I was meaning to talk to you since you’re driving. Can we make some sort of arrangement for you to transport a few pups to bigger cities when you have runs? I want to team up a bit and get these guys into no-kill places.”

Shilo rubbed at his jaw and nodded his head from side to side. “Sure, shoot me an email with the details and a list of cities you’re looking for matches on.”

Ruth sighed in relief as she pulled out a clipboard for Shilo and went about packing the cat into one of those cardboard pet carriers. She walked in with a stick and loop paired with one of those leather gloves that went up to her elbow. “He’s spicy!”

“Lemme handle it. I have a way with kitty cats.” Shilo sighed and walked in as the cat bristled and stared her down. I kept my distance, not trusting cats, even shifters, as far as I could throw them. And, under Shilo’s glare, the cat hunkered down and tucked his tail when Shilo scruffed him before putting him in the cardboard box.

“You have everything you need for a kitty cat at home?” She beamed.

“Yep. He’s in good hands.” Shilo hefted the box under one arm and fished out his wallet for a business card. “Also, lemme see about getting you a volunteer or so.” The masked concern on Shilo’s face told me all I needed to know.

Her face lit up and with a final pat to my head, we left, and he placed the cardboard box on the back seat as we peeled out. The scent of tomcat and alpha filled the truck over my mate’s scent.Fuck.

“You, kitty cat. When we get off the main road, shift and explain. There’s a bag of clothes on the floorboard back there.”

A sheepish head popped out of the box with a light mew.

A literal cat burglar.

Chapter Fifteen

Shilo

We redirected our route to Dr. Finnegan’s clinic as the cat in my back seat shifted. Where there was a robust little tom, sat a haggard male with salt-and-pepper hair, an unkempt but reasonable beard, and dark circles under his eyes. The rest of him? I was a little jealous. The guy must have had an eight-pack.

“The name’s Shilo. I’m alpha of the Pine Warren pack. You?”

“Emry. No clowder affiliation.” His raspy voice muffled as he wrestled into a pair of jogging pants and sweatshirt. “Thanks for that.”

“Wanna tell me why you were—”

“Exactly why you think. Was robbing the place.” He ran his fingers through dark-brown locks, the silver at his temples almost a stripe back.

“And should I trust you?”

“Probably not, but I’ll not trouble you further. Thanks for the bailout. I was going to wait for them to pull me out and knock the tech unconscious, but they kept having kids tend the cages and I don’t hurt kids.”

“Well, you have some morals,” I said, reaching a hand over to Nico, who ducked down to shift and cover himself as quickly as possible.

“I ain’t Robin Hood, but I don’t steal from people who can’t afford it, so ya know.” Emry cleared his throat and slouched.

“What were you after?” Nico asked.

“Deeds. I got a hold of a good list of unclaimed boxes—usually I can steal those, and they don’t even get reported because most banks realize reporting it will only hike their insurance rates. Sell the valuable stuff and if a few loner shifters get a cheap house—so be it.”

“Sounds exactly like Robin Hood.” Nico nudged my arm, and I shrugged.

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