Page 43 of Gavin

“That’s so cool, thank you. I can’t wait to read this.”

“Enjoy it for as long as you like.”

They talked a little while longer, and then Sadie was ready to head back to the house.

“Come by anytime,” Nora said as she handed a plastic container of sugar cookies to Gavin, whose eyes lit up.

“Thank you,” Sadie said.

“Did you have fun, sweetheart?” Gavin asked as he opened her door.

“I did, thank you. Plus, I’ve got a book to read.”

“Nice.”

They were back at the house in minutes and she took the book and settled in the library to read about unique shifters. Even if she was a normal wolf who happened to have an unusual fur color, it was cool to think about other rare shifters in the world, and it made her feel not so alone in her uniqueness.

“Sadie!”

Sadie startled from a nap she hadn’t realized she’d taken when Gavin called her name. She smelled smoke and jumped to her feet as Gavin raced into the room. “The porch is on fire! Let’s go!”

He took her hand and pulled her through the house toward the kitchen and the back porch. The others in the house were already standing in the yard, and even in the darkness as the coming sunset took the light away from the sky, she could see the smoke in the air and the flicker of orange flames.

Something caught her eye in the forest beyond the yard and she pulled on Gavin just before he crossed the threshold.

“Do you see that?”

“Baby, we gotta go!”

“No, look! There’s… Something flashed in the trees. I think someone is trying to drive us out the back.”

He snarled and looked into the trees. “Son of a bitch. I think I just saw something flicker. Damn it. Damn it!”

She coughed as the smoke grew thicker.

“Come on, you guys!” Maya yelled.

Gavin texted Midas that he thought someone was in the woods watching them. Midas told them to use the door in the floor of the pantry to go down to the old cells that weren’t used to imprison people anymore, and to stay put until the fire was out.In moments, she and Gavin were in a long hallway with prison cells on either side. The whole place smelled of dirt and mold, and she sniffled as the dust made her nose itch.

Gavin hugged her tightly. “I think I almost walked us out into trouble,” he said. “I didn’t even think that they might use a fire to herd us somewhere, but we could have run right into danger. Thanks for thinking on your feet, Sadie.”

She nodded.

It took the pride’s security force twenty minutes to put out the fire on the porch, which had scorched the front of the house and damaged the porch extensively but hadn’t gotten into the house.

No one had been hurt, thankfully.

When they got the all clear a half hour after that, they returned to the house and helped open the window and turn on the ceiling fans to air out the smokey smell.

“So we used the security cameras and saw someone drop an explosive from a drone onto the porch,” Ryan said. “And we found evidence of humans in the forest. It’s like they knew exactly where all the security monitors are and didn’t trip a single freaking one.”

“What can we do about that?” Gavin asked.

“We’re going to move them,” Ryan said. “Hopefully that’s enough to spot them if they try to get in again. Good job not coming outside though. Who knows what would have happened if the two of you had been in the open.”

She was thankful she’d seen that glint in the trees, otherwise, she might be in a world of trouble.

“I just want them to leave us alone,” she said.

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