Page 35 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

The man stood, and yip, he really was seven feet tall. Holy halibut, what did his family feed him?

“I am Gichigami, but most of my friends call me Chiga. I heard from one of my old connections that you and your band of friends here have a huge lead on the assholes who have been kidnapping shifters and other folks. I know it’s a long shot, but my niece vanished without a trace two years ago. She went on a walk and never came back. Figured I could lend a hand, and worse comes to worse, I end up helping a lot of strangers.”

His voice was even deeper and more rumbling now that I was in the same room, and it carried a gravitas that was echoed in his dark, brown eyes. If I had to guess, he was at least part Native, which made me wonder how many of the shifters were Indigenous and how many came over from Europe on boats. I imagined almost every wolf shifter family that had been around for more than a hundred years had to have been some form ofNative, otherwise a full moon on the boat in the middle of the ocean would have been awkward for everyone around. Although Leo had explained to me that wolf shifters weren’t forced to transform during the full moon, he had said it made everything far more heightened, and their caloric needs increased even further, which probably would have led to quite negative reactions to the strict rations of maritime vessels back in the day.

“We appreciate that,” I said, and goodness, it was really beginning to feel like my house was the headquarters in the middle of a secret war. Never in a million years had I imagined helping a wounded wolf in the middle of the forest would lead to a growing organization of almost fifty magical folks all conspiring to hunt down two serial killers and end their tyranny. It really was the stuff of fantasy novels. “What kind of connection? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“He means Alicia,” Leo answered absentmindedly as he looked over the map pinned to the wall. I did wish that I had a nice table they could all sit at, but that was in the kitchen, and we needed it for meals. Besides, I liked that the kitchen was a communal space and didn’t really want to turn it into a war room. “He’s a mercenary. He’s worked with her several times.”

“A mercenary?” I echoed, feeling a little embarrassed. “So, you’re like a professional? Hope you don’t mind that we’re a bunch of amateurs. We’ve kind of been flying by the seat of our pants for most of this.”

Chiga looked relieved, as if he’d been afraid I would judge him from his work. To be honest, I had no idea really what being a mercenary entailed, so I didn’t have an opinion on it. Besides, I figured the important thing was that both he and Alicia were pretty adamant about helping, and we could use all the loyal hands we could get.

“Considering you’ve taken down three of the brothers, I don’t think I have room to judge anything. I’m happy to help howeverI can. But in the meantime…” It was quite an interesting thing to watch such a strapping giant of a man blush a bright, cheery pink. “I have a couple of cat harnesses in the car, and I’d love to take your little guy here on a bit of a walk. I’m supposed to FaceTime my fiancé back home, and I know he’d get a huge kick out of getting to see this cutie patootie get to play around in nature a bit.”

Well, that was about the last thing I expected. No one had ever asked to take one of my cats on a walk before. I’d been tempted to try myself, but when I looked online at cat harnesses that were truly secure for a feline, I’d tamped that urge down. Those things cost an arm and a leg. I could have made one myself, but there were some things I didn’t want to DIY.

“Are you absolutely sure he wouldn’t be able to get out of it?”

“One hundred percent. I have seven cats at home, including a sphinx, and none of them have ever been able to get out of the harness.”

Seven? Oh yeah, this man was a cat lover if there ever was one. Secretly, I kind of hoped he’d stick around. I had a soft spot for gentle giants, as well as people I could fangirl over cats with. Even though there were about fifty in my bit of the property, there was never such a thing as too many friends.

Especially too many friends who loved cats.

“All right, I trust you. I’m sure Goober will love it.”

“Perfect! I’ll be right back.”

With that, Chiga hurried outside, his excitement evident by the way his large steps stomped across my hardwood floors.

Leo edged closer to me as soon as the man left, a smile on his face.

“That’s a moose shifter,” he said with a broad grin. “Built like a brick shithouse, isn’t he?”

“He’s pretty big. Is that common for moose shifters?”

“For sure. I’ve only met a few, and they were all gigantic. Even the women. With that, and him being a professional, we probably gained our ace in the hole.”

“You think so?” I questioned.

“I’d put money on it. You know, if I had a job.”

“You act like running a rebellion isn’t full-time work,” Ricky teased.

“True. It is pretty demanding of my attention, but it’s not like we’re in this alone, right, Ven?”

Leo gave me a look, then winked, which made my knees far weaker than they had any right to be. Goodness, was he flirting with me? Even though we were officially together, I still wanted to giggle whenever he got playful.

But thinking about him being playful made me think about what happenedafterward.Usually when we were horizontal on my bed.

Or upright in the shower.

Or on my kitchen table.

… Had I ever sanitized that properly?

I mean, I knew I had cleaned and disinfected it almost immediately afterward, but that was to human standards. Had any of the shifters in the house been able to sniff out what had happened there?

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