Page 13 of Cats and Dogs

Chapter 6

Promises

“Ilike it here,” Mike said enthusiastically.

Of course he did. Texas summers were a bitch. The temperature wasn’t much better in California but being near a lake helped. There was a fresh breeze in the air around this part of the world.

Lakesides was nice. He’d noticed the last time he’d been there, despite the fact that his visit hadn’t been under pleasant circumstances. A good, quiet part of the world. The humans around these parts seemed particularly open-minded.

He was glad Lola was raised here.

“Well, enjoy it while it lasts,” he told Mike. “We aren’t staying long.”

The boy nodded; no complaint crossed his lips. Hunter had to give him that, he hadn’t moaned much through the last three days of the road trip.

“How much longer?”

Hunter thought it out. He wanted to see Lola, if only once. Then, they were heading up to Canada, where it would be harder to track him. He had an acquaintance from school who lived in BC; another wolf, from a small pack. Maybe he could drop Mike off with them. It wasn’t in a wolf’s nature to reject a kid. Well, wolves who weren’t part of his old pack, anyway.

“I don’t know, a day, two tops. But the weather’s not bad where we’re going either, in the summer.”

Better not tell him about shoveling snow for six months of the year quite yet.

“Can I come with you next time you go out? My wolf doesn’t like to stay inside so much.”

He sighed. It wasn’t that he didn’t get it.

“No, you can’t. Look, we’re in enemy territory, here. The shifters who live in the next town over have a huge feud with the Vergas; if they see me, smell me, they’ll attack without hesitation. I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire.”

“Why do you have to go at all, then?”

Children and their million questions.

“Because I made a promise a long time ago. I’ve kept it until now, but I’m about to break it. Before I do that, there’s something I gotta check.”

“Don’t.”

He lifted a brow.

“If you gave your word, you shouldn’t break it.”

Hunter smiled. “It’s breaking my word and getting your skin to safety, or keeping it, and getting us in a whole lot of trouble, from the home pack and from the shifters here.”

“Oh.” The child took a moment to think. “I still think you shouldn’t break your word. Isn’t there a way to do both? Keep us safe and keep your promise?”

If only life was that simple. “No, kid, there isn’t.”

All those years ago, Gwen’s every thought had been for her daughter. She’d told him, “My mate is going to take her somewhere she’ll be safe, for a while, then he’ll lead the pack away. There’s a pride of felines that takes in children in need; they’re good people, he says. He knows their Alpha. I’m sure they’ll do their best; you know how shifters get about kids. But they might not be enough; they won’t be enough against our pack, Hunter.”

He’d nodded, agreeing with that; there was literally no pack as powerful as the Vergas in the world. It wasn’t only that they were huge and mostly included fighters. They had money, connections, weapons, ways to check into people’s finances, and the best trackers.

“They’ll be my girl’s first line of defense. I need you to be her last. If Dad gets close to her, I need you there, right next to him. So you can take her away.”

He’d remained silent, understanding just what she demanded of him.

“You want me to return to the pack and take my place in the authority.”

“I know what I’m asking. I have no right to. But she’s my daughter.”

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