my seat.
Ducks are fucking scary.
“Addie.”
The voice cuts across the space, and I look to see Penn and Lafe stalking forward.
Scratch that. Penn is stalking forward. Lafe is staying behind, bent over at the waist and laughing his ass off.
“Let go of Herrick,” Penn orders with gentle chastisement as he stops beside them.
The duck pops up a wing and tries to hit him in the face.
Penn dodges it with a tsk. “That’s not very nice. What did I do?”
“Dude, get her off!” Herrick yells.
Penn steps forward, ignoring it when she tries to kick her webbed foot at him, and gently starts stroking her head, all the way down her feathered neck.
He coos to her, telling her things like how soft her feathers are, and how impressive her wingspan is, and how orange her beak looks.
After a lot of sugar talk, she lets Penn pick her up, her beak finally releasing Herrick’s nose.
The male lets out a sigh of relief, his fingers tenderly pressing to the sides of his nose and wincing. “Fucking vicious.”
“That was awesome,” Lafe calls out.
Herrick shoots him the finger.
Penn looks over at me, the duck tucked into his arms. Her mood flipped on a dime, and she’s now snuggling her mate and chattering happily against his chest as she rubs her head over his pec.
“Thanks for the heads-up,” Penn tells me.
I nod. “Just don’t let her go to Rockhead tonight. I don’t want her to get hurt.”
“We’ll take care of her,” he replies before the three males start walking away, Lafe still chuckling with glee as they go.
And as weird as that fucking interaction just was, it solidifies something in me.
Addie’s their mate. And whether she’s her sunny, happy self or a raging mad duck out for blood, they’re going to take care of her.
Which is exactly how I feel about Jetta.
I don’t care that she’s stubborn or antisocial or purposely difficult. I don’t care that she’s broody and vicious and feisty. In fact, I like all of that about her. And she’s mine.
And yeah, she might be Heathcliff’s too, but I don’t care about that either.
I’m going to go help her save him, because that’s what she needs to be happy. She needs him, and she needs to be free of Kaazu and all of the guilt and hate and fear that he causes.
So I’m going to show up to fight at her side whether she wants me to or not. Because that’s what mates do. They show up. They protect. Even when your mate wants to bite your nose off for it.
24
Jetta
I don’t have to walk on my own two feet for very long.
I follow the tug on my collar just like Magnus said I should, and by the time I hit pavement, I find that there’s a cop car idling on the empty road. I know without a doubt that it’s waiting for me.
I approach it carefully, not really sure what to expect. The moment the red parking lights reflect against my shins, three of the doors pop open. Jordy, Drag, and a cop in uniform who I don’t recognize all step out onto the road to meet me.
My eyes skim over Drag and Jordy. “Oh, goodie. They sent you two.”
The spindly one with the shaggy hair—Jordy—sneers at me. “Believe me, bitch, we drew the short straws.”
“Pretty sure your mother did, too.”
Jordy snarls at me, grayish fur popping up along his arms and looking like he’s about a second from shifting and attacking me. Guess he gets riled up fast these days.
“Easy,” Drag tells him. “Let the troupe master deal with her.”
Jordy spits on the ground. “Fucking cunt. I can’t wait for tonight.”
He turns and gets into the front passenger seat, while the cop eyes me. I cock a brow and stare right back. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”
“Names Holder.”
Ah. So this is the other cop who was on his way to the hardware store when I broke into it. I’m glad Officer Mac got to me before this guy, because apparently, Holder’s deep in Rockhead’s pockets. I feel a little bad about punching Mac now.
“How nice that Rockhead has a pet cop to do their dirty work for them.”
He scowls at me and flashes his gun on his holster, but this human doesn’t intimidate me, and it’s laughable that he thinks he even can.
Drag opens the back door for me and gestures to it. “Get in.”
“Such manners,” I mock.
Drag doesn’t rise to the bait, just stares at me until I get inside. Holder