“That’s okay, I’ll pick something up on the way,” he said before lowering his head to rub his cheek against hers. He followed that with a kiss on her forehead. “We’ll go to the grocery store when I get back, okay?”
“Okay. Um, what if the vet doesn’t know who she belongs to?”
He looked down at me. “I don’t know.”
“You can’t take her to the pound.”
My blood ran cold. No, don’t take me to the pound!
“If they can’t help me, I’ll run by to see Discord. I guess if she can’t help, I’ll bring her home and we can put an ad in the paper or something.”
Whew.
Terra seemed satisfied with that, and patted my head. “Okay, see you later.”
***
Roughly two hours later, we knew that I wasn’t microchipped. We also knew that I was a seven-month-old Border Collie mix—the last thing I’d already figured out—weighing sixty-five pounds, and that in spite of the fact I’d refused, with a loud growl, bared teeth, and rear firmly planted, the indignity of having my temperature taken, I seemed to be a healthy pup.
I made a note to repay Logan for the cost of the checkup, as well as the purple collar and leash he bought before we left the vet clinic. Back in his truck, I sat quietly while he put the collar on me. He grimaced, checking to make certain it wasn’t too tight. “Sorry, girl. There’s a leash law and we have to follow the rules.”
Not a problem. Come on, let’s go. I need Kate.
Logan fastened his seat belt, turned the key, and a few seconds later, we were on the move again. Curious, I edged down the bench seat and stuck my nose out the passenger window. A minute later, my whole head was hanging out and my eyes were half-closed as information flooded my nose. I couldn’t make heads or tails of most of it, aside from exhaust fumes, fast food smells, and the overall odor of a lot of people mixing with sunshine, man-made materials, dirt, and growing things.
It was pretty damn cool.
I pulled my head back inside to look at Logan, wondering if he got the same information all the time, or just when he shifted to tiger. He held out the leftover hash brown from our fast food breakfast. “Here, girl.”
I ate it, hesitated then licked the crumbs off the vinyl seat. Dogs can’t blush, and I was still hungry. I eyed his coffee with longing. Logan noticed and lifted a large cup of ice water from the second cup holder. “Thirsty?”
Promising myself a whole pot of coffee two seconds after I became human again, I lapped up some water.
“You made friends with Terra pretty fast. Maybe if we can’t find who you belong to, you can live with us,” he said, replacing the cup. “Though a human family would probably be better.”
You could give me to my dad. Permanently being a dog would be one way to spend a lot more time with my little brothers without causing Betty freak fits. Woohoo, a glimmer of light in the worst-case scenario.
I tucked the idea away, along with sudden worries about a much shorter lifespan and Betty’s conscientiousness as a pet owner. Amadeus, the Cocker Spaniel she’d selected for the boys, was neutered. I loved my little brothers, but being spayed wasn’t on my bucket list.
Logan braked, throwing his arm out to keep me from falling into the floorboard. He frowned at the car in front of us. “Idiot. You okay, girl?”
Pressed against the back of the seat, I nodded. The shifter’s lips quirked as he dropped his arm. From the talk the night before, I knew he hadn’t had much to do with normal animals people kept as pets before or after the Melding. He’d been around my friends’ familiars a few times, and Leglin a little more, but they weren’t normal pets by any stretch of the imagination.
Aside from that, he was a feline shifter, which had to add another layer of difficulty in communicating with him. Unless I figured out a way to talk or did something extremely abnormal, he would keep on thinking that I was simply a lost dog.
I brightened. Nick was a wolf shifter, and he communicated with Leglin. Maybe he’d understand me. Holding that hope close, I looked through the windshield, eager to reach the office.
***
When we arrived, Kate wasn’t sitting at the receptionist’s desk. I followed Logan to my empty office, which he glanced inside of before turning to walk down to Kate’s office. She wasn’t there either. Our next stop was Mr. Whitehaven’s office. He was there, but on the phone and speaking in a foreign language. It sounded harsh like German, but wasn’t.
He smiled, gesturing for us to come in and have a seat, his reddish brown eyes focusing on me. For a second, I thought he recognized me and my rear wagged back and forth with my tail. But no, he continued his conversation without pausing.
Recognition would’ve made him drop the phone, or look surprised, or something. Maybe the boss just liked dogs.
I sat on the floor once Logan sank down onto the couch. He unsnapped the leash, trusting Doggy Me to behave. His trust wasn’t misplaced; no way I’d attempt jumping onto the couch after failing to manage to jump up on the bed. I’d had to climb instead, which proved pretty awkward with four legs and no hands.
A whole new respect for dogs had taken root in my heart.
Mr. Whitehaven finished his call, and gave Logan a cordial greeting, which the shifter returned before explaining why we were there. He ended with, “I hoped Discord might be able to shed some light on who this little girl belongs to.”
Discord can shed all the light. Too bad you can’t understand me. I watched my boss’s expression, and knew that he had no clue I’d gone missing yet.
“She should be in soon. How is your Queen-to-be settling in?”
I’d been turned into a dog by a crazy man, and they were making chitchat. Maybe Mr. Whitehaven would sense something if I got closer? I stood and crossed the room to walk around his desk and sit beside him. He pushed his chair out, turning it enough to look at me.
When he bent to pet me, I caught a nose full of oddness that included a hint of strange-smelling smoke and metal. I’d never noticed it before. It had to be his personal smell, but I didn’t recognize anything else in it. It wasn’t unpleasant, just…odd.
Odd and sort of wild smelling.
Busy concentrating on it, I heard the faint squeak of the front door opening and closing. Someone had arrived, probably Nick since I didn’t hear Percy, Kate’s parrot familiar, complaining. The boss gently ruffled the back of my neck. “She’s quite friendly.”
“And smart,” Logan said as Nick appeared in the doorway. My first reaction was joy. Surely he’d figure out I was me.
My second, as his scent wafted across the room, wasn’t intentional but something instinctive. I backed away from Mr. Whitehaven, so that I could see Nick clearly, the hairs down my spine bristling, and growled.
Nick stank of something Doggy Me didn’t like at all. My growl climbed and fell when he focused on me. In spite of my deep warning sound, he dismissed me in favor of asking Logan, “Is it yours?”
“Not exactly. She’s lost.” The tiger shifter patted his leg. I ignored him, fighting to stop the growl.
“She’s going to be dead if she jumps me,” Nick said in a flat voice. His eyes flashed gold when he looked at me again, but his next words were for the boss. “Cordi’s missing.”
Everyone forgot me, and their lack of attention allowed me to stifle my growl.
Whitehaven turned his chair to face him. “Are you certain?”
“I stopped by her place. Her car’s gone and Leglin’s there alone. He said she went out last night and didn’t come back. He can’t find her.”
A thrill of warmth swept through me, hearing that my hound buddy had been trying to find me. Nick raked a hand through his hair. “She didn’t call me. Again. And now something’s happened to her.”
Though I felt bad he was worried, my lips drew back in a silent snarl. Since no one was paying attention, I decided to return to Logan by way of the room’s perimeter. Going too close to Nick didn’t seem like a good idea, what with something interna
l loudly insisting the wolf shifter was “bad” and “wrong” and pushing me to attack him.
Whitehaven’s full wall display case was on that side of the room, and as I neared it, my ears perked at the faint sound of voices. At least, I thought they were voices, but I couldn’t make out any actual words. I stopped and tilted my head, listening to the continuous murmur of sound.
The next thing I knew, Logan had snapped the leash onto my collar. Startled, I looked up, but he’d already straightened. “I’ll take her home and come back to help search. I can bring a couple of others to help.”
Nick blew off his offer of help with a rude snort. “I can have a dozen from the pack here in twenty minutes.”
I felt like biting him until Mr. Whitehaven spoke. “There’s no sense gathering a search party until we know if Damian is able to lock onto her cell phone. If he is, we’ll be grateful for any assistance you can provide.”
Logan nodded, but I felt the tension in him and saw the way his eyes narrowed at Nick. “We’ll be ready.”
I moved when he gave the leash a gentle tug. Nick left the doorway, crossing the room to begin arguing with the boss. Once outside in the parking lot, Logan heaved a quick, hard breath. “Sometimes, I really want to kick the ever-loving shit out of that arrogant puppy.” He stroked my head. “He rubs you the wrong way too, huh?”
Doggy Me. Human Me likes him. I wondered if being turned into a dog made me a better judge of character. People were always talking about how animals knew it when someone was bad. Nick could be damn bossy, and he was downright rude to Logan most of the time, but I didn’t think he was a bad person.
Then again, Doggy Me was part Border Collie, a dog bred to watch and tend herds, while Nick was a wolf, one of the hereditary predators such dogs guarded against. It could be that simple.
“I hope Discord’s all right,” the shifter muttered, twitching the leash. We walked to his truck in silence.
TWELVE
Logan didn’t drive straight back to his apartment. Instead, he stopped at a pet store outlet. “Finding your family is going to have to wait, girl, so we need to pick up a few things for you.”
By then, I’d begun to wonder why he talked to Doggy Me so much. A lot of people talk to their pets, but it wasn’t something I expected shifters to do. Whatever the reason, it was nice to find out he didn’t drop something the second it became inconvenient.
I did feel bad they were worried, but it was kind of funny too. Here I am, right under your noses. I’m not nearly as lost as you guys think.
We went inside, and Logan proved to be a fast, decisive shopper. His idea of a “few things” resulted in a mixed case of canned dog food, a large bag of kibble—the good stuff, not an off-brand—food and water bowls, a box of organic doggy biscuits, a big square dog bed, a brush, and four toys. Internally cringing at the total, I followed him back out to the truck while adding it to what I already owed him for the vet checkup.
I needed to return to human before taking care of Doggy Me emptied out his bank account.
Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the garage. A couple of other shifters helped unload and carry things upstairs, and he told them to clean up in order to go with him to help look for me.
“Discord’s missing?” Terra asked, looking up from the bags he’d placed on the table.
“Looks like it.” Logan unsnapped the leash then touched her back. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her, if she doesn’t handle whatever’s going on herself.”
I nosed his other hand, pleased to learn that he really thought I could take care of myself. He looked down with a smile. “I decided our new friend here is staying until Discord turns up. Would you mind taking care of her for a while?”
“I don’t mind, but what about going to the grocery store?”
“Alanna and Teague will take you.”
The teen nodded, emptying the bags. She surprised me by asking, “Did you try contacting her?”
“The second Nick said she was missing. She didn’t answer. I think there’s a limit on her telepathic range.” Logan began pulling tags off of the toys. “But I’ll keep trying.”
“What about her elf hound? Can’t he…”
“Nick said he can’t find her.”
I sat down as Terra’s face paled. “That’s not possible. He’s bound to her by blood magic. He should always be able to find her.”
“Yeah, I know.” They gazed at each other for several seconds. Logan shook his head. “There could be another reason for why he can’t find her.”
Than what reason? I looked from her to him.
“So you think she’s still alive?”
Oh, that reason.
He smiled. “I won’t count her out until I see her decomposed body. Discord’s smart, tough, and powerful. It’s more likely someone or something is hiding her from Leglin. She’ll either escape, or figure out a way around it and call for help if she needs it.”
My tail started wagging. You are my new bestest friend, Mr. Sayer.
Logan glanced down and patted me on the head. “I need to get downstairs, let Alanna and Teague know, and head back to Arcane Solutions.” He pulled out his wallet, handing over a card. “Don’t go crazy over the junk food at the grocery store.”
Terra sighed, accepting the card. “I won’t.”
With a chuckle, he lowered his head to rub his cheek against hers, kissed her forehead, and headed for the door. I followed, but he gently shooed me back and shut the door in my face.
Curses, foiled again.
The teen fed and brushed me after putting away my new belongings, and then took me downstairs to the yard. A woman came out before I went in search of a private spot. Since she asked if Terra was ready to leave, I decided she must be Alanna.
“Yeah. Do you think she’ll be all right out here while we’re gone?”
“Should be. I’ll tell Jake to check on her a few times.”
Terra knelt to hug me. “You be good and stay here. I’ll be back soon.”
I wagged my tail, seeing an opportunity. As soon as they went inside, I hurried to take care of business and began searching for a way out of the yard. Sooner or later, Kate would do a locator spell. Since I knew where the garage was, I could find my way back to where I’d left my car. Finding Doggy Me with my car should give them a hint.
The yard’s walls were cinder block, but the gate was wood, and there wasn’t anything but dirt under it. I couldn’t open it, but fifteen minutes later, I wiggled under it thanks to the hole I’d dug. After a good shake to rid my coat of the worst of the dirt, I took off at a run.
Daytime traffic proved daunting. Vehicles were a lot bigger when you were a dog. I had a few narrow misses before reaching the highway, and paused to catch my breath before braving the underpass. The strip mall waited on the other side. I couldn’t see my car yet, and hoped it hadn’t been towed, or worse, stolen.
“Hey!”
I looked over my shoulder and found Terra hanging out a car window three vehicles back. Crap.
Turning, I hurriedly looked both ways and took off across the access road as the light turned green. She yelled again, but I couldn’t make out the words over the sounds of engines revving. Thanks to the green light, I didn’t have to stop on the other side of the underpass, but kept going across the other access road and to the sidewalk around the strip mall’s parking lot.
It was full of cars, so I halted to look around. Of all the things to forget, I couldn’t remember exactly where I’d left my car. Under one of the lights, but there were a couple dozen or so of them. I need to pay a lot more attention before I teleport.
“There she is.”
Aw, hell. Terra and company had followed, and were pulling into the closest entrance. I flattened my ears, aimed for the closest light pole, and plunged into the parking lot chaos. The sound of doors slamming followed me, as did Terra’s cries for me to stop.
Guilt was quick to rise at her frightened tone, but if I could find my car before they c
aught me, she would recognize it, and call Logan. It wouldn’t necessarily let them figure out Doggy Me was actually Cordi, but beggars can’t be choosers.
I do not recommend playing chase with determined shifters. The steady car and foot traffic was one of the reasons they didn’t quickly catch me. However, having three people chasing after me did provide enough incentive that I learned to jump. Mostly over Teague, who tended to dive for me each time he caught sight of me.
The other reason they were having trouble? Terra wasn’t the only one phobic about dogs. Teague did finally manage to grab hold of my tail, but when I instinctively turned with my teeth bared, he let go and backed away with wide eyes.
Alanna, a petite brunette with big blue eyes, called him a wuss as she shot past him, hot on my trail. I poured on the speed, only to slam on the brakes as Terra stepped out from between two parked cars. They had me sort of surrounded.
I turned, intending to dart between cars before one of them was close enough to grab my collar, and froze, the tip of my nose not eight inches from the front bumper of my beloved chariot.
“Bad dog!” Terra’s hand closed on my collar. “You scared me. Someone could’ve hit you. I’m going to buy a chain and…”
I looked up when she fell silent and felt a doggy grin spread. She’d noticed my car, and her mouth stayed open as her eyebrows slowly rose. She recovered quickly, closing her mouth and swallowing. “Teague, call Logan. Tell him we found Discord’s car.”
Yes! I wanted to do a victory dance, but settled for wagging my tail when she knelt and hugged me, still staring at my car.
***
An hour later, I wasn’t nearly as pleased. I stood in the center of a knot of shifters, five tigers, a lion, and nearly a dozen wolves. Damian was present, with his partner, Detective Schumacher, and two uniformed cops.
Discord Jones had officially become a missing person, because they’d found my cell phone on the edge of the highway, four miles away. No sign of my clothes, wallet, or keys.
Something to Curse About (Discord Jones) Page 7