Of Magic And Monsters

13. Of Intruders and Information

Chapter Thirteen

Of Intruders and Information

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"Where is Charles?"

Titus folded his arms across his chest. Morning birds chirped from outside of his office window. "Probably getting a deep tissue massage from one of my people."

I leaned forward on the desk to level my head with his. "My Charles."

"Oh." He feigned realization, if only to torment me. "That Charles. They both have the same name? That's confusing."

"Just tell me where he is. We had a deal."

Titus' amusement washed away. "Thank the Moon Goddess we did, otherwise my son would still be in harms way."

I grimaced. "You should have been honest from the beginning about who the ritual was for."

"You should have been honest from the beginning," he countered. Titus sighed. "We can move forward from this. Kase is safe, and you're no longer on our bounty list."

"Wait, bounty list?"

"Charles is in a bedroom upstairs waiting for you. Kinda wish I knew his name before. I've been calling him Ivan."

As Titus finished his sentence, I turned around, brushed past Dominic, and stormed up the staircase. At the end of the hall, the doorway to a room remained wide-open, allowing me to see a white bunny with red demon eyes sitting on a couch. I ran toward him, he ran toward me, like how it happens in the movies.

Charles, the real Charles, hopped into my arms and burrowed his pointy little nose into my shoulder.

"Charles!" I exclaimed. "I've missed you!"

He changed into a gerbil so he could sit on my shoulder and hide within my hair.

"A shifter like that is rare," Dominic said from directly behind me.

I spun around, defensively hiding Charles with my hands. "Yeah, so?"

"What's his natural form?"

"None of your business." I also had no idea, nor did I care to know. If Charles wanted me to see, he'd let me see.

Dominic arched an eyebrow. "Would you like him any less if it were a human form?"

"He isn't human," I snapped. "Besides, he's my best friend, and best friends are there for each other even if we don't like what they look like." Charles nibbled on my cheek. "You're welcome, Charles," I replied as I scratched his head.

The man across from me frowned. "You understand him?"

"Intuition," I replied with a shrug. Charles held onto strands of my hair. "We should get going, unless you've decided you've had enough of me."

Dominic's eyes darkened into a glare. "Never."

"Suit yourself. Let's hit the road."

Timing sucked. I barely made it to Dominic's side when chaos erupted its volcanoes magma. Outside, many werewolves howled, yelled, and screamed at something. The commotion grew for what little time it took for the three of us to make it to the bottom floor.

"The borders have been breeched!" Titus explained when he saw us. He cursed. "Kase is out in the forest!"

"Alpha Titus, sir! I'll go, sir! Okay?" Liam wanted to burst out of the door, but I could tell he needed his Alpha's approval first.