How to Tame a Cat (ManxMan)

Chapter Nineteen: Rescue Party

~Chapter Nineteen: Rescue Party~

"Cade?" Ryland asks from the other end of the phone, the surprise evident in his voice. "Are you in trouble?"

His question causes me to frown a little, somewhat insulted that he thinks I would only call him if I needed help. I mean, I do need his assistance, but it is not my fault...okay, that is not entirely true. I did agree to do this. However, it is not my fault that I need help. Or, rather, I do not even need help at all.

"No," I growl unhappily before sighing, "but some guy went missing and I agreed to join the search party and then I found out that you have to search in pairs and I can't shift if some human is watching."

There is a long silence from the other end before I catch the sound of a rumbling sound on the other end of the phone. "Are you asking me on a date?" He inquires, his voice much lower than usual. It takes me a moment to realize what that weird sound is.

"Are you purring?" I demand, suddenly regretting my decision to ask him. Maybe I should have just asked the vampire. "And no, this is not a date. This is a mission to find a lost tourist."

"I see," is his reply. He is still purring, which proves that he does not entirely agree with my opinion of what is not a date. I am not sure how I will convince him otherwise, or even if I should, as I kind of want his help with this and I am not sure if he will agree if it is anything other than a 'date' in his mind. But then again, the mating frenzy...

"It's not a date, you overgrown hairball," I growl, earning a laugh from his end which successfully stops his purring. "Are you going to help me or what?"

There is another pause, followed by a rustle of paper and the jingle of car keys. "Of course, amore mio, when does this search party meet?" He asks

"Thirty minutes," I reply, knowing that I am cutting it kind of short with the notice, but I only found out last night. Technically, I have classes today, but when I explained to my teachers why I would not be able to attend, they gave me their best wishes and one even offered to join after her classes ended for the day. They will not count my attendance, but they also will not drop me from the class because of too many absences.

"I will be there in ten," he says and the phone clicks, signally the end of the call before I can even get out a word of protest. It will only take us five minutes to get to the meeting site, which will leave me with fifteen minutes of the dreaded alone time with Ryland.

Exactly nine minutes later, the front door opens and I look down from the second floor to see what the lion is wearing. Ryland looks around before catching sight of me. "Good morning, Cade," he greets before walking over to the staircase and joining me on the second floor platform.

His clothing is not exactly ideal for hiking in the woods, but he is no longer wearing those annoyingly fancy shoes that lack shoelaces, having switched them out for a pair of regular hiking boots. His outfit of choice is jeans and a zipped up red jacket, hopefully with a shirt under it.

"You didn't have to come here so early," I grumble, sitting back down at my desk to resume surveying the map of the forest. I might know the area, but I do not know where the teen might have gone in his rage. He could have run a mile or hiked multiple. If he is still alive, that would mean he found shelter and water, though there is no guarantee about food. Since he is not back yet, that means he must have gone pretty far into the forest while trying to get out and that could be anywhere between here and Keystone, which is over one hundred miles from here.

I doubt he would have made it any further than twenty, though, before he stopped to wait for a rescue. The only problem is that I do not know the forest in that area, as I have never been that far west on one of my patrols. Five miles is my usual radius, as best. If I am lucky, he will have stayed in that radius, but since when has a black cat ever meant good luck?