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So Grayson decided to drop the judgments and learn. He educated himself on traditional and non-traditional shifter households. And human ones, too. It opened up his eyes to new cultures and societies. While he discovered many differences, he enjoyed learning about similarities. At the heart of everything was family. And love.
Cass had disclosed she wanted a non-traditional family for a peafowl. She felt that being one of many peahens in a harem with one peacock wouldn’t float her boat.
“I don’t get along well with peacocks,” she explained one night while they drank champagne and soaked in the hot tub of their hotel suite. “I enjoy attention. I don’t need a peacock trying to outshine me. And I want my man all to myself.”
She spoke of many regrets of her childhood and the tumultuous relationship with her mother. Being one of many chicks in her father’s harem didn’t suit her either. Nor her mother. According to Cass, when she was six, her mother took her and flew the coop to venture out on their own. Unfortunately, even though her mother had fled that lifestyle, she still somehow expected Cass to return to it.
Back then, he’d thought he and Cass were close. When they’d met, he felt accepted by her. A city woman who didn’t mind the dirt on his boots. Then, something changed. Out of nowhere, she turned cold. More critical of his clothes, particularly the boots. Since he’d not dressed any differently than he had when they’d met, he thought her attitude might be because he’d done something wrong. It kept him up many nights, but he couldn’t find one misstep he took with Cass. Then, one morning when he got back to their hotel room after picking up coffee, she cut him deep with her words. It wasn’t just a one-off comment about his “farmer John” clothes but a full-on insult to him, his family, and his home community.
He'd wanted to leave immediately with his tail between his legs in defeat, yet he decided to stick it out. Finish their mission. Catch the bad guy. And they did. Then, they went their separate ways.
Until days ago, when Grayson learned who the on-loan ASS agent was who’d be assisting him.
“Sooo…” He rocked back on the heels of his boots as the seagull gang tired of their trash and started to look curiously in his direction. Cass said to keep them calm. What the hell could he possibly say that would do that? Grayson watched the man perched on the end of the picnic table stare at the one with the container of food. “Hit up any good fast-food restaurants lately?”
They all stopped what they were doing and cocked their heads sideways, staring at Grayson with one eye before they started walking toward him. Their heads jerked with each step as they lurched closer. Grayson moved back a foot and adjusted his sunglasses. It was getting harder to see in them as the sun set, but he’d prefer to leave the park with both eyes.
Wishing he had a pocket full of worms, he shuffled back farther and bumped into something large.
He whirled around to find the grey beak of a giant peahen. Cass wriggled the plume of the crest of bare-shafted feathers atop her head. She held her head high and proud, and Grayson stepped aside so she could do her thing. Her long neck bobbed with each step, and he watched the coloring of her feathers fluctuate from dark grey to a soft, metallic blue with the motion. She wasn’t as colorful as a peacock but was just as beautiful.
The flock of human gulls eyed her up. A few regular people stopped to gawk at the scene. “It’s an animal rights protest,” Grayson grunted. The display raised a few eyebrows, but after his explanation, they left satisfied. They were lucky it was so close to sunset and the park was emptying. He’d hate to have to continue to make up excuses to a larger crowd.
Cass trilled at the confused shifters, and to Grayson’s relief, their shrieking slowed. It worked. They stopped surging toward him while their eyes remained plastered on Cass and her fluffy plumage instead of him.
With their attention fully captured, he took the opportunity to take out his phone and call for backup. FUCN’A would need to send any agents they had to help collect these weirdos. At least they’d get some help since FUCN’A wasn’t just for shifters to train to be FUC agents; it also doubled as a hospital and recovery center for experiments trying to find their place in the world. His former student Ellie—the one who was temporarily abducted last year by the hawk they were keen to catch—lived in the hospital wing for a while as she recovered from being experimented on and before she decided to train to become a FUC agent. It was during her training that the hawk tried to capture her, likely to examine her interesting abilities—Ellie could bend light around herself to appear invisible. Resourceful Ellie was able to escape before Sandy could bring her back to the doctor who employed her.
He bypassed admin and dialed in directly to Alyce Cooper, black llama shifter and director of FUCN’A.
“We’re going to need a rescue team and more FUC agents at the park downtown,” he quickly informed her the moment she answered. He briefly described the incident and the behavior he and Cass had witnessed. He assured her that Cass had managed to herd them all together for the moment.
“I’ll have a team there immediately with a medical transport.”
“Thanks.”
After putting his phone back in his jeans pocket, he looked back toward the group of seagull-shifters who thought they were birds.
Wait… Where’s Cass?The giant peahen was nowhere to be seen. Cass was missing!
* * *
One minute Cass was warbling to a group of gulls, and the next, a black bag was put over her and she was being carried off. Bird-napped, and Grayson missed the whole thing. He was too busy barking off orders to FUC.
Struggling to free herself got her nowhere, and before she knew it, she’d been tossed like a sack of garbage, landing hard in an echoey chamber. An engine starting was quickly followed by movement as the vehicle started off. Then, the bag was removed from her, and she saw the empty van around her.
Empty other than the two kidnappers in there with her.
“Hurry, tie her up!” the driver shouted to the man in the back with her.
She snapped at him, but he was ready for it and managed to loop lengths of rope around her and successfully pinned down her wings. She could have pecked him, but she didn’t want to risk him deciding to break her neck. Since he didn’t think to tie her legs, she had half a mind to shred him with her powerful talons but decided it may be more fruitful to see where they were taking her. If the two that nabbed her were related to their hawk case, any information would be invaluable.
She hunkered down, nestling her breast into the floor of the van. She might as well be comfortable while she thought out a plan. When they arrived at the destination, Cass could probably get out of the rope they’d wound around her wings if she shifted, but then she’d be naked too. She just hoped Gray picked up her belongings from the bathroom before leaving the park. Not only would she like to have some covering to shift back into human form but her favorite purse and heels were there. A mournful cry trilled out her beak.
“Quiet back there!” one of the captors snarled. Apparently, they didn’t know how upsetting it was to lose a designer handbag and rhinestone stilettos. Whoever they were, Cass was sure they had bad taste.
The wheels beneath her bounded along poorly paved streets, drawing her attention to the fact that she hated anyone else driving. She’d always preferred to be the one behind the wheel, but after her accident, it had intensified. She wanted the control of driving and hated to hand it off to others. She also still loved to drive fast—too fast, if Grayson were to be listened to—but that had been something she’d had to work on. When she first drove after her accident, she’d been nervous. She fought through it, though, because she wasn’t going to allow them to take away her need for speed. That had always been a part of her because, when she first learned to drive, her fancy footwear had made her press the gas pedal a bit too close to the floor, and that’s just how she became accustomed to driving.
As far as the road rage Grayson accused her of? Yeah… She might be a little testier behind the wheel, as she stayed on alert for any potential accidents. People drove distracted and didn’t pay attention, and she had absolutely no patience for that anymore. If she honked at them, they deserved it.Put your fucking phone down and focus on driving!And the cyclist on the road instead of the bike path? Were theyaskingto be hurt by those distracted drivers?
