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Lila looked up as if they had disturbed her from her reverie. She took a tissue that had been tucked beneath her armpit and dabbed at the corners of her eyes. They glistened tumultuously, the blue of her eyes akin to a cautionary storm.
“I … I went for lunch an hour ago, locked up,” Lila said, stuttering slightly. “When I came back, I found it like this. I called you only a few seconds after coming back in.”
It wasn’t that Madison didn’t believe her. She did because Lila having anything to do with the attack didn’t make any practical sense. What bothered her the most was the guilty, oily sensation in her gut that told her tales of woe. That if she had been there, the way her parents had wanted her to be, none of the atrocity would have happened at all.
But there was no way to really know that. It was a yarn that her mind was expert at spinning when things didn’t go as desired. Nevertheless, Lila’s explanation didn’t feel satisfactory, so she zipped around and regarded Fletcher and his enforcers.
“What are you going to do?” she said, staring coldly up at her king.
He was stoic again, acting in the calculable, honorable fashion he was most respected for. Madison felt a sting of guilt at the use of her wrathful tone at him. She knew it was sublimely misdirected, but he took no heed of it, which she would admire later on that night.
“We'll get the scent of the bastards, then we’ll find the culprits. Don’t worry, my darling. These traitors will pay, then they will pay again.”
He had gritted his teeth, some of his fangs protruding out from his lower lip while his eyes flashed crimson. She was attracted to the way he plunged into vengeance for her without the slightest lack of consideration. Even when her vexation at the occurrence was close to making Madison feel ill.
Fletcher held out his hand to her and pointed at the counter where Lila stood.
“Go over there. We’re going to shift and scour every inch for a scent. If you have any extra pairs of clothing in the back, bring them out.”
Madison obeyed her king and moved to where Lila leaned against the counter. She spluttered softly, raising the tissue again to dry her eyes. She felt guilty again, a common emotion of the ruined day, and placed her hand on Lila’s shoulder. She rubbed at it gently, attempting to alleviate her of any blame she might have been carrying.
“Don’t worry, Lila. Fletcher will find them. It’s not your fault. Any assholes could have come in here and done this.”
Lila nodded along, then blew her nose with the tissue. Then they both watched as Fletcher and two of his most loyal enforcers shifted in front of them after stripping their clothing in the changing rooms.
It may have been a bland and tedious sight for Lila, but for Madison, it was still something to behold. She had grown up around shifters on her father’s side and had witnessed them go from feeble humans to brilliant, powerful beasts. None of her sisters, until recently, had been able to shift, and they all admired it from afar. Watching Fletcher morph into a wolf with a coat as sleek as his steed felt just as majestic as the first spill of stars in a dark night sky.
He swelled in size, just like the enforcers and all wolf shifters, but quite like the horses that they rode earlier, the robustness and strength varied. Because of his royal bloodline, Fletcher was on the taller and thicker side, both in human and wolf form. Watching him lurk around the store with his soft velvet snout and gleaming cobalt eyes felt almost serene.
Her heart slowed for a moment while she stood still, growing conscious of the way her chest rose and fell under her fleece sweater. They started by sniffing the shreds of clothing, taking meticulous time before moving on to the furniture. It was fascinating and beautiful and managed to distract Madison from her sorrow for a good half an hour.
They moved along each wall, sniffing each individual thread of clothing, even splinters of wood that had been left in the wreckage. Madison was hypnotized by the sight, realizing subconsciously that she was delaying the possibility of the loss of the store. The weight of that responsibility was too much to take.
Still in his wolf form, Fletcher moved behind the counter while the enforcers remained at the front. His tail whipped against the counter, skirting passed Madison’s leg as he made his way into the back room.
Madison followed. She loved watching him at work. His care for her was expressed tenfold as a protective, dedicated wolf king.
The back room was mostly untouched, besides the extra products. The clothing had been torn just like it had been out on the sales floor. The sight made her stomach churn, though it was cut short by a nuzzle of Fletcher’s nose against her waist.
She looked at him with a hand over her mouth, her throat swollen with tears. She couldn’t read his thoughts directly in the telepathic way shifters could, but in her heart, she knew.
I will fix this.
Madison let a single tear roll down her cheek as she nodded, feeling Fletcher's head rub once more against her thigh. She trailed behind him, thankful for the private moment they had shared amidst the chaos.
The enforcers and the king shifted into their human forms so they could communicate. Lila had found a few spare blankets that had been ignored by the vandals, covering up the enforcer's nudity while they returned to the dressing room. Fletcher put everything on except his sweater. Beads of sweat shined like marbles around the rim of his forehead like a crown.
Madison felt her heartbeat pick up again, the fear punching into her chest and making its grand entrance.
“The culprits are wolves, without a doubt,” the king said sternly. “There was more than one scent here, and I think I recognized a few of them. It’s likely the same pieces of shit who came in to wreck the place before.”
Both Madison and Lila nodded along, both exasperated by the day's events. Fletcher moved his eyes over the women, settling on his beloved. Madison felt them on her like burning suns.
“You should go home. You should both go home. Let us do our investigation and check out the security issue.”
Lila looked at Madison for approval, who nodded instantly.
“He’s right. There’s nothing we can do now. Get home and rest, Lila. I will call you with any updates.”
