17 - A Hard Days Night Searcher.doc by Unknown Read Free Book Online

Wren. His chest tightened. He'd known the tigard since Wren
    had been brought here almost twenty years ago. Traumatized by the violent and gory
    deaths of his parents, Wren had just been entering puberty then. His powers had been
    unstable and shaky. But the powers had been too strong for them to strip, especially since
    the boy's guard had been up. He'd trusted no one to come near him, and as a result, there
    had been no way they could control him.
    But now…
    Now Wren's guard was extremely lax around them. At least most of the time. It would
    be easy to catch him off-guard and strip him of his powers.
     
    Such a thing was a last resort for their kind. It was reserved solely for those who
    couldn't pass in the human world. Or those who threatened to expose the Were-Hunters to
    public scrutiny.
    Wren had never wanted to blend. He prided himself on being a misfit and outcast. No
    one had minded since he did his job in the bar and didn't even try to speak to the humans.
    Tonight that had changed. He had gone after a human female. Not that contact with
    females was forbidden. Most of their males took human lovers from time to time. But they
    had to be careful who they chose.
    If Wren's indiscretion threatened them, then there would be no choice.
    He would be sacrificed in a heartbeat.
    Chapter 3
    "Damn, tiger. What the hell did you do? Besides getting shot, that is."
    In his tigard form, Wren opened his eyes to see Dev coming into his bedroom. He
    glanced at the clock on his nightstand to see that it was just after noon—too damned early
    for him to be up and about, especially when he hurt this much.
    He was actually amazed that the bear was awake and in human form, barging into his
    room. Most of the Katagaria had a difficult time maintaining human form until after
    nightfall. So as a rule, they were mostly nocturnal.
    Not to mention, the occupants of Peltier House knew that tigers didn't like to be

disturbed, especially not from a sound sleep.
    Without changing his animal form, Wren lifted his head from the pillow to watch Dev
    walk over to his dresser. Wren growled in warning at the bearswain, who paid no attention
    to him as he placed an extremely large flower arrangement on top.
    Wren started to shift on the bed, but his wound was too tender. Instead, he roared
    threateningly.
     
    "Calm your tiger-ass down," Dev said, his tone irritated. "If anyone has a right to be
    pissed, it's us. Notice I'm the one in human form and you're not? You think I want to be
    awake and looking like this at this unholy hour of the day?"
    The bear had a point.
    "And do you know why we're up?"
    Like he cared. If Wren were in human form he'd be staring drolly at the bear.
    Ambivalent to Wren's mood, Dev barely hesitated before he answered his own
    question. "Because we all thought that these were for Aimee. You've never seen bears
    move so fast as we did whenMamantold us there was a truck loaded with flowers that
    were to be delivered here. We were getting ready to open a can of whup-ass on some local
    when the delivery guy said they were sent toyou."
    Dev moved to the bed and pulled a small card out of l the back pocket of his jeans. "It
    says 'thanks for last night.'" Dev gave him an amused smirk. "So what? Did you finally get
    lucky and find someone desperate for a quick lay?"
    Wren snapped at Dev, forcing the bear to jump back from the bed.
    Dev's eyes narrowed on him. "You better knock that shit off or else we're going to go
    round. I don't care if you are wounded, I don't play."
    "And neither do I, asshole." Wren sent the words to him mentally.
    Dev stared at Wren in amazement. "Wow. Multiple syllables and a whole sentence from
    the tiger. Who'd have ever thought it? Whoever she was, she must have had a lot of talent
    to makeyouspeak. Next thing you know, she'll have the dead walking. Quick, call a Dark-
    Hunter. I'm sure some of them would like another resurrection."
    Wren growled, but before he could lunge, more flowers were brought in