Joey put his hands up in a defensive maneuver. “Whoa, bro. Take it down a couple notches. We’re all being friendly here.”
“I don’t think any of you remember what assholes you were after you found your mates,” Misha said. “Couldn’t look at them sideways without you getting all protective.”
“That’s because if you’re looking at someone sideways, you’re waiting for one of your pranks to launch. Tanner, let me be the first to apologize for the craziness of this motley crew. I’m Ivan’s older brother Vasily. Misha’s our resident prankster, Joey’s the baby of the family, Boris is the strong and silent type, our father here is Don Novak, and the only one of the brothers missing is Cyrus, the cop. Now, you said you’d seen Pavlo. Where? Is he hurt? Do you know who took him?”
I shook my head. “I was running too fast. He gave me instructions on how to get here from the shiny bean because that was the only monument I could remember, but between there and where I left him, I’ll have to retrace my steps.”
“No.” Ivan’s arms tightened around me. “If the assholes who took Pavlo are still around, I don’t want you going into danger.”
I leaned against his strong chest. What would it feel like to straddle this barrel of a man? Did he have a hairy chest? He looked like the kind of guy who rocked a really sexy hairy chest. Just like his furry arms…
I realized I was stroking his arm hair and stopped. “I didn’t see them anywhere when I left. They just paid someone at the bar to lock the door and keep an eye on him, I think. We should probably hurry. I don’t know how long they were planning on keeping him there, but it couldn’t be very long, right?”
“Tanner’s right,” Vasily said. “I know it goes against your protective instincts, Ivan, especially so soon after finding your mate, but after all, his middle name is Danger. I’m sure he’s more than capable of taking care of himself.”
I smiled at Vasily and the smaller man next to him as they nodded at me with confidence and approval. “I’m fast. And tiny,” I said. “I’m a flying squirrel. Really good at getting out of trouble when I need to. I’ll stay safe, I promise.”
“Fine,” Ivan growled. “But we’re driving to The Bean. I’m too big to follow you efficiently, so we need someone who can stick by your side.”
“That’s clearly me,” the small guy next to Vasily said. “I’m River. Keeping up with you shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I’ll try not to go too fast,” I promised.
His smile was kind of scary. “Oh, I don’t think that will be a problem.”
“With your permission, Father?” Vasily said to the Don.
He nodded. “Go bring our boy home safely, son.”
Ivan made me put on clothes before we left their house, even though I was just going to have to take them off again when I shifted to trace my steps. We crossed my path a couple blocks before we reached our destination and I urged them to stop the SUV. “We can go from here.” I reached for the door handle, but Ivan stopped me.
“Shift here, please,” he said. “We’ll open the door for you when you’re both ready.”
River had already shifted into a small striped and spotted cat with giant eyes. His mate fixed a collar with a tracking device to his neck that would allow the SUV to follow us easily. He growled, and Vasily rubbed the space between his ears as River flicked them in frustration.
“I know you hate it, sweet cheeks, but surely if you can bear the weight of your big chain, you can handle a little collar?”
River’s growl indicated he’d have some choice words for that statement once he and Vasily were able to speak again.
I shifted quickly, ready to find my way back to Pavlo, and my clothes floated to the seat in a puddle around me. I scrambled out of the neck of the shirt onto Ivan’s waiting hand.
“But you are so tiny, Tanner. Are you certain it is safe for you to go outside? We could simply drive around and you could point out things that are familiar.”
“Things will look different from a car. And I didn’t always use the road,” I said, but all Ivan could hear was chittering. River coughed in amusement, though.
“Alphas,” he said. “Always over-worrying. Anyway, Danger. You ready to get this show on the road?” He waited impatiently by the car door and I leapt from Ivan’s hand.
Ivan moved just as I pushed off, though, and I landed awkwardly on River’s back. I leapt again, grabbing onto the seat belt. “Sorry!”
Ivan reached over and rested his hand on the door handle. “River, you make sure he comes back unharmed, or you and I are going to have a talk.”
He opened the door and River jumped to the ground. “Hurry, before he and Vasily get in a fight about Ivan threatening me.”
“This way,” I said, running to the nearest tree. “But if I go too fast, tell me. I get excited and forget sometimes.”
“You can try to lose me,” River responded as he climbed the tree behind me with ease.
I knew a challenge when I heard one. “You asked for it,” I said. I ran along a thin branch and leapt into the air just as it started to bend too much. It snapped back quickly, and I hoped I hadn’t made it smack River in the face as I grabbed a limb on the next tree.
To my surprise, River flew over my head, landing on a branch just above mine. “Bring it, flying rodent.”
I forgot for a little while that we were racing against time to save someone. I’d never had a friend who could fly through the trees the way I could. My sister was a chipmunk, and while we were similar sizes for playing together on the ground or in a tree, she couldn’t make the long leaps I could.
River sometimes had to jump from a higher branch, but his powerful legs and flexible wrists made up for his inability to glide.
“You’re not too bad at this,” I told him.
“And you’re actually giving me a challenge,” he replied. “The kids are going to go nuts over you when they meet you. It’ll be a welcome change from all these big roly poly bears in the family.”
Family. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a family,” I said. Speaking was starting to wear me out, though. We didn’t have to use our lungs to speak while in shifted form, but I’d never really learned how to keep my words only in my head. “My parents died a few years back, and my sister disappeared to go find herself. So it’s just been me for a while.”
River was silent for a few moments, and I wondered if he was annoyed that I was talking about personal stuff. I just started to apologize when River said, “It’s just been me and my brother Leaf for a while, too. But until Vasily and I finally got together, I kind of abandoned him. I’m sorry your sister left you. But I can promise, the Novaks take care of their own. And I take care of the Novaks. You’re one of us now. Alphas, they don’t always think about everything that needs to change when you find your mate. And I don’t know if there’s anything in your life that complicates things with Ivan, but know that we’re all with you, no matter what.”
I wasn’t sure what kind of things he thought might complicate this. I mean, other than me being Canadian. And needing to apply for a US visa. And not knowing how to get a hold of my sister to tell her I was moving out of the apartment I’d been in for six years. And would I have to change my phone number?