Catch A Tiger By The Tail

  “Please, Ash?” Cael jutted out his bottom lip. “It’s not fun if you’re not with me.”

  Damn, he’s good. Ethan turned to Calvin, his bottom lip jutted out. Please can I play in the box?

  Calvin didn’t hesitate. “Still no. If I let you shift now, you’d never get out of the box, and we both know it.”

  Well, it was worth a try.

  “Cael….”

  “It’s okay,” Cael sighed. “I can have fun on my own.” Cael flicked a Styrofoam peanut. It fluttered pathetically down in front of him.

  “Really? You’re really going to make me get in there?”

  Ash looked pained, like the thought of getting into the box physically pained him. How could Ash resist? Ethan had spotted Sloane eyeing the box earlier. As if sensing his thoughts, Sloane met his gaze. They peered at each other.

  No box for you, Brodie. Sloane looked like he might challenge him on that. With a wicked smile, Ethan petted Dex’s cheek. Sloane straightened.

  “Um, that was weird,” Dex murmured. “Did you pet me?”

  Ethan grinned.

  Sloane narrowed his eyes at Ethan. “Did you just leave your scent on my boyfriend?”

  “I’m not sure what’s happening here,” Dex murmured. He took hold of Calvin. “Help me.”

  “Sloane was eyeing the box, and Ethan knows you’d let him shift and play, so he’s trying to wind Sloane up.” Calvin shook his head. “Besides, the box is about to become a little crowded.”

  Calvin pointed to Ash, who was climbing into the box, the packing peanuts fluttering around him as his heavy mass took a seat, his expression less than impressed. At least until Cael started tossing up handfuls of packing peanuts.

  “It’s like snow, except you don’t freeze your ass off!” Cael stated cheerfully, tossing a handful at Ash, who grabbed a handful and tossed it back. The two proceeded to have a packing peanut fight.

  “This is perfection,” Dex said quietly. “Ooh, look at this one.” He showed them a shot of Ash half-buried in packing peanuts. “This one’s going in next month’s newsletter.”

  “He will murder you,” Calvin said with a laugh.

  “He’s always threatening to murder me, but I have an insurance policy in the form of an adorable cheetah Therian brother.”

  “Hey, Hobbs!” Letty called out to him, and he turned, smiling when she waved him over. “Come here, big guy. I got a question for you.”

  Rosa shook her head. “Tell her she can’t use explosives to unclog the kitchen sink.”

  Ethan beamed brightly. He cracked his fingers and gleefully went over, then deposited himself between Letty and Rosa. Oh, Rosa. Sweet Rosa. You have no idea.

  “SO HAS Hobbs always liked blowing things up?” Dex asked, swatting Sloane’s hand away from his ass.

  They were so going to lose that bet.

  Calvin couldn’t help but smile at Ethan’s dopey grin as he showed Letty his phone. “His favorite holiday was the Fourth of July because of the fireworks. Seb showed us how to be safe, especially since Ethan was so fascinated. He’d take the fireworks apart to see how they were put together, then reassembled them. Sometimes it didn’t work out so well. He burned his eyebrow off once.” Calvin’s phone went off. It was his mom. “Hey, Mom.” The moment he heard the screaming he straightened. Shit.

  “Can you and Ethan come home? We can’t get ahold of Seb or Rafe.”

  “We’re on our way.” Calvin hung up and turned to Sloane. “Hey, sorry, man, we gotta go. Ethan’s mom needs help with his dad, and she hasn’t been able to get ahold of Seb or Rafe.”

  Dex looked worried. “Shit, everything okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s his Therian Acheron Syndrome. Sometimes the pain gets so bad he needs to be sedated, but Julia can’t subdue him and administer the injection, and certainly not on her own. When it hits, Thomas’s strength peaks, and he can be dangerous. The doctors didn’t think he’d last this long. That shit’s fucked up his immune system, his joints, everything.” Calvin shook his head. “It’s heartbreaking to see.”

  “Go, and if you need anything, let me know.”

  “Thanks.” Calvin looked over at Ethan laughing at something Rosa said. “We won’t be able to come back, though. This is going to set off his anxiety really bad.” Calvin hated that he had to bring Ethan into this. If he was a Therian and could handle it, he wouldn’t even tell Ethan. “Thomas’s condition is difficult enough for Ethan at the best of times. Seeing his dad in pain like that, it’ll hit Ethan hard. That’s why his mom usually calls Seb or Rafe.”

  “I’ll go,” Sloane said.

  Calvin snapped his head up, his eyes wide. “What?”

  “You don’t really need Hobbs to be there, right? I mean, you just need a Therian to help subdue Thomas?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So spare him the pain.” Sloane put his hand on Calvin’s shoulder. “Don’t tell him, and I’ll come with you.”

  Calvin didn’t hesitate. “Okay.” He walked over to Ethan and smiled, hoping his best friend wouldn’t want to come with him. Ethan seemed comfortable nestled between Letty and Rosa, his right arm hooked with Letty’s as she teased Rosa. “Hey, I’m going to pop out with Sloane for a few minutes. We’ll be back soon.”

  Ethan nodded, a wide, dopey smile on his face. He put his thumbs up, and it took everything Calvin had not to let his own smile falter. That smile meant everything to Calvin. With a wink, he turned and left, with Sloane following quietly. When they were sitting inside Sloane’s Impala, Calvin let out an unsteady breath.

  “You okay?” Sloane asked as he turned on the ignition.

  “Yeah, sorry.” He blinked away his tears and laughed at himself. “God, look at me. I’m such a dork.” He wiped his eyes and drew in a deep breath. Sloane put a hand to his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

  “Hey, whatever it is, you can talk to me.”

  “It’s fine. I’m fine. Really. Thanks.”

  Sloane didn’t look too convinced, but he nodded. “Okay.”

  Calvin was grateful Sloane didn’t push him. He didn’t want Sloane knowing about his selfish thoughts. About how sometimes he wished he could hide Ethan away from the world so it was the two of them, nothing to set off Ethan’s anxieties. Just one day where his best friend could be happy without the threat of fear. Where some asshole wasn’t screaming at him on the street for not ordering his food fast enough, where someone wasn’t looking at him like he was some kind of freak, with pity or disgust because he was having a panic attack. Where looking at his own father was painful enough to bring him nightmares.

  “Thank you. I really appreciate this, Sloane.”

  “No problem.”

  In twenty minutes they were pulling up in front of Julia Hobbs’s brownstone. His mom’s house was a couple of doors down, but she spent most of her time around Julia’s. The two had been best friends as long as Calvin and Ethan. Calvin had paid far more than asking price for his mom’s house so she could live on the same block as Julia. His mom and Julia’s happiness had been priceless. After years of shitty—and at times dangerous—jobs, his mom was able to retire and get the break she deserved in a house all her own. No crackhead neighbors, no drunks in the stairwell, and no scumbag landlord making inappropriate offers in exchange for skipping a month’s rent.

  “Will Julia be okay with me there? I can imagine that sort of thing is pretty personal, and with what happened with Seb and the team….”

  “It’s fine. Julia never held it against you,” Calvin assured Sloane. “She understood Seb had a choice, and he chose to save the man he loved. Don’t for a second think she doesn’t know that it was thanks to you and Dex that Seb got promoted to Team Leader.”

  Sloane held his hands up. “That was all Seb’s doing. He worked his ass off for that promotion.” As soon as they stepped out onto the sidewalk, they could hear the screams. “Jesus.” Sloane stared up at the house. “Poor guy. No one’s called the cops?”

  Calvin shook his head. “Eve
ryone on the block knows what the Hobbses have been through. They’re really good about it. It doesn’t happen as often as it used to.” He pulled out his keys to the Hobbs residence and quickly went inside. Calvin’s mom came running and gave him a kiss.

  “Hello, darling. Thank you so much for coming.”

  “I brought Sloane. I couldn’t….”

  She placed her hand to his cheek. “You did good, baby. Ethan doesn’t need to see this.” She turned to Sloane and gave him a big hug. “Thank you, Sloane. This means so much to us.”

  “Of course, Darla. Anytime.”

  “They’re upstairs in the bedroom.”

  Calvin and Sloane followed her upstairs, the screaming getting louder as they neared Julia and Thomas’s bedroom. No matter how much he was used to hearing Thomas’s screams, it still sent a chill through him. Calvin stepped into the room and couldn’t stop himself from turning away. Jesus Christ. Thomas was thrashing around on the bed, his cries turning Calvin’s blood to ice. He looked as if he was possessed, his body and limbs contorting, his muscles strained, his black hair soaked in sweat from the exertion.

  “Cal.” Julia ran over and hugged him. “Thank you so much.” She looked up at Sloane and smiled. “Sloane, it’s been too long.”

  Sloane hugged her close. “Julia. It’s good to see you again.”

  “Okay.” Calvin turned to Sloane. “We need to hold him down and keep him from lashing out. It’s going to take three injections. The one to his spine is always the worst.”

  Sloane nodded and took a deep breath. They went over to the bed, and Calvin spoke to Thomas, his voice loud yet gentle.

  “Thomas, it’s Cal. Sloane’s here with me. We’re going to help Julia.”

  Thomas nodded as he gritted his teeth. His skin was red, his veins bulging as he struggled fiercely to keep himself in control. If they weren’t careful, he could shift before they administered the sedative.

  “You hold down his arms. I’ll hold down his legs,” Calvin told Sloane. He wrapped his arms around Thomas’s legs and held on tight while Sloane managed to get a good grip on Thomas’s arms. Julia got to it, taking the injector and placing it to her husband’s neck.

  It wasn’t so much the holding Thomas down that was difficult. It was the screams of agony. They were heart-wrenching and terrifying. Calvin held on to Thomas, waiting on Julia’s signal to turn him onto his stomach. This was going to be rough.

  After the injection to Thomas’s arm, Julia gave them a nod. It was time. Calvin and Sloane struggled to turn Thomas over. Despite his condition, Thomas was still a tiger Therian. He wasn’t as strong as his sons, but he was still stronger than Calvin, which meant Sloane had to do most of the heavy lifting. At one point Sloane’s hand slipped, and Thomas managed to elbow him in the face. Sloane cursed under his breath and grabbed hold of Thomas as blood trailed down from his nose. They flipped Thomas over and held on as Julia placed the injector to Thomas’s spine. Darla quickly wiped the blood from Sloane’s nose and mouth with a wet towel. As soon as she stepped back, Julia pulled the trigger.

  Thomas’s scream shook the windows. He arched his back violently, and his body went into horrific spasms, followed by what resembled an epileptic fit. Except it wasn’t, because if they released Thomas now, he’d shift into his Therian form and have no control until the medication set in.

  As they held on for dear life, Julia did her best to calm her husband, talking to him softly and running her hands over his face and head. She kissed his brow and smiled warmly. The love they had for each other shone in their eyes, and Calvin was forced to look away. He’d always thought it so unfair that Thomas suffered the way he did. He’d given so much for his country, and what did he get in return? A virus that didn’t kill him yet tortured him every day of his life. Still, Thomas fought it with everything he had, for his wife and his boys. Maybe what hurt Calvin most of all was how much Ethan looked like Thomas.

  When Thomas settled down enough not to pull at them, they turned him onto his back. It seemed like forever, but he finally calmed, and soon he was out. Darla returned from the bathroom with a damp hand towel and fussed over Sloane, who obviously had no experience with that sort of thing. Poor guy didn’t know what to do with himself. It suddenly occurred to him that several of his friends had spent only a little time with their moms before losing them. The thought saddened Calvin. As far as he was concerned, he didn’t miss his dad. His dad had been a royal dick. If he hadn’t been, maybe Calvin would have felt the same loss. In Cael’s case, he couldn’t even remember his biological parents.

  Julia’s voice snapped Calvin from his thoughts.

  “Thank you.” She took hold of Sloane’s hand, her eyes filling with unshed tears. She was flushed and a little shaky, but her relief was evident in her smile. “Thank you for sparing Ethan. This would have been difficult for him. And I’m so sorry about your nose.”

  Sloane waved a hand in dismissal. “I’ve had much worse. Don’t you worry about it.”

  Darla ushered them outside and left the door slightly ajar. They headed downstairs into the living room, where she left to make some coffee. Julia took a seat on the couch with a weary sigh. “Thomas didn’t want me to call. He didn’t want to put Ethan through that.”

  “I’m glad you called,” Calvin said. “Thomas might have hurt you or Mom, and the pain would have gotten worse until he passed out, if he didn’t shift first.”

  “Mom? Are you okay? I got your message.” Rafe rushed into the room in full tactical gear. He came to an abrupt halt when he saw Calvin and Sloane. “What are you two doing here?”

  “I asked Darla to call them,” Julia said gently, standing to greet her eldest. Darla returned from the kitchen and quietly took a seat beside Calvin, her hand going to his knee. She knew him too well. Encounters with Rafe rarely went well for him these days.

  Calvin would say Rafe looked pissed, but he always looked that way. Ash had nothing on Rafe Hobbs. Even Ash was known to smile and laugh every once in a while. Calvin had never heard Rafe laugh in all the years he’d known him. Smirk, maybe. Look not as angry, definitely. Smile? Calvin couldn’t remember. Laugh, definitely not.

  Rafe turned to his mother. “How’s Dad?”

  “He’s sleeping. The boys helped me.”

  “Where’s Ethan?”

  “I told Calvin not to tell him,” Sloane said. “I came instead.”

  Rafe shook his head. “You can’t keep your nose out of my family’s business, can you?”

  Sloane stood, and Calvin tensed. He kept an eye on the two, hoping there wouldn’t be a repeat performance of the epic fight they’d had after the shooting incident that had cost Seb his place on Destructive Delta. Rafe had punched Sloane, and Sloane’s retaliation had been just as brutal. Tension had been high enough without Rafe making things worse. It had taken several Therian agents from Unit Alpha to break up the fight. Both had walked away with bruises and split lips.

  “I was helping,” Sloane said steadily.

  “You’re enabling. You’re as bad as the rest of them, babying him. He’s never going to be normal if everyone keeps treating him like a spaz.”

  “Watch your mouth,” Calvin growled, jumping to his feet. He got up in Rafe’s face, not caring that Rafe towered over him by nearly a foot and a half. “Maybe you don’t give a shit about your brother’s health, but the rest of us do.”

  Julia took hold of her son’s arm. “Please, honey. You know your dad doesn’t want Ethan to see him like that. He feels guilty enough.”

  “Well, he shouldn’t. Ethan’s an adult. He should have grown out of this by now.”

  Calvin couldn’t believe the arrogance. “Grow out of it? Do you go around telling people in wheelchairs to walk it off? Or tell people with disabilities to grow out of it? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  “Baby,” Darla warned gently. She put her hand on Calvin’s shoulder, and he told himself to calm down before he planted one in Rafe’s face. His mom was right. The last thing
they needed was another fight. There was enough pain in this house.

  “Forget it. Like you give a shit.” Calvin sidestepped Rafe and kissed Julia’s cheek. “Take care. If you need anything at all, you call me.”

  “Thank you, sweetheart.”

  Calvin turned and kissed his mom. “Talk to you later. Love you.”

  Darla hugged him close. “I love you too. Take care, baby.”

  Julia and Darla said their good-byes to Sloane and thanked him again before they headed off. They climbed into Sloane’s car, and Calvin was surprised when Sloane popped on an eighties music station. Calvin arched an eyebrow at him, and Sloane gave him a guilty smile.

  “It helps calm me down.”

  Calvin laughed. He buckled up as they drove off, listening to some eighties ballad. Was Sloane aware of all the quirks he’d picked up from his boyfriend? It was probably best he not mention it. Dex on the other hand hadn’t changed one bit. No, wait, he was eating healthier, though some of that was down to Sloane sneaking healthy options into Dex’s meals without him knowing.

  “Has Rafe always been such a dick? When you were growing up, I mean.”

  Calvin shrugged. “The guy was hardly ever there. No one knew where he’d disappear to. Seb was the one who looked after Ethan. Seb and Rafe argued so much that Rafe kind of stopped coming home after a while, but then again it was up to the two of them to keep the family afloat. Between Thomas’s medical bills and Ethan’s, I really don’t know how they managed. I try to remind myself of that every time something infuriating comes out of Rafe’s mouth.”

  Sloane went pensive. “I wonder if the whole thing with their dad hits him harder than he’s let on. Rafe’s not exactly the sharing type, but he cares about his family. He has a fucked-up way of showing it, but you remember the shitstorm that hit after the shooting? Rafe was out for blood. He was pissed with Seb, but he went after anyone remotely involved. When Ethan got hurt in the youth center bombing, Rafe got there before Seb and turned the hospital upside down. I had to warn him off because he kept getting in my face about it. I told him if he wanted to go at it off the clock, fine, but he had to stop that behavior at work. It was unprofessional and unacceptable, especially for a Team Leader. I understood his concern, but he went about it the wrong way. The guy’s always so pissed.”

  “Yeah, most of the time we all stay out of his way.” Sloane was right about Rafe always being pissed, and especially about him not being the sharing type. Calvin wouldn’t be surprised if his anger was rooted in something, but it’d be a cold day in hell before Rafe told anyone what that would be, and lashing out at everyone wasn’t going to help him any.

  On the ride back to Dex’s house, Calvin thought about what excuse he might give Ethan if he asked. He didn’t want to lie. It wasn’t something they did, and even if he felt he had no other choice, he’d feel shitty about it. When they arrived, no excuse was needed. There was little chance Ethan would grow suspicious or wonder where they’d been because what they walked into at Dex’s house was nothing short of chaos.

  Ash, Cael, and Ethan were in their Therian forms, and they’d turned the living room into their personal Felid playground. Ethan was nestled inside the huge box, though he hardly fit. His big tiger butt was sticking up in the air while Ash chased Cael around the box, packing peanuts flying every which way. Dex, Letty, and Rosa were on the couch. Letty was painting Dex’s toenails, and Rosa was styling Dex’s hair.

  Sloane’s jaw went slack. When he regained his powers of speech, he planted his hands on his hips. “What the hell is going on here?”

  Everyone came to a screeching halt.

  “Seriously? I step out and suddenly we’ve got Felids Gone Wild?” He walked over to Dex with a deep frown. “What happened?”

  “Check it out, babe.” Dex lifted a foot. “Blazing Blue Bombshell. Letty says it matches my eyes.”

  Sloane closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, which was a bad move on his part. Clearly, he’d forgotten about what had happened a little while ago, and his nose started bleeding again.

  “Shit.” Dex carefully scrambled to his feet. “What happened?”

  “It’s fine. You want to help me out in the kitchen?”

  “Yeah, of course.” Dex glanced over at Calvin and gave him a nod. He smiled before leading Sloane into the kitchen. It was hard to believe that at one point Ethan had been Calvin’s only friend. He’d never trusted anyone else, and those who’d tried to get close to them always ended up bailing, unable to stick by them when things got rough. Now they had a whole team of friends willing to walk through fire to help them. A mew caught his attention, and he walked over to the box. Ethan was sitting serenely, his innocent furry face watching Calvin.

  “Look at you. You look like a big loaf of striped bread with a tail.”

  Ethan chuffed and closed his eyes, making Calvin laugh. He scratched Ethan behind his ears and under his chin, smiling at his friend’s mews and chuffs. He was so happy sitting there in that box, surrounded by people who loved him. Rafe was wrong. They weren’t enabling Ethan. Their team treated him like any other guy, but the fact remained that Ethan needed support sometimes. Sparing him pain and hardship was what loved ones did for each other. Calvin let his head rest against Ethan’s and hugged him close, his heart ready to burst from the love he felt for Ethan. As long as Calvin was at Ethan’s side, he would always do everything he could to protect him.

  Chapter Five