"Well, this is kind of embarrassing…"
I'd spent ten minutes screwing around with my tie before Paul had shoved my paws away, kneeling down and doing it himself. He rolled his eyes.
"You're lucky one of us knows how to do this…" he finished in a few seconds, throwing my jacket at me before getting up and grabbing his. "What time does it start again?"
"Eight," I glanced at my watch. Carrots had talked us all into getting ready early, 'just in case we hit trouble', so now we had an hour before our ride even showed up. I looked up to see him watching me, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a bit unnerving. I fought back a shiver, threw on my jacket and whisked past him.
"Any reason you keep staring at me like that?"
I went for the door, but he pushed it shut.
"You really gonna do it?" he asked. "Or are you just gonna chicken out and make an ass of yourself again?"
My tail frizzed, my mouth locking shut; I'd just had to tell him what I'd planned for tonight…I cleared my throat, pulling my ears back as I glanced around. I didn't have to do it tonight, I told myself, I could just wait until this case was over, after everything had died down. But then, would I ever get the chance?
I barely noticed when Paul slipped past me, leaving the door cracked open. I could hear the girls talking and laughing down the hall, my heart racing when I heard Judy.
"Y-You really think it looks good?" she sounded nervous. Mercy giggled.
"It looks amazing, no one will be able to take their eyes off you!"
She groaned.
"That's not really helping, especially since we're going to someone else's wedding, I'm not supposed to be the center of attention!"
Mercy sighed.
"That's what the caplet is for," she said. "But don't put it on until the guys see you!"
"Okay, okay," she groaned again. "Did you see where I left my ear chain? It was my-"
I stopped listening after that, pulling my door shut and heading downstairs. I took out my phone, my ears dropping when I saw Roc had answered my text. There still hadn't been any change in Zariah, or any of the animals who'd gone savage, and even worse was three more kids from her school had gotten hold of the drug. My grip tightened, my claws scratching the edges of the screen. I stopped on the landing and texted him back, saying we were chasing a lead that would hopefully lead to the source. I also apologized, again, for getting everyone into this mess, swearing I wouldn't stop until we had a cure.
I stuck my phone back in my pocket, my ears perking up a bit when I heard Mercy's door open, her and Carrots still talking and laughing. I headed to the porch before they noticed me, not wanting them to see how freaked out I was. Paul was pacing around when I got there, his jacket tossed over the rail, messing with his cuffs. He stopped when he saw me, shoving his paws in his pockets.
"Mercy told me how scared she is about tonight," he said. "You still sure you wanna go?"
I stopped next to him, leaning against the wall and checking my watch. Fifteen minutes down, forty-five to go.
"I've already explained it to her," I looked up at him. "I'd be going even if we didn't have this crazy drug to worry about, but that doesn't mean you guys have to go."
He scoffed, sitting on the step rail.
"And she's already explained to you that we're not letting you do this alone, even if you'd still have Judy on your side," he smiled, then let his head hang. "But I will say I'm not exactly excited about seeing them again."
I winced. It'd been a few years since they'd met my godfather, and that interaction hadn't exactly gone smoothly.
"You guys paid him back, though," I rubbed the back of my neck. "He told you it was water under the bridge after that."
He looked up at me, skeptical.
"Well, excuse me for not being too excited about that," he put his paws on his knees. "Just wish you'd tell us how you ended up meeting that guy in the first place."
It was one of the few things they didn't know about me, that I never planned on telling them. At least not the whole truth.
"He was a friend of my birth dad," I turned away. I shoved down the stale guilt. "Enough that he made him my godfather, what more do you need to know?"
I glanced back enough to see his eyes narrow. They were the same plain brown a lot of lynxes had, but all he had to do was look at you and he could pretty much tell what you were thinking, word for word.
"I'm not gonna let you get away with lying to me much longer," he got up, standing over me. He was only a head or so taller than me, but right then he might as well have been a giraffe. "One of these days, I'm gonna get the truth, whether it comes from you or not."
I gulped, tugging at my collar. Then I shoved it back, glaring up at him.
"I liked you better when you were mister shy guy."
He just laughed, grabbing his jacket and pulling it on.
"Better get used to it, Slick," he smirked at me. "Because that scaredy cat's long gone."
My tail flicked, I opened my mouth to tell him off, freezing when the door opened. I looked over my shoulder, my jaw dropping the rest of the way.
Judy's dress was red this time: one shoulder, more form-fitting and trailed a bit behind her. There was a gold chain around her left ear, with some kind of rose charm that matched her necklace. She caught me staring and threw the caplet thing around her, clipping it at her neck. Even then, I found it impossible to look away, until Mercy decided to scare the shit out of me.
"Dang, Nick," she wolf-whistled. "I almost forgot how good you look when you actually try!"
I heard Paul growl quietly behind me, glancing over my shoulder to see his ears falling back. I laughed.
"Not my fault I clean up better than you, bud," I straightened my jacket, then took Carrots' paw and pulled her to my side. "But you can't get too jealous, I'm not the only one with a gorgeous girl on my arm tonight!"
Her ears went red as her dress, Mercy giggling as she swept past us. She took Paul's wrist, smirking as she dragged him back to the door.
"You two should probably stay out here for a while," she pulled him inside. "I'm going to show this lynx just how jealous of you he shouldn't be."
She threw up a wave.
"Have fun!"
And the door slammed shut. I turned to Carrots, who was smoothing her dress with a paw, the other still clasped tightly in mine. I smiled when she looked at me, but it was hard to miss the nervous glint in her eyes.
"Something on your mind?"
She shook her head.
"No, just thinking," she glanced over my shoulder, her ears flushing more. "And can we wait somewhere else? It's getting a little too easy to hear what's going on in there…"
My ears flicked back, my tail frizzing.
"Uh, sure," I pulled her down the steps. "But we can't go too far, we still have a ride to catch and a place to be."
She groaned, and I knew she was rolling her eyes. She walked into me when I stopped short, jumping back when I turned and knelt in front of her.
"And you are a really bad liar, Carrots," I tapped her nose, which had been twitching away since we'd gotten outside. "That thing's a dead give-away."
She glared at me, swatting my paw away.
"I'm a cop," she said evenly. "I'm not supposed to be a good liar!"
I shrugged, going to the bench that marked the half-way point of the driveway. It was long and straight, lined on both sides by trees, leading right from the front gate to the house. She stayed standing, staring up at the sky. It was a clear night, warmer than it usually got this time of year, just about perfect, except for…
"Hey, Nick…" she sounded small, nervous. "Do you think we'll ever solve this?"
I looked at her.
"Of course we will," I moved closer to her. "You've been so sure we would up until now, where's this coming from?"
She shook her head, still keeping her back to me.
"That was true when all this started," she looked down, rubbing her arm. "But now that it's gotten this big, I-I'm not so sure we can anymore…"
She turned to me, her eyes glinting with tears.
"I-I'm scared, Nick…"
That was something I never thought I'd hear from her. I reached out, taking her in my arms and holding her tightly.
"I know," I whispered. "But you're not alone in this, you never were."