Chapter Seventeen

Nomad

Nomad was floating on a damn cloud of happiness. Gabai had come through for them in the best possible way. Not only did he have the perfect piece of land, but it had a house that required very little doing to it. How much gushing Cosmo had done more than made up for pissing him off about insinuating unintentionally that he was weak.

He'd pouted right until they'd gone through the gates, up the long drive to the house. There he'd jumped out of the car and hopped around like an excited kangaroo wanting to be let inside. Once in the house, it had taken around thirty minutes for him to decide which would be his Little's playroom and start a list on Harley's cell phone of everything he needed to make it perfect .

That excitement had continued when they'd headed to get burgers before they returned to the bar. As he pulled into the empty car lot, and parked up, Nomad grinned over his shoulder at the pair still adding to the list.

"We're gonna be bankrupt at this rate," he said good humoredly, reaching for the door to get out the car, laughing at Cosmo giving him sink eye which distracted him.

As he got out, and walked to open Cosmo's door to get him, the rush of air was the only warning as something swooped down and attempted to claw at Nomad's face. He shielded himself with his arm, and the jacket he wore took the brunt of the attack. Claws dug deep and ripped at the leather like it was cotton thin, drawing blood.

He hissed, his fangs dropping and reached to grab the bird, only for it to release him.

"Motherfucker," Harley shouted as he came out of the car like a bullet from a gun. His shift upon him before his feet hit the ground. Torn clothes fluttered to the ground as he leapt at the large-winged bird, only to hit air as he it flew off.

A squawk followed the sound of a knife whistling through the air. Cosmo clearly had more luck with his knife. His senses screaming at having let himself get surprised in this way, his cat eyes scanned the surrounding area.

He hissed out a curse, "ratfink fucker," at seeing nothing that suggested the bird had dropped to the ground.

He'd been so caught up in his happiness he'd done something he'd never done before and gotten caught with his fucking guard down. He'd made what could have been a fatal error in judgement, not allowing his cat to assess first. It was a lapse that he'd kick himself for once, he'd ensured there was no other fucking owl scoping out the place and his mates were safe .

"Didn't see which way he went," Harley muttered in a shaky voice, stalking naked to Nomad's side, and tugging at his injured arm.

Let's take this conversation inside.

There's no one else out here. Harley's assurance did little to make Nomad feel any better when his arm stung like a bitch.

How did the owls figure out so quickly what's going on?

Cosmo came and hugged his side tightly. I don't know if they did, Daddy.

What do you mean, Nomad questioned, walking to the back of the bar to the door leading upstairs to the apartment, his cat remaining vigilant until they were inside the building with the doors locked tight.

The owl I killed, like I said, it was over the mountain range. Where we were looking at the house, that's close to it. Don't you think it's a co-incidence? Like a warning that we got too close, possibly?

Harley came to a stop at the top of the stairs and turned to look at both Cosmo and Nomad. "Fucked if I know. What I know for sure is my senses are screaming at me." He reached and lifted the arm, dripping blood onto the floor. "We need to check this out and make sure we clean the wound… properly."

Cosmo's brow furrowed and his lower lip trembled as he eyed the blood. "Do you think they might have done a bad thing to Daddy… infected him?"

The heat and throbbing of his injured arm, at the words, seemed to register, right as his legs wobbled under him. Nomad winced at the rate of his shift. He didn't bother talking to his animal. The urgency spoke for itself. There was something very wrong.

Harle y

At the speed at which Nomad shifted, Harley barely held back his cry of dismay. His own animal reacted, shifting, it came at Nomad sniffing and chuffing noisily. Cosmo's tiny black-footed cat jumped on Nomad's back next and did the same. Both checking him out, the wound on his front leg smelled of rotting flesh.

Stay still, Harley growled.

Nomad didn't answer, causing his worry to climb. Harley, along with Nomad, licked at the flesh, tasting something bitter beyond the nastiness of the wound.

Fast acting. Fuck, fast acting! Harley chanted to himself as Cosmo, too small to lick at the leg, butted his head in agitation against Nomad's paw as if encouraging him to move to the floor.

He needs to stay as still as possible. Movement will send more… whatever this is through his bloodstream.

Explaining it made it worse for Harley when Nomad was silent in his mind. His presence was barely there on the edges of his thoughts. Fight, fucksake, fight for us! He aimed it at Nomad, shutting out Cosmo when his mewls of distress made his chest ache.

Nomad's large furry body shuddered repeatedly before he coughed out what looked like a raw piece of liver.

What the fuck?

Was his blood clotting into lumps? Harley could taste whatever was in the owl's claws, in the fur and flesh, but it wasn't spreading. Their healing ability in their animal must be helping? Was it helping? Or was he imagining it? But fuck, if it was, it wasn't working fast enough when he could sense Nomad was losing his strength to keep standing.

He used his large body to press into Nomad to keep him upright. Work with me. I won't fucking lose you.

Cosmo howled, and Harley cursed his own stupidity for not shielding Cosmo from his distress. Sorry, baby .

We need to fix Daddy.

I'm trying, Nomad is trying too.

It was stealing all his energy to put enough positive feelings into his thoughts as he furiously licked at the wound. His saliva bathing it. Cooling it. Healing it… hopefully.

There at the top of the stairs they stayed, working to bring out the infection… poison that made Harley's rage build until all he could feel was that when Nomad's legs gave way and he slumped to the ground, his head on the floor, his eyes shut.

Cosmo

Cosmo's thoughts were on overdrive, filtering bits of information and dismissing them almost as soon as they entered his mind. He'd used poisons on his blades before, many times, matching his choice to his target with careful research he didn't have the time for right now.

Daddy Harley's licking was helping Daddy Nomad's body purge it, but they needed it to happen faster, before it could damage him.

Shifting far faster than he should have done following his previous shift, Cosmo didn't take the time to hunt for the apartment key and picked the lock instead, rushing inside to collect the first load of blankets he could gather, the ones from the couch, nearly tripping over the dangling ends of them in his haste to rush back to his Daddies.

He paused just long enough to spread each one carefully over Daddy Nomad, creating a small mound that he added to when he brought back the blankets from their bed, and an even bigger one when he added the extra linins from the closet in the hall. He brought the towels too, piling them all on his Daddy then finishing off the pile with his own tiny, furry form following another rapid shift .

Cats sweat through their noses and paws; their body too covered with fur to allow them to sweat through their skin. He could both see and smell the small beads of black liquid welling up on his Daddy's nose as the mound of material began overheating him.

All the while Daddy Harley kept licking the wound, half burrowed under the blankets Cosmo had piled on their mate. While neither was communicating with the other, they were both radiating as much calm as they could manage, trying to assure the other that what they were doing would work, would help, would save their mate and not leave them without him.

Fear pressed along the edges of Cosmo's mind, one he held at bay only through the intense training he'd had at the hands of the council. Now wasn't the time to wonder if Daddy Harley would become so furious and self-destructive in the wake of Daddy Nomad's death and do everything in his power to exact revenge, even at the expense of himself. There was another fear too, one in which Cosmo envisioned Daddy Harley blaming Cosmo for bringing the owls into their lives and hating him for it. Curling into a tighter ball, Cosmo shoved that fear away, too. Purring to generate vibration which would generate more heat, even if only a pathetic paltry amount.

Like him.

He closed his mind to thought to stave off the spiral that threatened and shut down all his feelings, retreating into a state of deep breathing and focus, almost meditation, hoping Bast and all the other cat gods of the universe saw fit to shine their light and healing energy upon his mate. Even while the vengeful, vindictive part of himself started formulating a plan to create more wicked hooks and nets, so he could trap and disembowel those owls, then leave them swinging from the very trees in which they dwelled.