Chapter 49: Her Emergency Contact Had Fangs

Thorne came through the loading gate with Varek behind him and went straight to Dove. He crouched beside the barrier, tucked her loose scarf inside her coat, and asked whether she could feel her feet. She could, unfortunately, and both were filing complaints.

"Garran signed this," she said, giving him the order. "Then he locked the door. I’m explaining quickly because my teeth are about to start doing the talking."

Thorne read the page. His jaw tightened, but he put it back in her hand instead of leaving her to argue inside. Varek said he had run to the intake to fetch him. From the doorway, Garran called that Dove could return when she named her supplier.

"I’ll tell Ash what happened," Varek said. "I should have stopped this."

"Yes," Dove answered. "Start with that part."

Thorne turned his back on the gate. "There’s a mall two miles south. I’ve used its staff room before. We can get you inside, eat, and decide what comes next."

She nodded, and he set his pack on the dry strip beneath the overhang. "Put those papers away. You’re riding."

"I’d ask what happened to buying a girl dinner first, but I heard you mention food."

His mouth moved, almost a smile. He stripped quickly, packed his clothes, and shifted before she could invent another reason to stare. A huge black panther lowered himself beside her, his golden eyes level with her knees. The familiar notch remained in his left ear.

"Behind my shoulders," he said. "Hold the fur. It’ll be quicker, and you’re not walking there."

Dove climbed onto his back, awkwardly arranging her legs and large white tail. He stayed low until she settled, then rose slowly. Warm fur pressed against her gloves and thighs, and she leaned forward with a sound she would deny under questioning.

"I could get used to this," she said, tucking her face beside his neck.

Thorne looked back at her. "You could tell me that again."

"Don’t become difficult. I’ve only just found transport with decent heating."

A pleased rumble moved beneath her. She felt it through her whole body and decided she had enough problems without finding a cat noise attractive. He told her to tap his shoulder twice if she needed him to stop, then picked up his pack by the handle with his mouth.

Varek remained at the gate while they left. Dove looked back once. The keeper stood behind him, pale and angry, but neither man opened the way home. She turned forward before they could see how badly she had wanted someone to do that.

Thorne followed the vehicle road south, using the packed wheel tracks between the snowbanks. She did not have to search for each safe step or pretend her knees were steady. She could hold on, breathe through the ache in her throat, and let him carry her for a while.

Sprout asked whether she wished to settle the unsold zipper pulls. Dove nearly told it to shove the entire display somewhere expensive, then remembered that ignoring the stock would not make the fee disappear.

She asked Thorne to stop beneath an abandoned bus shelter, where three glass sides blocked the wind. He put his bag down and waited while she tucked herself closer to his neck. Seated securely on his back, she sent her mind briefly into the space and returned all four pulls.

The four-normal-coin charge left eight. No sales meant no sales reward. She checked that her papers and owned stock were still stored safely, then came back to the smell of cold air and Thorne’s fur.

"Done?" he asked, waiting until she lifted her head.

"Financially wounded, physically still attached. Carry on."

He huffed, picked up the bag, and took her back onto the road. Sprout credited six Favor from his earlier relief at finding her, completing that day’s reaction task and bringing the balance to forty-seven. The hand warmers unlocked at sixteen normal coins. She could not afford them, which felt rude while she was using a man as a radiator.

She closed the panel. Thorne was already warm, and for once she did not need to buy the thing helping her most.

The road dipped past a row of dark shops. Snow covered their windows, but she could still make out the empty frame of a gas-station sign and shopping carts caught against a fence. The ordinary shapes hurt more than the ruined roofs. She knew places like this. She should have been walking out with an overpriced coffee, complaining about a shift, and going home.

Her hands tightened in his fur. Thorne slowed without needing the two taps, then stopped beside the fence and set down his pack.

"Too cold?" he asked.

"No. Just thinking about something I can’t fix. Keep going."

He waited until she loosened her grip, then brushed his cheek against her glove. He did not tell her to cheer up or ask for a better explanation. She rubbed behind his notched ear before she remembered she was touching a man who could still hear everything she muttered.

"I’m not paying extra for the emotional support," she told him.

"Then stop looking so pleased with the service."

She laughed into his fur, a small, shaky sound that still felt better than holding it in. He picked up his bag again, and she settled against him for the rest of the ride.

The mall’s faded sign appeared above the buried parking lot. Thorne took the truck ramp around the windowless back, where a row of loading doors faced the service road. She could see the covered entrance he had described, only a short distance ahead.

One door stood open. Wide animal tracks crossed the snow beneath it, and a dragged sled line continued inside. Thorne stopped before the threshold and set his pack down where she could reach it.

"Stay on me," he said. His ears pointed toward a sound she could not hear yet.

Dove held his fur as he picked up the bag and carried her into the loading bay. Somewhere beyond the dark staff passage, metal knocked against metal.