Animal Attraction by Tracy St. John Page A

his coffee and sat with us. The
two men got to work devouring their bloody carcasses. At least they
had the good graces to use their forks and knives.
    I looked at all that bloody flesh and licked
my lips. I concentrated on drinking my first bottle of BP9 and
pretended it satisfied the cravings I had. Ha. Not even close. The
two buffoons sitting on either side of me would taste so much
better. And how they’d feel—
    Nope. I put the thoughts of blood and lust
away. I had to keep working on weaning myself off my dependence on
Gerald. As for Levi ... no how, no way, not ever again. On that, I
was determined.
    So I sucked on my bottle while the two
shifters chomped and made happy num-num noises as they did so. They
finished at the same time, pushing their plates away with identical
pleased sighs.
    Gerald stretched, looking as content as ...
well, as content as a cat. “That was prime. Law enforcement pays
good to get steak like that.”
    “Sure, on a federal level,” Levi said. He
rose and started clearing off the dishes. “Is Tristan Keith
shortchanging his security?”
    “Naw. He pays well, but my kids get most of
it.”
    I gave him a startled look. “You have
children? Oh, the program. I forgot.”
    Levi cocked his head to one side.
“Program?”
    Gerald sipped his coffee. “I mentor kids who
get hit by the Flu and are given up to the state by their parents.
Georgia’s Para Child Services budget is stretched to the limit. It
doesn’t always cover the basics.”
    Levi gave him a shocked gaze. “Like what? I
thought by law that abandoned shifter kids got clothes, food, and
medical?”
    Gerald shook his head. His long braids
whispered against his jacket. “Only to a point. The program is
strapped for funds. They can’t cover things like winter coats but
every couple of years. One of my boys grew a foot since last
winter, yet he was still supposed to do with last year’s coat.
Sleeves darn near shrank to his elbows. I’m always buying my kids
clothes.”
    Levi fell to musing. “How many kids in Para
Care are without mentors?”
    “More than I like to think about. No one
wants to foster them either, and that facility out by the airport
where they live is pretty grim.”
    The werewolf scowled to hear such news. “Give
me a contact number. I’ll let my guys at the academy know they’re
needed. I’ll mentor and maybe foster someone myself, if I pass the
requirements.”
    “You will with your background.”
    “Even if I don’t, I can maybe get some
donations happening so no one is doing without.” Levi shook his
head. “New coats every two years. That’s ridiculous.”
    Gerald nodded agreement. “Accidental shifts
alone do damage to their clothes. Normal wear and tear do not
apply. Any help would be good. Those kids need the support and
decent role models.”
    “Done. I wish I’d known about this before.”
Levi dropped the subject like it made him angry. He looked at me.
“And now for our other problem.”
    I handed him my empty bottle since I didn’t
know where his recycling bin was. “You said you had new
information?”
    Levi opened a cabinet and dropped the bottle
in. “Could be. The two instructors who disappeared? It turns out
they had some bad stuff we weren’t aware of until the police did
some digging. Stuff that would have meant them being dismissed from
their jobs.”
    “Like?”
    “Like one had some illegal gambling debts.
I’m talking big money in some really shady operations, not a few
hundred dollars on football. The other guy supposedly blackmailed a
couple of prosecutors and judges to get them to swing some high
profile cases that he’d been involved in.”
    “Swing?”
    Levi started himself another cup of coffee
after Gerald shook his head and covered the top of his cup with a
hand. “He got them to suppress evidence that might have proved
accused people were innocent of the crimes they’d been charged
with. Getting convictions on those cases made him look good and put
him