The Lion's Den by D N Simmons Page A

tell him everything was going to be fine. But he couldn’t, not out in the open. Pretenses were still important, even more so now than before.
    “ I need to let Xander know about all of this, you call Richard.”
    Matthew pulled out his cell phone, doing as Warren suggested. Richard answered in a groggy voice. “I’m sorry, were you asleep?”
    “ And enjoying it, what’s happening now?” Richard asked. He wasn’t annoyed, he simply wanted the updates.
    For a split second, Matthew was jealous that his Alpha was getting a good night’s sleep while he sat shotgun, exhausted with bloodshot eyes. He answered him. “We’re leaving the fourth crime scene now heading back to the precinct. Also, they’ve just found a fifth body. Warren and I have been paired up with two other detectives and we have to share everything we have in this case with them,”
    “ I see. Make certain that both you and Warren are very careful about what kind of information you share, especially your sources. Make sure everything you share can be substantiated with solid facts,” Richard cautioned.
    “ Yeah, Warren and I kind of touched on the trickiness of this pairing earlier. I’ll pass that along.”
    “ You sound exhausted, when was the last time you’ve slept… or eaten?”
    “ I haven’t seen a pillow in two days and the last meal I had was a few hours ago.”
    “ Matthew, you’re not old or strong enough to test your nature. You need rest and real food if you plan on maintaining any amount of control,” Richard’s tone was measured but serious.
    “ I know, as a matter of fact, we’re pulling into a Nickey G’s right now.”
    Richard sighed. “I said real food, Matthew. You need a steak, preferably rare in order to sate your hunger, not a reprocessed burger.”
    “ Oookaaay, we are currently pulling away from the Nickey G’s, empty handed,” Matthew informed.
    Warren started chuckling in spite of his own fatigue. He was certain that Richard could hear him, and he didn’t mind. It was funny to him.
    “ Tell Warren I said he should have known better than to take you there,” Richard said, smiling at the foolishness of the two pups. At over three hundred years, almost every shifter he knew was a pup to him, especially those less than half a century old like Warren and Matthew.
    “ Tell him we’re going back home to eat a real meal and get some real sleep. Shit, I’m fucking tired,” Warren passed along.
    Matthew pulled the cell from his ear. “I thought we were going back to the precinct?”
    “ We were, I changed my mind.”
    “ Well damn, do I get a say in this?”
    “ What the hell, Matt? You want to try to solve this case as a zombie? Shit, I don’t know about you, but I can barely keep my eyes open, we’re shape-shifters, not fucking superheroes! We need sleep, we need to eat, we need to go the fuck home and deal with what we can later.” Warren steered the car effortlessly along the highway heading home.
    Matthew looked at him. “I guess it’s good that our captain pulled in reinforcements, Mr. ‘We-Can-Handle-This-On-Our-Own’.”
    Silently, Warren tossed him a look that said, “Shut the hell up”.
    Richard listened to the two men argue. He wondered if they remembered he was still on the cell phone.
    Remembering that his Alpha had been rudely put on hold, Matthew put the cell phone back to his ear. “Richard? I’m sorry about that,” he apologized.
    “ He’s right, you know. Call me once you’ve had a good rest and a real meal. Goodbye.” Richard ended the call. p>
    Matthew slipped his cell back into his pocket. He looked at Warren, who was smiling slyly. “Oh, wipe that smug-ass grin off your face.”
    “ Don’t be mad because he agreed with me.”
    “ Getting help was my idea.”
    “ Yeah, but going home was mine. Besides, your stomach’s growling so loud, I think it might attack us.” Warren laughed at his own sleep-deprived joke.
    Matthew chuckled. “Yeah, you really do need to go