Chaos

... Is the Hero You Need

Ryker

Ryker hadn't planned on addressing it quite as bluntly as Carbry had, and he frowned as his cowboy tensed and pulled away from him. As Daryl stood, he could read the defiance written all over the man's countenance and shot a glare at Carbry.

The bastard Alesky leveled a stubborn, unyielding look in his direction, though thankfully Meriwa looked a little more sympathetic.

She knew Daryl's stubborn side as well as Ryker did.

"No." Daryl shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest and turning to look at them. "No, I can't stop that."

"We said no secrets, Daryl." Carbry pushed.

And as expected, Daryl's jaw tightened, and the stubbornness grew. He even went so far as to plant his feet, as if facing off against a bull. Ryker turned to glare at Carbry again. The man had to know Daryl well enough by now that he was just backing into a corner.

"D... you never kept secrets from me before." Meriwa murmured softly. "I know you're not going off, doing drugs and sleeping around or anything... but I've been worried. You're not talking to us."

"You guys are all busy saving the world." Daryl offered a shrug, his expression becoming gentle as he addressed Meriwa. "You've been busy doing all that stuff that you figured out when you were gone."

Gone.

Because Daryl still had a hard time saying that Meriwa had been dead. And even then, there was residual pain there, despite talking to them about it. Despite them all working through the scars those months left. It still hurt him. And Ryker couldn't blame his cowboy. He was still feeling the wounds caused by his own mistakes.

"We're a team, Daryl." Ryker murmured, though he realized that he now had no idea what Daryl could have been doing. He had avoided asking, afraid that his cowboy was doing exactly what Meriwa had just dismissed.

"I just know you guys are going to be angry with me." Daryl offered a shrug, his ears, little white fox ones that matched the fluffy white tail that was lashing through the air behind him, flattened to his head.

"Let's start slow, then. How are you slipping past your bodyguards?" Carbry stills sounded imperious, dark, commanding.

Daryl paused, raising a brow before offering a sheepish grin.

He said nothing, but when Ryker blinked, he found himself staring at a complete stranger. Someone who smelled and looked completely different from his cowboy. A man that was dark-skinned and shorter, with long dreadlocks, though still wearing Daryl's clothing. It was as if Daryl had teleported and replaced himself with someone completely new.

Ryker jerked back for a moment until he realized that he was still drawn to the man who stood in front of them. Still knew the stranger was his mate deep in his chest.

The man who had to be Daryl offered another shrug. "I figured out I can shift into more than just animals."

"Oh, fuck." Meriwa's brows shot up. Then she gave Daryl a hard look. "You kept doing it, didn't you?"

Daryl shifted back into Daryl, though after a few moments, ears and a tail appeared again, only this time they looked like cat ears, and a fluffy wolf's tail. "Yes. Since the centres have opened up, I've... continued."

"For fuck sakes, D! Those people might not be Hunters or part of the Order, but they're still dangerous!" Meri snapped at him. "We do jobs together, you promised."

Ryker growled. "What the fuck are you two talking about?"

Meriwa glared at Daryl, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at the man who flushed. Carbry growled low, his eyes on Daryl narrowing. Ryker's heart raced. If Meri was upset about it, Daryl had to be up to no good.