Claws (mxm)

Poor Choices

Dammit, Buck! Do something! Del snarled into his friend's mind as his giant wolf paced in circles, his claws digging into the expensive carpet. 

They shared a rare bond that was normally reserved for related kin, but Buck had been all he'd ever had, so it just sort of developed on its own. 

calm down, Del. We need to figure out what we are going to do about him. Buck replied. He was standing in their bedroom by the small dog crate they had locked Mina up in. It was more for his safety than anything, but the metal bars would be pathetically useless if Del's wolf decided that it wanted him dead. 

You want me to calm down? How the hell can we fix this? We can't just call his emergency contact and say that he'd accidentally been drugged at work with something clearly illegal by one of our top clients, and we need them to pick him up! 

Buck stepped into the office room Del's wolf was pacing in, shutting the door right before the animal could dart out of it. With the barrier back in place, Del jerked away from it and began running in a wide circle around the too-small room, knocking paperwork and stationary to the floor each time he charged past his desk. 

"Maybe we can just wait out the drug, then tell him to stay quiet about it... Money talks, and he definitely seems to need some." Buck said as he walked over and sat down on the pitch black sofa. 

Without an ounce of hesitation, Del's wolf changed direction and wandered over, nudging its giant, fuzzy and feathery head beneath Buck's hand. It was panting hard, its eyes clearly dilated from stress. 

We've tried that before. It was a messy clean up I don't care to repeat. We can't afford to have an investigation here. He replied. How the hell did we not catch that he was a shifter when Bo found out so easily? He asked, growling at his own thoughts. 

Running his hand over Del's head soothingly, Buck offered a sad smile and massaged one of his ears gently. "I don't know, Del, but there must be some other way we can solve this besides killing him." 

How? If he gets tested for anything, that drug will turn up in his blood for at least a week, if not longer. He might not even change back in time for him to get home before people start wondering where he is. We should just get busy covering this up. We can just use a decoy like we did with our last issue that can dress like him and leave at the appropriate time on the security cameras. That would clean our hands of this whole situation.

"I don't want to kill him for this, Del." Buck said quietly. 

Of course you don't. I will take care of it. He replied, feeling an immediate wave of worry come from his friend through their bond. Forcing his body to change, Del shifted back to his human form with a huge amount of effort. 

He was already exhausted from keeping his wolf in line, along with the stress of disposing of an unplanned person. 

It's always something. 

"I'll go take care of it. Look through our contacts and see who can get here that has a similar build to his that can be our decoy for later. It's going to be dark, so it doesn't have to be perfect." He said as he walked toward the door leading to their bedroom. 

Del could feel Buck's disapproval, but the man never intervened in his decisions once they were made. I'm not going to put us through this again. He'll be dead and will be forgotten after a couple years. Besides, if I kill him when he's a cub, he might not change back. That would make things much easier. 

With a slight grin, he stepped through the door, his eyes immediately landing on the little lion still shaking in the back corner of the little dog crate they'd had brought up.