One Problem At A Time

The key to the fertility drug was just out of reach, I could see the formula that I needed, and just as I was about to write it down, the piercing silver eyes of Raphael Silverblood appeared in my mind, erasing everything else.

The eyes weren't always the same; they flitted between the four men and Caleb for no reason other than to drive me completely insane.

There were shifter females depending on this medication, and yet… there was nothing to show.

Even after I created the formula, that was still step one of about forty before I could mass market it.

Leaning back in my office chair, I rubbed my eyes.

My brain kept screaming at me to get the formula done. Every day that I went to work at the diner, it showed me exactly what I needed to do. Theoretically, it was a combination of the fertility drugs that the humans used but more geared toward shifter DNA. It was that fundamental difference that prevented the human drugs from working for shifters.

And yet, all my mouse wanted to do was to sleep in a fucking coat pocket.

She had already picked out the banket she wanted and was 'encouraging' me to keep it on me at all times, just in case I saw any of the males again.

With Caleb, she wanted something completely different. With him, she wanted to fly.

Letting out a long sigh, I closed my eyes, unwillingly calling a vision of the five of them all together in front of me.

My mouse was driving me insane, and this was not the time to do it.

'I wouldn't be forcing the issue if you would just listen to me,' squeaked my mouse, glaring at me inside of my mind. 'You give me what I want, and I'll let you do what you want to do.'

"It's not like I am doing it for the hell of it," I grunted out loud. Females need this."

'Females need a lot of things. Take me, for instance.'

Letting out yet another long sigh, I finally gave in. "Fine. Next time I see any of them, and they are wearing a coat, I'll let you take a very, very short nap. Deal?"

'Deal,' replied my mouse, and I could feel her satisfaction in that word. She wanted and needed her mates and didn't care one bit about what I wanted or needed.

My phone buzzed on my desk, and I looked over at it, not knowing if I was in the mood to answer it or just send it to voicemail.

Fuck. Not that it really made a difference. Even if I sent it to voicemail, it just meant that I would have to deal with it later.

"Hello?" I said, answering the phone. No point in putting off until tomorrow what you can do today.

"We have a problem," grunted Caleb. I had sent him to one of the safe houses that had sent me a message earlier today, needing to meet.

"Do I want to know?" I asked, once again closing my eyes only to see his piercing black ones. Please, please let there be a simple solution to whatever the safe house needed.

"Some of the females are missing," answered Caleb slowly.

"I'm sorry, what?" I demanded, my eyes flying open. The entire point of the safe houses was to keep their occupants safe. Missing females was the exact opposite of that concept.

"I guess it has been going on for a month or so," continued Caleb, and I could hear the wind coming through the phone. He must be sitting in a tree or something. Walking over to my widow, I looked out. He sat on one of the bigger branches of the oak tree outside of my house, looking into my window.

I should be freaked out over it, but my mouse just preened.

"You want to come in to have this conversation?" I asked, my eyes never leaving his.

"Nah," smiled Caleb, his leg swinging back and forth. "I think it is better for the both of us that I stay out here."

"Fine. What were you saying?"

"Females, both human and shifters, have been missing from more than a few of the safe houses. At first, the staff just assumed that they had gotten up and left or returned to their original home." I could hear Caleb's sigh, and it annoyed me as much as it annoyed him.

Women went back to their abusers all the time, no matter how nice of a place I set up for them or what needs of theirs that I met. I would never imprison them in the safe houses, but it was part of the rules that if they decided to leave, they needed to tell someone. Most did not.

"And?" I asked, leaning against the side of the window frame.

"And they have completely vanished. They went out one day and never came back. I went to some of their old locations, and they weren't there either."

"How many are we talking about?" I pressed. It wasn't in my nature to care for others; that was more on my human side than my mouse, but I did feel a sense of responsibility for these women.

"More than twenty, less than fifty," answered Caleb. "But we can't be sure who left on their own and who was taken away."

"Got it," I replied, closing my eyes. I needed a nap, and not in someone's pocket. "We'll keep our eyes and ears open. Send the word out. If anyone hears anything, they need to let us know."

"Done." I could see the crow nodding his head as he continued to stare at me. "And there is one more thing."

"What now?" I wondered. Today had gone on longer than it needed to, and unless I made some progress on any of these problems, my human brain wouldn't be able to deal with it.

"I wasn't able to give out all of the suppressants that you had given me," he said at last.

"Oh?"

"The wolves showed up, and then you called. I had to shift to get out."

"Fucking wolves," I grumbled. At least it wasn't all that bad. They could have the extra supplies, but they needed to do something big in order to get that contract back. They might be my mates, but their pups messed with my dad.

"Fucking wolves," agreed Caleb.