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. 

"Now that I can get a good look at you, you're definitely not a normal cub. Young lions are supposed to have spots, but you've got way more than I've ever seen, and a slight main going down the back of your neck nearly to your tail, too." It was a characteristic related to cheetah cubs, not lions. 

His wolf nudged at his thoughts to take it out. He knew that it just wanted the opportunity to get at it easily, but Del wasn't going to be the one to kill it. He kept his hands clean on most counts... though he did know someone who would be more than happy to do the job. 

The bastard totally set us up on this one. Bo just wanted the kill for himself. He thought as he knelt down in front of the cage and opened the two latches securing the door. It was no surprise that the cub didn't react. 

"You can't even control it yet, can you?" He asked as he reached in, unsurprisingly getting a few tiny claws in his wrist as he grabbed it by its neck. He could have scruffed it, and probably saved himself some band-aids later, but he wasn't exactly in the mood to be nice. Besides, it wasn't like it was choking. It had a damn good hold of his arms. 

"You've got little razors attached to the fronts of your paws, brat." He growled as he left the room and began walking down a long hallway that lead to an elevator. As he moved, he pulled out his cell and hit the speed dial he had for Bo. 

Of course, the man picked up immediately, and lucky for Del, he hadn't even left the building yet. 

"Set up in hunt zone three. He's ten thousand." Del grumbled into the receiver before hanging up abruptly. It was a much cheaper price than he'd normally give, especially for someone so young, which he rarely agreed to use in a hunt, but he needed someone to do the kill. 

A chime from his phone a moment later told him that Bo was more than eager to help him with his task. It was the guard for the hunting zones that needed personal permission from him each time an unscheduled hunt was going to take place. 

He quickly typed his approval, then sent the message before stepping onto the elevator. Soon, he was on the hunt floor that contained the holding areas and fields for zone three and four. Several of his guards and workers greeted him as he carried the fussing cub past the rows of cages. 

There weren't many people left caged for the next few days of hunts, but for once, Del didn't mind. He'd made a good amount of money and the month wasn't even close to over yet. 

Best to make Mina disappear completely first before we pull in more targets. 

 He stopped next to a steel door and punched in a code, unlocking it before stepping inside. Del didn't normally walk the prey targets all the way through the tunnel unless it was requested by the hunter, but he figured that Mina, not even having control of his shift yet, wouldn't be the greatest at walking. He might not even bother trying to leave the dimly-lit area if given an option. 

After a couple minutes of frustrating clawing and a few raspy growls from Mina, Del stepped out into the heavily wooded area. It had taken nearly a year to get all of the trees and plants set up, as well as add the burrows and different little obstacles that made it feel like an actual woodland, like fallen trees and uneven terrain.  

It was his favorite hunting ground, and it was also the most requested one for its difficulty and realism. There was even a large log cabin up on a small hill that the hunter could choose to come out of if they wished. 

Bo, however, never bothered with playing the part. He just wanted to kill. A deep roar from behind a hidden gate by the cabin told Del that the lion's patience was wearing thin. 

"Sorry about this, kid. I really did like you." He said as he finally set Mina's squirming cub down on the damp grass. It immediately rolled onto its four paws, then pounced onto his left shoe to attack the leather with a less-than ferocious growl. 

"Save your energy, you're going to need it." He said as he nudged Mina away, then stood. "The rules... There is only one. If you can survive for twenty minutes, you may walk out of this area alive." He said, repeating the mantra he'd said more times than he could count. 

Give him his money back, Del. You shouldn't do this. Buck thought to him, his words sounding far more worried than he'd expected. Buck rarely cared for any of the hunt targets more than their background checks. Sometimes the rare teen they kidnapped got to him a tiny bit, but Mina wasn't a literal kid. 

Why? He's a cub but he's an adult, Buck. Don't let him fool you. We can't let him go. 

He felt Buck's upset through their bond again, but he backed away. Except, this time, he actually seemed to close off his mind to Del, which had only ever happened a few other times during the years they'd spent together when he'd done things Buck had severely disapproved of. 

It hurt, but some things just had to be done. With one last glance down at the little lion cub trying to finally stand using its new set of legs, he turned around and walked back toward the tunnel, pushing a large, dark red button that was hanging high on the wall there. 

It sealed off the area and released Bo's lion from its cage.

Sorry that things turned out this way. Del thought with a sigh as he headed back down the shadowed tunnel, trying not to hear the excited roars from Bo's lion as it began its hunt.