Palace's landing was rough as they stumbled into the backyard. Mina, who had only barely been holding on with one shaking hand, flew from his back into the thick grass with Knight tucked tightly in his free arm. 

The world felt like it was spinning around him when they finally came to a stop. Tears stung at Mina's eyes for several reasons, but the one that weighed most on his chest was the fact that the lion, although hostile toward him, hadn't deserved to pay for its mistake with its life.

 Did Del shoot him or was it someone else? 

He couldn't think of anyone else who would have a reason to just murder the lion shifter. He can just pretend that the whole thing hadn't happened if he gets rid of the lion... and me. The idea that Del would come after him made his heart hammer harder in his chest, but he knew that he couldn't focus on that right then. 

"Knight needs help." He rasped to whoever was around him that could hear. He couldn't find the energy to move his aching body, but he hoped that someone would help his injured rescuer. 

When he finally felt hands gently take Knight's prone bird form from his tense arm, Mina forced one of his eyes to squint open. 

Uncle Jared? 

The man stood back up with Knight in his arms, his image blurring as he moved further away. Pretty soon, everything went black, leaving Mina unconscious on the lawn. 

"Jamie, take care of Mina?" Jared asked as he walked past his brother, who was just then running out of the back door to the house, handing off a large towel to Jared in order to wrap Knight in. 

"Got it. Take care of Knight, J." Jamie said as he hurried past Jared to tend to Mina. 

After grabbing his keys from the counter, Jared was off to the emergency vet with Knight. It was nearly nine-thirty by the time he pulled into the parking lot. Thankfully, the waiting room was pretty much empty besides some old lady crying over a container holding a clearly-dead hamster. 

He quickly got them checked in, then sat down to wait. As the seconds ticked by, Jared glanced over the injured hawk in his arms. The wounds were deep in at least two of the four gashes. 

I can't understand how you got hurt so badly. You're a cocky son of a bitch but you can fly ridiculously well. 

"Jared and Knight?" Called the vet leaning out from behind a door with a clipboard in his hands.

Jared stood up and calmly followed the vet back to an examination room as the woman with the dead hamster wailed about her "Ham-Ham". The man got Knight hooked up to a few machines right away, considering he was clearly having trouble breathing. 

"These look like they are from a large cat's claws. He's lost a lot of blood from them already." The vet said as he worked on Knight's damaged wing. 

He wheeled the table Knight was on up to a sink, then looked up at Jared. "Can you hold his wing over the sink, please? It needs disinfected." 

Jared did as told without a word, though he actually felt a twinge of pain in his chest as the vet began scrubbing at the torn up appendage. Blood mixed with the soap and flowed down the drain every time the vet used the little spray nozzle attachment to rinse the wounds. 

By the time the man was finished, Jared felt a little queasy. 

"Is he a friend of yours? Do you know what happened? I can help you wright up a report for the police if needed." The vet said, bringing Jared's dazed gaze up to his. 

"I... no, I really don't know what happened. If I find out and it wasn't some freak accident, I'll let you know." 

The man pursed his lips and nodded, then dug through his cabinets for a needle and thread. 

"This is going to take a while and you don't look quite well. Would you like me to see if I can find my assistant? She should be done with the dogs in the back soon." 

Jared shook his head. "It's okay, they're busy doing their work and I'd rather not wait any longer than I have to for him to get taken care of." He said, even though the vet was right. He didn't feel that great. 

It took the man nearly thirty minutes to get the injury completely sealed up. Another couple minutes and it was wrapped. Jared was then given some pain medication, and of course, a bill. The vet had wanted to keep him overnight, just in case, but his breathing had evened out and he was just sleeping soundly by the time everything was done. 

Jared took a few moments to regroup his hazy thoughts before lifting Knight back into his arms, leaving the bloody towel for the vet to throw out. "Let's go home, you punk." He whispered as he walked out into the chilly night. 

 The porch lights were on when he finally arrived back home some time around midnight. There was also a light on inside, which led him to believe that he would be getting an explanation for this whole scenario before sunrise. 

He walked inside to see Jamie sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee in his hand. Palace was lying on the floor, snoring quietly in his wolf hybrid form. 

"Hey bro, how is he doing?" Jamie asked, his words bringing Palace to attention, his head lifting to watch Jared carry his sleeping brother inside. 

After removing his keys and shoes, Jared walked over and sat down next to his brother, gratefully accepting the half cup of coffee Jamie had been working on. 

After he took a few sips, he replied with a tired tone. "There's a lot tissue damage, but as long as he doesn't try to shift back to his human form for a while or try to use his wing, it should eventually heal." 

Palace nudged his brother where he rested against Jared's chest with his left arm. 

"Palace, what happened? Is Mina alright?" Jared asked before taking another sip from the warm cup of coffee.

Instead of shifting and answering, Palace just grunted and got comfortable on the carpet again, leaving Jared turning to his brother for answers. 

"Knight was curious about where Mina worked. It was his day off so he just followed him to sate his curiosity. Once Mina was inside, Knight left, but when he failed to come home on time from his job, Knight returned." 

"Palace said that he had looked through a large skylight and, through just dumb luck, he thinks, he saw a man walk into a wooded area with a small kitten of some sort. Something about the situation bothered him, and when a large lion was let loose into the area, he decided to come back to the house and get Palace." 

Jared stared down at Knight's hawk, still fast asleep in his arms. Without really thinking about it, he reached up to the back of the sofa and pulled down one of the small blankets folded there and wrapped it carefully around the bird, then sighed. 

"Somehow, he had to have known." Jared said quietly, then yawned. 

Jamie chuckled a little at that and reached over, squeezing his brother's shoulder. 

"Thank you for taking him to the vet. I know he bothers you to no end, but I appreciate the help. I had to take care of Mina and the few cuts Palace had gotten." He said, reminding Jared of Mina again. 

"He's a shifter, isn't he?" He asked, earning a nod from his brother right away. 

"A very late bloomer, but yes. He is a cheetah and lion mix kitten. I bet you money that he's a cross-shifter just like his mother, too. Arron was a kitten for a long time until his hormones started going crazy."

Jared blew out a breath and grinned. "Our brother was quite obsessed with the pheromones those hormones caused." 

 Jamie laughed quietly and got up, making Palace stand up, too. 

"We're going to head to bed. Mina took some medicine and cleaned up his injuries He should be out for at least half the night." 

Jared nodded and stood, too, hugging Knight's hawk a little closer. 

"I'll take Knight and watch Mina tomorrow since you have to go to work early." Jared said as he headed for the stairs along with his brother, turning off the lights on the way. 

"Alright. Call me if there are any issues. Palace will be around, too, just in case anyone comes after Mina." 

Jared hadn't really thought about the person trying to finish the job, but it made sense. There were loose strings... and they are getting looser by the minute. 

"Also, bro." Jamie said, making Jared pause near the top of the staircase. 

"Be careful. We aren't sure yet, but it's possible that the person behind this is Palace's son. And if that's true, things could get much more dangerous soon." 

Great. Another Palace. 

"I'll be careful. Good night, brother." Jared said as he slowly made his way toward his room. 

He barely spared a minute to relieve himself, then wash his hands and brush his teeth before falling into bed with Knight. He was out cold seconds later, a few feathers brushing against his nose as Knight moved just a tiny bit closer in his own deep sleep.