A Shadow of Wings by Linda Gayle

inside. Just as quick, he shut the door and locked it. He stood for a silent second with one hand on the knob and the other on the dead bolt. And then he…laughed.
    “Oh, man.” He turned toward Cam with a crooked grin. “Now I see what you mean about your eye mojo.”
    The burning sensation of the call flooded away from him, and Cam shoved his fingers through his hair, scratching his still-tingling scalp. The danger had passed but left him antsy. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t let him shoot you.”
    “He wouldn’t have.” Dylan approached and pulled his hands down gently. Cam twisted his face away. He didn’t know how much power still lurked in his eyes. “He’ll be all right, yeah?”
    Cam nodded, his heart walloping against his ribs. “Yes. He’s only stunned.” Not too stunned to call him serpent, and that other name, which was highly inaccurate in any case. Still, Jose must know the old legends. 
    Before Cam could dwell on it, Dylan slapped him on the arm. “Then we’re good. Fuck, man, don’t worry about it. He threatens me almost every night. We fight like that all the time. It’s just a pissing match.”
    “Pissing match?” Feeling off balance and out of his element—as indeed he was—Cam shifted his weight restlessly, wondering if he should stay or go.
    “Like two roosters having a standoff in the hen house, you know? We both want to be the boss.”
    “The boss? The boss of what?”
    “Well, that’s a good question.” He looked around at his apartment—room, Cam mentally corrected when he turned to examine the space. It was just one room with scuffed wood floors. A streetlight illuminated one corner that held an air mattress covered with a dark blue sleeping bag and a rumpled sheet. A minifridge hummed in another corner. The sounds of traffic buzzed in through a partially opened window with grimy, broken blinds covering it. 
    “This is your place?”
    “I know it doesn’t look like much. Hell, it’s not much.” Dylan set the Chinese food on the floor by his makeshift bed, then pulled up the blinds, letting in a breeze and a little more light. “Believe it or not, it’s a step up for me. Pretty soon I’ll be out of this dump, though. I’ve been saving up my pay from the clinic. In another few weeks, I’ll have a couple months’ security saved, plus the first month’s rent for a decent place. Then maybe I can get a better job too. You’d be surprised at how people write you off when they see this address on a job application.”
    Small as the room was, Cam felt safe there. Safe with Dylan and in no hurry to go back into the hallway to confront the old man again. He crossed the empty space to stand opposite him at the window. “You don’t like working there?”
    “No, I like it plenty. Dr. Martin’s been great. But, you know, business is crappy for her. Most of her clients can’t pay their bills. She’s the last resort for the hard-luck cases. Half the time, she ends up putting the animals down, they’re so far gone when they get to her.” He shook his head and stared out the cracked glass. “Lucky for me, I was another hard luck case she couldn’t pass up.”
    “Why, what happened?”
    “I brought in a box of abandoned kittens. She said as long as I came in a few times a day to feed them, I could keep ’em there. In between feedings, I started making myself useful. Cleaned the cages, swept the floor. Pretty soon, she gave me a few hours on the clock. It’s not much, but it’s the best job I’ve had since I came here.”
    “What about your family? Do you miss them?”
    “Nah.” He lifted the blinds to peer down at the street, then let them fall. “Haven’t talked to anyone for a few years now.”
    “I can’t imagine being without my family.” At times, it sounded tempting.
    Dylan crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. “Like that brother who wants to control everything you do?”
    “He…” Isn’t my