Our people, those cubs, should have reached out to us. Why didn’t they reach out?I sent to Sam.
I had no right to call myself an Elder. I’d failed my people. The constricting pain in my chest intensified. My heart struggled to beat.
Winifred, breathe. You did nothing wrong. It typically takes several months for the newborn’s link to find its way to us through their parents’ links. Perhaps, without their parents to guide them, they couldn’t reach out to us. Without that connection, we would never know.
The pain eased, and I took a calming breath.
“I’m sorry I’ve upset you,” Olivia said quietly.
Again, her scent contradicted her words. She wasn’t sorry; she was…nothing.
“Thank you,” I said to Olivia. “But it’s not your fault. You did not kill and murder my kind.”
What does she smell like to you?I sent Sam. He remained silent for several moments.
My first instinct is to say something sweet, like some kind of dessert. But there’s something lingering just beneath that. Something off. Almost sour. What does she smell like to you?
Nothing beyond the chemical smell of the shampoo and hand soap she last used,I sent back.No hint of any emotions, at all.
Olivia hadn’t shifted her gaze from me.
“How many of our women were there?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. I wasn’t allowed to see them. How long does Bethi usually sleep?” she asked, abruptly changing the subject.
While I wondered why Olivia was concerned about Bethi’s sleep schedule, Luke answered.
“It depends on her dream,” he said. He held her to his side, stilling her twitching with a reassuring brush of his hand over her arm.
“Why do you ask?” I asked.
“We need to make a decision quickly. Time is running out.” With that, Olivia turned her head and looked out the window. My eyes met Sam’s in the mirror.
She sounds a bit like Bethi,he sent me.
She did. But she neither felt nor smelled anything like Bethi at the moment.
“Sam, take the next right,” Gabby said, interrupting my thoughts.
“What do you see?” I asked. When I turned to look back at her, she was texting.
Gabby says we should head to Salt Lake City. I’ve let Jim know.
“There are several Urbat coming in from the east. We’ll cross paths if we continue going that direction here. We need to head south, but not too far. There are some waiting to the west, as if those to the east are driving us toward them.”
“They know you’re watching and will try to anticipate your moves,” Olivia said. “Watch the south. There are probably some moving away from the area they want you to go.”
“There are,” Gabby said. “But I haven’t fallen for that in the past and don’t plan to now.”
Clay made a slight noise, almost a laugh.
“I apologize. I only meant to help,” Olivia said.
OLIVIA…
The steady throb in my cheek helped distract me from the ache in my middle. Winifred’s obvious suspicion and Gabby’s dislike and mistrust shouldn’t have hurt me. I had a lifetime of it, after all. Yet, it did hurt. I belonged nowhere. With no one.
“No, I’m sorry,” Gabby said. “I haven’t been sleeping well and am a bit touchy about them finding us. A friend died because of me.”
