“How did you even find out?” I asked, attempting to crane my neck up to see him.
“Mori texted me. He’s more aware than most people it seems,” he said.
“What’s going on?” Preston asked, trying to grab his snacks without budging up.
“The station attendants will find your snacks, Preston,” Medwin said. “Now, kindly let my guard up.”
“Not until he tells me what he did to our cousin!” Preston roared sounding more like a bear by the second.
“If I had to guess, he probably gave Crilus a whiff of himself,” Medwin chuckled.
“What’s that code for? I don’t know all these kinky things,” Preston said.
“Crilus is his mate, you thick-headed brute! I swear sometimes you drive me so crazy that I can’t believe we’re twins!” Mori said, the husky growl of his wolf trying to creep into his tone.
“Don’t be like that, Mori!” Preston said, his voice softening now that he spoke to his twin. “What was I supposed to think? He was trying to chase Crilus! We were attacked tonight and there was Crilus hauling ass like he tried something untoward or maybe was an axe murderer or some shit and –”
“Let my guard up, please, Preston,” Medwin said again. “We’ve made enough of a scene for one night, haven’t we, Pierce?”
Preston reluctantly got to his feet and flashed me a sheepish grin.
“You’re never going to catch up with him,” he said a second later as I rose to my feet. “He’s too fast. He’s faster than us and we’re part elf too.”
“I’m aware of that,” I said through gritted teeth, wishing I had the power of pyromancy just to burn every snack this overgrown furball had bought into a pile of cinders.
“No need for whatever you’re thinking,” Medwin said. “He acted honestly enough and Crilus can’t run forever.”
“Where are your kids?” I asked.
Medwin chuckled before answering. I’d been the weekend guard for Meda and AJ for the last six months. While normally I detested working with children, the pair of them had managed to warm me up to them. Sometimes they even made me wonder what it would be like to have children of my own. AJ often blew the secrecy of having an unknown guard nearby by announcing to ice cream trucks or restaurants that they needed to feed his guard too because it wasn’t nice to let people go hungry and he’d have to call his nephew (nof-few as he said it) Teal and tell on them if they didn’t.
“I’ve sent them to their normal place,” he said, meaning that they were with his eldest son and his mate.
“Good,” I nodded. “I’d hate to think one tiny bear attack was enough to pull you away from your kids.”
“I am not a tiny bear!” Preston puffed up as the station attendant brought out new bags for his snacks that others were helping him gather up.
I stared down the dark highway, scanning for any sign of my mate. There wasn’t any because of fucking course there wasn’t. He was an elf and for whatever reason wanted nothing to bloody do with me.
Chapter Four
Crilus
Leaning against a big tree older, broader, and taller than I was just inside the Other World Gateway I fished my phone out of my pocket. Mori was trying to call again. This was the fifth time. As soon as I caught my breath, I’d call Clarence and let him know to continue the restoration of Raven’s Perch, but I was going home to visit my parents. From there, I’d figure out what to do next.
Despite all my panting, Pierce’s scent still lingered in the back of my mouth. I did my best to ignore it and to shake the image of his bemused expression as I darted from the car and out of his life before he could crash into mine. The Meadow Elves didn’t exactly have a stellar record when it came to meeting their true-mates. They were always killing each other off or their mate went bat shit crazy. My sire’s mate did that. He had this whole little family when he met my dad and then he just offed them and got himself killed by his brother. By Mori and Preston’s sire.
I rubbed the heel of my hand into my forehead and wrinkled my nose at the sweat I found there. Under normal conditions, I didn’t sweat a lot. Then again, I usually didn’t push myself so hard to get away from someone. Whatever crazy ran in my blood was mine to contend with.
“Crilus,”my carrier’s voice sounded off in my thoughts gently over our family link.“You’re not your ancestors.”
All three of my parents loved to remind me of this. I wasn’t them exactly, but their blood pounded in my veins for better or worse. Even my carrier’s dad was a batshit tyrant that once turned the Raven Hollow Wolf Pack into a fascist dictatorship.
“Kid, you can’t be a dictator,”Kodiak’s voice played into my head.
He was my parents’ third romantic partner and my carrier’s true-mate.
“You’re too independent to be bothered to hang around long enough to boss everyone around,”he continued when I didn’t answer.
