The fence wasn’ta problem for either of us. Sage slipped through the conveniently Sage-shaped hole, which he relayed the story to me about as we travelled, and I climbed over it with ease thanks to my agility and claws.
“…and then we didn’t know how to get in, right? But Remington was there on the other side, ‘cause we lost him after the storm, remember? So we had to get under the fence using that hole, and after a whole bunch of other stuff happened, we found the grove! And I dubbed it—wait for it—the Magic Grove pack!”
“You couldn’t have thought of a different name?”
“What, you don’t like it?” Sage demanded. “I’ll have you know, I’m amazing at naming things, and if my brothers ever try to convince you otherwise, they’re lying.”
“Tell me another one of your amazing names,” I suggested.
He puffed out his chest proudly. “Well, they both hated this one, but when I was a pup, we had a pet rock that I named Mr. Boulder, which I thought wasverycreative at the time.”
I had to bite my tongue to stop from laughing at him.
“I see that look on your face,” Sage accused, flicking me with his tail. “You hate Mr. Boulder too, don’t you?”
“I can’t say I’m a fan.”
“Hmph. Some people never get appreciated in their time.”
I rolled my eyes before licking his cheek. “I appreciateyou, but maybe we can think of baby names together.”
Sage pretended to think about it for a moment before saying, “I can live with that.” Bouncing back immediately, he brushed up against my side. “D’you think it’s gonna be a boy or girl? Ooh, what if we have more than one? What if we have twins like Hugo did? Is that sort of thing genetic, or do you think it happened ‘cause Len’s a hare? How many kids do mountain lions usually have?”
“I don’t know, we would take care of them, it’s a possibility, it is genetic but also likely happened because Len is a hare, and one.”
Sage stared at me with his jaw dropped before he burst out laughing. “Okay, I think that’s the first time someone’s actually answered all my questions like that. I’m surprised you kept them all in your head ‘cause sometimes I forget as soon as I say them.”
I smirked. “It’s a learned skill.”
We made good time travelling, eating and resting when we needed to, which I had to urge Sage to do because he got excited and didn’t want to take a break. He changed his mind when I told him it was for the baby’s health, too.
The canyon was a great yellow-orange plateau of land. The lush grass thinned out as we approached, turning to hard-packed dirt and sand beneath us. I’d known about the canyon’s existence, but I didn’t see a point in going because the prey was too well hidden to bother. Before, I never would have believed it if someone told me a there was a human doctor who magically knew when omega shifters were pregnant living here. I supposed there were stranger things.
Sage ran full pelt down the slope, kicking up dust. I raced to keep up with him.
“You know there’s no rush, right?” I told him. My slight worry that he wouldn’t be pregnant yet nagged at me. I didn’t want to see him disappointed and dejected.
“I know, I’m just excited!”
After a rather boring journey of nothing but yellow dirt and cliffs on either side of us, Sage skidded to a halt in front of a particular rock formation. Packed dirt stairs led up to a dark cavern in the cliff face. He bounded up the steps like he’d been here a million times before.
“Dr. Pine!” he called out.
I leapt up the stairs behind him. He stood inside the cool darkness of the cavern. There was a straw bed and fur blankets in the corner, along with herbs and drying meats hung up in the back. The signs of life were there, but there was no woman.
“Dr. Pine?” Sage called again. “Hellooo, where are you?” His tail and ears, which had both been perked up in excitement, now drooped. “Where is she?”
“Maybe she went out,” I suggested.
“But I didn’t see her on the way here…”
I didn’t know how to respond. I hadn’t seen a human anywhere, either.
“She could be further out in the canyon,” I said.
Sage sighed. “I guess. When Dax came with Morgan, he didn’t say anything about her being gone when they showed up.”
“A human can’t always stay in the same place, you know,” I said gently.
