Nishiki
It tooka few days of travel, plenty of breaks, and a lot of pausing to detangle my hair, but we finally made it to the vast open space of the wildlife reserve. I smiled as a sense of familiarity, or maybe nostalgia, came to me. I had only been here once before, back when I was stuck in my koi form and Xander and Remington had saved me. Even though the circumstances weren't exactly amazing, I still looked back at those memories with fondness.
It felt strange thinking about my first shift now. I had grown more comfortable doing so, though I knew I wasn't as experienced or skilled at it as the wild shifters were. I thought of how natural Weston was slipping in and out of his osprey form. There was a beauty in it that I hoped to someday replicate.
For the rest of the journey, Weston and I avoided the topic of fated mates after our initial conversation. It was the only time I felt awkward around him, though I didn't exactly know why. I couldn't tell if he was the one who seemed more uncomfortable with it, or if I was. It was just easier not to talk about it at all. Thankfully, we got along well, and other topics were as smooth as water between us. It didn't feel like we had just met at all—
Talking with Weston was like catching up with an old friend, one who had apparently been missing from my life until now.
"I'm going to double check our surroundings," Weston said.
His voice was a little hoarse. I noticed that, since our night of intimacy, it seemed hard for him to catch his breath. Neither of us had spoken about that, either. Unlike the topic of fated mates, thatwassomething I wanted to talk about. He never brought up the idea of doing it again, though I desperately wanted to. Did that mean he didn't want to? If that was the case, I wasn't going to push him. It would only make that one night that much more special.
Although just the memory of it is enough to make me hard...
"Okay?"
I ejected all horny thoughts from my mind, shaking my head. "Yes, of course."
Weston smiled—which always made my heart flip—then transformed right in front of my eyes. No matter how many times I saw it, it made me speechless to witness this muscular, gorgeous man shift to the sleek, streamlined form of a bird of prey. He beat his wings, creating a gust of wind in his wake, then quickly became a speck in the sky as he lifted higher.
Do I look that elegant when I shift?I thought.Or do I just look like a fish flopping around?
Weston circled, then flew back down. I don't know what came over me, but instead of waiting for him to land on his feet as a man, I outstretched my arm like I'd seen people do on TV when they interacted with a large bird.
To my surprise, Weston took the invitation. He opened his wings, greatly slowing down, then carefully grasped my arm with his talons. I beamed.
"Wow, you're a lot heavier than I thought in this form," I said.
Weston let out a high-pitched chittering noise that I instinctively knew was a laugh. "Looks can be deceiving. I'm not stabbing you, am I?"
"No. But I am probably going to get really big muscles in my arm if we do this often." I grinned. "Instead of going to the gym to lift weights, I just lift my—"
I stopped myself abruptly before I could say the wordboyfriendout loud. My face heated up. I cleared my throat. "Anyway, what did you see up there?"
"We’re on the right track," Weston said. If he noticed my almost slip-up, he didn't mention it. "The lake is just up ahead past a small cabin." He tilted his head. "I also saw a ring of trees with quite a few figures inside of it."
"Oh, that's probably the pack," I said. At the slightly confused look on his face, I explained, "They're a bunch of wild shifters who live together. Nero lives with them now, along with his mate and kid." I almost said something about all of them being fated mates but I held my tongue, not wanting to get into that right now.
"Hang on," Weston said. "We just missed them. If we head back, we might be able to find your brother and tell him you're safe."
I hadn't even thought about that. My mind was so wrapped up in Weston that I'd forgotten Nero was probably still looking for me. As much as I wanted to continue onward and meet my father, I knew I shouldn't keep Nero waiting any longer. It had already been days since my quote-unquote disappearance. If it had been the opposite situation, I would've been worried sick about my twin.
"Okay,” I said, nodding. "Sorry for the detour."
Weston smirked. "Letting your family know you’re alive is not exactly a detour."
A sudden dreadful thought came to me. I grabbed Weston's arm. "Wait. You won't leave after I meet with them, will you?"
Weston blinked. "No. Why would you think that?"
I opened my mouth, then closed it, feeling stupid. It was only now that he said it that I felt ridiculous for even asking. Weston wasn't the type of man to do things half-heartedly. He intended to see this through all the way.
But what isthis? What are we doing together?
I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer to that question, so I stopped thinking and focused on reality.
"So you'll still take me to meet my father and see me back to the canyon?" I asked.
