That's pretty smart,Colton said, and his chimera gave him a sort of exasperated sigh.
Animals are good at surviving,it pointed out.Humans think too much.
Colton laughed, startling Jo, and raised his hands apologetically as she turned to look, the brim of her hat rising to indicate her eyebrows were lifted beneath it. "My chimera says I'm overthinking things, and that we can fly through, or around, the mountains, rather than above them, so we're closer to the ground if we need to shelter overnight."
"That's pretty smart," she said admiringly.
His chimera preened, stretching its wings luxuriously.Our mate thinks I'm smart.
"That's what I said!" Colton said to both of them, but the chimera ignored him in favor of Jo's praise. Not that Colton could blame it, really: he would also preen if she praisedhim.
"Let's pack up, then—no!"
Colton's eyebrows shot upward. "No?"
"Let's see if you can get off the ground with a passenger, first!"
"Oh!" Colton snorted with surprise, which brought very cold air into his throat and lungs, which made him cough rather dramatically for a while before he recovered. "Yes," he finally said in a wheeze. "That's actually a really good idea."
"I, too, am pretty smart," Jo told him solemnly. "All right, let's try this."
He shifted and crouched on the green X they'd made. Jo, shaking her head, climbed carefully onto his back, muttered, "I can't believe I'm about to ride a flying lion," and held on for dear life as Colton sprang into the air, wings working hard to lift him.
It wasmuchmore difficult than he expected, truth be told. He didn't quite hit the ground again, but it took far more effort to get into the air than he'd thought, and he didn't even try to gain any real altitude. Instead he landed with a thump and Jo slid off his back, her expression concerned. "Maybe you should fly out without me and come back for me."
"Not a chance," he said as he shifted back. His chimera also offered a resoundingNo!, then added,It'll be easier when we're in full flight. Tell her.
"My chimera says it'll be easier once we're really in the air," Colton echoed. Jo eyed him suspiciously, and he spread his hands. "I trust it."
"All right. Okay. Well, then, let's pack up and see how far we can get today. I'd love to get somewhere that there's signal, just to let people know we're okay. I'd—" She stopped, shook her head, and chuckled softly.
"You'd what?" Colton gestured and she led the way back to the tent, where they packed up, which mostly meant Colton handing Jo things when she pointed at them, and her doing the rest with practiced efficiency.
"Oh, I was going to say, if we clear the mountains, I'd love to just fly straight home, but then I realized that even if the distance wasn't too great, the chances of being seen are. And then I thought, wow, I adapted to the whole idea of shifters pretty fast, didn't I?"
Mates do,his chimera said impatiently.Tell her!
I'll tell her when we're no longer trapped together in an inaccessible location,Colton promised. The chimera practically groaned with dismay, but couldn't force Colton to talk, so instead curled up, hid beneath its wings, and sulked.
I'msleeping, notsulking!
Uh-huh,Colton said.Of course you are.
The chimera sulked harder, and Colton smiled as they finished up the last of the packing. "I guess people mostly decide to believe what's right in front of them, although I also think that a lot of the times, later, they decide they saw something else. I think that's probably part of what keeps us secret."
"It must be hard," Jo said as they climbed out of their little shelter beneath the tree. "Having this big secret about yourself. My most difficult secret is my stupid name."
"It's a beautiful name," Colton murmured, not wanting anyone, even Jolene herself, to be mean to her. "But I do understand why it must also be a difficult one."
"It'd help if I was a petite blonde or something," she said with resigned irritation. "Although then people would probably call me 'Dolly' and think they were funny, too."
"You're absolutely perfect as you are," Colton said firmly. He shouldered the bags, made sure they were comfortable, then lifted his eyebrows at Jo. "Ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be."
Colton winked once, and shifted.
CHAPTER TEN
