I shuffled the uncertainty about the bear away. His pack’s territory bordered this area. It seemed unlikely that was coincidence.
I pulled out my notebook, flipping to the sketches I’d made, and walked over to stand beside him. “I found multiple duskburst plants here. They appear to have been placed in a pattern I can’t fully map from ground level, but it doesn’t appear to be natural distribution.”
Feral studied the diagrams, his expression shifting into the focused look he got when working through problems. “Do you think they’re connected to the contaminated seal? It’s in this area.”
“Possibly. I don’t have enough data yet.”
“You could’ve been hurt,” he said again.
“You mentioned that.”
“Victoria.”
“Feral.”
His jaw clenched. The muscle jumped, fear and frustration fighting for dominance in his expression.
“Informing someone of my destination would’ve been reasonable,” I said with great reluctance. “It is part of good research protocol.”
He stared at me for a long moment. “Research protocol.”
“Yes.”
“Not because I might worry.”
“That too.”
His jaw unclenched by approximately half. He grunted, which I’d learned to interpret as acceptance. “We need to return to the compound before our bear friend returns.”
“Was it a real bear or a shifter?”
“I’m not sure.”
I looked at the mop, at the long walk back to the compound, then at Feral.
“You could give me a ride back in wolf form,” I said. “Or we could both take the mop.”
A look of horror flashed across his face. “Ride amop?”
“It’s perfectly safe,” I said. “I flew here on it.”
“I won’t ride that thing.”
“I could take the front and steer. You’d only need to hold on.”
“I’m not holding onto a mop while flying above the ground.”
“It’s faster than walking. Faster than you carrying me up one hundred and four steps.”
“It can’t be faster than a wolf in full lope.”
“Try it.”
“Absolutely not.”
I waited.
Acorn chirped from his perch on a nearby rock.
