I grit my teeth. There are several humans who’ve attended the event over the years. You’d think Rex had never met one before.
BigFootBoone [admin]: He is perfectly capable. Stop panicking or I will revoke admin privileges.
MothAkai: You love threatening us, you big soft sassy sasquatch.
At that exact moment, Elias returns to the cave mouth.His footsteps slow when he sees me still hunched over the console.“Sorry,” he says, a little breathless. “Didn’t mean to interrupt grave admin business. You need me to leave again?”
He’s smiling, but when he tilts his head to read my expression, the smile softens.
“Everything okay?”
No. Not remotely.
But also… yes. Because he’s here. Because he wants to be.
“As okay as possible,” I manage, signing out without saying goodbye. Honestly, they deserve it with how they’ve been carrying on. “Just… informing the others about our trip.”
His face brightens and he steps closer when I make no sign asking him to give me some more time. “How’d they take it?”
I decide not to mention the shrieking, the GIFs, Akai’s ridiculous name for me, and someone’s demand for a full human medical dossier.
“They… have opinions,” I say.
He snorts. “Shocking.”
He steps deeper into the cave, and the faint smell of warm cedar, river minerals, and whatever uniquely-Elias scent he carries winds its way straight into my chest. It’s unfair how easily he affects me. A single look, a single breath, and suddenly I’m thinking thoughts I have no business thinking.
“Ready to plan?” he asks.
Not remotely. But I nod anyway. “Yes,” I say. “First, we need to discuss the distance. The actual distance.”
“Oh.” He perks up, pulling his notebook from his pack. “Right. I’ve been thinking about that. I figure we start early, take steady pacing—thirty miles max per day—and make up time by?—”
“Elias.” I hold up a hand. “A human can’t walk thirty miles a day for that long.”
He squints at me. “I could.”
“You could once,” I say gently. “Then your legs would dissolve.”
“No, they—” he begins.
I level him with a look.
He deflates. “Okay, maybe.”
He flips another page. “So what’s your suggestion? Besides super-speed forest traversal, which I absolutely cannot do.”
“We drive,” I say.
His eyes widen. “Drive? Like… in my truck? Together?”
I grimace. “Yes.”
“And you’d—” He gestures vaguely at my body. “—be in human form?”
“Unfortunately.”
His grin nearly splits his face. “Boone, that’s amazing, but are you sure you’ll be okay with that?”
