I kind of do too. I don’t like the way he pushed at the mate bond and didn’t listen to me. But it’s like I said to him, all couples fight.
I’m not really worried, but as the dusk fades into night and he still hasn’t returned, I start.
The last bus back to the city left half an hour ago, he still hasn’t returned, and I sit with my knees tucked up against my chest, staring at my phone, watching the minutes tick by.
A voice from the door makes me jump. “Hey, you just lurking in here in the dark for a reason?”
Riley strides across the room and flicks the light switch, wincing when he sees the state of the kitchen. “Geez, Ver, what happened? Did you and Bas have a fight or something?”
The tears I’ve managed to hold back since Bas left well up again, and I sniff and Riley hurries over.
“Aw, hey, I was just joking. Sorry. Unless you really did and he reacted like this.” He gestures to the destroyed woodwork and the mess on the floor.
I sniff. “No, it wasn’t like that.”
“Where’s Bas?”
“I don’t know. He left hours ago, and he hasn’t come back.”
Riley frowns. “What happened?”
He listens without interrupting or cracking any stupid jokes while I recount the story of the note and Linda leaving and the argument between Bas and Hunter. “I think I made the wrong call. I should have gone after him right away.”
My brother gets to his feet. “Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
“I don’t know where he went, and obviously he hasn’t got his phone. I can’t even call.”
Riley scoffs. “Since when do we let that stop us? We’ll sniff him out.” He starts stripping off his shirt, ready to shift.
“Since I can’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t shift. I only did it that once.”
Riley pauses, looking at me. “Yeah you can. You just convinced yourself you can’t. Come on. What did it last time?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes you do.”
Irritation wells up to replace my tears, and I glare at him. “No I don’t! If I did, I would have done it again, wouldn’t I?”
“Yeah you do. I pissed you off. Didn’t I?”
He shoves me, and I lose my temper, jumping to my feet to shove him back. “Well if that’s all it took, I would have shifted years ago.”
He just laughs. “Come on. I pissed you off and threatened your mate and you shifted. Now I want you to picture Bas out there alone and thinking we don’t care because we just let him leave, and then you focus. Really focus on that inner animal that wants to sink her teeth into me.”
For a moment the air around me shimmers, and I have a fleeting sense of naked paw pads on leafy ground and a long nose sniffing the air. Then it’s gone again.
“So close, Ver. Keep trying.”
I shut my eyes and focus, calling the vision back, inhabiting it the way I felt Bas do when he shifted. A yip of glee breaks the silence, and I blink open my eyes to a completely new room.
I’m still standing in the kitchen, but everything looks different. It’s black and white for one thing, and I’m much lower down. I’m looking up at Riley from the height of his knees, and woven between the beech bar stools and Riley’s legs there are scent trails that spiral out in all directions like vapor trails, the only pop of color in my otherwise gray world. I gasp and it comes out like another yip.
Riley grins. “There you go. Now, do you want me to come too?”
