Page 20 of Gone Hunting

Chapter Six

Celia wouldn’t let me carry her, insisting she could manage. She slapped Liam’s hands and growled when he tried to throw her over his shoulder. It was good for a laugh, and something we all needed given the day.

It’s just about twilight when we reach the back of my property. We would have arrived faster, but Celia struggled to keep up in the sneakers Liam lent her. We shoved some moss inside and tied them tight, but her feet, like everything else, are tiny.

“Do you want us to walk you to the door?” Gemini asks. His twin should have returned to join his human counterpart, but like Gemini, he seems taken by Celia and doesn’t appear to want to leave her. He sits beside her as I reach for the gate.

“We’ll be okay,” I say. “The wards should keep anything that threatens us out.”

Koda cocks a thick brow. “Even a skinwalker?”

“Yeah,” I say, although I’m no longer positive. The skinwalkers are the boogeymen of the supernatural realm, the ones who hide beneath your bed and stalk the woods after they kill you in your sleep.

I open the gate wide, giving Celia ample space. My friends wait until we step through, their shoulders sagging with relief when the wards don’t disintegrate Celia into ash. I suppose it was the final test to prove she means me no harm. I wasn’t worried. I’ve known that from the start.

Koda adjusts the elk he bagged against his shoulder. Gemini does, too. We nod our goodbyes before I click the gate shut and they turn away. Once we’re in, Gemini’s twin wolf leaps into Gem’s bare back, dissolving like ink into a vat of clear water.

“Wow,” Celia says.

“Yeah. Wow,” I mutter.

I start toward the house, hoping she’ll follow. “Does his twin ever turn human?”

I shake my head. “No. Gemini can become a wolf and divide in two like you just saw. But his twin is just another part of him. The theory is that his mother was carrying two babies, but only one survived and hung on to what remained of his twin’s soul.”

Celia smiles. “That’samazing.”

It is. I’ve just known Gemini so long that I’ve accepted his ability as a part of him.

We start up the trail, wishing I could find the right words to say. I barely know anything about Celia, but what I do know makes me want to get to know her better. I only hope she wants to get to know me, too.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“Nothing.”

She nudges me with her elbow, the force hard enough to make me stumble. “What was that for?” I ask, laughing.

“Nothing,” she says, smirking. “I’m sorry. Wasn’t that what you just said to me?”

I chuckle. She can probably guess my mind is on other things. What she probably doesn’t know is that those other things are her.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks.

“Yup. Just fine.”

The large property darkens as we make our way toward the house and the breeze picks up, sprinkling pine needles from the overhanging branches onto our heads. Celia crosses her arms when the wind increases in speed and strips a few pine cones free of their posts. They thud against the ground like the small steps of a fawn the first time it runs. I’ve always enjoyed those gentle sounds. I suppose it’s because they remind me of home.

“Are you cold?” I ask when Celia holds herself tighter.

“No. My tigress tends to keep me warm.” She laughs a little. “Except last night was cold, and I can’t maintain my form while I sleep.”

“No?” I ask.

“Can you?”

“Always,” I admit. “We camp out a lot. Sometimes, we don’t even bring packs. It’s just us, sleeping under the stars.”

“That sounds nice.”

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