Page 14 of Promise & Artem

“You and Isolde are saying the same thing to me.”

“Well, she’s an optimist like your mother. I’m a realist, but I also am hopeful you’ll find her soon.”

“Me too, Dad.”

Artem picked up the manual for the four wheelers and flipped through it while his dad worked on getting the vehicles into the computer system to track any repairs needed.

The words on the page in front of him blurred and his minotaur let out a curious bellow in his mind.

He had the sudden urge to leave the workshop.

Putting the manual down, he walked toward the open door.

“Kid?”

“I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Oh okay, well, be careful.”

Artem stepped outside and raised his head, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply. As he sorted through the scents in the air, he wasn’t sure he picked up anything out of the ordinary, but he had the strangest urge to go somewhere. Find someone.

His truemate?

He let out a low growl as he stalked away from the workshop. He wasn’t sure where he was going, but he was going to let his minotaur lead.

And the way he was leading was toward the cabins on the far side of the campground.

Lead the way.

Promise hadn’t slept well after waking from the weird dream, so after tossing and turning for hours, she’d woken up before dawn, made a cup of coffee, and sat on the back porch of the cabin to watch the sunrise through the trees. Even without getting to see the full effects of the sunrise, she still loved seeing the light break through the darkness, filtering between the tree trunks and leaves to shower her with golden light.

Once she knew her sister was awake, she video called her and propped the phone up on the dresser while she unpacked.

“Ugh it’s early,” Rio said.

“But you’re an early bird.”

“Maybe I stayed up late partying with the trailer park peeps.”

Promise straightened from where she’d bent to put a pair of shorts into a drawer and stared at her sister. “Did you?”

“Ha! You know me better than that. I was in bed by eleven. But I did hang out with everyone for a while. It was fun, but once my social battery was depleted, I bailed.”

“You and your social battery,” Promise chuckled.

“It’s a thing.”

“Yeah, I feel you. I spent yesterday with two females—one is a snowy owl and one is a hyena—and we had lunch together and then dinner, and then they wanted to hang out around a bonfire.I was so ready to not talk to a soul by the time I made it to my cabin for the night.”

“I’ve never met an owl shifter.”

“Me either. Get this: her dad is a minotaur.”

“Like the goat guy?” Rio’s face scrunched up as she spoke.

---