Page 66 of Fated to the Lone Shifter
“I saw him at the coffee shop with Marsha, one of Bode’s girls.”
“And? Bode does love the ladies,” I ask, stating the obvious.
“That’s what I thought. But this seemed tense, like he wasn’t happy with the news. And, you have to admit he’s been acting strangely.”
“So what did you see?”
“Nothing.” She motions toward the camera.
I stare into her eyes. My alpha raising as I inch closer.
“Nothing. I followed him after they left,” she adds. "She went her way. He drove over to the motel, snuck up on the camera and broke it. And then he returned to the firehouse. Suspicious, yes. But that’s all there is.”
I don’t know what I expected to learn, but the pieces aren’t adding up.
I know Marcus. I know he wouldn’t set a fire on purpose.
There must be more to the story.
Sera waits for my response. “Will you turn the camera in as evidence?”
“How can I? You’re on it.”
With that, I turn and leave. Sera sits in silence, a statue of emotions impossible to read.
I, on the other hand, feel like my heart is going to burst out of my skin. Sera. And now Marcus. Are they working together? Are they involved in the arsons?
The only one left I feel I can trust is Tori. Thank God for the Fae.
The next morning I wake to voices.
Frantic, clipped voices echoing down the hall from the bunkroom.
The house is in chaos. Phones are ringing. Radios are hissing. I spot Marcus talking rapidly to the Captain.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
Captain Greene looks up, face grave. “Tori’s missing.”
“What do you mean ‘missing’?”
“She left the station late last night,” Marcus says. “Didn’t check in. Her room’s untouched. No one’s heard from her.”
I spin around and rush to Sera.
By the time I arrive back at the women’s dorm, the girls are dressed and frantically running the halls. Sera is in her room already sitting up, eyes wide.
“I can’t feel her,” she says, voice cracking. “I tried to reach out—telepathically—but all I see is darkness.”
Her lips tremble.
“She’s gone, Noah.”
I go to her. Her head nestles into my chest. We fit together like we are meant to. The softer, more vulnerable Sera letting go of her secrets for a moment to open to my wolf.
I stroke her hair.
It reminds me when I did the same for the young, sweet Tori when we first met. I pushed her hair back from that sweet impish face, the tears, the fear, the first time I grabbed her and lifted her out of the fire. It was the first time I let someone see me in my non-human form. When I set her down near the approaching firetruck, she realized I was saving her, not eating her. Somewhere under the fear, I could sense her acceptance, and a bond was formed.
