Page 19 of Raven's Instinct
Nodding.
That would mean he’d been like this for nearly a year.
“Alright, let’s get your name and some data points. Do you know who did this to you?”
Bulls couldn’t shrug, they didn’t have shoulders that made the same motions as human skeleton, but Ferdinand did his best.
Before she could get the whiteboard up to shame and name, there was apay attentionjolt of instinct and the bull’s head swiveled towards the road.
There was a vehicle pulling off the highway, crunching slowly on the gravel, and it paused just as it came into sight. Its headlights were off and everything about it suggested stealth. Because Kendra hadn’t heard it on the highway, it must have been waiting there for some time.
Kendra felt her face fall into a scowl. “I’ll be right back,” she promised, and then she launched into the air as she folded herself into owl form and spread her wings.
As an owl, she had good night vision, and although she was bright white (useful for snowfields, less helpful in dark shrubbery), she could fly silently. She rose up above the scrubby trees that fringed the gravel pit and could make out a dark SUV just off the road. A semi came barreling down the highway then, its light and noise distractingly keen. Kendra banked and circled the stationary vehicle, just as the driver’s side door opened, and an unexpected figure emerged, his braided dark hair sparkling faintly with glitter.
13
ALAN
Why would Kendra drive to an abandoned gravel pit with a toddler in the middle of the night?
Alan could not make sense of their destination, and he spent some time at the highway pullout doing research on the property with his phone before deciding to follow her further in. His headlights were off, so his eyes had adjusted somewhat to the darkness. There was most of a moon to light his way, and Alan kept his speed low, not wanting to spook Kendra.
When he spotted her van, he stopped, figuring that he’d be less threatening on foot. He didn’t want to be threatening.
What did he want to be? Alan only knew that he needed to be here, that it wasimportant, but instinct was no more helpful than that.
Alan turned to shut the door behind him and nearly jumped out of his skin as a silent white shape ghosted down out of the sky at him, just as instinct recognized the proximity of another shifter.
“Kendra!” he exclaimed.
She shifted and stood up from a crouched landing, fury and suspicion in her eyes. “Are you following me?”
“Yes, obviously.” Alan saw no point in trying to hide the fact. “I don’t often lurk around in dark gravel pits with my lights off.”
“Whyare you following me?” Kendra rephrased her question.
“Would you believe me if I said that instinct said I should come here?” It didn’t exactly cover the fact that he’d hacked Cherry’s computer and found Kendra’s fake home address and then followed her.
“ShouldI believe you?” Kendra countered.
No,Alan wanted to tell her. He was so deeply ensconced in secrets that sometimes Alan himself wasn’t sure of the truth. No one should believe him. He barely believed himself sometimes.
He’d been silent for too long. “I saw you leave the laundromat, and I knew you needed help. Instinct is harder to understand than half the kids at Tiny Paws, but I had to follow you and find out.”
Kendra looked like she was having a conversation in her head.She doesn’t trust us,Alan’s raven said.
Smart woman,Alan retorted.
Clever,his raven agreed admiringly.Clever and canny.
Before Alan could plead his case, he felt the tingle of a second shifter coming into range, and an unexpected pressure at his back. Asharp, unexpected pressure. Every one of Alan’s trained senses overwhelmed the quiet murmur of instinct that he wasn’t in danger, and he turned instantly with a chopping downward blow that slammed into a massive bovine horn.
He barely budged the big head that the horn was attached to, but his momentum danced him out of immediate stabbing range. The bull swung his head after him, snorting, but Alan was faster, darting to the side, out of reach. The animal cornered better than something of that mass ought to be able to, spinning in place while Alan tried to decide whether he should shift and escape upwards, or attempt a full body vault like some kind ofMinoan bull dancer. He had a gun in the car, but he wasn’t actually sure it would take down an animal of this mass.
“If you guys are done?” Kendra didn’t seem alarmed by the size of the animal or his sudden appearance.
“A friend of yours?” Alan guessed. He was surprised by a jolt of jealousy when it occurred to him that this might be Amy’s mysterious father.
