Page 22 of Shifter's Homecoming

I’m almost certain there’s a dimensional crack near the reservoir, and although Wade doesn’t seem to know that, he knows something is going on out there, and he won’t discuss it with me.

Trent had not liked the sound of that. Dimensional cracks were one way that Khain entered the Ula, Trent’s world. Immediately after the conversation, Trent had been called away on duty, and they hadn’t talked about it again. Now Trent wished he’d grilled Graeme. He wished he’d gone out and seen the place himself. He wished he’d asked Trevor if he knew anything about it.

They took a left and then an immediate left into a driveway, the first house on the left. Trent’s ears perked up, almost like he was in wolf form, and he sat up straighter in the seat again, unable to hide his interest from his brother. There was secret shit going down at this place in Serenity, and here he was in Tranquility, being delivered to its door. A feeling hit him, and it made him wish for his wolf and wish for a fully functioning body. He was about to need all his wits and all his strength for what was coming up.This wasn’t an accident.

His mind went into detective mode, noting similarities and differences. In Serenity, this building was two stories high. Here it was one. In Serenity, there was an aging sign in front proclaiming it theHarlem Reservoir Pumping Station. Here, there was no sign at all. In Serenity, the old Harlem Reservoir was directly behind the building, here there was no reservoir, only a fenced-in, rectangular pool of water the size of a large swimming pool.

Other than that, the building looked almost the same. It was the size and shape of a medium-sized house, but it was up on stilts like the area flooded often. It had a wraparound porch and wide windows.

Their driver left the car idling in park and stared straight ahead, not blinking. Troy turned around in his seat again and stared at Trent like he expected Trent to say something. Trent stared back at him.

Troy’s expression turned doubtful. He got out of the car, opened Trent’s car door and hauled him out of the seat, carefully maneuvering around his torn-up thigh.

“You want a wheelchair?” Troy grunted, hauling Trent toward the building. “She might have one somewhere, or she might at least have a pet carrier or a wheelbarrow.”

“I got it,” Trent said, trying to keep his injured and painful leg moving. Sitting all day had turned it into stone.

They got up on the porch, and Trent caught a female scent that reminded him of the outdoors, a scent that seemed so strong, soimportant, that it cut right through his inability to scent well without his wolf. He scented lilacs and phlox—meadow flowers—plus raging river and turbulent emotions.

Trent was not prepared for what happened next.

MINE,shot through his head.

Mine, meant one thing, and one thing only, in the world of the wolves. It meant he HAD… A… MATE— and she was close by.He could scent her.

Mine, meanthe, Trent Burbank, non-shifting shifter who still had not quite accepted the fact that he was a man and not a wolf, he HAD… A… MATE—

And she was… close by.

Trent’s brain went on the blink. His synapses just… stopped working. Nothing was firing. His heart might have stopped, he didn’t know. He wasn’t breathing, he knew that. He didn’t need oxygen anymore, because … he had amate, he had a mate… and his mate, she scented as good as the most delectable food he’d ever eaten, or the sweetest flower in existence.

Trent drooped as a dead weight in his brother’s encircling arm. Troy snapped a finger in front of his face, still hauling him toward the door.

“You need your head between your knees, fuckhead? What in the hell is the matter with you? I swear, once this shit is over, your nugget-eating ass needs to go on a diet.”

Trent couldn’t speak.

“Just hang in there till I get you inside,” Troy grunted, practically carrying him up the steps of the porch, across the expanse of it, and to the front door. He pushed the door open and in they went.

Trent took a deep breath in through his nose. The sweet wildflower scent intensified. He pulled in great breaths, feeling himself slowly being intoxicated by her scent.

Troy plopped him into a chair inside. Trent couldn’t look around, he couldn’t catch his breath, he couldn’t find his bearings, he could just hang his head toward the floor and breathe, breathe, breathe in the sweet scent ofhis mate,trying to keep his wits about him, trying to still be aware of the world around him. They were in one large room that smelled slightly of medicine and chemicals but more ofhis mate. Soft mechanical sounds came from all around, but the scent and nearness ofhis matetrumped everything else for him. He could only get the barest sense of the room itself.

Troy propped Trent in the chair, butt in seat, elbows on knees. Troy gave him an appraising look, then left him. Trent let his head hang, still trying to get a handle on the fact that he, Trent, got a mate. Amate.

“We’re here,” Troy called to someone, winding his way across the room, away from Trent. Trent raised his head to look. Across the large room, past a ton of strange equipment, was one corner office, seemingly walled-off as an afterthought, with black drapes covering the large windows that should have let Trent see inside.

A hand extended out the one door—a lovely, graceful, feminine hand held something out for Troy. Troy took it, and when he did, his fingers grazed the lovely feminine fingers. Before Trent knew what was happening, he was halfway across the room, dragging his dud leg behind him.

Then he was all the way across, and he grabbed his brother by the throat and growled, trying to take him down.

Troy looked surprised for a split second, and then he gripped Trent under the armpit and flipped him effortlessly onto his back, blocking his fall on the way to the floor.

Wham.Trent still hit hard enough to rattle his teeth. He stared up at the ceiling, his pride wounded, his leg throbbing.

Troy leaned in close to him and hissed in his ear. “What in the actual fuck is wrong with you, dumbass? Yeah I know she’s your mate, you fucking tool. Did you forget that you fucked that up? Did you forget that she hasn’t spoken to you in months? That if she fucking hears you making that noise she’s going to throw you out on your ass! If she thinks you’re faking not being able to shift in order to get her to forgive you, you’reoutand then our only option will be theaugur.”

Troy threw a glance at the open door, then back to Trent, his expression suddenly suspicious, his voice still low. “Youaren’tfaking, are you?”

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