Page 51 of Shifter's Homecoming

That got Trent’s attention. He whipped his head around for a second. “What do you know about it?”

Troy grinned wider. “You first. Where in the hell have you been? Not here, right? Not with your wolf, right?”

Trent shook his head slowly, eyes on the road as he pulled onto it, ready to put the pedal to the floor as soon as he was certain he had this driving thing down.

“I knew it!” Troy said. Reed kept quiet, only watching them both with big eyes. “You better have a little talk with your wolf, he might have some explaining to do.”

Trent twisted around again. “What do you mean?”

Troy only grinned at him. He shrugged. “I don’t know, man. You might be an uncle soon, though, or a weird kind of step-daddy or something.”

Trent shook his head, trying to get Smokey inruhi. Smokey, what in the hell? What exactly was my wolf’s mission?

No answer from the cat. At least the fuzzy fuck was consistent.

Trent felt around inside himself, not knowing if he could actually talk to his wolf in words. He could feel his wolf inside him, part of him, ready and willing to come forth or lend strength and skill whenever needed, and he knew if he wanted to shift right that moment, he could, but talking to his wolf felt too much like just talking to himself. One thing was certain, he had none of his wolf’s memories of what he had been up to while Trent had been gone.

“Did you go to another world like Crew?” Troy asked.

“I did.”

“And you were just a human there?”

Trent considered the question for a moment. “Kind of.” He thought for longer, not sure how to describe any of what he had been through. “Kind of,” he repeated. He met his brother’s eyes in the rearview but only for a second because he was turning onto the main road. The driving felt good, it felt effortless. He picked up speed. “You were there,” he said to Troy.

Troy nodded. “Just like the Wizard of Oz. Was I awesome?”

Trent nodded. “You were pretty awesome. You saved my life.”

Troy grinned. “Of course I did. I’ve been saving your ass forever.”

Trent only nodded again. It really was good to be home. Him and Troy, together again, as men, with mates. Their lives would never be the same, and he didn’t mind that one bit.

Troy leaned forward and tapped him on the back of the head. “You’re looking a little scraggly, you know. You sure we don’t have time to stop and get you cleaned up?”

He touched Reed on the wrist. “Babe, can you open the glove box? I’ve got something in there Trent needs.”

She did, and pulled out a paper bag that had a shaving kit inside. Troy took it from her and hit Trent on the shoulder with it. “Seriously, bro, you’re going to scare your mate if you show up looking like sasquatch.”

Trent nodded. “Bring it. I’ll shave when we get there. I’ll cut all this hair off, too.”

“What’s your mate’s name?” Reed asked, almost shyly.

“Rowan,” Trent told her.

“Oh.” Her face fell like she had hoped he was going to say something else. “Not Sage, then.”

Troy leaned forward and spoke to her intently. “I meant to tell you, Trevor says Sage is missing.”

“No,” Reed breathed, looking green again.

“Yeah, she hasn’t been to work in a few days and the address they have for her is bogus. No one can find her.”

Reed whipped out her phone, her face concerned. “She’s not answering my texts either, but I’ve been so busy…” She typed something up, then touched Troy on the wrist. “What if… what if…”

Troy cut off the question. “Don’t worry, Trevor will find her, and then we will just have to figure out whose mate she is.”

“Did he talk to Conri? He brought her flowers once.”

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