Page 81 of Shifter's Homecoming

He snatched up his clothes from the porch steps and put them on. Trent threw a bag of food at him that he snatched out of the air and dug into before he got to his chair. They talked as he ate.

Any news from the diversion?

Another Khain sighting. That’s why Graeme isn’t here yet. This one was downtown.

Shit, that’s bad.

It is.

You think he’s going to show up here?

He might.

No sleep tonight.

Probably not. When I was in the other world, I heard you talk to Grey.

Troy looked up at him, chewing and grinning.I heard you, too. Cool.

What happened?

Troy put his feet up on the tiny little table they’d been using for their food. He leaned back and stared up into the sky, and told him the whole story inruhi.Grey, Rex, Soren, and a small team of markedfoxenhad been trying to get to Blake. Troy had found them on the bluff and been unable to stop himself from attacking on his own. He had gone down hard, but the trees had protected him, then there had been an all-out battle with Rex and Soren on the bluff behind Remington’s house, but they had gotten away.

Why didn’t you usethe holdon Rex and Soren?

Troy raised an eyebrow at him.Wait till you try it the first time. It ain’t easy to do. We tried, but we failed. Next time I’ll have it for sure.

Trent believed it. Most of them had never usedthe holdon a realfoxen, they’d only practiced it in the war camps, and doing anything in school was not the same as doing it in real life. The hold was a move that didn’t work on Khain, but theoretically it was supposed to hold a markedfoxenin place. It involved at least two wolves. They had to get their teeth up into the armpit of the foxen and clamp down on the big nerve that ran through it just right, while at the same time getting their claws into each outer groove on the chest of the foxen. Something about the holddisabled thefoxen’sability to do that dimension traveling thing they did, at least while the wolves had their teeth and claws in him.

How did you know about the purple door?Troy asked.

I saw it in the meadow.

You saw Remington’s basement door in the meadow?

Trent shook his head.What are you talking about?

You were in my dream, right? You told me to take the path behind the purple door and I did, and that’s how I found Reed.

Trent shook his head again, mystified.I saw a purple door in a…He thought back, trying to explain what he had been through, and realized that it was hazy to him in the way of dreams, that now that he was back in the real world and had been for a while, his time in the meadow seemed distant and almost… not real, and he could not quite remember what the purple door was.

They heard a car pull in the driveway around the front of the building. Troy put his nose in the air. “Remington,” he said. “He’s alone.”

Trent just grunted, but then his female came running out the back door. She didn’t even look at him. She ran straight down the steps and around the side of the building, where Remington was already walking briskly toward them.

Trent listened in on their conversation, trying to keep his feelings to himself. He wasn’t yet ok with males other than his brother being around his female, and he wasn’t going to be for a while, but he knew he had to keep himself under complete control. This was not the time or circumstance for his wolf nature to get the better of him.

Rowan and Remington were talking earnestly, standing in the dark. Trent could tell when Remington gave Rowan the vaccine. She opened it right away and he could smell the faint medicine scent on the still night air. He imagined her putting her nose to it, maybe even tasting it like she had the other one.

He looked to the sky, seeing constellations pop into view, and he said what might have been the first prayer to Rhen of his life.Keep her safe,he silently recited.Keep her safe and protected, that’s all I ask. That’s all I want. Nothing else, except the chance to wake up next to her each and every morning from now on.

A shooting star blazed across his vision, leaving Trent wondering if that had been some sort of an… answer. He could almost believe it.

Trent continued to watch the sky as Rowan and Remington—still talking a mile a minute, almost finishing each other’s sentences with medical terminology—walked up the steps and to the door. He raised a hand in greeting, his eyes still on the reservoir.

Troy talked with his mouth full for a few words before he remembered himself and swallowed. “Remington, how ya doin’, man, we’ve been waiting for your ass all day.”

“Right as rain, Troy. I see you’re still working on your manners.”

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