Page 15 of Let's Talk One True Mate

Burton frowned. “Tether to Khain…” he said quietly, his brow set in lines of deep concentration.

“You’ve heard of it, Chief?”

Burton nodded at first but then shook his head.

Timber didn’t press him, but watched him carefully while he spoke. “This guy says certainfoxenare born tethered to Khain and they have to live in the Ula close to where Khainlives in the Pravus. He says the Van Crimsons are tethered and the Whites are too. If they leave Serenity for too long they get headaches and confusion, and can even become incapacitated. He loves to gossip about Abigail White. He says she’s the crazy-ass matriarch—”

You said ass-matriarch.

“—of a largefoxenfamily here in Serenity. Many of them are supposed to live up Morning Bluff—you ever heard of The Morning Wood Inn Chief?”

“Yeah, the place burned down in the 70s.”

“Wade thought it was closed for tax fraud in 1976. Harlan heard it was sold to the federal government and bulldozed. That's part of the smoke and mirrors.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning the Morning Wood Inn is an active business that everyone but us can find.”

“Bullshit,” Burton said, his expression grumpy.

Canyon crossed his arms, his expression identical to Burton’s.So fucked up.

“Sebastian's explored the forest several times and found nothing but trees and shit. We've sent up drones, Graeme, and a helicopter. If it's up there, it's not visible from the air.”

“It's not up there,” Burton said.

Timber fished a brochure out of a file on his desk and handed it to Burton, saying, “A patrol officer took that off a tourist.” The paper showed a log cabins nestled deep in a thick forest. Timber read over Burton’s shoulder. “The Morning Wood Inn—Stay at Illinois' Premier Forest Themed Hotel, Home of theState's Best Sunrises, also known as, ‘The Birthplace of Bigfoot’, located at 1 Morning Forest Drive.”

Canyon was already pulling 1 Morning Forest Drive up on Google maps, and also on the official Serenity road map—both showing there was no such address. Morning Forest Drive had mile markers only, no houses or buildings.

“Conri says maybe a human would get a different result from Google.”

“That’s not possible,” Burton said.

“Shouldn’t be, Chief.”

Canyon shook his head.No, he’s right that it’s not possible.

Timber shrugged. He and Canyon had been round and round about this. “If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck—”

Canyon whipped something small at him. Timber dodged it with ease.

Burton’s expression turned murderous. “She’s hiding a whole freaking hotel right under our noses?”

“She might be,” Timber said, snatching the brochure from Burton’s hand and replacing it with a pack of beef jerky. Burton frowned briefly, then tore open the pack, making Timber grin. “We’re planning to check it out ourselves, maybe as soon as tomorrow.”

He put his hand up for the football.

5-Mac and Rogue♦♦

Canyon threw the ball, Timber caught it and threw it back, then said. “Everyone came back from Cali just beforeChristmas. Next to find his mate was Mac, but not until spring. He met her at a rut.”

Burton, choked on his soda. “Holy shit,” he said.

“Well, no, let me back up. She wasn’t there for ‘rut stuff’.” Timber made air quotes, laughing to himself about ‘rut stuff’, because it rhymed with ‘butt stuff’. “Mac only found her there because Bruin predicted she’d be there.”

Burton’s lip curled. “Bruin the fire chief.”

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