Page 24 of Let's Talk One True Mate

“They got in smoothly, then a disembodied voice told Eventine something would be done, and then they were booted out of the meadow. So later, at the moment Jaggar claimed Leilani, the beast split into a wolf and a catamount, leaving Jaggar with the wolf, and somehow the catamount went to the meadow, healing Leilani’s blindness at the same time.”

Burton gave a weak nod. “That’s interesting,” he said. “Very interesting.”

Timber caught his eye and held it. “Eventine says last time, before her and Leilani went back in time, the males coddled their mates, trying to keep them out of the fight, and that’s why Khain was able to beat us.”

Understanding dawned on Burton’s face. “Eventine’s not going to let that happen again.”

“Nope. She says even the young will fight.”

9-Troy and Reed♦♦

Burton opened his mouth to say something, closed it, shook his head, and fell silent, his gaze wandering over the surrounding trees. Timber took a minute to think while Canyon pitched pinecones steadily into the hole.

“So, we had a few weeks of downtime and everyone got to know each other. They had a lot of get-togethers out at VF, but we only went when they were discussing strategy.”

Someone had to keep SPD running,Canyon said, his arms crossed, leaning against a tree.

Timber nodded. “That was us. We should get a reward or something.”

“Good job doing your job,” Burton said gruffly. “I’ll get you a gold star the next time I’m at my desk.”

Timber laughed. “Thanks, Chief—Troy was hanging out with the young a lot, learning how to crawl and walk from them.”

Canyon snorted.His toddler phase.

“To his credit, he learned quickly and moved on to his teenage phase pretty damn quick. Last week, he met Reed at Mugshots, took her to a motel, and claimed her without even knowing her name or explaining the biting.”

Canyon laughed, shaking his head.Classic Troy.

“Reed took off—just ran from him—a lot like Rogue ran from Mac.”

Reed didn’t slice Troy up, though.

“Nope, just slapped him around with a couple of trees,” Timber said. “She can talk to the trees, Chief. They do her bidding.”

“Now that’s a cool power,” Burton said.

Canyon nodded.Hell yeah, there’s trees everywhere.

“And they’re strong,” Burton added.

And get this.Canyon gestured to the north.The trees in Wisconsin can talk to the trees here, and they told Reed how to find Trent. They showed her exactly what path to walk in on to find him.

Burton’s face lit up. “That’s amazing. That’s so useful. Can she set the trees on watch for her? Like guards or surveillance?”

Timber nodded. “Seems like it, although we don’t know to what extent yet. We do know she grew a super badass mutant tree cage around herself when she was a kid because Grey was chasing her through the forest—”

“Grey!” Burton exclaimed with a growl. “That lowlife sure was busy.”

“He was trying to get his hands on her pendant, but instead she caged herself and the pendant and Grey had to give up when her mom called 911 because she was missing. She left the pendant in the tree cage and it was there for 20 years until Troy found it.”

“Crazy,” Burton said.

Timber nodded, feeling like he was missing something.

Earthquakes,Canyon said.

Timber snapped his fingers. “Did you feel the earthquakes last week, Chief?”

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