Page 142 of Forget Me Not

Cal bolted upright, nearly hitting Ray’s chin with the top of his head. The sound he made was close to a squeak.

“A honeymoon seems like something that haswerewritten all over it,” Ray added, watching Cal’s wings open and close and Cal’s eyes narrow in suspicious delight.

“IthoughtI heard you say husband,” Calvin remarked, tone impossible to read. “Does Lis know?”

“You’ll have to tell her,” Ray informed him, dry as he could manage to be, light and warmth inside his chest when Cal laughed and then leaned in to snuggle him closer.

Ray didn’t know what was going to happen, but his pack would be there,Calwould be there, and Ray would be wherever he was.

The rest was for a seer to know, if one cared to look.

Epilogue

THE WOODLANDS on the southern edge of the city were not especially large. It was a miracle they’d been preserved at all, with what Ray now knew of city history. But the old-time naturalist who had bought up the land had also left it in the care of the state as a public park, and with some restrictions, it remained so, at least for now.

Forever, if Ray had his way, although he was not supposed to be taking on any more projects. These woods had been one of the reasons he’d originally come to Los Cerros. The park had one or two trails leading to coastal cliffs or down to cold, rocky beaches, but mostly it was trees and the larger creek that fed Oro, and was just big enough that sometimes humans still got lost in it.

At the entrance, not far from the parking lot, was a picnic area with restrooms and sometimes, ice cream vendors, although it was too early in the spring for that. There was also a gift shop, open only in the summer, mostly to sell overpriced basic supplies to campers who forgot them, although since they were literally a ten-minute drive to the city with more shops available, Ray didn’t really understand the need.

But the woods were too small to allow big camping vehicles. It was tents or sleeping bags-only, and maybe some were unprepared for that. Ray really had no need to understand, when it came to it. He had never actuallycamped, in that sense, with s’mores and campfire coffee and toilet paper, although he had spent nights in the woods before.

He had a clear memory of one of those nights, padding up on all fours to find Cal a freezing, miserable lump inside one sleeping bag and wearing another, and warming Cal up enough to make Cal throw off his makeshift coat and pull Ray into the remaining sleeping bag with him. The memory was a nice one, since Cal’s shivers had not lasted long. Ray held onto it for a moment.

Although afterward, Cal had apologized profusely for ruining Ray’s “full moon wolf time” and since Ray could not remember it being ruined but now understood what Cal had meant, the memory soured a little. He didn’t think Cal had volunteered to come along on any of Ray’s later full moon runs. Ray hadn’t questioned it then, but he had also stopped going, assuming they bothered Cal.

He sighed, made a note of that for a later discussion, then did another visual sweep of the immediate area around the tree he’d sat under when he’d arrived.

It was early in the season and maybe too early in the day for the area to be filled with people, not that Ray minded. He preferred it this way, even if most wouldn’t. But despite the hint of fog still in the distance, somehadventured out to enjoy the day.

A group of hikers were gathered around the restrooms, either getting ready or waiting on someone. Other hikers, the kind who liked to see the beach at first light, trickled out of the woods periodically. Someone who must have been camping, legally or illegally—though that was no longer Ray’s concern, not that it had ever been much of one—wandered out toward the restrooms as well.

At another table, far away from Ray, a bunch of human kids in their twenties who had probably spent the night in the woods doing things to horrify their parents, were huddled over a phone while one of them tried to get another friend to come fix their car. They all seemed in need of coffee and shower, but they all also were smiling and smoking.

The weed smell drifted over once or twice when the wind shifted. Ray wrinkled his nose.

One human, but perhaps with some elf in them, judging from the ears and their height, was by themselves, music playing in their ears while they stretched, readying for a walk along one of the trails. Ray watched them check a map several times even though the trails were clearly marked, then pat their pockets for water and trail mix and a First Aid kit.

Elf heritage, or formerly a scout of some kind. Or both, if the Scouts allowed beings now.

They hadn’t let Ray be in the local scouting group when he’d been younger. Another sour memory. They popped up at odd times, as memories did, but the difference was that now Ray had time to reflect on them. He wasn’t sure he liked it.

He felt like Penn, immobile in an ambulance, snarling at the EMTs who wouldn’t let her move. Just the one EMT, really, the only one willing to stand up to Penn at the height of her worry over Ray. They’d had no right to keep her there, but Penn, in pain and off-balance, hadn’t realized that. Calvin, of course, hadn’t reminded her, letting her sit and stew until her leg was mended enough for her to hobble.

Ray hadn’t asked which of the EMTs had also set Penn’s bones, which was not something they were supposed to do, or so he assumed. But that had probably also been the pixy.

One of these days, Ray intended to bring up that pixy just to see what Penn would say. Being bossed around by a tiny figure while she was at her weakest had probably scarred her for life. Or saved her, a good distraction from the flashing lights down the block.

But Penn had been through a lot in the past months and Ray would hold off on his teasing for a while.

He did check his phone, unsurprised to find messages from her. She was up and about, keeping busy. Neither of them were used to sitting still. Not that Ray thought they would have much time for that for much longer, but rest and the time to think, and feel, were good things, or so Ray was continually told.

He made a mental note of that, too, while scrolling through Penn’s messages. She was working on something, not directly for Rainbow Wings, but Rainbow Wings had recommended Penn and Ray’s services to someone, and since he and Penn needed some income, as well as something else to do for now, they had agreed.

Ray had some files at home he planned to get to today, but that was not for this morning was for.

Their investigations were important, but so was this. Something else Ray had been told.

He didn’t disagree, but it was strange to be in the woods, or close enough to them, and in jeans and a sweatshirt, just… sitting.

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