Page 8 of A Brighter Yellow
His eyes narrowed. “It doesn’t work that way, but sarcasmisone of the things I can get from body language.”
She was pissing him off. She could smell that too. He had shown up to save her damn life, he was being remarkably open for a supernatural, and he was very obviously a nice person. Only she wasn’t a nice person. She was a bitter, angry wolf who didn’t like nice people and only knew how to growl and snap.
She had turned into her father.
“Yeah, all you Lucas’s have some sort of witchery to you,” said Baird. “Try not to talk to any pigs you meet around here. I’ll be eating them later.”
“To be honest, if I meet them, I’ll probably help them try to escape,” said Ochre, and Anna stared at him in disbelief. “I have a very low tolerance for things being held against their will.”
“Oh, they ain’t held anywhere,” said Baird. “They’re wild. Smart bastards, too, with big tusks. Last summer, one of them got me in the ribs and threw me straight into a tree. A tree branch went right through my lung, and I was stuck there like a damn hood ornament on a car. Could have bled out if Lucky hadn’t come along.”
“Oh,” said Ochre, seeming to turn that over. “Well, in that case, good luck to both of you.”
“Thanks,” said Baird and went back to eating.
Anna transferred her disbelief to her father. She couldn’t believe that he hadn’t gotten up and chucked Ochre out the door. She’d seen him do it to other people for holding opinions that disagreed with his. A vegetarian threatening to help pigs escape ought to have been through the window. Maybe Ochre wassoinsane that he qualified for the special persons discount? Or perhaps it was just that Ochre didn’t seem scared to voice his opinions? Or maybe it was because he was Fae? Anna wasn’t sure what was happening to her life. In fact, she hadn’t really been sure about anything since she’d heard that Liam Grayson was mated. Anna looked at Ochre again, and he smiled at her. She found herself smiling back, and that felt strange.
Episode 5
Family discussions
Ochre
Ochre stared at his phone and tried to decide if he should call his sister. In the last few years, his contact with his sisters had dwindled. He’d previously kept text threads open for months at a time. Now his phone showed that it had been two months since he’d talked to Scarlet. Azure was nearly the same and had only called him because she’d had a vision. He tried not to feel abandoned. They were both busy. But their current boyfriend situations made him feel even more of a third wheel than he had previously. He sighed and texted Azure. He had questions. There wasn’t any sense in not asking them.
Did Liam and Anna date before Scarlet?
Ochre tossed the phone onto the bunk and scrubbed a hand through his hair, which was getting ridiculously long. Garett had said that, seeing as it was Sunday, none of the ranch hands would be back until the next day, so Ochre would probably have the bunkhouse to himself for the night. That was nice. He needed a shower and a place to think. Anna was distracting as hell, and it was hard to think when she was bouncing around his brain like a damn bundle of sunlight.
Well, for starters: Yay you’re alive. Way to make me sweat and then come back with some rando relationship question.
Ochre knew it wasn’t very zen, but no one was there to see, so he rolled his eyes.
Wouldn’t you know if I’d died? And Scarlet hasn’t said anything?
I would probably know, but I’d really prefer not to test that theory. It seems like you could shoot off a “We survived!” text without breaking your thumbs. And not that I know of on the relationship front. You could try just asking either Scarlet or Anna.
Seems awkward.
He went back to his bag.
Did you find out what she’s doing? I’m getting extra heavy vibes over here. I really need you to figure it out.
Ochre sighed and looked at his phone in irritation. He loved his sister, but her second sight was not an easy taskmaster. He supposed it was even harder on her, but mostly it felt like his sister was shouting vague instructions at him while he wandered around blindfolded, bumping into things.
Got the message the first 800 times. I’m working on it.
She didn’t respond immediately, so he began unpacking his bag. His bow needed to be put away properly, and he needed to assess where he was on supplies.
There was a beep from his phone indicating that Azure had replied. He ignored the message and concentrated on setting up his bunk.
Ever since graduating from college, Ochre had ricocheted around North America inspecting pollution clean-up sites for a government oversight body. He did land resource management consulting on the side and authored a paper based on his research every once in a while. All it really seemed to add up to was that he didn’t have any permanent home other than his grandmother’s house, and he knew how to set up a tent in a rainstorm in under five minutes. He honestly wasn’t sure that anything he did was making a difference. Azure and Scarlet seemed determined to change the world, and he felt like he was spinning his wheels. But then, he always felt like that. In his family, Scarlet and Azure were in a permanent state of up to something. Usually, something incredible. Whereas he wasn’t sure there was anybody who would miss him if he dropped off the face of the planet.
Ochre pulled off his shirt and unbuckled his belt. He really was on the ripe side. He wondered why none of the Shifters had seemed bothered. He definitely had the day five funk. He finally checked his phone to see what Azure had to say.
I love you. Thank you for being patient with me. Please be careful.
Ochre stared at the message in consternation. Azure had taken care of the family after their parents had split, which made her motherly and bossy in turns, but vulnerability from Azure was something new. He blamed it on Rafe. Ochre wasn’t sure how the explosive, hot-tempered wolf had turned his sister into someone who admitted to being fallible, but it was the only explanation Ochre could come up with. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it, but it was disconcerting. He also didn’t know how to respond.
