Page 12 of Lion Conquers All
Oscar frowned.
“He’s probably with Gretchen. If I had to guess.”
“Gretchen who? His parents didn’t mention he had a girlfriend.”
Oscar rubbed the scruff on his neck and chin. “Yeah….they probably don’t know he and Gretchen are a thing again. They were a year or so back before Gretchen’s mom passed. Gretchen had a rough go of it for a while, dumped Sam on his ass. Wouldn’t talk to him.”
“They got back together at the beginning of summer,” Darren said, joining the conversation. “They spend a lot of time together poking around her mom’s old observation blinds and hiking in Denali.
“So all of you know this, but neither of their parents do?”
“I doubt it. She never tells her dad anything specific. And they never go to each other’s homes like they used to. I think they’re trying to keep it a secret.” Oscar shoved his hands into his shorts pockets. “They weren’t doing anything dangerous.”
“It’s okay. It wouldn’t be a problem, except—”
“Except Sam is being a douche not telling his parents where he went,” Darren said, spitting out the words like they tasted bad.
Aarav nodded. “Yes, it appears that way, unless they are hurt and can’t answer the phone. Or something happened to both their phones. Do you have Gretchen’s number?”
Darren went back to his phone, clicked again, and then held it to his ear. “Hers is the same. Dead or she’s got it off.”
“Thank you, boys.”
“Hey?” Oscar stepped forward. “You’ll let us know if you find him? Or should we head back home?”
“I’ll be sure to let you know, guys. Thank you. And if you hear from either of them or see them, you do the same.”
They all verbally agreed and Aarav turned back to the trail that would take him to his squad car. Darren and Oscar were at his side a moment later.
“Boys?”
“Hey, you shouldn’t walk the trail alone. What if a bear got you? Nobody would know. The town should really have another deputy so you have a partner.”
Aarav smiled, touched that the boys would want to look out for him. They had no idea the wildlife kept a nice long distance because he himself smelled like a predator. Even natural grizzly bears would turn and run the other direction after getting a good whiff.
Still, he didn’t have a good argument to send the boys back to their camp so he could run back alone.
“Can you keep up?”
Oscar gave a grin that said he wasn’t phased at all by the challenge. “Old man, you’ll have to keep up with us.”
“Old man.” Aarav huffed out a half-way offended laugh. Then launched into a ground eating jog that had the boys working hard to keep up. He was impressed though. He held back some, but they were in good shape for humans.
“Dude, you must run every day.” Oscar panted out between breaths. They’d paused at the top of a ridge to admire the view and catch a breather.
“No, not really.” Aarav only got a turn to shift and hunt about once a week on the Tribe’s land.
Darren mopped his face with his shirt. “You’re in full gear and hiking boots, running like this is flat ground. Were you like a SEAL or some other special forces?”
“Something like that, yes,” Aarav answered. Col’s mate, Naomi, had taught him the names of all the human special forces and told him to agree if someone suggested it or asked, but never to elaborate or actually claim membership.
It had worked every time.
“Hey, hold up.” Darren smacked his shoulder and pointed up the trail.
Aarav followed the direction of the boy’s hand and froze, grabbing Oscar’s arm. “Hold still.”
Both boys were silent.
