Page 110 of Culture and Curiosities
“Thank you.” Studying the guests from Earth, he seemed less frustrated as the language started integrating into his mind. “First, I must ask if you are tracking the individuals who escaped through the portal? When you sent back the message of your arrival, we were expecting them to come with you.”
Individuals?
“Escaped?”
“Fuck.” Agent Murphy’s single-word response got a nod from the professor. “It’s a versatile word. Don’t let Toman tell you otherwise.”
He and I needed to have a discussion on appropriate behaviors around so many submissives. That would have to come after we handled our current issue, though.
“Yes, my mate. He said escaped.”
“The cult people?”
Wren’s question had me wanting to say yes, but I stopped myself quickly.
“That seems to be the most likely but I don’t know.”
“How many people went through the portal?” How would’ve also been a good question. “I was under the impression the portal was being guarded at all times? We didn’t have the ability to do that on the other side.”
For a variety of reasons.
Professor Zorin seemed to want to react outwardly but worked to keep his expressions under control as he spoke English. “It was in the first days of your arrival. There was a distraction when Lehan came back through the portal to deliver your message and an unknown number of the…the prayer group…that does not seem to be the right word. The group went through the portal to find the ancients.”
Really?
“Who?”
“Who?”
Wren’s response filled my mind but the word was echoed by nearly everyone from Earth at the same time.
“The builders of the portals.” This was not good. “They have the belief that the ancients punished us by closing the gate when our children were lost. To them, that meant the ancients who built the portals were either here on this side or on the other side. Since we have never seen anyone else unknown on our planet, they assumed the ancients were on the other side.”
It was both logical and illogical.
“How did we not notice cult members running around town?” Wren’s question was reasonable but Agent Murphy snorted.
“Do you honestly think they’d have stood out with everything else going on in that town?” His glare seemed to be a dare to have anyone disagree with him. “Last month some of them tried to kidnap a traveling circus.”
They had?
“That was a rescue and you know it.” Somehow it was Shiloh who felt the need to defend what had probably been chaos pushed by the diner men. “They were being helpful.”
“How did we miss that story? Who did they kidnap?”
Had they thought it was too boring to mention?
“I don’t know.”
I didn’t know a lot of things at the moment.
Ignoring his desire to appear boring, Wren responded to my stress by standing and walking over to curl up in my lap. We both ignored the looks from my people and the smiles from his as he rested his head on my shoulder.
“You know a lot of things, Daddy.”
His adorable and manipulatively sweet tone had me smiling through our bond as I kissed his cheek.
“Hmm…I do?”
