Page 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Colbie

“W hy don’t you make sure the boys haven’t broken the coffee machine? I’m assuming you won’t be staying?” Granny asks, and I shake my head.

“No, we’re just waiting to speak to Brock, and then we’ll head out,” I explain, and Granny frowns.

“Oh dear. The bookstore has been closed for the last three days. We haven’t seen Brock or Niles since they burst in here screaming about being kicked out of the shifter zone for helping your mother.”

“Haven’t seen your mother either,” Grampy says, exchanging a worried look with Granny. “We expected her to come and rant about being prevented from seeing you, but we haven’t heard anything. We were going to call and tell you today if she didn’t appear. You know Malina, she’s likely sulking with some man, having her ego stroked.”

They aren’t wrong about my mother, but I’m surprised about Brock and Niles. Apart from the day of the parade, the store never closes. They are normally open seven days a week.

“That’s strange, but we’ll wait until after normal opening time, and if they don’t open, then I guess we’ll try to figure out where they ended up. I know they were banned from the shifter zone, but I think they have a place here as well. Maybe I’ll ask one of the guys if they know.”

I head out into the cafe and find my guys with Olivia and Justin. I hear them grilling my mates for information, but the guys are doing a good job of being vague. They all have coffees in front of them, and the coffee machine still seems to be in working order, so that’s a relief.

“Colbie!” Olivia jumps to her feet and starts to move toward me, but she stops and frowns. “Am I supposed to curtsy or something now?” she asks, looking from me to the guys and back again.

“No, don’t be silly,” I say, waving her to me for a hug.

“Not yet anyway,” Gryffin mutters quietly so Olivia and Justin don’t hear. I guess he’s right. If they decide to become shifters once this is all over, then they may end up having to curtsy to me after all, but that’s a future Colbie problem.

“How are things going?” I ask, looking between them when I pull away from Olivia.

“Great. Your grandparents have been amazing. Olivia and I are learning so much from them,” Justin says enthusiastically, and I blink in surprise. He hasn’t ever been particularly excited about working at the bakery. I always thought he was only killing time until he moved on to the next thing, but it seems I was wrong. Maybe he just needed a challenge. This is good. Maybe I won’t have to look for a baker, and they can take over those duties, and we can hire two new servers.

“Joe even taught me how to pipe some of the animals.” Olivia grins, and I feel a small amount of sadness, but mostly relief that my life’s work is going to be in the hands of someone who loves it as much as I do.

“That’s awesome. Learn as much as you can, and the two of you can take over in the back when they decide they’ve had enough, and we will hire two new servers,” I say, and they both kind of puff up with pride and assure me they will.

I turn my attention to the windows and notice it’s still overcast and drizzling. “I’m going to duck out the back and see if Brock and Niles are next door, then we can get going,” I tell my guys.

“I’ll come with you.” Gryffin drains the rest of his coffee and stands up. I wait for the others to insist on coming, but none of them move. Maybe they already discussed it. If too many of them accompany me, they might overwhelm the two male shifters. Gryffin is a good choice because of who his dad is. Even if they don’t view me as the queen, but as the girl who worked next door, they will recognize his authority as prince of the shifters.

“Drink up, boys. We need to open in ten minutes,” Justin warns the others as Gryffin and I make our way through the kitchen.

“I’ll come back and say goodbye before we leave,” I tell my grandparents as they exchange a worried glance.

Out in the alley, Gryffin follows me as I walk to their back door. It’s closed, but that’s not unusual given the weather. I knock and then rub my hands together to warm them, the cold quickly seeping into my skin.

“I can’t believe how cold it is compared to yesterday,” I murmur as we wait. Gryffin grabs my hands and rubs some warmth into them. I instinctively move closer, seeking the heat his body is putting off. My beast twirls with excitement at his proximity, and when I look up at him, he’s smirking at me.

“You okay?” he asks, knowing full well the effect he has on my body. “Is the mating call giving you a hard time?”

I arch an eyebrow and look down at the bulge in his tight pants, and my lips lift in a smirk.

“Not as hard a time as it’s giving you.”

He shrugs unapologetically, but I turn my attention back to the door. It’s taking too long for them to answer.

“Come on, we’ll go around to the front. They might be inside the store and not hear us banging on the door.” I reluctantly pull my hands from his and lead the way to the storefront, but when we get there, the closed sign is still on the door and the lights are off.

“Doesn’t look like anyone is around,” Gryffin says, peering through the window. “There aren’t even any lights or movement farther back.”

“That’s really weird, and if what Granny said is true, then this is the fourth day in a row that they haven’t opened.”

He turns back around, and he’s frowning. “Do we think that Niles and Brock were in on it with his family?”

I shake my head. “I doubt it. They shunned him when he mated with Niles, and then Tideman got him banned for giving him permission to bring my mother into the shifter zone. Also, Tideman only stole the book two nights ago.”

“Well, maybe they are just licking their wounds from being banished by my father.”

I sigh and pull my phone out of my pocket. “I’ll call my mother and ask her if she knows what happened when they were left at the border and if she knows where they went.”

Before Gryffin can stop me, because I can see he wants to, I press the screen and put my phone to my ear. It rings a couple of times and then cuts off. I look at the phone in surprise before trying again. This time it goes straight to messages.

I roll my eyes and shove my phone into my pocket.

“I think she declined my call and then turned her phone off. That’s weird. Then again, she’s probably pissed at me. I bet she blames me for the consequences of her own actions. It wouldn’t surprise me if she found someone to lick her wounds for her—metaphorically and physically.”

Gryffin grimaces.

“Come on, let’s go. There’s no point in wasting our time. I wouldn’t even know where to start looking for Brock and Niles, since I don’t know where they live.”

“The watch teams should have changed over now, and it should be easy enough for us to get back to our apartment, then we can sneak you in so no one asks any questions. Bryson was going to make sure that all on duty teams were out patrolling in areas that aren’t close by.”

When we return to the bakery, I give my grandparents hugs and promise to keep in touch. Granny packs us a bag of things to eat for breakfast, and with a goodbye to Olivia and Justin, we walk from the bakery to watch headquarters. Thanks to the rain, we only come across a couple of people who don’t pay attention to us because they are too busy trying to get out of the weather.

We make our way through headquarters without being accosted, and then we eat breakfast in the guys’ living area. We talk about the mission and all the possible scenarios, but eventually, we decide to go to sleep since we will be getting up at midnight to travel into the human zone.

I share Liam’s bed, but I can’t help noticing that Gryffin and Gem go into the same room. Gem gives me a wink before he closes the door, and I imagine what the two of them might get up to.

“Does it bother you?” Liam asks, sounding concerned as I close the door behind me. I find him sitting on his bed, already stripped down to his briefs, a small frown between his eyebrows.

“What? Gem and Gryffin?”

He nods.

“No, not at all.”

He loses the frown as I toe off my shoes, remove my pants, and undo my bra, pulling it out from underneath my shirt. He watches with amusement as I toss them off to the side and climb into bed with him. He inhales deeply and arches an eyebrow. “No indeed. I would even go so far as to say you might enjoy it very much. Am I right?”

I shrug and snuggle down as he pulls me into his arms. “Sure, we will get there eventually. As much as everyone is encouraging me to rush this, it will happen as it needs to happen. I won’t deny that I like the idea of having multiple men in my bed. It isn’t what I’m used to, but I’m intrigued, and I’m not going to feel ashamed of it.”

“You’re perfect for us,” he murmurs and places a kiss on my forehead. “Now how about we get some sleep? We didn’t get much last night.” He sounds smug, and he has good reason to, but he’s right. We’ll be on the go for the next few days, and sleep might be hard to come by. I don’t know how long it will take to get from the human zone to the equine village after we find Nox—if he’s even there. I don’t even want to think about where we would need to start looking for him if he isn’t. We may get lucky, and he might be from the same village we need to go to, but I won’t count on that. Even if he is, the likelihood he returned is slim. He made it seem like he never went home, which makes total sense now that I know the context, but he did mention his sister and her family, so he must still be in contact, and maybe that will be a lead.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” I mumble as I snuggle into his warm chest, and he pulls the covers up over us. It’s the first time I’ve felt warm today, and it feels amazing. “Did you set the alarm?” I ask him.

“Yeah, baby. I have. Don’t worry, I’ll get us where we need to go and find this elusive mate of yours. He’s going to kick himself when he realizes what he’s been missing.”

“I’m not so sure about that. He definitely doesn’t want to be part of shifter society. He knew I was the queen, and he could have said something. Sure, he helped me with the pendant, but he drove away without a backward glance and didn’t say anything about being a shifter to me. There’s also the issue of the last one. We have no idea who he is or where to find him.”

He tugs me against him, pressing my head to his chest, and I breathe in his frosty scent and relax even further, my creature purring with happiness.

“Hopefully by the time we return to the shifter zone, someone will have come to the bond office with a new mark,” he says.

“Somehow, I don’t think it’s going to be that simple,” I mutter, closing my eyes and trying to clear my mind of everything so I can get some sleep.

“No, but we still have a little over a week until challenge day. If the equines can help us find the kids, then maybe they can track down your final mate for us too,” he suggests, and I feel an inkling of hope.

“That’s a good idea,” I reply, and he cups my butt cheek and gives it a squeeze.

“I’m not just a pretty face.” His chest rumbles with laughter, and I drift off to sleep with a smile on my lips.