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And at least he could be comforted by the fact that there was plenty he knew that the pegasus would never understand.

Some of the things that came out of its mouth were simply breathtaking, and not in a good way.

It had taken him way too long to convince it that humans couldn’t eat hay, for example – and he was pretty sure that the pegasus still wasn’t quite buying it.

He restrained the urge to bury his face in his hands and groan.

Chloe has no idea what she’s gotten herself into. I hope she finds the pegasus’s… quirks… charming, is all I can say.

Instead of venting his frustrations to the wind, he instead looked down at Chloe, walking happily at his side with her fingers entwined in his, and all of his concerns vanished.

She was perfect. Absolutely perfect. She seemed to practically glow with happiness, her eyes sparkling in the sunlight. Even his comically oversized, completely out-of-place suit jacket looked better on her than on him.

Ethan didn’t know what he’d done to deserve a mate as wonderful as her, but he did know that he’d never take her for granted. Whatever he could do to make her life better, he would do.

“Oh, look!” Chloe said, pointing ahead. “Is that where the landslide happened, do you think?”

Ethan looked – and quickly saw what Chloe meant.

It wasn’t obvious at first glance – nature had had more than forty years to do its work. But the ground wasn’t sitting quite the same as it did in the surrounding areas, and all of the trees were young and vibrant, their trunks not yet filled out to immense proportions.

“I think you’re right,” he said.

The gorge is just beyond that large log over there, his pegasus warned. We must be wary.

Trusting its judgment, Ethan added, “The pegasus says the gorge is just there – it’s concealed a little by the groundcover and fallen trees. We should be careful.”

“Thanks – I’ll stay back,” Chloe said, looking wary. “I don’t feel like plunging into a ravine today!”

Reaching behind him to unzip the backpack, she went on, “Let’s take a quick break, then get looking.”

“Sounds good,” he agreed, as she passed him a water bottle and some trail mix that Kira had provided. At least someone in this town understood proper nutrition… though he was finding it somewhat less satisfying than he used to.

He could tell that the dried apricots had come from a tree that had been tended by the unicorn, though – they were sweet and delicious, and somehow still tasted juicy despite having been dried.

And the water was the best water he’d ever tasted – and he’d had some expensive bottled water in his time. He was pretty sure it’d just come straight out the faucet, so it was probably sourced locally. Was there no end to the pleasant surprises of Girdwood Springs?

Sitting down next to Chloe on an enormous ancient, mossy tree stump, he stretched his legs and sighed in satisfaction. It really was beautiful here. Peaceful. He’d never known anything like it.

Next to him, Chloe shifted uncomfortably, her face a rather fetching shade of pink.

“What is it?” he asked, immediately concerned.

“Oh, nothing,” she said quickly. “It’s just – I think I’m going to have to take this jacket off. All this walking around has made me warm.”

“… Okay?” Ethan said, mystified. “You can take it off. I won’t be offended.”

Even if he would be a bit disappointed. It really was cute, the way her fingers were barely visible from the ends of the too-long sleeves. And seeing her in his clothes did awaken a possessive part of him that he hadn’t been fully aware of in the past.

“I know!” Chloe yelped. “It’s just… it’s just that…”

“What?” Ethan asked, genuinely curious.

Chloe mumbled something he couldn’t quite make out.

“Sorry,” he said, “you’re going to have to speak up.”

“It smells like you,” she said more loudly, her eyes averted, her previously pink face now a blazing crimson.

Ethan felt his own face getting suspiciously warm.

“Right. Uh, which is… a good thing?” he asked, before mentally shaking his head at himself.

Well, obviously. I don’t think she was trying to tell me that I stink. Or at least, I hope not.

It was possible, Ethan thought, that Chloe didn’t like the cologne he wore. He’d never really thought about it, he’d just taken the – expensive – recommendation of his personal shopper.

If our mate desires that we change our scent, we shall do it, his pegasus informed him in no uncertain terms, but before it could start listing off the things it personally thought might smell better – wet hay, for example – Chloe shook her head, smiling a little.

“Yeah. Definitely a good thing. It smells like… I don’t know. Good. ”

Inside his head, the pegasus did a little twirl. Ethan had to admit, he was tempted to throw his propriety aside and do a little twirl himself. Especially at the clear note of heated lust in Chloe’s voice when she’d said the word good .

It was a simple word, but it somehow conveyed so much.

And the feeling was very much mutual. He could happily bury his face in the hollow of her neck and bathe in her scent forever, though the idea of trying to express this thought made all his words clot together in his throat.

We have to get over our awkwardness sometime, right? he thought desperately. We both want the same thing.

You should tell her that you would follow her scent from here to eternity, his pegasus piped up, seeming very insistent on this. Tell her that –

“You smell good too,” Ethan blurted out, before his pegasus could make yet another asinine suggestion.

But then… he had so little experience at this. Love had simply not been on his radar until now. Was it possible that Chloe might have liked to have been told that he’d follow her scent into eternity?

“Oh, that’s sweet,” she laughed. “No one ever says that – but then, I guess usually I smell like disinfectant, and, if you’re really lucky, dog lick. Or dog… other liquids. Or solids. Oh boy, I wish I’d stopped talking about two sentences ago.”

Ethan couldn’t help but laugh as Chloe buried her face in her hands.

Maybe we’re both as awkward as each other.

“Well. Be that as it may, I meant what I said.”

And he did. Chloe could smell like anything, but she’d still be his mate.

“Well, then,” Chloe replied, shooting him a quick smile when she raised her head. “I’ll take it.”

Finally, she shrugged off the jacket and held it out to him.

“Oh, just shove that in the bag,” he said offhandedly.

Her eyebrows rose. “This? This… Laura Piano?”

“Loro Piana,” he said automatically, then added, “I may go hiking while wearing a suit jacket, but I draw the line at hiking while carrying around a suit jacket.”

And I’m not sure whether I’ll be wearing it again, he silently added, as she shrugged and stuffed the jacket into the backpack. Do I ever want to go back to the office?

“Anyway,” Chloe said, breaking him out of his reverie, “I guess we should go locket hunting.”

“Yeah, good thinking.” He stood up and surveyed the area. The landslide-damaged landscape spread out before them.

Beside him, Chloe groaned. “This isn’t even like looking for a needle in a haystack. This is like looking for a needle in… well, a forty-year-old landslide site that has since grown over.”

Ignoring the way that his pegasus perked up at the mention of hay, Ethan did his best to keep up a positive attitude, even though he too was finding the idea overwhelming. Where would they even begin? The necklace was probably ten feet underground by now.

Their whole plan had relied on Curtis acting as some sort of spectral divining rod – but without him, they were flying blind.

“Well, let’s look around up here for a bit,” he said, trying to sound encouraging. “The pegasus has pretty good eyesight – it might spot something Eula couldn’t.”

Looking unconvinced, Chloe nodded.

Hesitating for a moment, Ethan wondered where to start, before eventually deciding to try for a grid search pattern, with Chloe beside him.

Together they walked slowly, heads down, hoping to spot a glimpse of silver.

It very quickly became an exercise in frustration – the understory was near-impenetrable in many places, and neither of them wanted to damage any plants or disturb the topsoil in this wild landscape.

About the only good thing that came out of it was the knowledge that Chloe did look pretty cute with leaves stuck in her hair, but Ethan could’ve guessed that on his own anyway.

Even a search from the air in pegasus form proved pointless – the canopy was far too dense to spot anything. Maybe if the locket had been sitting on the surface he would’ve caught a glint, but that clearly wasn’t the case.

Coming back to earth and shifting back into human form, he tried to fight back the despair that was creeping up on him.

There had to be a way. There had to be. He hadn’t gotten through life to this point by giving up when things seemed impossible. There was always a solution.

“Augh!”

Chloe made a despairing sound, rubbing at her eyes. “I’ve been staring at the ground for so long that I feel like I can’t see things properly anymore. The locket could be right in front of me, and I wouldn’t even know.”

“Let’s take five,” Ethan said, and Chloe smiled gratefully.

They sank back down onto the old stump.

Chloe sighed. “I think we need a new plan of attack.”

Ethan nodded. “If it’s here, we’re not going to find it any time soon.”

Chloe turned to face him, her expression curious. “Do you think it could’ve gotten washed into the gorge?”

“It’s possible,” Ethan said. “The landslide area seems to go right up to the edge of the gorge itself, so it may have gone over the edge at the time of the landslide. Or it may have gotten washed down there by rain at a later date.”

“I think it’s worth a look,” Chloe said, sounding more decisive than she had since they’d gotten here. “At least we’ll know one way or the other whether it’s not there. I won’t feel bad about disturbing some debris that fell into the bottom of a gorge!”

She paused thoughtfully. “Do you think we should fly over the gorge first, to see if we can spot it? Would your pegasus be able to see it from that distance?”

“The distance wouldn’t be an issue,” he replied. “It depends more on whether the locket got buried over the years, and whether there’s anything to obscure the view.”

Seeing her face fall a little, he added, “But we can definitely do some flyovers first. Who knows – if it’s wide enough, we could even fly down into it.”

Chloe brightened. “I would much rather fly down there than trust myself to climb down. I may have had my fair share of dog bites and cat scratches, but when it comes to climbing, I have the hands of a newborn baby.”

“Duly noted,” Ethan laughed. He stood, holding out a hand so that Chloe could pull herself up. The electrical hum of the mate bond pulsed through him at her touch, and he thought that he would never get sick of it, even if he lived another hundred years.

He indicated the path back to the clearing, where there was space to shift.

“Let’s do this thing.”