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.“I was thinking, if Ochir is scared, he might be hiding outside of Dalanzadgad.Maybe in the foothills.I know we can’t go all over them, but,” Naran looked at him earnestly, her eyes darting back and forth over his as if she were reading him in some way.A slither of suspicion licked down Otto’s spine.There was an awareness in Naran’s eyes, a knowing that turned the suspicion into fear.Granted, there had always been rumours, legends of snow leopard shifters in Mongolia, but Otto had thought, short of a few very old, superstitious people, no one really believed them.The look Naran was giving him told him otherwise, and he didn’t know what to do.Except turn his head and pull away from the kerb.“But what? We can drive out to the foothills, it’s only an hour or so away.” It wasn’t very far, only about sixty-three kilometres, but there were several sharp turns and the road was very narrow.Driving fast wasn’t happening.“I’ve been all over Dalanzadgad today and caught sight of neither the man you told me of nor any child with a scar like the one Ochir has.I wasn’t sure if I should ask about him or if it would get back to him and send him further into hiding.” If he was hiding.Naran cleared her throat and Otto heard the snick of her seatbelt being buckled before she spoke again.“I have people looking for him besides you and no one has seen him.The usual places he goes for food and shelter, he hasn’t been there for a few days.It’s very worrisome.I am going to bring that boy home and keep him.He needs a mother, a family.”Otto was glad the weird tension had dissipated.He didn’t want to know what Naran had been about to say, but he thought he was going to have to find out eventually.If by some manner she knew what he was, Otto told himself he had nothing to fear from her.Naran was one of the best people Otto had ever met.He did trust her, as much as he trusted any non-shifter.Right now he would prefer to keep her talking about other things until he had time to consider the ramifications of her knowing about shifters, if that was the case.He’d rather be prepared than not.Otto just hoped she didn’t ask him to shift and hunt for Ochir.He didn’t know what he would do then.Chapter EightTim tried to find a more comfortable way to sit as Steve drove along the narrow dirt road.Dane smirked at him and Tim flipped him off.He gave Dane a smug grin of his own because Dane had been dying to grill him about Otto and Steve, gods bless him, hadn’t left them alone together long enough for Dane to get many details.Tim was kind of surprised Dane hadn’t asked a bunch of embarrassing questions in front of Steve anyway.Of course, the way Tim was squirming in his seat probably answered most of Dane’s questions.Tim turned his nose up at Dane and leant forward to peer around him and look at Steve.“Do you really think a rockslide took out the camera?”Steve glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.“Don’t you?”“Why wouldn’t you?” Dane asked before Tim could answer.He settled for a shrug as he sat back.Tim couldn’t very well tell Steve he was certain he’d caught a whiff of another person there.It was very faint, and foul which was likely why Tim could still smell it.He’d found the odour on a few of the larger rocks that had rolled down the mountain and wiped out the camera.They hadn’t been able to find more than an inch or two of metal and a small part of the lens.Even the bolts used to hold the camera in place were gone.And Tim believed they were just that, gone.Someone had deliberately left a scene to make them think an avalanche had wiped out the camera, but Tim wasn’t buying it.Not with the stink of man and those missing bolts.Tim should have been able to find them, and okay, maybe he’d overlooked them.He supposed they could be under a boulder.But he didn’t think so.His senses were telling him the whole scene had been set up for them.They’d not found any hint of snow leopards, either, no scat or markings, no prints—nothing.Tim had wanted to move some of the bigger rocks, but two things stopped him.One, his shoulders were sore from the bites Otto had given him.Just thinking about them made Tim’s dick hard, so he quickly moved on to the second reason.He was stronger than the average human, and if he’d exhibited that strength, Dane would have become suspicious.Oh, Tim wasn’t anything like superhero strong, but he definitely could lift more than a man his size should be able to.Dane was damn sure sharp enough to notice it, too, which was why Tim had always been careful to restrain himself physically with Dane and around him.“You’re going back to Otto’s place?”Tim pulled himself out of his musings and looked at Dane.“Yeah.” Dane flicked a glance down and Tim realised he was hurt.No wonder, in less than twenty-four hours I’ve become completely wrapped up in Otto and have all but abandoned my best friend.Fuck, I’m a jackass.Hoping Otto would be okay with it, Tim smiled at Dane and bumped his shoulder.“You can come with me for a while.I know you’ve been dying to ask me questions.”“Oh God,” Steve muttered.Dane squealed and bounced in his seat.Tim was surprised he didn’t clap his hands.“Man, you don’t know how hard it’s been not to tease you about the way you’ve been walking—”“Dane!” Tim was going to just combust from sheer embarrassment.He squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose.His skin felt hot under his hand.“Whoops.Sorry?” Dane rubbed his back.“Sorry Steve, really.I get a little exuberant.”“I hadn’t noticed,” Steve said dryly.“I can stop holding back,” Dane offered with so much sarcastic sweetness in his voice it made Tim’s teeth ache.“I can stop the truck and tie you to the hood,” Steve countered, and Tim opened his eyes as he gave a startled laugh.He hadn’t expected that from Steve.Dane opened his mouth and shut it a few times before grinning at Steve.“Fine, you win that round, but tomorrow I will have all sorts of raunchy ammo to accidentally discharge [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]