“To see if you really wanted to give up on her or not.”
“I don’t plan to give up, but I don’t know how to fix it.”
“Patience. Honesty. You know, the two things you both seem to think aren’t that necessary. They’re necessary.”
Barron nodded.
Remi sat up, his face lifting into the night air, his nostrils flaring.
“What is it?” Barron asked.
“I’m not sure,” Remi said, his voice low and barely audible. “I smell… I’m not sure, but I think I smell roast.”
“Yeah, she’s making a roast. I smelled it earlier.”
“Okay, but, why would I get a whiff all of a sudden all the way over here?” Remi asked.
Barron shrugged. “Maybe she opened the door.”
“Maybe.”
“I’d go check it out, but she’d slam the door in my face if she sees me.”
“I’ll go.” Remi got up and started across the street, his Dragon peeking out through his eyes, his Dragon’s sense of smell leading him to the place the scent of the roast was strongest, and it wasn’t the front door, like he expected. It was the back of the house. Slowing down and stepping into the shadows, Remi approached cautiously, expecting to find her standing outside in the backyard. Instead he found nothing. The scent of her dinner was hanging more heavily in the air, but when he stopped to look in the window of the back door, he didn’t see her. He pressed his face closer against the window and angled his head to see the sofa that he knew sat to the right. He watched as the flicker of the television illuminated her cell phone lying on the floor, kicked half under the sofa, and a bowl lying on its side, with the spoon that had been in the bowl kicked a few feet away. There were blankets half off and half on the sofa, and when he turned his head to look behind himself once more the scent of the roast was stronger there than coming from inside the house.
Get over here,he thought to Barron.
Without hesitation Barron came rushing around the corner. “I was waiting on the other side of the house.”
“Something’s wrong.”
Barron stepped up to the window and looked inside.
“The bowl, the spoon, and the phone are kicked around. The blankets are half on, half off the sofa. And face me, away from the house,” Remi said.
Barron turned toward Remi.
“Inhale,” Remi ordered.
Barron inhaled, then canted his head just a bit. “Maybe she’s gone for a walk. The scent is clinging to her?” he said, but as more of a question.
“I don’t think so. Something about it is off. I don’t think it’s Emmalyn.” Remi reached out and tried the knob. The door opened at once allowing him to step inside. “Em! It’s me, Remi. Don’t shoot me! I’m here to see if you’re okay.”
Silence greeted them.
“Emmalyn! Are you here?” Remi called out. He walked further into the house and stopped in the kitchen.
“What the hell?” Barron asked, coming to a stop beside him.
“Somebody bumped into the plug of the crock pot. It was hanging off the kitchen island.”
“It’s every freaking where!” Barron said. He turned in a semi-circle getting a good look at the kitchen as Remi found the lights and turned them on. “And those are not her shoe prints. That’s a man’s shoe.”
“You search for Emmalyn, I’m following the scent in the back yard,” Remi said, rushing past Barron and back outside. Once there, he raised his nose into the air, and slowly turned his head left to right before settling in on a direction and heading that way as fast as he could while still being sure not to miss anything along the way. The sound of Barron’s worried voice calling Emmalyn’s name over and over again filled his ears as he hunted his prey. Whoever it was he was hunting, he knew for sure it wasn’t Emmalyn, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t with the man he was tracking. He still had to approach with caution to besure that he didn’t injure Emmalyn, nor did the man who might have her.
Chapter 12
She’s not here!Barron thought at Brandt.
