“I think after the fire, shortly after the fire, I’d like to go home,” Tempest said, leaning her head against his shoulder.
“We can go now if you’d like.”
“No, Hellen already left, and Remi and Bailey left. I don’t want everybody to leave before it’s really over.”
“Honey, there’s a reason for you to leave early if you want to. We can go now.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Tempest thought about it. You sure Havoc and Analise won’t mind? I mean… you're Alpha.”
“They won’t mind.”
Tempest hemmed and hawed over it for a few seconds, before she shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Let’s just stay a little longer, at least until Remi gets back. And then after the bonfire’s lit and we’ve oohed and ahhed we’ll go.”
Brandt nodded, his arm around his mate, his attention seemingly on the heart-shaped frame now filled with so much wood that it didn’t look at all like a heart. “You mind if I run off real quick?” he finally asked. “I’ll be back.”
“Annnd there it is,” Tempest said.
“There what is?”
“The real reason you don’t mind leaving early.”
“I’ll be right back,” Brandt promised.
“Spill…” Tempest said, smirking at him.
Brandt lowered his voice and spoke just loudly enough for her to hear, and no one else to be able to overhear. “Hellen left. Said she didn’t feel well and wanted to go home to rest. But when I told her to watch out for the gator we saw the marks on the riverbank from yesterday, she suddenly got real interested and changed direction like she was headed there.”
“You know she’s all about wildlife conservation. That’s probably all it was.”
“Yeah, makes sense. But then Havoc said she’s probably trying to make sure it’s not her gator.”
“Her gator? She’s got a gator?”
“Apparently the reason she was gone so much recently is because she found a gator she was trying to nurse back to health, and it went missing when she was here right after everything with Emmalyn.”
“Oh, well isn’t that interesting?” Tempest said, more of a statement than a question.
“I just feel like I need to check on her.”
“I get it. Go ahead. I’ll be right here.”
“I won’t be long, love.”
“Just be careful. Whether it is her gator or not, it still doesn’t know you.”
“I will.” He kissed her and got up, quickly making his way away from the celebration to go check on Hellen and ask her about ‘her’ gator that nobody had bothered to tell him about before. Especially if she thought it was possible this thing tracked her back home.
~~~
Hellen made her way through the wooded area separating her and Havoc’s road from Brandt’s. Using her ability to see in the darkness, she was careful, aware of everything around her, and where she stepped. When she finally reached Brandt’s road, she stopped and stood quietly, sending out her senses to search for any creatures that didn’t belong there. Not picking up anything other than the usual local wildlife, she approached the riverbank between Brandt’s and Barron’s homes. She had no problem locating the slides on the bank, and after making sure there was no gator in sight, she knelt beside the slides to get a better idea of how fresh they were. She compared the size of the slides to the length of her legs and decided that from the size of the slides and the tail drags clearly scratched into the mud, that it could very easily be her gator that left the marks. In her opinion, though there were multiple haul outs and slide in spots, she was pretty sure they were all made by the same gator. But that didn’t mean that it was her gator.
She stood and brushed the mud off her hands across her thighs, remembering too late that she was wearing a dress for her brother’s wedding. “Oh, well, that’s what water is for, right?” she asked aloud. She heard the slight movement of the water and looked out across its surface, hoping to catch sight of a one-eyed, scarred up gator. But instead, all she could see was the moon’s reflection on the water’s surface, giving it a mirror like quality, making it harder to make out any shapes that might be out of the ordinary. “I hope it’s you. I hope you’re alright,” she said softly. She stood there, looking at the tail drags that had cut a path through the slide marks in the mud and experienced an enormous amount of guilt for leaving him defenseless and alone. “If you’re here, you might want to find a better place to be. If my family thinks you may be a threat, you might not be as safe as I’d hope you’d be.”
“Who you talking to?” Brandt asked, walking out of the darkness behind her.
