Page 86 of Shifters Reckoning

“South. To Wolf Moon Cave, if Dr. Wise’s pages are right about how far south south goes.” I made myself say the rest. “And we go alone, the three of us⁠—”

He quirked a shaggy red eyebrow. “Three of us?”

“Dr. Wise is going along, but I can’t tell you why until we’re out of the camp, and even then not all of it. It’s faith time, Jasper, the way you trusted your bell with Logan or the way you trust Olivia.”

“I’ve bled for that bell… and for Olivia,” he said simply. “I’ll bleed for this.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “That historian’s already packed. Did ye know that? Green Subaru’s been pointed south in the driveway fer hours, and she’s been loiterin’ beside it. She’s just been waitin’ on ye to catch up to her way t’ thinkin’.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “And they say history doesn’t repeat itself.”

“What’s that, lass?”

“Oh, nothing.”

Dr. Wise had known what we needed to do because of what had already happened with every multimorph before me. Life is twisty like that. Without knowing what had happened before, we couldn’t tell what would happen next.

We quick-stepped to the Subaru in the drive where Dr. Wise was, in fact, packed with her Subaru pointed south. She met me at the hood of her car with her leather satchel, her thermos, and her spectacles pushed up her nose. She took one look at me and said, “You’ve finally decided.”

“I have.”

“Why did you wait?”

“I couldn’t bring myself to do that to Logan.”

She said nothing. She’d had a mate once.

“But I’ve hardened my heart and come to my senses,” I bit out.

“Good. The pages don’t say what this little mission costs. I want that on the record before we go. I’ve read every fragment twice, and the multimorph who paid the price last time erased whatever it cost her.” She adjusted her glasses. “I intend to go with you and help as much as I can.”

My chest swelled with affection for my mom’s new bestie. I couldn’t speak, so I just nodded. There was one thing left to do, and it was the hardest thing I had ever done, harder than my own heart stopping.

“It’s a long go of it, Doc,” Jasper whispered. “Ye’ll make it when we have to walk?”

Dr. Wise reached into her pocket and pulled out a rounded stone, shaped and polished. “It’s a relic for energy and speed. It won’t function the same as a shifter using it, but it will work if the multimorph heals me while she holds it in her hand.”

“Guess it’s like a power-up in video games,” I said.

“Nice,” he said, taking a handful of steps toward the gate. “Subaru first?”

“Yep, until we run out of roads. Then we’re on foot.”

“Off we go.”

I climbed into the passenger seat of the car and slammed the door behind me, an exclamation point on our whole crazy mission. Then we drove south toward whatever had been razored out of history.

Behind us, the patch held the gash in the Veil together.

Ahead of us, it wouldn’t, so we had no choice but to go.

Race ya home, love. I pressed the thought toward the man who’d wake up alone, furious and afraid.

One backward glance at the beautiful historic manor I’d adopted as my home was all I allowed myself. Then I didn’t look back again because I wasn’t sure I could do it twice.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

logan

Six-Mile