Destined to Run

by J. Kearston

  I am absolutely not above any tricks or schemes if it helps her. She can be annoyed if she wants, but if my time with Cole has taught me anything, it’s that sometimes people just honestly can’t see what they need. For all of the claims that only we can know ourselves better than anyone else can, it’s just not true. You’re far too close to be impartial, and most people are too fucking stubborn trying to prove something to themselves that they refuse to accept the answer that’s been staring them in the face because they don’t want it to be true.

  Cole spirals so far that he often forgets to eat, or chooses not to in order to punish himself for being depressed. We’ve never been able to get through to him on that front; some days keeping him alive is a victory in its own right. So yes, I absolutely will play mind games to make sure she takes care of herself and I won’t regret it for something like this.

  In a perfect world we could just lay our problems out on the table, match them to the proper solution, and move on. Unfortunately, life’s not that perfect and neither are we. But I refuse to berate myself for doing anything necessary to take care of my family.

  Cole sits down at the table, shooting a furtive glance over his shoulder to make sure she’s not coming before cocking his head. “We’ve put her off about the mage thing for as long as I think we can. She’s bringing it up more often and refuses to drop it. But, Ares…I think she might be right. Osiris isn’t changing back and we can’t just leave him like this forever.”

  He’s careful to keep a firm block in place so that our brother doesn’t overhear. As much as it makes me feel bad for shutting him out, it’s best he isn’t involved until we have a solid plan in place so we don’t get his hopes up for nothing.

  Knowing our luck, we’re just going to get the two of us stuck next. We don’t fuck with the mages for a reason, Cole. They’re shady bastards and no one really knows much about what all they’re even capable of. We might make things ten times worse.

  “So, what? We just accept he’ll never change back and rub the fact that we can kiss our mate and he can’t in front of his face? It’s one thing now when we’re all praying this is a temporary blip, but you cannot possibly expect everyone to just go on about our lives and give up,” he challenges, sounding incensed.

  I pinch the bridge of my nose, taking the seat across from him. And what about Rin? You want to drag her onto a mage’s doorstep when we try to kidnap him? What if she gets hurt in the chaos?

  “Your normal bullshit isn’t going to fly with her, Ares,” he warns. “If we don’t take her, I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to pull an Ozzy on us and disappear in the middle of the night. I’m not about to sit by and let either of them deal with this alone. We should have gone with Osiris in the first place, and if you hadn’t shut down the idea without even hearing him out, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

  I slam my hand on the table. “You’re blaming me for this?”

  He doesn’t back down. “I’m saying you need to accept at least partial responsibility and face your fear about going into a bigger town. You’ve never been beyond the dinky shops nearby, and those barely even count as a village.”

  My head whips to the side as a floorboard squeaks, Rin standing there with one arm across her stomach, nervously rubbing the other. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude. If I’d heard you shouting before, I would have held off.”

  I curse, realizing we stopped the telepathy the angrier I got. “No, I’m sorry. The conversation just hit a sore spot.”

  Getting up, I make sure to keep my movements easy to anticipate so I don’t catch her off guard. The last thing I want is her thinking she has to tiptoe around her own home, or that if debates get heated she has to shrink in on herself like she’s waiting for it to come to blows.

  Stopping when I get in front of her, she clearly isn’t expecting me to crouch down, balancing on the balls of my feet. Tilting my head to the side, I speak out loud for her benefit, though it’s Osiris I actually address.

  “I’m sorry. Cole’s right.” I scrub a hand down my face, hating to sound so pathetic in front of my mate, but after the timid look I just saw on her face and knowing I’m the one that put it there? That hurts my pride more than anything.

  “I shut you down about going to the city without even listening because I was scared. Am scared. But after what they did to you and countless others, can you blame me? We don’t belong there and we certainly aren’t welcome.”

  “I know, and that’s why I dropped it. It wasn’t fair of me to put you two in danger when it was a Hail Mary in the first place. You don’t need to apologize, brother,” Osiris declares diplomatically and I reach forward to muss the fur on the top of his head.

  “Now who’s wrong?” I wink, getting to my feet and facing my mate. “If we’re going mage hunting, you’re going to need some warmer clothes. With Cole’s help, we can get the last of our outstanding projects done this afternoon. Tomorrow we’ll drop them off on our way to get supplies and just keep going.”

  Rin smiles and I internally sigh in relief, glad I was able to salvage things before I did too much damage. She rises up on her tiptoes to kiss me, just a quick peck of her lips before she’s sliding past me to her seat. While holding my stare, she puts another piece of garlic bread on her plate that we both know she isn’t actually going to eat.

  She lifts her glass, tilting it in my direction. “For as ridiculous as the three of you are, you might just be more self-aware and mature than any men I’ve met thus far.”

  The little cluster of houses and shops we drive to barely can be called a town. It’s quaint and lovingly maintained, but tiny. There’s really only two main streets with some shops, a gas station, and some clusters of houses. It’s peaceful and run by shifters, which is the only reason I feel comfortable setting foot on the pavement.

  Overflowing planters and string lights line the streets, and Rin is instantly enamored. “It’s so charming and magical,” she smiles, soaking it all up.

  It’s hard to find the flaws when the person you love is standing there lit up in such a way, forcing you to look at things in a new light. “I suppose it has a certain…charm.”

  She snorts as we park the massive four door, open bed truck that Osiris conned us into spending a fortune on. Cole opens her door, helping her down as I come around to join them, but she wastes no time skipping over and slipping her hand in mine.

  “So, where are we shopping, boys?” she chirps, looking excited.

  If I’d known shopping would make her like us this much, I would have suggested this from day one.

  Osiris snorts. “She’s trying to make it not seem so bad since you just told her you were a pussy.”

  Fuck you.

  “You think if I tell her I’m scared to shower alone, she’ll buy it?” Cole tosses out there and I hurry to wipe away my grin before Rin catches sight of it and feels the odd man out.

  We parked right outside of Goldies; a little boutique styled shop painted in cream and plum with gold accents. There’s a planter situated inside of a broken chair and Rin takes less than a second to start grinning.

  “Oh please tell me her mates are bear shifters. I’ll love you forever; lie to me if you must,” she begs, grinning ear to ear as we get out of the truck.

  “She’s never going to let Rob live it down either,” Cole answers, chuckling. He leans in and points to his cheek. “I’ll take that undying love and affection now, if you don’t mind.” She laughs, humoring him, and he turns his head at the last second to capture her lips instead. “Whoops. I slipped, honest.”

  Her hand tightens on mine, stroking her thumb back and forth. “So clumsy,” she tsks under her tongue. “This is why we can’t take you hiking, you know. We’re always afraid you’re going to twist your ankle, we just didn’t want to hurt your feelings by calling you out on it.”

  She turns to Ozzy, shaking her head dramatically. “I know, but I had to tell him. He deserves to know what we talk about behind his back before he d
evelops a complex.”

  Ahh, shit. She’s been picking up on it.

  “After all,” she states a little louder, “it’d be so rude when he’s standing right here.”

  “Balls,” Cole says before cutting off the connection. “Old habits, gorgeous. Besides, you can’t expect the men trying to make you fall hopelessly in love with them to start waxing poetic in front of you. You’ll start thinking we’re lame.”

  “How did you guys survive without me?” Osiris laughs, rubbing against her leg in apology.

  She bends down to kiss the top of his head, but still doesn’t let go of my hand. “You’re obviously exempt, handsome. But your brothers could learn some manners.”

  I pull her back up, kissing the back of her hand and tugging her into Goldie’s before we can get into any more trouble. It has a bit of everything; dishes, knick knacks, clothes, and the like. Pretty much a one stop shop for girly things. We sell jewelry boxes out of here that do fairly well, but the real goal is getting our brochures into people’s houses for larger projects.

  “Well, if this week wasn’t interesting enough,” Goldie chuckles, emerging from the back room. Her chestnut hair is liberally peppered with grey, and her striking, violet eyes don’t miss a single detail as she rakes them over our mate. “Aren’t humans just the hottest commodity on the market?”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask with a frown

  Her eyes twinkle with mischief. “Nothing you need to mind yourself with. Now, what can I do for you?”

  I gesture to Rin. “We need to get her set up to survive the winter.”

  Rin rolls her eyes, pulling free of my grip to approach Goldie and stretch out a hand. “Rin. And you don’t need to trouble yourself, I’m pretty sure I can find my way.”

  Goldie scoffs, ushering her to a chair before practically shoving her in it. “Nonsense. Whole shebang, or do you already have a coat and boots?” Cole starts browsing through the women’s underwear, earning a sharp smack to the back of his head as Goldie passes him by.

  “The works. Better to have too much than not enough.”

  She winks at Rin. “Don’t worry, honey. I’ll get you set up.” Goldie starts efficiently navigating her way through the shop and we leave with enough bags that it’s clear we’ll need to back track to drop things off at the house before going further into the fringes.

  We toss the bags in the truck, deciding to show her around a bit since we’re already here. Her hand finds its way into mine once more and I’m torn between enjoying it, and hating that she feels like she needs to comfort me. I don’t want my mate to look at me like I’m something she needs to protect; I want her to look at me like I can protect her.

  Rin snorts, her free hand flying up to cover her mouth as she stops in front of a building. “No.” She turns to Cole, snickering. “You guys have a brothel?”

  I chuckle, correcting her. “It’s a café.”

  Pivoting on her heel, she looks at me, stunned. “Happy Endings? Seriously?”

  Smothering a smile, I stop her from barging inside, figuring we should get this out of the way before she destroys Gretel’s blissful ignorance. “The lady that started the shop is even more obsessed with fairy tales than you are. And since it began as a bakery before it morphed into a café, her slogan was ‘every day should have a sweet ending.’ And by the time anyone found out what she planned to name it, she’d already ordered the sign and filed all of the paperwork.”

  Cole smiles, looking at the stone building that resembles a cottage with a shake of his head. “Gretel’s little tribute to her namesake.” He leans in to kiss Rin’s cheek. “No one has the heart to point it out. So there’s an unspoken agreement to pretend you don’t notice.”

  By the time we’re done, Rin’s bouncing on her feet, anxious to go in. There are several small tables, a few people doing a double take when they pick up on the abrupt human scent mingling in with the baked goods. To their credit though, as soon as they see she’s with us, they go back to their snacks. Sure, they keep shooting not-so-subtle glances in our direction, but nothing turns into a scene. I’m not even sure if Rin notices.

  Glass cases form a barrier between the customer space and the bakers in the back, showcasing their wares with a register and empty counter space dead center of the cases. Behind them is a chalkboard menu, the massive rectangle running the length of the wall suspended high behind Gretel’s husband.

  “Good afternoon, miss, may I help you?” the elderly man asks, turning his bright green eyes on her with a kind smile, a smudge of flour still on his cheek.

  I don’t have to read her thoughts to know she’s pleading with the heavens to find out if his name is Hansel. Instead, she tries to play it cool, a trained mask falling into place.

  “Piece of strawberry cheesecake?” She turns to the rest of us, gesturing for us to hurry up and pick something, which we all do even though I’m not hungry. The fact that she’s taking the initiative in getting sweets isn’t lost on me and far be it from me to make her feel self-conscious.

  As he starts gathering our order, he turns his keen eye to Rin. “New to town, or just passing through?”

  Rin bites her bottom lip, fingering the sleeve of her jacket. “Thinking of sticking around. Not here, but not too far away. I imagine you’ll be seeing me pretty regularly if you keep tempting me with this.” She gestures at both cases, chuckling.

  He grins. “Don’t get many humans around these parts. Change is good.” He places our bags on the counter as I pay, stretching his hand out in her direction and completely ignoring us.

  “Rin, short for Corinna,” she introduces herself.

  “Vin, short for Vincent,” he fires right back, winking. “Pleasure to meet ‘ya, Rin.” Finally, he deigns to give us the time of day, though it’s simply to threaten us. “This girl is skin and bones; I best not find out you’re starving her out there in no-man’s land.”

  Cole gathers our bags, moving to a table and tossing over his shoulder, “Of course we are. So you best pack up half the case and send it home with us to keep the poor thing alive.”

  Vin scoffs, waving him off. “You’re just after free samples.”

  Rin grins at him. “Who wouldn’t be? It smells heavenly in here.”

  “I like this one.” Vin smiles broadly before packaging something else up quickly, passing it her way. “Consider this a welcome to the neighborhood gift.”

  Someone hollers from behind him and Vin gives an apology before darting into the back, rushing to solve whatever problem started up now. Since the neighborhood teenagers that were working moved to a bigger town this summer, they’ve been struggling to keep up with everything.

  A few familiar faces strike up conversation, happy to have Osiris back where he belongs since we’d all assumed him dead. He gets a few pitying looks after we’re forced to admit he’s stuck, since no one typically struts around town shifted.

  We load up in the truck to head home, Rin digging through her copious amount of bags to repack her backpack. None of us are sure how long we’re going to be gone or what to expect, but we don’t want to be weighted down either. We’re already going to draw unwanted attention; if we show up with a loaded truck, people will assume a pride is trying to move in. In the small towns it wouldn’t be a big deal, but if we have to venture into the larger ones? It just shines that much brighter of a light in our direction that we don’t need.

  Not a big deal for Rin, maybe, but with as brutal as the prison system is to our kind? Either a death sentence or we’ll stay locked up until we rot if we get caught.

  “Hey.” Her soft voice reaches me as she leans forward from the back, putting her hand on my arm. “Want to wait until tomorrow to head out instead? We wasted most of the day shopping and doing deliveries; might as well sleep in a nice bed for another night.”

  I slowly relax my grip, realizing I was white-knuckling the steering wheel with my growing anxiety. “I’m fine, we can drive through the night.”

&nbs
p; She lightly runs her nails down my arm and it’s distracting in the best way. “I don’t know, I’m pretty tired,” she presses. “Doesn’t bode well for planning if we’re struggling to stay awake.”

  As I take another turn, I huff out an amused breath. “I see what you’re doing, you know. But seriously, I’m alright. Was just thinking about what would happen if we got caught.”

  Cole hops in, ganging up on me. “All the more reason not to go into things in a sleep-addled state. We’re really only going to get one shot at this, so we need to be careful. Besides,” he turns to Osiris, curled up on our mate’s lap. “Ozzy wants to see Sarah before we leave again.”

  My jaw tenses. “Why didn’t you say anything?” Shit, Rin’s right. It feels like shit being left out of the conversation.

  “Because I know you go out of our way to protect us from ourselves,” Osiris explains, sounding defeated. “But she needs to know I haven’t given up on her, even if everyone else has. Just because I failed this time, doesn’t mean there isn’t hope.”

  “Who’s Sarah?” Rin asks timidly, and I curse as I realize she’ll be assuming the worst.

  “One of the cubs in a neighboring pride. She got sick a while back and no one can figure out what’s wrong with her. That’s why Osiris was in the city in the first place; he was desperate to try anything to get some help.” I throw the truck into park in front of the house, all of my instincts screaming as I see the tears streaking down my mate’s face.

  Cole reaches back, brushing his thumb over her cheek, but doesn’t lie to her that everything will be fine. “We know. But she’s held out for over six months; she’s strong. “

  She sniffs. “And I screwed up the chances of returning to the city. What were you hoping to find?” she asks Osiris.

  He relays the message to us, and I pass it along to her. “Apparently, the two of you were cut from the same cloth. He was going to describe her symptoms to a doctor and hope for answers, or try and drag one back out here.”