Southern Shifters: Bearing the Ink (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Black & White Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

hugged her tight to his body.
    “Derrick. Luke left me and a couple others here. He said you’d be a bit put out about it but to take it up with him when he returns.”
    “Arrogant ass,” Michael muttered, shouldering past the wolf shifter.
    “As long as y’all haven’t caused any trouble, we’re good.”
    “We’ve been studying the maps and documents that were brought last time.”
    “Find anything new?”
    “Too many damn packs to even know where to begin,” Derrick muttered.
    Gus nodded in agreement. “We may have a lead. We have to contact her again, but we ran into a wolf who’s looking for her missing brother. She overheard us talking to a human who happens to be her employer.”
    “You talked to the Mayor?” Meryl asked. “What did you learn?”
    “No. His son.”
    “His son?”
    “My mother’s fiancée.”
    “Oh my God,” she gasped. “He’s still alive?”
    “Yes. My mother thought he was dead all these years and he’s been living in the house he grew up in.” Bex slid out of Gus’s arms and left the kitchen the same way they’d come in.
    “That poor girl. Had to be a shock for her.”
    “For him too, I would imagine. I don’t know how to help her through this.”
    “This isn’t something you can really help someone through, but something you can stand by them through.” She set the spoon down and flipped the knobs on the stove to off, then advanced on Gus. For as small as she was, his adoptive mother was formidable.
    She took his hand and led him toward the back door. Bex was in the yard, sitting on the seat of a rope swing. She dug the toes of her shoes into the dirt, her head bowed, shoulders slumped. Gus’s heart broke. “She seems so lost.”
    “Yes, but I think you’re her way back.”
    “How so?”
    “When you came to live with us all those years ago, you had that same look about you. Your circumstances were different, but you were just as lost.
    “What do I do?”
    “You be there for her, standing strong at her back, but you have to let her come around on her own. The more you push her, the more she’ll resist. She hasn’t had a chance to process things and whether she knows it or not, her mind is fighting the changes that are taking place.”
    Gus understood what his mother was saying and he’d known deep down inside, that, no, he couldn’t help Bex. But he felt too helpless standing by, waiting.
    “She’ll come around. I know it doesn’t seem that, but she will. She needs some downtime. Some time to relax.”
    “Unfortunately, time like that isn’t something we have.”
    “I know.”
    “Do you think she’ll be able to shift, then?”
    “I don’t know, but it’s possible. She has to feel safe and I can’t imagine that she feels too safe lately.”
    Safe . Gus remembered what it was like to not feel safe. He hadn’t felt that way for too many years after his real parents were killed. There were times as an adult that unless he was moving, riding, going from place to place, he didn’t feel safe.
    He never liked to think he was running, but he knew that’s what it had always been.
    He kissed the top of her head. “Thank you.” He’d take her advice and give Bex some space. Instead, he’d talk to the wolves. He’d see what he could learn from them and wait for Luke to show up again.
    In the dining room, he found Michael with his cell phone out. “Are you calling her?” Gus asked, referring to the she wolf they’d met earlier.
    “Yes.”
    “Want privacy?”
    “Why would I need privacy?”
    Gus hid the smirk. “No reason.”
    “Exactly.” Michael started to put the phone to his ear, but lowered it back to his side. “Do you think I should text her first? I mean, if there are cameras, I’m going to assume there’s audio too.”
    Gus squatted on the floor next to the maps. He knew the mountains like the back of his hand. He’d been riding them, running through them all his life. He knew the caves and overlooks. He knew hiding places