Page 12 of Flint's Arrow
The side road leading to the back of Cyrus’s property turned to gravel after the first mile, then to dirt. Arrow parked his sedan behind a stand of trees where it wouldn’t be visible from the main road, killed the engine, and sat in the dark for a long moment, reassessing his life choices. The practical part of his brain screamed at him that stalking someone on their own property was stupid and potentially career-ending. But Arrow was getting desperate enough that his career’s importance really wasn’t registering.
Flint has to be here.Arrow could feel it in his bones, in the way his wolf paced and snarled inside his chest.I just need to see him, just for a minute.
He stripped out of his suit - no point in ruining it by hiking through the woods - and left his clothes folded on the driver’s seat. The shift came easily, his wolf eager to hunt, to track, and to find their mate.
Four paws hit the dirt, and Arrow’s senses exploded. The forest smelled alive with the scents of pine, damp earth, and small creatures moving through the underbrush. He shook out his coat and started moving through the trees, following a faint trail that led deeper onto Cyrus’s land.
The pull grew stronger the farther he went. Not the mating bond exactly, but an instinct that told him he was getting closer to where Flint had been, where Flint lived, where Flint’s scent would be strongest.
The settlement appeared gradually through the trees. There were six houses arranged in a rough semicircle, larger than Arrow had expected from the satellite images. They were also showing signs that someone maintained them - they were all freshly painted and looked almost new. At the other end of the semicircle sat the old sawmill, its weathered wood looking solid despite the years.
And there - Arrow’s wolf nearly howled with triumph, but he was trying to be stealthy - a large wooden sign carved with images. A bear. Two bulls. A crocodile. A snake, and finally a huge demon, complete with horns and a tail.
It’s here. They’ve actually called it Assassin’s Alley.
That meant Flint lived in one of these houses. That small blond cutie with the huge eyes and perfect lips had a home that was as cute as he was.
Arrow padded forward, nose to the ground, searching for the specific scent that had haunted him since that bar. Clean and sharp like fresh-cut grass and something uniquelyFlintthat made Arrow’s wolf whine with need.
Got it!The trail led to a smaller house with a greenhouse visible behind it. Arrow’s heart hammered against his ribs, and he couldn’t stop panting. Flint’s scent was everywhere - on the porch steps, on a huge rock set out in front of the house, around the greenhouse… Flint had been there within the past two days. Arrow could smell the faint trace of strawberries and other vegetables, but it was Flint’s scent that stood out the strongest.
Arrow couldn’t hear any sign of life coming from the house, but maybe snakes were quiet. He was so focused on the door, on trying to figure out how to shift back to human form and knock, that he didn’t realize he had company until it was too late.
“Well, well.” The voice came from behind him, low and amused. “What do we have here?”
Arrow spun around, his four feet scrabbling on the porch. A massive man - a crocodile shifter - stood ten feet away, arms crossed over a chest the size of a barrel. He was wearing a tank top and shorts despite the cool morning air. With his dark hair and chiseled features, he was someone who would’ve attracted Arrow’s attention in a club situation, although his expression, suggesting he’d be perfectly happy crushing Arrow’s skull, wasn’t attractive.
“You heard him, too?” Another voice, this one deeper. A bear shifter - huge, blond, professor-looking despite the early hour - emerged from between the houses. “Smells like wolf, acts like a dog.”
“Smells likeagencywolf.” A third man appeared, this one nearly as large as the bear but built differently. Bull shifter, Arrow realized with growing dread. Horns were already starting to manifest along his temples.
“What’s an agency wolf doing sniffing around Flint’s house?” The crocodile took a step closer. His eyes had gone reptilian, vertical pupils fixed on Arrow with unsettling focus.
Arrow backed up, his wolf suddenly becoming very aware that he was one canine surrounded by three much larger predators. He tried to shift, to explain, but the change wouldn’t come. Fear had his animal form locked in place.
“We could just kill it.” The bull shifter cracked his knuckles. “Toss the body in the woods. No one would know.”
“Levi.” The bear’s voice held a note of caution. “Let’s not be hasty.”
“Why not? This is our land, our home. Some asshole wolf comes creeping around when Flint’s not even here?” The bull - Levi - gestured at Arrow with disgust. “Sounds like a problem that needs solving, and problem solving’s what we do.”
Arrow’s heart hammered so hard he thought his ribs might crack. He tried again to shift and managed to get his front paws to hands before Storm moved faster than anything that large should be able to move, pinning Arrow against Flint’s front door with one massive hand around his furry throat.
“Shift,” Storm growled. “Now. Before I decide, Levi’s right.”
The change ripped through Arrow in a painful rush. He materialized naked and pinned against his mate’s door, Storm’s hand still locked around his windpipe.
“I…” Arrow choked out. “I’m…”
“Trespassing, that’s what you’re doing.” Storm’s eyes were still more crocodile than human. “On my friend’s property. While he’s not here to defend himself. Give me one good reason I shouldn’t tear your throat out.”
“Mate.” Arrow managed to gasp. “Flint. He’s my mate.”
Storm’s grip tightened. “Yeah? The mate who treated him like a piece of meat? That mate?”
Before Arrow could answer, two more figures appeared. Cyrus and Python, both looking significantly less pleased to see him than last time, and that was saying something.
“Arrow.” Cyrus’s voice held disappointment rather than anger, which somehow felt worse. “What the hell are you doing here? It’s barely dawn.”
