Page 44 of Robb

This all could’ve been avoided, you know.

The brolga, of course, just had to stick its beak into everything.

… I know.

The fact that she wasn’t arguing back seemed to take the brolga by surprise. It mulled the situation over.

Perhaps we could win him back with a courting dance?

Despite herself, Tahnee smiled. Brolgas did like to dance.

That’s a nice idea, but I’m not quite sure it’ll do the trick this time. Feeling benevolent – the brolga was actually trying to help – she added, Maybe later. Once we’ve worked things out.

What she needed now, she decided, was a distraction. She couldn’t just stand here brooding about Robb all day. It wasn’t like her to wallow in her thoughts.

Besides that, she had work to do. Just because she’d been away, it didn’t mean that the sanctuary had stopped running. There was always something that needed doing, even if that something was just mingling with her guests and letting her presence be known.

Leaning on the railing, she looked at the shifters in the foyer. Some were in human form, some weren’t, and she really couldn’t pick any better words to describe what they were doing than hanging out.

Happy in each other’s company. Relaxed. Some of them obviously in love. Probably with their fated mate.

Tahnee sighed, closing her eyes for a long moment.

I suppose we both have a lot to learn, she thought with a sigh. She’d spent so long practicing the mental equivalent of shoving the mate bond into a wardrobe and jamming a broom through the handles to keep it closed that she’d forgotten how much stronger it could make her emotions feel.

She could only hope that Robb would be willing to talk things through once they were both feeling a bit more level-headed. She’d had a chance to calm down a bit, at least, on the flight back from Melbourne – the actual flight, brolga-style, which had taken a long time and left her whole body aching, but which had at least allowed her to clear her head somewhat. There was nothing quite like gliding far above the land with nothing but the clouds for company to give you time for reflection – not to mention a bit of self-recrimination.

I have to stop thinking about this, she thought, frustrated.

Brooding and alternately blaming Robb and then herself for the fight they’d had wasn’t getting her anywhere.

No.

If she wanted to try to figure this out, she’d actually have to – ugh – talk to him and try to figure out where they stood with each other.

Maybe she was too used to doing what she wanted, when she wanted to do it. And maybe Robb was too used to everyone doing what he told them to do, the moment he told them to do it.

Not exactly a match made in heaven, she thought gloomily.

Sighing, she stood up straight, forcing herself not to slouch her shoulders as she headed toward the staircase.

Maybe some fresh air will help me get my head on straight. I can’t just stand here driving myself crazy.

She knew all of the shifters who were currently milling around on the ground floor of the sanctuary – and just for now, she was glad of it. After everything that had happened, she was feeling kind of jumpy. There were way too many unanswered questions about how she’d been lured to Melbourne, and why Robb had been lured there too – apparently someone had known about their connection.

And that worried her. For more reasons than one.

“Hey, Cam. Hey, Jase,” she said distractedly, waving to a quoll and a Bluff Downs flamingo as she passed them on her way out the door. The quoll raised a paw in greeting, while the flamingo inclined its head.

“Oh, hi, Vimala,” she added, as a cobra slid out from under the table and raised itself up in friendly greeting, its tongue flickering. “Sorry, didn’t see you there. Didn’t mean to ignore you!”

She would’ve loved to stay and chat – or hang out, anyway, conversation in animal form being what it was – but she was just too antsy to be good company.

Heading outside, she shifted into her brolga form and flew a small distance, just enough to spread her wings a little before she came down to rest on the stark white branch of a ghost gum that overhung a little lake.

If nothing else, she could inspect some of the works they’d been doing and try to take her mind off the shitshow her life had suddenly become.

They’d had a freshwater wetland area for her guests for a while – separate to the private area she kept near her shack for injured non-shifter animals – but not long ago they’d started putting in a small saltwater area as well, for guests whose shifted forms were ocean-based.