Graham had learned to outshout anyone else long ago. Nell shut up, but she scowled at him. Nell was the alpha bear in Shiftertown—not that there were many bears at all—but she was in dominance about the same as Graham and Eric.
“I haven’t seen them,” Nell said. “I have Cormac and my boys out looking for them.” Nell’s “boys” were full-grown grizzlies, Shane and Brody. “Most of Shiftertown is, in fact. And Misty’s looking for you. Cassidy said she called.”
Graham had ditched Eric at the gas station and ridden hard and fast to reach Shiftertown. He’d found Dougal in the middle of the kitchen floor, wailing to the ceiling.
“Damn it.” Graham wanted Misty with every breath. His throat was so dry it ached, but even the thought of her brought a bit of ease. “Dougal, when did you last see them? Stop howling and tell me.”
“He was bringing them to me to babysit,” Nell said. “They ran off when Dougal wasn’t looking.”
“Wasn’t looking?” Graham swung on her. “What the hell was he looking at?”
“Lindsay in a bathing suit.” Nell said. “Well, half a bathing suit.”
“Shit.” Graham threw up his hands. “That female needs to be hosed down. Dougal, you idiot.”
“Don’t be so hard on him,” Nell said. “He’s just come through his Transition, and his mating instinct is high. You’re the one who left two little helpless cubs with him.”
“Helpless? You’re talking about Matt and Kyle, right? They’re hiding. Playing. Must be.” Graham hoped to the Goddess they were only playing.
“We’re looking,” Nell said grimly. “We’ll find them.”
But with all the Fae activity, and Matt and Kyle featuring in the dreams—or entering the dreams, or whatever the hell was going on—Graham went sick with worry. The Fae Oison had enthralled Graham, a big, badass alpha Shifter. Kyle and Matt were tiny and vulnerable. If Oison had touched them, Graham was going to kill the Fae outside a dream and make it stick.
“Dougal will you shut up!” Graham bellowed. At the same time, his phone rang. “What?”
“Jeez, Graham,” Misty’s voice came to him. “Do you ever just say hello?”
“Misty. Sweetheart.” Graham tried to pull back into a normal speaking tone. “I’m really busy right now.”
“You’re always busy. So am I. We need to talk.”
“I can’t talk. Matt and Kyle are missing. I find them first, talk later.”
“What?” He heard her concern escalate. “Graham . . .”
“I gotta go, Misty. I’ll call you back.”
Graham closed his flip phone so he wouldn’t keep talking to her. He’d stand here and pour out all his troubles and beg her to come to him. To mate with him. To be his forever. He’d do it in front of Nell and Dougal too and not care.
He would call her back, once he sorted out what happened to Matt and Kyle, and everything else. And they’d talk as much as she wanted to.
“Dougal, do you at least have an idea which direction they went?” he asked.
Dougal finally stopped howling—thank the Goddess. Graham’s ears were going numb. Dougal didn’t shift to human, but Graham could understand what he wanted to say.
The answer was no. Dougal had been fixed on Lindsay, walking around in a bikini with no top. When Lindsay had disappeared inside her house, Dougal had looked around, and the cubs had been gone.
Yes, he’d gone to Brenda’s to see if they’d run back there, and he’d checked all over Graham’s house, and he’d called Nell. Dougal knew he was a shithead. That he screwed up. That he should be punished. But why had Graham run off and left Dougal alone? He hadn’t known what to do.
“Dougal, you’re grown,” Graham snapped. “You don’t need me around all the time.”
Dougal’s muzzle was down, almost on the ground, his ears back, tail tucked underneath him. Graham balled his fists in frustration. Dougal needed reassurance, not more yelling. But damn it, the cubs, Graham’s responsibility, were gone, and there was an evil Fae on the loose.
Graham laid his hand on Dougal’s head. “The mating instinct is harsh. Trust me, I know this. It’s going to mess you up all the time. But that doesn’t matter right now. I need you. You have the cubs’ scent. Help me find them.”
Dougal lifted his head, looking slightly better, but he still cringed as he slunk out of the house and started sniffing around.
“Poor kid,” Nell said.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with him.” Graham went out the door after Dougal, Nell behind him.
Outside, they met Cormac, a huge, blue-eyed bear Shifter. He’d recently mated with Nell, and the two had stuck together since then like contact cement.
“If they’re in Shiftertown, we haven’t found them,” Cormac said.
Graham swallowed the raging curses that wanted to come out and said, “Thanks for looking.”
“We’ll look again,” Cormac said. Nell nodded, and moved off with him.
Shiftertown was abuzz. During the day, Felines usually napped, and bears did too—bears always found some excuse to sleep. But now Shifters were out, many in Shifter form, noses to the ground, helping search for the two little ones.
Graham shucked his own clothes, changed into his large black wolf, put his muzzle down, and sniffed.