Page 75 of Hummingbird and Kraken

Declan looked around in confusion. “Earlier? Um… we talked about a lot of things. We made brownies. And peanut butter cookies? And we… some of the things we talked about are private.”

The Chief growled and took a step closer.

“What were you talking about when Rohahen was carrying that box,” Geir prompted.

“Oh. You mean yesterday. He brought seedlings! We were…” Declan buried his head against Geir’s chest. “I promised him I wouldn’t tell.”

Tier loomed closer, a low growl in his throat. Geir felt like he was being attacked on all sides, though the thought of Declan’s potential betrayal hurt far worse than anything the shifter could do.

He freed one tentacle, holding it ready to whip out in case Tier came closer. With the other one, he squeezed Declan even tighter. Declan cried out, and he knew he must be hurting him, but he didn’t care.

Geir tried to keep his voice even. “Now would be a very good time to tell us what you discussed.”

“It’s really not relevant…” Declan started.

Tier’s growl grew louder.

Declan turned his head, as much as he could from his position, to look at the Chief.

“We were just chatting. He has a crush on… someone. And I told him I wouldn’t tell. Alright? I thought we could be friends and talk about our, um, men. That’s it.”

“Who?” the Chief growled.

“Seriously?” Declan looked the Chief dead in the eye, his voice filled with meaning.

Tier took a step back, suddenly looking a lot less menacing, though just as anxious. Not that Geir gave a damn about who Rohahen was interested in as long as it wasn’t Declan.

He was worried about May, but he still wanted to understand what had happened. He’d been so sure about what he saw. And if he couldn’t trust Declan in their relationship, he couldn’t trust him anywhere else.

“Why were you lifting up your shirt?” He kept his tone low, but he wouldn’t be surprised if some of the others in the clearing could hear him. Depending on their animals, they might have enhanced hearing, vision, or smell. The growling started up again, but he ignored it.

Declan leaned in, and Geir relaxed his tentacles enough to let him whisper in his ear. “I was showing off all the marks you gave me.”

Geir grunted. That had never occurred to him, but it sounded like something Declan would do. The thought of it made his belly warm, even amidst all the fear and uncertainty of the evening. He didn’t want anyone looking at Declan. But if he was showing off the marks Geir had placed… maybe that was different.

“I’m sorry,” Declan continued in a nervous whisper. “Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I was really proud of them. And Ro liked them, too.”

Someone chuckled but quickly turned it into a cough. He’d have to mention shifter hearing to Declan at some point.

Geir let the new knowledge sink in. It sounded like he’d made a lot of bad assumptions. God help him if Declan had arranged to kidnap children, but until proven otherwise, Declan was his. He’d need to beg forgiveness for doubting him later, and for now the best he could do was defend him.

Fortunately, the Chief had gone from looking menacing to merely anxious.

Geir gave himself a moment to reorder his thoughts, focusing only on Declan’s taste through his skin. His sweat tasted sour, probably from fear, and Geir felt guilty all over again that he hadn’t talked to him before running away.

But that wasn’t going to help any of them now.

He drew in a deep breath. “Where were Rohahen and the children last seen?”

“Ro and May supposedly walked home through the woods, but it’s a wide area to follow and their scents around this area are confused. Declan was the last to see them. The other two were on the playground, not far from their house. They were taken in a vehicle.”

“Can we help them, Daddy?” Declan whispered. He was still trembling.

Geir hesitated before answering, digging back through layers of memories to a sensation that was so ingrained and so old that he’d almost forgotten. There was something that he had done, once.

The shifters thought of the land to the west as theirs, and by his agreement with Kahshennenhawe a few centuries ago, it was.

He thought of the land as his, though. He knew Lake Erie and the rivers and streams that fed into it. He knew how the water trickled through the Earth and the animals and plants that lived upon it.