Page 57 of The Chosen Fae

"What about you?"

"I'll probably copy you."

She laughed.

He loved her laughter and smiled. "I'm serious."

"I know you are."

The two packs were gathered together farther away, making their plans. Lolita was now an omega wolf, on her own, with no one inviting her in. She didn't go close to the lone wolves either, probably worried she would be in worse trouble with her own pack.

Stone couldn't believe that he and Rune could get the two fighting packs together like that. He really thought it was both amazing and amusing.

Even though Stone would like to help Lolita with the mission, he knew she wanted to handle it the way that made her feel comfortable.

Stone also glanced at Lolita, and he knew she wanted to do the same thing.

But he didn't plan to work with Rune either. At least that was the plan. When it came to Rune, his plans often went out the window.

He didn't mind as long as she stayed safe. And he would keep an eye out for Lolita too, if she didn't tackle a haystack too far away from them.

The rolls of hay looked like they went on forever across the field.

"Wow," Rune said. "That's going to be fun. Not."

Stone agreed.

Everyone lined up to tackle their first haystack. The whistle blew, and they ran toward a haystack. But on the way to the first one, Rune kept running. Stone wasn't going to follow her. Still, she might have a good idea. Everyone was going to the closest haystacks so they could start searching right away.

But why have so many stacks if they were just going to put the totem in one of the first ones?

Rune reached the last one, climbed to the top of it, and started yanking the stack apart that she had targeted. He started on the one next to hers.

She glanced at him and laughed. "You are a copycat."

"Nope, I just agree with your logic." He started digging away. This would be not only a job and a half, but it required a lot of luck, because even if they searched the right bale of hay, he was afraid they could miss seeing the totem.

The outer layer of each bale was rough and unyielding, individual stalks sharp enough to catch skin, the twine cutting into fingers when gripped. At least his new boots protected his feet, but his hands were getting cut. He thought of shifting into the wolf, though that could be hard too.

Pressing a hand into the side of a roll, Stone found it harder than expected—tightly packed, dense enough that the straw barely gave, like pushing against a concrete wall made of dried-out grass.

The cut ends of the stack prickled and scratched, and while Stone tore at the straw and tossed it to the ground, his fingers reddened and were laced with fine, almost invisible scrapes.

Then he saw Lolita still trying to reach one of the last hay bales. They were five across and twenty deep. It would take forever.

She began digging at her stack when Vesper abandoned his bale and ran in their direction toward one of the five that were left untouched at the end of the field.

Then Xena saw where he was headed and took off after him.

Before either could reach the bales, Rune said, "Watch it not be in one of these, thinking some of us would believe it would be at the very end."

Stone agreed with her. He loved her logic. "So where do you think it would be?"

"Maybe two or three rows back."

"Or four or five," Lolita said, digging away.

"But not close to the front," Stone said. It would be too easy to find it more quickly if it was buried in one of the stacks at the front of the rows. Well, easy in that they wouldn't have to try multiple stacks. Not easy in actually locating it in all that hay, but if they did, they wouldn't have to mess with any more haystacks.