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This wasthe first day I’d been freely out since the day I’d arrived in Pario City. It was the first time I’d been in my town with my memories intact, wandering through the familiarly unfamiliar streets, odd twinges of lost nostalgia plucking at my chest as I tried to place the new buildings with old landmarks.
I ventured into storefronts off the ancient boardwalk in the main core. That had always been there, grounding me to my place in reality. Very few things remained the same, and the realization was a bitter pill to swallow.
Shifters all aged differently. Originals, like me, were immortal. Some shifters lived hundreds of years. Some only lived decades, like humans. I thought that some of my old friends and associates would still be alive. But those I thought might recognize me had aged so much, most of whom were senile.
I was a stranger in the town I built, but that was going to change starting today.
Making my rounds through the shops like a newcomer to the area, I made pleasant small talk with shop owners and restaurant servers, planting the question that had been clearly weighing on everyone for many years.
Where had all the females gone?
“Oh, Pario City doesn’t offer a lot in the way of opportunities for young ladies,” one nervous middle-aged human told me as she shuffled coco bars onto the shelf of her grocery stand. “They move onto better things.”
“Oh, yeah? Where?”
She shifted her shoulders away, the conversation clearly making her uncomfortable.
“My sister said she was heading to Montshire,” she explained in a low voice. “That was many years ago, though.”
“Does she like it there?” I asked.
The woman, whose name was Becca, twisted her fingers nervously. “I’m not sure if she ever made it there,” she admitted. “That seems to be the way of the wildlands sometimes, you see? They’re not very forgiving.”
“Because of the desert?” I asked pointedly.
She finally met my eyes. “Because of the animals in the desert.”
This is the worst kept secret in Pario City. Everyone has known about this! How could Abby not have seen it?
I swallowed to think of how lucky she had been not to have been sold herself.
“I sure picked the wrong place to find me a wife, didn’t I?” I joked, studying her face closely.
Once again, Becca turned away from me, her cheeks staining red, as if she had said too much.
“You’ll do better to look elsewhere for a partner,” she agreed, exhaling nervously. “There are some in this town that don’t much care for competition. It’s gone to hell since my granddad first settled here.”
My brow rose, but before I could press her for more information, a reddish-blonde head passed by my gaze out the window.
Abby!
“Excuse me,” I growled, my quest temporarily forsaken as I pushed out of the grocery store toward my mate.
She walked quickly, her shoulders slumped inward as if her pack weighed a ton on her back.
I waited until she slipped through one of the alleyways to catch up to her. As my hand touched her shoulder, she whipped around to take a chunk out of my hand.
Laughing, I backed away.
“Woah! Easy there,” I chuckled, reaching for her.
Relief buckled her knees.
“You’re okay!” she breathed, hugging me quickly but withdrawing just as fast. “I was worried about you.”
“I was worried about you,” I corrected her. “You promised to come back, and then you sent me that cryptic text.”
She sighed and stared up at me, her aqua eyes luminous and concerned.
