Chapter 6 Bryden
brYDEN
I was sitting close to the entrance of the cave when Roland returned. My heart gave a tidy jolt of pleasure when he came into view. I might always be rogue, but now that I’d found my mate, I’d never be alone. Perhaps together we could eventually find my brother.
He kissed my brow, saying my fever was gone, but I had to continue with the pills. They were big and horrible, and he put them inside honey so I could get them down. I’d always been a big baby about taking medicine.
He’d told me he’d chosen a roundabout route to reach me. Not just because he didn’t want people to find me.
“But others, you know.”
I didn’t. Even though I was almost recovered, I couldn’t always figure out what my mate was referring to. He spoke of his herd, and I pictured a group of unicorns performing a service to the community by working or volunteering at hospitals and clinics.
Not around humans.
Oh, right. My beast reminded me they could only assist shifters and ones like me who’d been badly injured.
“I’m not thinking clearly, so who are ‘others’?”
He plonked himself at my side and slung an arm over my shoulder.
“My omega dad had an affair.”
That was rare with fated mates. Even if their relationship soured, the bond didn’t sever, and while they may have been unhappy, they usually didn’t stray. A shifter sleeping with someone not their mate, usually marked their children as different or other.
“My folks weren’t fated. They were arranged, and Dad was unhappy. Father needed a son, and when that didn’t happen, he became abusive. That led my dad to find comfort in someone else’s arms.”
“How do you know? Did your dad disclose the details to you?”
He shrugged and stared out the cave entrance. “It was obvious because of who I was.”
He was talking in riddles, and my bear was tapping at my insides, asking me to explain.
“Both my parents are horse shifters.”
“Oh. Ohhh.” My mate really was an outsider. He had a horn and special abilities that horses didn’t possess.
Just like us.
No, it’s not the same. Though maybe it was similar.
Roland was the only unicorn in a herd of horses. But wouldn’t that be a good thing? I sighed because most people, whether humans or shifters, didn’t like people who were different. They felt safer and more comfortable with their own kind.
Roland tapped his head. “My horn is valuable.”
“Oh, like a rhino’s?”
He giggled. “No, mine isn’t used as an aphrodisiac.”
I thought back to when he’d eased my pain and reduced the fever and infection.
“But the rhino and I do have something in common.” His serious expression prepared me for bad news. Rhinos were wild animals who didn’t like humans, with good reason. They often charged at people. Was Roland wary of non-shifters and did his beast charge at them, trying to ram them with his horn?
“We are both susceptible to poachers.”
There was a sharp intake of breath, and it didn’t come from my mate. Thinking back, I recalled watching a documentary on poaching and cringed at the memory of a rhino whose horn had been hacked off. I grabbed his hand, fearful of who might be searching for him.
In the right hands, his horn could do good, but if a poacher got hold of it, he’d sell it to the highest bidder.
“Does it have to be whole or can it be divided?”
“Even a small piece has healing abilities.”
Yikes. My mate could be hunted for the part of his beast that made him unique.
“And because I’m not really part of the pack and a constant reminder of my dad cheating, I’ve been bullied all my life.”
Being rogue sounds better than that, my bear said.
But we can’t insist he come with us.
There were no words to soothe the hurt he’d experienced, so I squeezed his hand.
“So it’s an easy decision to make to stay with you.” He kissed the top of my head.
I blinked away tears because Roland was giving up a place in his herd—though technically, he wasn’t one of them—to be at my side and be a true mate.
“But we have to leave here.”
While Roland didn’t belong with the herd, it did protect him from poachers, but if he mated me, the herd would toss him out and he’d be vulnerable. I was the only one branded rogue, but he’d be like me, without the protection of a den or herd.
I told him of my brother and how he’d said I should find him in the mountains.
“We should head toward the closest mountain range and begin our search. But we must leave now.” Roland would be missed soon because he was supposed to assist the pack healer this morning, and when he didn’t turn up, the betas would look for him.
My mate pulled out some clothes from his backpack. The shirt overwhelmed me because I’d lost weight, and so did the pants, though they were also too short. Roland laughed and said we’d find better-fitting clothes when we were two days' walk from here.
“We can’t dawdle. They can shift and gallop for miles or use their four-wheel drives to follow our scent.”
Though I had recovered and I could probably shift, I wasn’t as agile as before the attack. I hadn’t walked more than a few steps in days. And what were we going to do for food? I could pick up a job somewhere on a farm or a convenience store, but Roland pointed out we needed to get far away.
He emptied his pack and tipped out the contents. Candy bars and protein bars toppled onto the old blanket. I made a face at the protein bars. How could anyone eat that crap? My bear turned his nose up too.
“Not a fan, huh?”
“It’s fine. If I have a choice between protein bars and starvation—”
“You’ll choose to starve?” He chortled and ruffled my hair.
“Wait till we find real food and I’ll cook for you.”
That horse feed that was disguised as human food wouldn’t last beyond a few days. But Roland pulled out a bundle of bills from his pocket.
“I’ve been ferreting away money when I can from the housekeeping budget for years. If we’re careful, it’ll last until we find a place to live where no one can find us.”
He sounded so earnest, and I didn’t want to burst his enthusiasm but Emerson and I had acknowledged how difficult finding such a place would be.
But with Roland at my side and us heading to a mountainous region where I might find my brother, I was in a great mood.
It’d been two years since I’d experienced joy.
“Can you walk or should you shift?” Roland was shoving the supplies back in the pack as my beast mumbled maybe we could accidentally toss the protein bars in the water and drown them.
“Let’s try shifting first while we’re in the forest.” We’d worry about our method of transport when we reached a town.
Why did you get dressed? My beast was eager to shift and wasn’t patient with me removing my clothes again.
My bear took his fur, and it was a relief to be inside him and not have to move or make decisions. Roland was still in human form, and he picked up a bottle. Oh yuck, was that pee? I’d read about soldiers in wartime using urine to confuse not only people but sensors.
My beast rolled his eyes. Does that look like pee?
“It’s skunk musk. I’ll spray it around and then cover our trail with it. Hopefully, it will confuse both the herd and any poachers until we’re far away.
I’ll make sure we’re nowhere near him and that stinky stuff.
My bear trundled deep into the forest while Roland trailed behind with the musk.
And when it was finished, he shifted, and I had to shade my eyes from his glittering skin.
I took my skin, and my bear complained again, saying Make up your mind.
I hooked the pack over the unicorn’s horn, and we continued through the trees.
Every so often, I’d catch a glimpse of the mountains in the distance and wonder if Emerson was there. If I introduced him to Roland, maybe we could build cabins beside one another and live happily ever after.