Chapter Four

Sheldon

“This isn’t where the gateway let me out at before,” Salta announced as we passed through the door onto the side of the road.

No, not a road. A highway. What the fuck? What the actual fuck? Why would a gateway put a kid out on the highway?

“Where did it let you out before?” I asked, surveying the empty road and the woods on either side of the guardrails.

“I dunno. Not here,” she shrugged.

“I can hear the buzz of electrical magic. We’re not far from the village,” I told her, taking her hand.

“I’m not a baby,” Salta pulled her hand away from me and started in the opposite direction of the noise.

“Wrong way, Salta,” I said.

“Ugh!” she groaned, tossing her hands in the air. “Why did you come with me? Just to boss me around? Why is everyone so damn bossy?”

“I’m not. I just don’t want you getting lost out here. The noise is this way. That means the village is this way. If there’s one thing you can count on in life it is people making noise. Do you want to see the babies, or do you want to spend all night wandering up and down the highway hoping to get a lucky break and find a long cut there?”

“Fine!” she threw her hands up again. “Lead the way man who hates everybody and everything!”

“I don’t hate them. They’re just noisy and---”

“You hate that everyone makes noise. I know. Maxen and them talk about it. You want everyone to tiptoe around and whisper and do everything quiet because you hate fun.”

“What?”

“I know. Sorry I’m talking.”

“I stay away from people because they make too much noise. In my space, I expect them to be respectful. There’s a big difference than what Maxen---”

The highway vibrated, announcing an approaching car. Probably a midsized one. Four door, but built for speed and ease on the highway. A pair of headlights blinded us for a second before blinking off. I shoved Salta behind me as the engine died and the door swung open.

“Salta?” A voice called from within the car.

“Scott?” Salta’s scent came alive with excitement as she wiggled out of my one-armed grip.

I took a deep breath. Everyone knew who Scott was. He was Terrick’s true-mate. He made spirit food or something after his sister made a joke of him on the internet and then decided to announce Terrick’s whereabouts so any vampire hunter or enemy of the coven could find him. There was another heartbeat in the car with him and I couldn’t stop myself from focusing on the calm thudding radiating from the vehicle.

Another deep breath made my blood come to a halt inside my veins. Wolf. Vampire. Alpha. Mine. Mine? My thoughts jumbled up like when Maxen took up trying to learn the drums as a teenager.

“Travis?” Scott called his brother’s name as if they were across a busy highway from each other instead of in the same car.

“Travis?” Salta echoed his name.

His heartbeat didn’t change. His scent morphed from curiosity to confusion to a relaxed determination. I took a step toward the car half-expecting Scott to jump out and demand to know who was running around with his mate’s younger sister, but he didn’t. No one did. So, I took another step. The driver’s side door opened. The driver’s heart skipped a beat and the silence of the missed beat rattled inside my head in the seconds before he came into view.

He was tall and wolfy. Well, Hemlock anyway. Most of the Hemlock wolves descending from Juda and Frost bore the same cheekbones and a family resemblance that couldn’t be ignored. He smelled too much like --- I knew he was a Hemlock because Salta knew and our coven link was as strong as ever even out here on the side of a dusty highway.

“Travis?” Scott called again and the sound echoed around my skull.

Travis. That was his name.

Travis had dark hair, cropped short with more on top, and eyes that pierced through the dark night. He was a vampire too. Somewhere under all that wolfy scent he tossed around, lurked a predator believed to be more ancient than any shifter. Well, at least if our coven lore was to be believed.

“What’s he doing?” Salta whispered.

“It’s okay, Salta,” I called out, hating how loud my own voice was when it rattled around inside my ears.

Salta and Scott came out of the car next. I glanced at the other man. He looked tired and smelled like he’d spent most of his time feeding pups.

Travis stopped in front of me. His eyes raking over my face and then my body. Our gazes met, me looking up at him. Before speaking, he slid his fingertips up my jawline, over my cheeks. Then his hands covered my ears, tilting my head back a bit more to fully look at me. His flesh, bones, and sinew blocked out the wind rustling through the trees and the owls hooting at each other over which prey belonged to who. Some sounds snuck through the cracks between his fingers but even half-silence was a relief as we stood there on the side of the highway. The wind whipped around us, playing through our hair, and making a whirlwind of his scent to distract me from other thoughts that dared tried to form in his presence.

“Hi,” I managed to say without my voice cracking.

Travis bent low, sniffing my forehead before his attention drifted down to my lips. They parted under his gaze and I rose up on my toes ready for the kiss that marked the beginning of forever.

“Sheddy!” Salta sprinted over. “Make him stop! It looks like he’s gonna pop your head off.”

Travis laughed but didn’t let go of me. Who had told him about my enhanced ability? Was it that obvious that every sound raked against me like nails on a chalkboard?

“I’m not taking his head off,” Travis said, when Salta crossed her arms and looked up at him. “I like it exactly where it is. I’m covering his ears.”

“Why?” Salta asked as Scott joined us.

“I’m not sure. Old instinct, I guess,” he shrugged, but didn’t move his hands.

“Are you okay?” Scott looked at me.

I hadn’t met my ginger-haired brother-in-law before, but omegas stuck together.

“I am. I have ---”

“He hates noise. Everything annoys him. Then he blows up your pen in revenge,” Salta said.

“Some of my cousins are like that,” Scott said. “Well, not the pen part, but the overactive hearing part. They come from tracker lines or they’re part elf. Though, usually, they don’t need someone to cover their ears. So, maybe it isn’t the same thing. I didn’t mean to assume. Can you hear us okay with your ears covered like that?”

“Yeah. I hear most things even like this,” I said, pointing to one of Travis’s big warm hands.

Travis glanced back at the car parked in the middle of the highway with its front doors open. Then he glanced at Scott and Salta.

“Let’s get them back to the house,” he announced, but his hands didn’t budge and neither did they.

“Can you two give us a minute?” he asked, a growl coming into his voice.

“Sorry,” Scott said. “Come on Salta.”

“Don’t take his head off. I know where to get a sword!” Salta said, as Scott nudged her back toward the car.

“She’s a spitfire,” Travis laughed before kissing me on the forehead. “Are you going to be okay if I move my hands?”

“Probably. I’ve survived this long without your hands covering my ears and I don’t think we can stand here forever. Eventually, someone would crash right into your car. The plates make me think it’s a rental too.”

“Come on,” he said, reluctantly dropping his hands from my head.

The noise whooshed back at me, and I missed a step as we made our way toward the car. Travis caught and kept hold of my arm until my ears worked themselves out again. I slid into the backseat with Salta, but rested my hand on my mate’s shoulder. Not touching him wasn’t an option.

“So are you guys true-mates like Scott and Terrick? Like Cardian and Dakota? Like Maxen and Lilac?” Salta rambled.

“Yes,” I said so that Travis could concentrate on driving.

“Will you have four babies like Scott or just one like Dakota and Lilac?”

“Ummm…. Ask me when you’re older and I’ll explain why I can’t choose,” I said.

Scott laughed, but Travis tensed behind the wheel. Maybe he didn’t want kids. Maybe he didn’t like the idea of Salta asking about us having kids. I wasn’t sure, but I made a mental note to find out later. I massaged his shoulder and did my best to ignore the noise rumbling outside the car. I leaned my head against the back of Travis’s seat and tried to focus on my breathing. Instead, I found Travis’s heartbeat thrumming in my ears. I focused on it as Salta rambled on about babies, ears, and all the things she planned to teach all the babies when they were old enough, sword fighting included.