Ezra’s scowl returned, wrinkling his brow. He obviously hadn’t thought of that. He let out a sad huff and lowered his head between his paws.
Zander cupped Rae’s shoulder again and cranked to his feet. “Now that the drama’s over, let’s eat. I’m starving.”
* * *
Sandwiches again. Zander handed around the last of them as they sat out on deck, enjoying the Alaskan summer night, the sun barely below the horizon. Stars pricked out, only the brightest ones against dusky blue. Zander had stopped the boat, saving the fuel, but there were no other crafts on the horizon. For now, they were alone again.
Rae had never seen the sky like this. They had deep, dark skies in Montana, but they also had trees, hills, and mountains. The entire bowl of the heavens spreading from horizon to horizon was a new experience for her.
Ezra had gone to the bow to shift to human in privacy, and dressed in the clothes Zander had laid there for him. Since Zander was so much bigger than Ezra, the sweatpants and T-shirt were baggy on him, but Ezra didn’t complain. Now he sat with his back to the pilot house, his bare feet on the deck as he silently chewed through a roast beef sandwich.
“Marny’s,” Piotr said, looking at the wrapper. “He does a mean sandwich.”
“I’ll never be able to go back there,” Zander said, mournful. He’d pulled on a black T-shirt, hiding the gouges Ezra had left in his chest, most of which, Rae had seen, had already started to heal. Even in his despair, Ezra had mitigated his attack. “I think I’ve burned Homer and surrounding towns for me.”
Piotr shrugged. “Who knows? When I go home, I put in a good word for you.”
Unworried, the human man continued to eat, the fact that he was surrounded by two wolves and a bear not bothering him at all.
Rae watched him. “You don’t seem concerned that we’re Shifters,” she said.
Piotr shrugged. “We are all God’s creatures. Not your fault that evil demons decided to make you.”
Ezra grunted a laugh but didn’t speak.
“We’re the Goddess’s creatures,” Rae corrected him, deciding that what Zander had told her as they’d argued about this made sense. “Even if evil people like the Fae made us for evil reasons.”
Piotr wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “You pagans one day will see the error of your ways and return to the fold.”
Zander growled. “Rae, do not get him started on religion. He can argue all night and on through the next day. Just let him win.”
“Speaking of that,” Rae said, glancing at Ezra. “We need to send Ezra’s dad off.”
“I don’t have anything to burn,” Ezra said. “I got into a bar fight and lost everything in my pockets.”
“Not everything,” Piotr said. “I saw your wallet fall and I picked it up.”
Ezra gave him a stunned look. “You did?”
“Indeed. You might be a pagan creature made by demons, but you need what’s important to you. Besides, the police would have traced you if they found your ID.” Eyes twinkling, Piotr went back to his sandwich.
“He’s not bad,” Ezra said to Zander. “For a human.”
Piotr snorted behind the wrapper as he took another big bite.
“What we need to do,” Zander said, crumpling his empty paper and wiping his mouth, “is find Ezra a mate.”
He studied Rae thoughtfully and she looked back at him in alarm. “Hey, don’t look at me.”
Ezra glared at Zander. “She’s a Guardian,” he said, then he looked abashed. “No offense, Rae.”
“None taken,” Rae said quickly. “Don’t worry; I’m not ready for a mate. I’m only a few years past my Transition.”
Zander’s attention was entirely on Rae, something in his dark eyes she couldn’t decipher. “You plan on sowing your wild oats, do you?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never had the chance.” Rae met his gaze without worry. “I’d been thinking about starting my wild life when I was picked up and dumped here.”
“Yeah, well, I was perfectly happy fishing on my own before you were dumped on me,” Zander returned. “I was thinking more of taking Ezra back to your Shiftertown. There are larger numbers of females inside Shiftertowns than out in the wild.”
Ezra gave him an incredulous look. “Collared females. You want to slap a Collar on me, bear?”
“Don’t worry, they’ll give you a fake one,” Zander said. “Admit it. You need a mate. Someone to look after you.”
Ezra huffed. “Speak for yourself. You live like a feral.”
Zander rose. The breeze molded his T-shirt to his torso. “I do not live like a feral.” He pointed to his mouth. “See? No foam.”
“Zander isn’t wrong,” Rae said. The forlorn look in Ezra’s eyes tugged at her heart. “We need pack to survive. Even if the pack isn’t blood family, we need others. That’s why we agreed to live in Shiftertowns.”
“Sure,” Ezra returned with scorn. “You do know that if Zander lived in a Shiftertown, he wouldn’t be allowed to have this boat. He couldn’t travel and heal other Shifters—he’d be confined and cut off. Doesn’t matter how many ‘pack’ are around him—he’d die like that.”
“Yeah, but I’m a bear.” Zander folded his arms and peered off the stern. “We hate the indoors. Lupines, now, like a crowd.”
Rae looked up the length of his body, taking her time to enjoy every inch. “You can’t hate the indoors—you hibernate in a den all winter.”
“With carpets and satellite TV.” Zander flashed her a grin. “Actually I hang out in a town all winter and enjoy myself. But I know another place you can go, Ezra, that’s not a Shiftertown. Well, it’s sort of a Shiftertown. It’s a Shifter community for un-Collared Shifters. A secret one.”
Rae glanced at Piotr, but he was staring up at the stars, seemingly uncaring. Zander obviously trusted him with Shifter secrets. That must either make Piotr an extraordinary human being or Zander a great fool. Zander acted the fool sometimes, Rae had seen, but he wasn’t one. His carelessness hid something thoughtful and watchful. Therefore, she concluded, Piotr must be trustworthy.
Ezra, not so certain, lowered his voice. “If you mean Kendrick’s crew, I refused to join him twenty years ago. What makes you think he’d welcome me now?”