The Chief looked exhausted, but a bit more open. It was almost like he was seeing Declan for the first time. “I’m sorry that we can’t find Geir. I can tell you though that no one else has been on the property. And the only vehicle that’s been here in the last few days is my truck and the one Ro was driving yesterday.”
“So, should I just, like, wait?”
The Chief looked pained. “I think that’s all we can do right now.”
“But you’ll help if he’s in trouble, right?”
The Chief nodded slowly. “We have an agreement.”
That was good to hear. Kind of. “Guys, is something wrong? Like, is this actually an emergency or something?”
Declan’s mind spun out to a million possibilities, each one wilder than the next. Assassins, international espionage, super soldiers, a paranormal kidnapping ring, or maybe secret labs… But for once he managed to keep his mouth shut.
“We have a… concern,” Tier finally answered. “Probably nothing for you to worry about.”
“But do you think something happened to him? Like, he could just be swimming right?” He hugged the clothes to his chest.
Ro finally looked at him. “He could just be swimming. Sometimes he swims for weeks at a time.”
“Weeks?” Declan screeched. “He would have told me if he was going to leave for weeks. He caught the trout for dinner last night!” He clung to this, like it was some sort of proof.
He squeezed Geir’s bunched clothing to his chest, looking out over the unbroken surface of the water as it glinted through the trees. Nothing.
“You guys are really freaking me out, you know? I mean, he swims all the time. He’s probably going to wonder who stole his pants.” Declan laughed, but nobody laughed with him.
“It’s probably nothing to worry about,” Tier repeated.
It was the probably that had him worried, though. And maybe the total lack of information?
“So,” he finally said. “If something happened to Geir, and I’m not saying something did, will you all help me?”
Tier nodded curtly. “We’ve agreed to help him.”
Helping Geir, he noticed, wasn’t quite the same as helping Declan. Surely he couldn’t think Declan was part of whatever was going on?
It would help if he had just a little bit more information. “Am I in danger now?” he finally asked.
The two of them looked at each other. Ro looked back before he could see the soft look in Tier’s eyes.
“You shouldn’t be.” The Chief tilted his head, like he was considering options.
“I mean, you heard about those guys at the grocery store? And the lady in the car?”
“I gave Kayla the pictures,” Ro interjected smoothly. It sounded like maybe Tier hadn’t seen them, but maybe that wasn’t his job. He seemed to have a lot going on.
Tier thought for a moment. “Rohahen, can you stay here today?”
Ro nodded. “Sure. Maybe I’ll get May and come back. We can hang out.”
Tier looked relieved. Declan wasn’t quite sure who was supposed to be keeping who safe, and who was under surveillance.
“If anything happens, you can alert me,” Tier added. But it sounded like he was more concerned with having Ro somewhere secure. “Ro, do you have any questions? Need anything?”
“No, Chief.” Ro met his eyes, his answer just a tad wistful.
Declan couldn’t tell whether it was tragic or adorable, but it was definitely giving him the distraction that he needed right now. Shipping Ro with his crush was infinitely preferable to wondering where Geir was and when he’d come back.
Or if he’d come back.
Or what the shifters might do to Declan if he didn’t.
Chapter 25
Declan
An hour later, Ro was back with an enthusiastic four-year-old. Instead of driving, they’d walked through the forest, which is why it had taken a bit longer.
“Thank goodness you’re here.” Declan welcomed them in, then headed for the kitchen and started getting out bowls.
“What are you doing?” Ro asked from the doorway.
“Stress baking.”
He handed May her own bowl and spoon, which she promptly set on the floor and started stirring with an impressive number of clangs. Oops. He handed her a plastic spatula and took away the metal spoon. How could one small person make such a big noise?
Despite the volume, this was definitely what Declan needed right now.
“Stress baking?” Ro asked.
Declan answered at a whisper, so that May couldn’t hear. “Yeah. Because I made a whole blueberry cobbler last night that I didn’t even eat, but my boyfriend’s missing and your future boyfriend is freaking me out about it, so we need to make brownies. Here.” He thrust the cookbook at Ro. “Find the recipe and then get the eggs.”
Ro just stood there for a moment. Probably the “future boyfriend” comment. But Declan had definitely seen it. That crush wasn’t one-sided at all. The two of them just needed to get over themselves and have hot shifter sex. Not that he wanted to imagine his friend getting busy, but thinking about Ro’s tragic love life was much safer than worrying about his own missing guy.
“It should be under desserts, kind of toward the back,” he prompted, determined to stay positive.
“You’re too much,” Ro finally said, shaking his head. He seemed to say that a lot around Declan, but Declan took it as a compliment, now. Ro liked that Declan was too much. And Geir didn’t seem to mind either. He really hoped that everything was OK with his kraken so that he could stay.
God, his brain was all over the place today, and it seemed like Ro’s was, too. They definitely needed brownies.
Ro started flipping through the book. He handed it back, then pulled out the eggs, the carton dwarfed by his large hands.
“Thanks!” Declan pinned down the recipe book with the flour. It was already starting to stay open to the dessert section on its own. “Oh… I know what we need. Music!” Declan pulled out his phone. He was really craving the internet because he only had a hundred or so songs on his phone and he was getting tired of them.
Still, stress baking needed music. Otherwise you couldn’t dance.
He pulled out the flour and sugar, shaking his hips as he made his way across the kitchen. He danced back to pull out the cocoa and the chocolate chips. You could never have too much chocolate. He could feel his good mood coming back already.
“Alright, we’re going to need two eggs. No, better make it four. We’re going to need a lot of brownies to get through this. I want you to have some to take back to your man.” This was going to be step one of Declan’s plan.
Ro groaned. “He’s not my man.”
“So you’re telling me that you’re not bringing food to the guy you want to mate with? I thought that was, like, animal psychology 101.”
“No, I mean… I bring him food. It’s just not like that.”
“And then he eats it and says it’s good, and then what happens?”
Ro looked down shyly. “We usually talk for a while afterward.”
God, so cute. “I think you should tell him.”