CHAPTER TWO
Luka
Kneeling on the ground, Luka runs his hand across the pavement before holding the fingers to his nose. There's no mistaking it--the blood on the ground is Mihra's, which means Nathan's been this way.
From behind him, Naomi speaks up. "It's his?"
"No," he says simply. "It's Mihra's. If it were Nathan's, you'd probably have smelled the stink of it from miles away, hm?"
He glances behind at the shifter woman. Her arms are folded across her chest, a frustrated and nervous expression making her face look sour. She gnaws on her lip and Luka just shakes his head turning back to the blood and dabbing it away with a tissue from his pocket.
He rises to his feet, brushing golden blonde hair out of his eyes. "I know you're stressed, but giving me the silent treatment won't help anything."
"I'm not giving you the silent treatment," she snaps, then softens her tone. "He's my brother. I'm worried. I don't want the cops to get to him before we do."
Luka never really knows what to do in this situation. If he's not flirting, he's honestly not entirely sure how to comfort people. Luka's definitely not interested in Naomi, not with her volatile temper, so flirting's off the table. He awkwardly pats her shoulder.
"Even if we do, we can figure something out. The police are just jumping on this case because they don't trust shifters. We can push them to do a full autopsy and figure things out."
The black-haired woman listens for a moment, then furrows her browns and shakes her head. "I wish I could believe that, Luka, but Mihra destroyed her own body, basically. I'm not sure they'd even be able to find evidence that she took pills, especially not since she shifted between."
Naomi has a point, which is annoying. There's something about being right, being the most logical voice in a situation, that Luka relishes. He stares out at the trees and, beyond that, the waters of the Northumberland Strait. It's a nice day; at least, it would be it if it weren't for the shadow of death and Nathan's disappearance leaving the whole shifter clan stressed.
Luka tries not to be one of them, and ultimately fails. As much as he might like to pretend he doesn't care about Nathan, the younger man's a good friend to him. There's something deeply stressful and worrying about knowing his friend is on the loose, grieving and out of control. That's especially salient given Nathan's physical condition.
Naomi touches him lightly on the arm to get his attention, and he turns. The black-haired woman frowns. "Where were you? We have to focus right now, not drift off to la-la-land."
"You're just being harsh because you're stressed," Luka points out, expression blank. He pauses. "I'm just concerned. I don't know that Nathan should be on his own right now and the knowledge that he is is concerning."
Naomi breathes in deeply through her nose, closing her eyes. The very hair on her head seems to prickle. "I can track him. He won't be alone for long," she says, but her tone is tinged with concern.
They're both ignoring the reality of the situation, which is the fact that Nathan's illness makes this so much more complicated. Being a shifter is one thing, but Nathan's condition makes him unable to control himself well when he shifts. As a result, the mood is tense.
"I'll go after him," Naomi suggests after a moment, shifting from foot to foot.
Luka shakes his head. "No. You're too volatile and they might be looking for you."
"So what? There aren't a lot of records on my brother and I," she says. "They don't catalogue shifters the same. Besides, I know how to sneak around without getting caught."
Luka thinks back to her past of violence and the undisputed fact that Naomi is almost always the loudest voice in the room. He gives her a look through squinted eyes, to which she throws her hands up. "Fine! Fine. Go on your own and scope things out, but you better be quick about it."
"It's better this way," he says. "You can grab whoever you want to take with you. Toby. Raine. Whoever."
Naomi looks at him through amused, squinted eyes. Past the smile, there's a dark grief she can't hide. "You're suggesting I bring Raine? Aren't you two at each others' throats right now?"
"Off and on." Luka stares at the water again before zipping his jacket up all the way. "Don't forget we're both from Toronto. She followed me to Charlottetown. If we don't bring her to go get Nathan she'll throw a fit."
Naomi furrows her eyebrows. "Look, if you hate her that much, why don't you just dump her?"
Good question, and one Luka wishes he didn't have a viable answer to. "I don't hate Raine," he says. It's true. He doesn't hate Raine, he just... isn't always on the same page with her. "We'll get back together eventually. She's a good match."
This makes Naomi roll her eyes big time. "You can still be in a shifter-only relationship without dating Raine, you know," she says. "You could date, like, a wolf shifter."
He shakes his head and looks at his phone before slipping it back into his pocket. He has to get going or he'll lose the scent. "It's just morally better by me to date the same type of shifter as me," he says. "Okay, I'm leaving. I'm taking it by land. He won't swim far, just across the strait. I'll try the port towns on that side of Nova Scotia."
"Sounds good." Naomi doesn't press the subject further. He has no doubt she's exhausted by the conflict between him and Raine. He's exhausted too."
After waving their pithy goodbyes, he hops the fence by the highway. There are traces of Nathan's blood here--no doubt the fool tripped down the hill in his panic and ended up hurting himself. It wouldn't surprise Luka at all.
Once Naomi's scent has mostly faded, it's a relief. As much as he pretends, he's glad to get away from her right now. Grief makes her cold, just like it makes Toby weepy and Raine bitter. Luka isn't sure how grief affects him. He doesn't feel like he's changed at all. Maybe he's always numb; if he is Luka's not sure how he feels about that. It's probably smart, but it doesn't feel good.
Luka hits the beach, where there are human and bear footprints. The waves are already destroying them and will get rid of the tracks entirely when the tide comes in, but Luka uses a broken branch from a bush to get rid of them anyways.
Once that’s done, though, there’s no point in any more stalling. Luka wipes the dirt off on his jeans and starts into a jog down the beach. Once he’s past town and, therefore, past any watchful eyes, he shifts.
Shifting for him isn’t like it is for Nathan. Nathan shifts painfully, practically tearing part as he switches from human to animal. Most shifters don’t have that problem, but Luka is especially on the end of the spectrum. The shift comes easily; smoothly. It’s like slipping into bathwater.
His breath changes to a slow huff, white fur prickling across his polar bear body in the spring cold. In this form, his senses are even stronger. Nathan swam across the strait, but Luka knows where he’s heading. He knows in his heart, with his instincts--all of it.
Pawa beating against the ground, he runs and runs and runs for miles, staying in the woods and uninhabited areas where he won’t be seen. People might know shifters exist, but they still don’t like them. As one of the guardians of their clan, it’s Luka’s job to make sure his family and friends stay safe: even from themselves.