Chapter Eleven
They returned to the kitchen, all three of them sitting at the table.
“So where do we start?” Odin asked.
“We start with what we do know,” Byron replied. “We know Jay lived in a large forest. We know he was taken from there by the traffickers. And we know what the traffickers told us about where they picked Jay up. It was approximately half a day’s travel north of where we found him.”
“Alright. Let's check the map for large forests a half day's drive north of here.”
“And on the outskirts of any Pack territories.”
“That’ll certainly narrow things down.”
Jay watched the back and forth between the two men. Byron could guess his thoughts. Would it really be that simple?
Odin left the room, returning a few minutes later with his tablet. Soon they had a map and were fast crossing potential locations off their list.
“What are we left with?” Byron asked sometime later. Jay had watched with interest but hadn’t contributed much, contenting himself with munching on pieces of fruit.
“North west there’s Parson’s forest, right on the border of two Packs.”
“Jay, did you meet many other wolves in the forest?” Byron asked. Jay shook his head but before Byron prodded for more of an answer, he spoke.
“I never saw any before Brett and Mike, except one, when I was small.”
“Then I think we can discount Parson’s. Those Packs are close, there’s no way there wouldn’t be a lot of crossing back and forth.”
“Okay. Then it’s either Spear’s point about eight hours north or Acorn Forest Reserve to the north east.”
They poured over the map. Byron turned his head to see Jay looking a little lost. Not wanting his Omega to feel left out, he encouraged Jay to lean over and look at the map with them.
“Spear’s point isn’t that large. But it is isolated. Jay, your forest, how many big rivers were there?”
“Just river. And stream.” Byron gave him a minute to think it over before they moved on, knowing how hard it was for Jay to get out the words he needed. Thinking deeper, Jay added, “River swallows stream like this.” He held his hands pointing in an arrow shape.
“Spear’s point has two rivers that don’t meet,” Byron said, showing Jay the two squiggly lines that never crossed.
“Then we’re left with Acorn Forest Reserve,” Odin said.
“Which is huge. How can we narrow it down?”
“Packs on three sides of it. Two aren’t likely to neglect their borders but Avon Pack…”
Avon Pack had been having ongoing leadership troubles, manpower troubles, infighting. You name it, they had it. An empty forest border would not be their biggest priority.
Byron pulled the tablet closer, magnifying the map.
“See this section here, this valley. It’s got high cliffs on three sides, with the easiest access on Avon’s side. There’s a single river running through it, with a small tributary feeding into it.”
He spun the tablet around so Odin could take a closer look.
“That looks like a contender. Jay?”
They both watched the Omega’s reaction carefully.
“My forest doesn’t have all those lines on it,” Jay said with some hesitation.
Byron hid his smile. “They’re just on the map, they tell us things like how high the land is or where the rivers are.”
Jay continued to stare doubtfully at the map. Clearly it might as well have been in hieroglyphs for all the sense it was making to the Omega.
Byron shifted closer until they were bumping shoulders, then spoke, keeping his voice low as if he was telling Jay a story to soothe him after a nightmare.
“This forest goes deep into the valley, surrounded by high crumbling cliffs to the east, where the sun rises, sweeping around to the north and then west, where the sun sets.”
Jay’s eyes had closed as he took in Byron’s words.
“A river comes from the East, in a big crashing waterfall down along the cliffs then winds its way south west. A stream starts in the north west and feeds into the river just beyond some big, jagged cliffs, before river breaks into two.”
“It meets again, just before the loud place,” Jay whispered and Byron exchanged a look of triumph with Odin. This was it.
“The loud place?” Odin asked.
“I didn’t go there. There were monsters that growled in the daytime and slept at night.”
“What did they look like?” Byron asked, a little mystified.
Jay just shook his head, reaching out to trail his finger across the map. “This is my forest?”
“I think so.”
He looked up again, his lower lip trembling. “And you won’t leave me there?”
“Never. This is your home, with me.”
“You don’t belong there, kiddo, you belong here,” Odin added.
Jay looked from one man to the other before nodding slowly. “I belong here, with you.” They were five important words, made all the more so because Jay so rarely expressed himself through his voice.
Odin snorted suddenly, taking a closer look at the map.
“What is it?” Byron asked.
“A quarry. Where monsters growl in the daytime and sleep at night.”
They spent a few minutes describing what a quarry was but Jay had never gone close enough to see it.
“How will finding my forest help find Noah?”
“Well, it’s a long shot, but I hope that we’ll find some clues to where you came from there. A bit like a scent trail.”
Byron put an arm around Jay’s shoulders and Jay relaxed against him.
“When do we leave?”
“First thing tomorrow. This evening we’ll finalize our route and pack some supplies. We’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight and get an early start tomorrow.”
Later that night, after their bags were packed and loaded into the car, Byron went to bed, Jay in tow. He knew the Omega wouldn’t sleep if left by himself and he didn’t want him out in the woods alone. Jay seemed to be of the same mind. He was clingy, one hand holding on to Byron’s shirt as they entered the bedroom. As Byron changed for bed, Jay curled up in the chair in the corner of the room. He didn’t make any attempt to undress and Byron had the sense he wasn’t planning to sleep.
“Hey, we need to get some rest, okay?” Byron said, pulling Jay to his feet, and slipping his arms around the Omega’s waist.
Jay let his head rest against Byron’s chest with a shudder.
“I don’t want to dream anymore.”
“I’ll be right there to chase the bad dreams away.”
Byron undressed Jay before pulling out one of his own shirts for him to wear, smoothing it down over his hips. Jay stood on his tiptoes, bracing his hands on Byron’s shoulders as he pressed his lips to Byron. Byron kissed him back, knowing the Omega needed this. He’d been slow about the kissing and touching since it had become clear he and Jay weren’t going to be parting ways. He wanted Jay to have time to learn and grow, not to feel his whole sense of worth was tied to sex.
Jay had been eager, more than eager, for things between them to progress. But Byron was determined they’d wait until Jay’s heat. They both knew they wouldn’t be waiting long.
Byron broke the kiss first, pressing his forehead to Jay’s as he caressed his cheek.
“Time for bed,” he said, making it clear there was no room for argument. Jay climbed under the covers without complaint though when Byron slipped in after him, Jay was pressed against him head to toe. Byron had gotten so used to sleeping like this with Jay that he missed the times the Omega wasn’t there. He hated what he knew he’d be putting Jay through the next few days and weeks but he also knew that the day would have come eventually when Jay would want to know about his past. Noah’s abduction just meant it happened a bit sooner than expected.
“Stop thinking so hard,” Jay grumbled against him. Byron huffed a laugh, slipping a hand beneath Jay’s shirt to rub circles across his back.