Chapter Twenty
The followed the librarian’s directions, taking the turning past the church. Jay stuck by the window, watching the outside world carefully as Odin slowed down.
“What are we looking for?” Odin asked.
“Something Jay finds familiar,” Byron replied, resting a hand on his Omega’s back. Jay couldn’t stay still, his head whipping around, staring for a few moments at a house or a tree before turning his attention to the next thing. His muscles tensed and relaxed repeatedly beneath Byron’s hand as he twisted.
They had just drive past a turn when Jay called out. “Wait. Go back.”
Odin put them into reverse and Jay peered down a long road that forked into two a few hundred yards ahead.
“What is it Jay?” Byron coaxed.
“The tree down there. I… I remember it.”
Byron looked over Jay’s shoulder. Where the road forked a large oak tree grew, taller than any other tree around.
“Let’s go that way then,” he said.
Odin turned the car, and they trundled slowly down the road, waiting for Jay’s next instruction.
“Left or right, Jay,” he said eventually when it became clear Jay wasn’t going to volunteer another direction.
“I… I don’t know.” He turned back to Byron, his expression forlorn.
“Hey,” Byron said, pulling Jay into his arms. “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. This was a very long time ago. Most people wouldn’t remember what we’re asking you to.”
“I want to. I just don’t know how.”
“Okay, close your eyes.”
Jay made a face but did as Byron asked. Byron brought his fingers up to Jay’s face, drawing circles across his temples. Jay scrunched his nose and gave a murmur of surprise.
“Picture walking down this road in your mind. It’s a warm day and you’re thirsty. Ahead of you, you see the tree, big and tall and you’d like to climb it, but not today, because you’re thirsty. You want to go home. Which way, Jay, which way is home?”
“Left around the tree and follow the road behind the big farmhouse.”
“Great, that’s great,” Byron said, letting Jay so as he opened his eyes.
“How did you do that?” the Omega asked.
“I didn’t, you did. I just helped you relax a bit.”
They drove on, taking the left fork, and following the road as it looped around behind a farm.
“It’s different,” Jay commented, pointing towards the farm. “There were two buildings there, not one.”
“Times change,” Odin said, “people and places with it.”
The road kept going another half a mile before a little pocket of houses appeared.
“I think this might be it,” Odin said. “All I can see beyond are fields. Jay?”
Jay shrugged, before asking a question that was clearly bothering him.
“Are we going to find Tobias or my family?”
“Right now, both I guess. If we find your family or people who knew your family, they might know Tobias and where he might be found.”
“What if… what if they don’t want to see me?”
“Why wouldn’t they want to see you?” Byron asked.
Jay’s voice was a soft whisper when he answered. “They threw me away, left me in the forest, and never came back for me. Why would they want to see me now?”
Byron held his close, rubbing a hand across his back to soothe him.
“Like Odin said, time changes things. We don’t know why they felt they had to leave you like that or why they didn’t come back but maybe, we’ll be able to find some answers. There could have been a lot going on that you didn’t know about at the time. Let’s just see if we can find them first and worry about the rest later.”
With a long sigh, Jay settled against him, his face pressed to Byron’s neck. He met Odin’s worried eyes through the rearview mirror and knew what the other man was thinking. Was this too much for Jay? Were they pushing him too far? The chances of this leading them to Tobias, to Noah, were slight.
“What if it’s because they didn’t love me?”
Byron froze at Jay’s quiet words before he remembered himself, hugging the Omega tighter and whispering fiercely in his ear. “I love you. And nothing in the world is going to change that.” Jay clung to him as Byron continued. “Odin loves you too.”
“That’s right,” the other man said. “You’re like a brother to me Jay, in every way that matters.”
Jay lifted his head and met Byron’s eyes before looking over his shoulder and giving Odin a grateful smile.
“Maybe we should call it a day. We can start here tomorrow.”
Jay shook his head. “No, we have to keep going. For Noah’s sake.”
Byron hesitated, caressing Jay’s cheek. “If you’re sure?”
“I’m sure. But what do we do now?”
“I guess we get out and walk around.”
A few minutes later they strolled along the road, looking from house to house. They were definitely in the right place, every scent he picked up was shifter.
Jay kept turning this way and that. “I remember this place. It’s the same but not. Like the farm.”
“Do you remember which house was yours?”
The Omega closed his eyes again, relaxing the muscles of his face as he did. He was a quick study when he wanted to be.
When Jay opened his eyes, he turned, pointing to a house set back from the road. “That one.”
“Then let’s go say hello.”
As they walked up the garden path to the door, Jay pressed closer to him but didn’t take his hand. Odin stepped forward and knocked on the door. They could hear movement from inside then the door opened to reveal a blond woman, a shifter. Byron guessed her age to be mid-twenties.
She looked taken aback to see the three of them.
“Can I help you?”
“We hope so,” Byron said smoothly. “We were looking for a family who lived here. They had three children, two boys and a girl.”
The woman gave a half laugh. “Not us then, we just have the one little rug-rat. We’ve only lived here a year though. There was a family living here before us. But five children and four of them were girls.”
“You don’t by any chance remember the name?”
“No. I never met them. What is this all about?”
“There’s a family connection, we’re trying to track them down. There’s also another person we’re looking for. A man who might be known around these parts. His name is Tobias.”
She jumped at the name, grabbing hold of the door to steady herself. Before she could speak, a voice called out from behind them.
“Can I help you?”
They turned to see two male shifters standing behind them. The one who spoke strode past them to stand next to the blond woman.
“Is there a reason you’re on our property?”
“It’s okay, Johnny,” the woman said. “They were looking for the family who used to live here. They’re distant relations.”
“Yes, we were…” Byron started to say, intent on asking about Tobias again but the woman gave a sharp shake of her head. “…hoping someone hereabouts might know where they moved to.”
“Well, we don’t know,” Johnny said. “And I'm going to have to ask you to leave.”
As he spoke two more shifters appeared from a nearby house, taking a stand with the one outside the gate.
“Of course. We’re sorry to have intruded.”
Byron reached into his pocket, pulling out a blank card that had just his first name and number printed in neat figures. “If, by any chance, you do recall even just their name, it would be immensely helpful.” He made steady eye contact with the woman when he spoke though he handed the card to the man.
“We’ll be on our way. Sorry again for the interruption.”
They turned and walked back towards the road.
“Gentlemen,” Odin said, nodding to the three who stood guard at the gate. They parted to let them past and watched as they walked back to the car.
Byron heaved a sigh of relief when they made it to the car unscathed.
“Not the most welcoming of folks, were they?” Odin commented.
“The librarian said she thought they were religious. Most wolves and Packs wouldn’t get that label, unless…”
“Unless they were Asenian,” Odin finished, started the engine, and put the car into drive.
“Packs have a tendency to leave them alone when they’re living on the edges of their territory. They don’t cause trouble and their presence sometimes keeps more unsavory rogues out.”
“How likely are they to come around to talking to us?” Odin asked.
“They’re not. But that woman definitely knew who Tobias was, did you see the look on her face?”
“Like we’d name-dropped the devil incarnate, yeah.”
Byron glanced over at Jay. The Omega had been silent since they’d approached the door.
“Jay, are you okay?”
“Not my family.”
“No, they weren’t.”
“So, they’ve gone?”
"It seems like it, yeah. But we haven’t given up. We know which house it was, so there must be records somewhere of who lived there before that couple. It’ll just take a bit longer to figure it out. Anyway, right now we’re overdue some lunch and a nap. Let’s head to the cottage.”
He wasn’t sure he’d done a good enough job hiding his disappointment at what they’d discovered or what they hadn’t. A part of him had hoped, for Jay’s sake, that all the answers would be right there.