“What good is a sundial in the middle of the woods?”
“I don’t know.” Peigi felt brittle. “She said it pointed the way.” She closed her mouth before she mentioned the mysterious Lady Aisling Jaycee had talked about. Michael didn’t need to know about powerful Tuil Erdannan who might help them. Or not help them, as Ben had pointed out.
Stuart lightly sniffed the air. Peigi sniffed too, smelling cold and more cold.
“Snow’s coming.” Stuart gestured at the gray sky above the trees.
“And you without a heavy coat,” Peigi said. Stuart did have a jacket, but it was made for mild climates of the Southwest, and she wasn’t certain it would protect him from freezing.
Stuart sent her the ghost of a grin. “I’ll survive. I agree we need to figure out where we are. Anyone have a pin?”
“What the fuck for?” Michael demanded.
“I want to make a compass. It would be a start. I’ll also need a magnet.”
“There’s probably an app on your smart-ass phone,” Michael growled.
Stuart gave him a patient look. “I doubt the Fae have sent up any satellites in the past thousand years or so.”
A sound caught Peigi’s attention. She trained her Shifter hearing on it, never as good when she was in human form. Michael lifted his head, alert.
“Someone’s coming,” he growled. “Probably this one’s Fae friends.”
“Can you tell how many?” Stuart directed the question at Peigi.
“Let me shift.” Peigi turned around, toeing off her sneakers and sliding her jacket down her arms. “I can scent and hear better as bear.”
Michael was already stripping without embarrassment. He’d often gone without clothes for long stretches of time, believing Shifters didn’t need to bother with them. Of course, they’d been living in a warm place then, and Peigi had decided that Michael just liked to show off his body.
Peigi moved behind a set of close-growing trees to disrobe, not wanting Michael gawping at her. She folded her clothes carefully and set them and her shoes inside her coat, tying everything into a neat bundle.
Then she let her bear come.
The world grew brighter as more light entered her eyes, and sounds and scents flowed to her. She shook out her fur, fears falling away as her strength surged.
She returned to Stuart in a slow saunter, carrying her bundle of clothes in her mouth. She dropped the bundle at Stuart’s feet and rose on her back legs to scan the area. Michael, who’d already shifted to his huge brown bear, did the same.
Peigi lowered herself and became her between-beast, more bear than human. She didn’t like Stuart to see that part of her, but she could at least speak to him this way.
“Small party. One horse, others on foot.”
“What kind of Fae?” Stuart asked her.
Peigi sniffed again. “I can’t tell, but they don’t smell like you.” She wrinkled her nose, emitting a sudden growl, and Michael snarled beside her. “One is Shifter.”
Stuart’s brows rose, but he said nothing. Michael continued to snarl, rage overcoming his fear.
Peigi returned to her bear form and circled Stuart, halting protectively before him. Any Shifter, Fae, or weapon would have to go through her to get to him.
Stuart shucked his jacket, his eyes taking on a feral gleam. “Anyone have any iron?”
Michael glared at him, his dark eyes as mean as ever. He rose into his between-beast. “Your belt buckle.”
Stuart touched it. “I think it’s nickel.”
Michael’s frown turned his bear face fearsome. “Mine’s stainless steel.”
“Might work.” Stuart walked without worry to Michael’s pile of clothes and pulled the belt from his jeans. He studied the buckle then with a sudden wrench, tore it free of the leather. “Close enough.”
Michael started at Stuart’s burst of strength, but he pretended to be unconcerned. “What are you going to do with it? Make your compass?”
Stuart didn’t bother to answer.
In the space of one breath and the next, Peigi sensed Stuart change from appendage dark Fae in a community of Shifters who didn’t really want him there to a warrior more powerful than Michael would ever understand. Stuart’s appearance didn’t alter in the slightest, but his stance grew stronger, more alert, Stuart poised to fight.
And he would enjoy it. The glint in his eyes as he wove his fingers through the belt buckle made Michael retreat a few paces.
Whatever came, Stuart’s expression said, he’d be ready to battle it into whimpering submission.
Peigi tried to stay in front of Reid as the brush beneath the trees parted and a Fae on a large horse, flanked by a black-maned lion, trotted through. Michael