Let’s Talk One True Mate (One True Mate Companion, Vol. 1)

3-Crew and Dahlia ♦♦

“About a week passed before Crew met Dahlia,” Timber said.

He was doing everything possible not to meet her.

“Sure was. Crew was convinced Khain was tracking him and when he met his mate, Khain would know how to find her— but Khain couldn’t track him when he went to that other world he used to go to when he slept, so his big plan was to go to that world forever… if he could just figure out how to do it. Instead, he met her in that world…” Timber left the punchline for his brother.

At a rut.

“A rut!” Burton’s mouth fell open.

“In that world they schedule ruts like football games. Crew worked security over there, protecting humans, but there he has to protect them from other shiften . Dahlia was a world hopper like Crew, but neither of them does it anymore. On the day they met, Dahlia actually died in the other world she went to when she slept.”

Burton sat up straighter in his chair and leaned forward. “Hold on, what? Died? What do you mean, died?”

“Died for real, in a car accident.”

Burton winced. “Ouch.”

“Yep. But then she immediately woke up in another world. Actually, it wasn’t immediate, but she didn’t remember her…” Timber grasped for how to explain it.

Divine interlude, Canyon offered.

“She didn’t remember her divine interlude until after she’d returned to this world. After she died, she found herself in a kind of divine hallway and… and her echo was there, talking to her in ruhi .”

“The cat?”

Timber shook his head. “The housecat is Trent’s echo . The bobcat they found in—”

“The spiderwebs. Got it, got it, I remember,” Burton said.

“Right. The bobcat kitten named Angel was there. He confirmed Dahlia had died but could live again. He told her how to control her power and that there was something she had to do—which was to find Crew—but then he made her forget it all because he said Crew would resist her if he knew she was looking for him.”

Burton’s expression turned thoughtful. “He would have, too. That’s her power? World hopping?”

Nah. She can create temporary illusions that look and feel real, Canyon said.

“Dahlia woke up in the other world and somehow ended up at the rut and Crew got her out of there and took her home with him. They fell for each other right away, but that night when they slept, both of them returned here. When Dahlia saw Angel, she remembered what had happened in the divine hallway, but Angel had returned to his normal, non-speaking self. Crew returned home and found us looking for Dahlia. Graeme had told us about the humane society officer who was probably a One True Mate, but when we went to the humane society, she hadn’t returned to work and they didn’t have her proper address, and we had the wrong last name. A few years before, she’d dealt with a violent harassment situation that caused her to change her name and move several times trying to hide from the guy, which made us unable to find her for a bit.”

Canyon gave him a look. Timber gave him a small nod. Lots of unofficial shit had gone down that day and Burton didn’t need to know the finer details.

“That was also the day that Khain came to the Ula and abducted four-year-old Paisley White.”

Burton’s jaw clenched. “Abigail White’s granddaughter.”

Great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter is more likely. Canyon displayed a family tree on the wall of monitors showing Abigail White at the top and several generations between her and Paisley White near the bottom. Most of the squares were empty, but a few had names. The right square above Paisley showed the name, ‘Rissa White’ with a question mark penciled in over the top of it, and the square for her father was blank.

Patrol got most of these names when they responded to the 911 call at the house Paisley was taken from. We were told that Rissa White is Paisley’s mom, and that’s what the birth record shows, but I discovered digital signatures that suggest the file has been illegally changed.

“A hacker?” Burton said.

A damn good one, if so— Canyon crossed his arms, his expression irritated— But I’m tracking changes that make no sense and can’t be explained by hacking.

“Magic?” Burton said.

Canyon shrugged, saying nothing.

Burton studied the image, then signaled to Timber.

“We didn’t know Khain took the child until Crew went out to interview Abigail White. He saw something in her mind that made him certain it was Khain, but nothing in her mind that made him think she was a foxen . Wade and Graeme considered an offensive into the Pravus but before it could happen, Khain lured both Dahlia and Crew to Pinnata Park. When Dahlia saw Khain holding the little girl, she understood immediately that the child would be freed only if she chose to take the girl’s place, which she did. Dahlia went to Khain, he let Paisley go, then he killed Dahlia in front of Crew. Crew lost his shit, of course, and begged Mac to knock him out so he could go back to the other world. The Mac in that world took him to…”

“The what?”

Timber grinned, savoring Burton’s confusion. “The Mac in that world. Alternate versions of some of us live in that world. Like Crew and Mac were roommates there, and Crew and Beckett were enemies—stuff like that.”

Burton shook his head, a disbelieving look on his face.

“Other-world-Mac took him to the witch of that world—they call her the augur over there, and Crew says she has something to do with Abigail White, somehow. Anyway, Mac took Crew to the augur, who told him Dahlia was alive but in another world and gave him a pill to get to her. Crew came home, back to the station. We’d gotten Paisley White to the hospital—she was uninjured, but still not conscious. Wade took Crew to the hospital and Crew was able to wake Paisley. He said she had a magical mental blanket in her mind that was keeping her sleeping, so he took it into himself, and she woke up. Abigail White touched him and took whatever it was from him.”

“Complicated bullshit,” Burton muttered.

“Dahlia said being killed by Khain was more gross than scary. She wasn’t scared to die because she’d already died once, and she thought she would get another chance to live again. She was right. She went back to the divine hallway, talked to Angel again, then he sent her to another world.”

Guess where, Canyon said.

Burton glared at him.

“Come on, Chief,” Timber said. “Are you even paying attention? There’ll be a pop quiz later. He sent her to the world where Heather left her pendant.”

“That’s how she got it back?”

Timber nodded. “The kid that Heather left it with was all grown up—time in that world moves faster than here—and he was king—like, how crazy is that? He remembered Heather and her dragon and he welcomed Dahlia. He said the pendant was the reason he was crowned king, but he’d always known it was only on loan to him. Crew also ended up in the same world, but he had to do a task for the augur first because he took her pill.”

“We’re working for witches now?”

“The task was to save some trapped wolves in that world.”

Burton quirked an eyebrow, his expression irritated.

“If I’m lying, I’m dying, Chief. Crew found Dahlia, Dahlia introduced him to the king, and they hung out in the castle for a few days, not sure how to get home. While they were there holding onto Heather’s pendant, Heather was here using Ella’s pendant, trying to find Dahlia’s pendant.”

Timber paused and grinned, savoring the moment.

Burton spurred him on. “And it was where?”

“In another world.”

“Another fucking world. I should have known.”

“Dahlia’s mom took it there years ago, not meaning to—she was trying to give it to Dahlia, but when Dahlia touched it—POOF, mom and pendant were gone for two decades, until Heather and Graeme went world-exploring and brought them back.”

Burton nodded. “I’ve met Dahlia’s mom. Bit of a loon.”

Timber shrugged. “I mean, with everything she’s been through, I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a screw or two rattling around. Heather used Dahlia’s pendant to get to Dahlia, they exchanged pendants, and then they all came home—would you believe me if I told you Dahlia has a half-brother in that world?”

“No,” Burton said, grumpily. He waved his hand for Timber to go on.