Timothy (10 page)

“I want to come help too,” Dane chimed in, which set off Naran. Otto spun around and slashed a hand through the air. “Naran! The more people to help, the better, right?”

Steve interjected with a desire to help search as well.

Naran’s expression was well past mulish but after a few seconds she nodded. “Ass rides with Steve.”

“Witch does too speak English,” Dane grumbled. “Like I would want to ride with her. She’d probably put some penis-withering spell on me or something.”

“What makes you think she’s a witch?” Tim thought Dane sounded a little too sincere with the accusation.

Dane shrugged. “Just a feeling. Believe it or not, there’s several Wiccans in my family, and most of them are pretty cool. I have a couple of cousins who think it’s even more cool to dip into the dark arts, though. Idiots. And I don’t really think Naran is one of the dark witches, but she has this air of power my Wiccan relatives do. I shouldn’t judge, though, right?”

“She’s probably very nice, just stressed and worried about the boy we need to be looking for.”

Dane nodded at Tim. “Got it. I will shut up and ride with Steve, who can fill me in on what this is about since he didn’t look surprised to hear Naran or Otto mentioning it.”

Dane had a point. Tim and Otto didn’t really know each other, and they certainly hadn’t talked much at all during their night together. They probably wouldn’t have chatted for long tonight, either, judging by the desire that had roared up between them the instant they saw each other. In fact, Tim thought with a smirk, conversations might be in short order for a while. He’d best use this opportunity wisely.

Naran had climbed in the back seat, which surprised Tim for some reason. He guessed he’d thought she was kind of mean, but Dane could provoke the most patient of people. Tim got in and twisted around to offer his hand to Naran. “Hi, I’m Tim Trujillo.”

Naran looked startled but she eventually shook his hand. “Naran.” Introduction over, she sat back and stared out the passenger window as Otto pulled the truck onto the narrow road.

“Who are we looking for?” Tim asked after a moment. He manoeuvred around in his seat until he had one leg up and his back almost fully to the door. Otto’s profile was worthy of being sculpted, he decided.

Otto curved his lips up just the slightest bit. “No, not really, but thank you.” Tim realised then Otto had picked up on his thought. “The boy we are looking for, Ochir, was approached by a man who claimed to have poached snow leopard parts.”

Tim blanched and listened as Otto talked, and by the time they arrived at the search point, Tim felt nauseated. “So this is what you do, go after poachers?”

“Yes, but not just those who hunt snow leopards. Poaching is a huge problem everywhere, but especially here, since so many people believe the animals have magical or medicinal properties they honestly don’t. Education is key but as long as there are great sums of money offered for the antiquated superstitions and beliefs, there’s got to be people going after the poachers themselves.”

Naran said something as she gestured. Otto grunted. “Naran has a valid point. The people who purchase the illegal items must be made to understand the damage they’re causing. Although Naran’s solution is a bit harsher than the government would go for.”

Tim cocked his head, not sure he wanted to know.

Dane, who’d been standing with Steve, filled him in. “I agree with her, though. She thinks the poachers and the people who buy the animal parts should all be rendered into pieces and powders and everything else just like is done to the animals. Seems an effective deterrent to me.”

“I’m not surprised you’d agree,” Tim started, hesitating when Naran narrowed her eyes at him. “I think educating people is the best deterrent. Maybe those involved, at least in the purchasing end, aren’t aware of the enormity of what they are participating in.”

Everyone looked at him with something harsher than skepticism. “What?” Tim asked, trying not to shrink under their stares. “I hate violence, and I think most people can learn to think in a broader manner than they do. Surely no one wants to destroy our planet, which is what would happen if we totally screw up the ecology.”

Otto’s expression eased up, and something warm flickered in his dark eyes. “You really believe that?”

The way Otto asked, the soft note lingering in his voice, didn’t make Tim feel he was being mocked at all. Instead, he thought Otto was pleased with him. “I do. I have to. What kind of world would this be if people were hateful and so narrow-minded and selfish in general? Not a world I’d want to be a part of. Besides, most of the people I’ve met have been open, caring individuals. There’s always going to be jerks, but overall I believe there’s more good than bad.”

Naran harrumphed and rattled off a slew of words as Otto draped an arm over Tim’s shoulders and pulled him close. Tim shivered when Otto kissed his temple. A strong, cold breeze swooshed over them and he snuggled against Otto.

“Naran suggests we get started looking and talk philosophy another time,” Otto murmured. “She’s very worried about Ochir.”

“As she should be. I can’t imagine a young boy on his own in a place like this. Or anywhere.” Tim had always had family around. Even when he’d been in college there’d been several cousins going too. Even coming to Mongolia, he’d had someone he knew well with him. To be totally alone in the world was something he thought would be terrifying. “We aren’t too far from the Vengi Pass.” Tim shot Otto a meaningful look. He’d detected no hint of anyone still around other than him, Steve and Dane, but he hadn’t been looking for a kid, either. Tim touched his nose and shook his head slightly.
“I didn’t smell anyone other than this fetid lingering scent that made me think someone deliberately took out the camera.”

“Can Tim and I have a moment?” Otto asked. “Dad, you can sort of map out a search pattern since we’re doing this in the dark and you’re as familiar with the area as I am.” Otto pulled Tim aside. “What do you mean, there was a fetid scent and you think the camera was tampered with?”

Tim frowned and studied the ground. Not much to see in the first place, and even less in the dark. “I mean, the camera set up in the pass is gone. There’s only bits and pieces and I couldn’t even find the bolts. There’s rocks all over, like an avalanche came down, but I just…it doesn’t feel right. I don’t know how else to explain it. Maybe it was that funky odour I told you about.” Tim looked up at Otto. “Do you think maybe it was the poacher you’re looking for?”

“I hope not.” Otto bit his bottom lip then released it, causing it to shine with saliva and Tim wanted to suck on it until Otto squirmed. “But I’m thinking there are too many coincidences. The smell—was it odd, unlike anything you’ve encountered before, but still human?”

Tim bobbed his head. “Yeah, but it was faint. Still pungent enough to hang around though. It was almost like a rotted odour, something decaying and left out in the sun. Sorry,” he tacked on when Otto grimaced. “Didn’t mean to get too, er, detailed there.”

“No, no you told me exactly what I needed to know. That describes to a T the scent I was following yesterday when I met you.”

Tim’s stomach plummeted and fear made his fingertips tingle. “So it is the same person.”

“I think it has to be.”

Tim clutched at Otto’s arm. “We couldn’t find the cubs, not a hint of them or their mama. We’re hoping they ran off, but you said the poacher mentioned s-special snow leopards?” Why did he feel so cold all of a sudden? A sense of foreboding was pressing down on him and Tim almost couldn’t breathe for the weight of it.

“We’ll find them, and the people we’re looking for, Ochir and the poacher.” Otto hugged him and vigorously rubbed Tim’s arms. “Let’s look and see if maybe Ochir is here. There are several caves he could be in.”

Since Tim and Otto had superior senses, they split into two groups, Steve accompanying Tim and Dane for some reason choosing to go off with Otto and Naran. “Behave yourself,” Tim warned him. Dane winked and trotted over to his search mates.

“They’ll be all right,” Steve said. “Otto will smack their heads together if they bicker too much.”

Tim snorted but didn’t argue. Steve turned on the flashlight. “I know you don’t need it, but for appearances sake we should have it out.” Steve tipped his head up and squinted. “The moonlight is pretty bright. Eh, I’m still turning it on.” He did so and shone the beam of light away from them. “Have you ever considered telling Dane?”

Tim whipped his head up. He’d been watching where he walked since there were loose rocks all over the place. “What? No, why would I do that? If it were just myself, well I think I would trust Dane enough, but it’s not just me. There’s my family to consider.” Was he a bad friend?

“Down this way, okay? If you can check for anything suspicious, like you were doing today. You are certain the avalanche was man-made?” Steve stumbled and Tim grabbed his forearm to steady him. “And for what it’s worth, I do think Dane is trustworthy. There are a few regular humans—people not mated to shifters, in other words—who know about them. It’s a matter of trusting yourself, your judgement as well as your senses, as much as it is about trusting who you confide in. We do need friends and allies in all walks of life.”

Tim was trying to process all of that and still keep his senses alert for a hidden boy. He settled for answering the easiest part of Steve’s questions, though he supposed Steve hadn’t really been asking about the trusting others piece of the speech.

“Yes, I do, and Otto said the scent I described smelling, the rank odour I’ve never encountered before, sounds exactly like the one he was following the other night.” Something moved off to the left and Tim stopped, holding up a hand to signal for silence. Even though it was only a rodent, Tim watched it then tracked back the direction it had likely come from. Deciding it must have been lurking in a small brushy area, Tim discounted it as being a hiding spot for Ochir and continued talking and walking.

“With my abilities, I should have been able to find more of the camera, but I think that’s a no-go since someone stole it. I don’t even believe what we found belonged to the camera left here.” Steve had mentioned trusting his senses, and Tim was trying to do just that. “I believe someone took the camera, for whatever reasons. Maybe there was proof on it of their wrongdoing,” gods he hoped not. He feared for the snow leopard cubs and their mama. “Or maybe it was sold for cash, I don’t know. I have a really bad feeling about it, though, and from what Otto told me about Ochir hiding, I think he needs to be found and kept safe.”

Steve hummed as he moved the flashlight back and forth over the area they were searching. “I agree. Do you think Ochir is here?”

Tim sniffed in every direction before answering. “I don’t think so, but I don’t know the kid, either. Seems like a weird place to hang out, or hide out.”

“There’s always the chance whoever took the camera also took Ochir. What if…”

Steve didn’t finish the sentence and he didn’t need to. Tim’s mind spun with a dozen horrifying scenarios. What if Ochir was being kept somewhere out here, bound or hurt or dead?

“Don’t think that,”
Otto’s voice rumbled in his head.
“The rotten scent wasn’t Ochir’s. The boy was seen after this camera was taken down. I can tell because of how weak the lingering odour is. Got to be closer to a month than not since the poacher was here.”

Tim felt a wave of relief so great he was dizzy from it. He clutched at Steve’s shoulder and passed along Otto’s message. Steve grinned even as he patted Tim’s hand. “That’s a nifty mate ability, isn’t it? Lona and I can do it sometimes, but it’s sketchy. As for the camera, could be a month has gone by. Every time I tried to get up here with the last two doctors who were in the programme, something went wrong, it seemed.”

Steve gestured towards a particularly rough looking area several yards away. “There’s a trail up there and it leads to several small cavernous openings. Let’s check it out, then if we still haven’t found the kid, we’re calling it a night here.”

Chapter Nine

“We can keep looking,” Tim offered.

Naran shook her head and Otto turned and headed towards his truck. Dane and Steve had already left, Dane having given up on grilling Tim tonight after all. Otto was frustrated and worried, and he knew Tim was tired and sore. He felt guilty for being relieved that Naran didn’t want to continue, but she was right. They weren’t going to do anyone any good at all if they were too exhausted to function.

“Come on, let’s go home.”

Tim hesitated for a second then beamed at him. He obviously liked the idea of Otto’s place being home. Otto worried though he tried to keep it hidden from Tim. He knew Tim was close to his family, and Otto was likewise close to his. How were they going to make this mating work?

“We’ll figure it out,” Tim murmured beside him, and Otto knew his attempted subterfuge was a bust. “Six months there, six months here, or a few months at a time. It won’t necessarily be easy, but it’ll be worth it, won’t it?”

“Of course,” Otto answered without having to think about it. “You are worth it.” He knew it was only a matter of time before he was soul-deep in love with his mate. “And you’re right. I’ve taken several trips to the US since I moved back here.”

Tim got in and after checking on Naran, who seemed to be pointedly ignoring them—perhaps to give them the illusion of privacy—he turned back to Otto. “I’ve noticed you only have a faint accent, and your English is excellent, but I guess that’s no surprise with your dad and all.”

Otto started the truck and let his mind wander back to his youth. “Yes, my parents insisted we speak Khalkha, Turkic, Russian and English fluently. I also know bits of other languages.”

“I do well to remember proper English,” Tim scoffed.

Otto got the truck in gear then reached for and caught Tim’s hand. “You’re very hard on yourself, Tim. Did someone bully you, or tell you you weren’t an amazing man?” He wanted Tim to be as confident in himself as Otto was.