77 Hanging by a Feather

"Where the hell are you?" Korū mindlinked impatiently. He and Cayne had been standing near one of the exits from Bloodmoon for the past fifteen minutes.

"Liam can't find something." Cole responded as he stood by the door of the guest room that would cease to be theirs, hopefully within the next few minutes, staring as Liam rushed around the room.

"God damn it," Korū made his way over to the guest house. "What the heck are you looking for?"

"Not brain cells, I think," Kumori commented, also turning in the direction of the guest house.

"Have any of you seen a pendant...a bracelet with a feather pendant?" Liam practically shouted through mindlink,

"No." Korū turned up at their door. "Where did you last see it?"

"Yesterday. He searched everywhere at least ten times, and even asked me to help him check his bag's pocket where he swore he left it, in case he had turned blind." Cole reported, and Cayne, who was walking alongside Korū, sighed. "Is it for his sister?"

The silence was telling.

Cayne sighed again, and turned to Korū, "He won't leave without it."

"God damn it. Check behind the bed." Was the ever cheerful response.

"Wait, wait. What are you looking for again?" Kumori asked, distracted by a couple of wolves who were two seconds from tearing each other's throats out.

"Bracelet. With a feather pendant." Liam said curtly.

"You know, the one he was sitting on the floor making, two days ago?" Cole supplied.

"...You left it at my uncle's house. It's with me now."

"I did?" Liam exclaimed, "Thank goddess."

Everyone could feel the relief rushing through the mindlink. "Great, that's the last thing I needed to pack. We can go now." Liam announced.

"Thank God."

The few of them finally managed to make it back to the exit.

"Have you guys set off?" Alina mindlinked them as they were going to set foot across the pack borders, "Cayne, you got our stuff, right?"

"We're leaving now." Cole replied.

"Yeah, I got your stuff," Cayne told her, "Including the note that you left under the bed, that said, 'The Monster'."

"You removed the monster from under the bed? Damn you, Cayne."

They could hear Liam choking on his laughter in the background.

"What the hell?" Korū snorted, a little amused.

"The note is in the front pocket of your backpack." Cayne said, grinning. 

Alina grunted in response before retreating from the link, "Get your butts here without crashing the car."

Kumori glanced at Korū, who huffed. "Fine, I swear I won't crash the damn car."

"I call shotgun." Cayne stated, as Cole opened his mouth to speak.

"Curse you." Cole grumbled, "I'm pretty sure Alina beat me to that before, too."

"Your reaction's too slow." Korū eyed him. "That's part of the reason why I could beat the living crap out of you before."

"Aye, at least I can still beat Cayne," Cole replied, getting a glare from his friend, 

"Says the one who can't even start a fire. And the last time, I only lost by a hair."

"That's cool, but I'm pretty sure I'm still the best at both." Liam stated, grinning happily at Kumori as she passed him the bracelet.

"You wanna try?" Korū challenged. For a moment he saw the darker version of himself, drenched in blood that was both his own and that of the three wolves he'd killed, a polished pair of twin blades in his hands. His eyes were blank, empty pools of green.

"Try what? Fighting you? Why would I want to?" Cole asked as they got into the car, "On top of me definitely losing, we have an airport to get to."

"I just realised that we haven't updated you guys on what happened, did we?" Cayne said suddenly, interrupting the conversation that he feared would start going south and blow up in their faces at any moment.

"I gave them an explanation of sorts." Kumori offered.

"Hikari told you?" Cayne guessed.

"Yeah? I mean, I told them everything except you and Korū being mates."

"Ah, okay." Cayne said nodding. "Right."

***

"Are you there yet?" Cayne asked Linda. 

"Almost," was the answer.

"They're not here yet," Cayne reported as Korū pulled up in the carpark of the airport.

Kumori and Shōhei chilled in the backseats, relieved that Korū actually didn't crash the car. Thank God.

"There's a coffee place here somewhere," Korū opened the door and got out. "Either that or we wander the airport like nomads."

"Coffee." was the unanimous agreement.

"This way." He led them into the airport, and a few minutes later, the cafe. He flopped onto one of the comfier chairs.

"What time are they reaching?" Liam asked as he yawned. It had been a long road trip back to the airport. 

"Linda just said they are almost here, so no idea." Cayne said, after ordering his and Korū's coffee.

One of the waitresses looked at the group with interest, particularly the eye-catching blond with the blue eyes, but her eyes widened the moment she saw the tattoo on the neck of the boy who the former offered a cup of coffee to, and her gaze flicked up to the cold emerald of his eyes. "Oh my god," she muttered, unheard, then hurried away.

"That was pretty creepy," Liam commented, eyeing the waitress as she busied herself. He turned back to his friends and grinned, his hand going to the bracelet that was now tucked safely behind the zip of the pocket of his pants. "Anyway, I'm going to order for the rest of us, since Cayne seems to have forgotten us in the light of finding his mate. What do you want?"

"Just a frappe." Cole answered.

"Anything that says mocha for me and Shōhei," Kumori piped up.

Beside her, Korū's gaze was fixed on the spot where the waitress had disappeared into the back room, his jaw clenched slightly.

Cayne's hand found its way onto Korū's, which was sitting on his lap.

"Kumori."