Within you I found home

thirty four

        IT TOOK JUST OVER A DAY TO REACH THE VILLAGE. It was twenty-plus hours of travel with occasional power naps to get them through. The rest stops were more for Mithun's sake than Nico's.

        "This is where I was found," Mithun pointed to the dead tree.

        Nico inhaled deeply as if he'd find a hint of the past in the wind. "I don't get it," he mumbled, shaking his head. "How you travelled so far within a matter of hours?"

        "Why was my biological Mom so far away from our pack?" Mithun questioned suddenly. "Why wasn't she with you? I was only a baby—it seems stupid to travel such a distance with me, alone."

        "She was travelling to an allies pack," Nico answered, slightly amused by the interrogation. The fierceness in his eyes reminded him of his own. "Aerilyn has a cousin there who wanted to meet you. I was meant to join her, but had work to do. She refused to wait. . .I wasn't happy about that, but she's her own person. I couldn't stop her, and. . .no one had ever been attacked on that route before. It wasn't a danger. Or so we thought."

        Mith led them closer to the village. He was dressed once more, having thrown on the clothes from his backpack. Nico didn't bring any spares for himself and the extra pair Mith had wouldn't fit him.

        "You'll have to stay here," Mith said once they reach the tree line. He spied the familiar buildings. It was growing dark. A guard walked around lighting the street lanterns. "They'll spot you a mile off wearing nothing."

        Nico's back went straight as an arrow. "No, Mithun." Something caught his eye and he frowned. "What is that doing here?"

        "What?" Mithun followed his gaze. "Our town statue?"

        "It looks like the one which used to sit outside of our temple," Nico mumbled, brows pinching harder. "Why the f-" his eyes flickered to Mith and he cleared his throat. "Just realised it looks like your Mom. How did it get here?"

        "Weird," Mithun agreed, thinking back to the story the shifter told him and his Mom. "But don't change the subject. I'm still going alone."

        Nico grabbed his arm before he could step out of the tree. "They'll recognise you," he said, a stern reminder. "Unless we want to make a blood bath, we need to play this carefully." His eyes traced over the buildings.

        "What's wrong with a blood bath?"

        Ah, like father like son. "Nothing. But your Mom would be pissed at me for involving you."

        Mithun raised an eyebrow at that. "You're scared of my Mom?"

        "No," he denied, too quickly. "Will her journals still be in your house?"

        The boy rolled his eyes but allowed the change of subject. Again. "She hid them underneath the floorboards when she thought they were going to come for us," Mithun remembered how worried you were, but you tried so hard to hide it from him. "Someone else might be living there now."

        "We wait for dark," Nico decided after a moment. "Once the streets are quiet. Then we'll shift. If we're spotted or attacked, it'll be easier for us to flee or attack."

        "Ok," Mithun nodded. "We'll wait for dark."

--

        Mithun was speechless as he gazed upon the cottage which was once his home.

        It was boarded up. Vandalised with written warnings: stay away. Evil lurks within. The front garden his Mom loved so much was overgrown with weeds. His fists clenched. He hated this place and these people.