We are the Answer {boyxboy} ✔ (Dogs, Bats & Monkeys series, Book I | Rhys)

Chapter 50

The Sentinel kept his eyes closed for minutes, taking in the emotions left behind on the soil with his bare right hand, the left one protected from overstimulation with the thick black glove that was still on it.

"This is a very complicated person," Clifford said with knitted eyebrows.

Riley opened his mouth to speak, but before I managed to hush him, he thought better of it and kept silent, allowing the empath to work in peace.

Clifford's hand moved to the branches of the nearby bush.

"Very complicated indeed," he concluded. "It's more difficult to pick up on secondary emotions when someone shifts to their animal form, but with this person, it's difficult to comprehend even the most dominant ones."

His eyes opened and he got up, putting his glove back on in the process.

"So it was a shifter?" Keri asked.

"Yes," Clifford certified. "Your kind feels... bifurcated, but at the same time cohesive."

"Two fancy words in one short sentence." Johnathan whistled quietly.

His partner went on to elaborate:

"It's as if I'm trying to understand the emotions of two creatures but at the same time they feel as one."

"Welcome to our world." Keri smiled a bit crookedly. "It's always as if we have two hearts to feel with. But enough of that. What did you find out?"

"Not much," the Sentinel admitted. "A lot of you have passed by here and that muddled this shifter's emotions with the ones from your pack. Also, this boy's fear..." He turned to my mate, his eyebrows furrowing again. "You said they were not aggressive; why did you fear them so?"

Riley shrugged and looked down. I reached to him and took his hand, giving it a little squeeze.

"They just felt very dominant and intrusive," he replied after taking a deep breath. "They were gazing at me as if I was a toy."

"Good instincts." Clifford nodded. " A sense of superiority is one of the things I picked up on. Confidence. There was some form of desire, but it wasn't a sexual one, it wasn't romantic; I wouldn't say it was a desire to harm you either. There was also curiosity and something else I can't quite make out."

He closed his fist, leaving the index and thumb sticking out and brought his fingers under his chin as he contemplated for a few seconds.

"Entitlement." He finally uttered. "There was definitely a sense of entitlement."

"But no malicious intent?" I needed to make sure.

"No."

"And their interest in Riley..." I held my mate's hand tighter. "... Can you tell us more about that?"

To my great disappointment, the man shook his head.

"Not from here. Riley, show me where they stepped when they saw your mate coming."

My mate let go of me and moved a few steps to the side to indicate the spot by pointing between a set of bushes.

"They went that way. In a straight line," he added.

"Alright." Clifford nodded yet again, removed the glove he had put back on and crouched once more. A sense of déjà vu overcame me as he closed his eyes, reached to the ground with him palm facing it and the rest of us just stood nearby in silence, waiting for the Sentinel to pick on the intruder's emotions. This time though, he kept moving. He spent a minute or two touching the ground, then, still crouched, stepped away from us and touched another spot; he spent about the same amount of time there, before moving another couple of steps and doing this over and over again, following the path the white wolf had taken. He was about sixteen feet away from us when he stood up and put the black leather glove back on.