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*****

We observed silently as Clifford took in whatever emotions the white wolf had left behind. Throughout the whole time his eyes were closed. After a couple of minutes, his eyebrows knitted.

"This is a very complicated person."

I opened my mouth to ask him whether he could tell for sure that it had been a shifter and not a real wolf, but I closed it without a word; after all, it was probably best to save the questions for when the Sentinel was done with his examination of the training grounds.

His hand moved back to the branches.

"Very complicated indeed," he noted without opening his eyes, then added something which replied to another question that was going through my mind:

"It is more difficult to pick up on secondary emotions when someone shifts to their animal form, but with this person, it is 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 voiced my question.

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

"Two fancy words in one short sentence." Johnathan whistled under his breath. His partner went on as if he had not heard him.

"It is 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 is 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 me, his eyebrows furrowing again. "You said they were not aggressive; why did you fear them so?"

I shrugged and looked at the ground. Rhys immediately came by my side to hold my hand. His warm and gentle touch reassured me to go on and I took a deep breath and looked at the Sentinel.

"They just felt very dominant and intrusive. 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 three of his fingers into a fist, the thumbs and index fingers sticking up, his hand taking on the form of a gun, and brought them under his chin.

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

"But no malicious intent?" Rhys wanted to make sure.

"No."

"And their interest in Riley - can you tell us more about that?" My boyfriend's grip tightened.

"Not from here." The other man shook his head. "Riley, show me where they stepped when they saw your mate coming."

I let go of Rhys and walked towards where the wolf had turned around before leaving, thinking how the Sentinel kept calling the intruder 'they'; apparently he could not define the genre with his ability, at least not in the present situation.

"They went that way." I pointed between another set of bushes. "In a straight line."

"Alright."

Clifford removed his glove and crouched down again, palm to the ground and eyes closed. He stood still for a minute or so, then slowly moved about a foot without rising. He kept that routine - a minute with his hand on the ground, then a step away from our group - until he was a good sixteen feet from us. He then stood up and put the glove back on.

It was in that moment that I realize the thick fabric must serve as a sort of a barrier, a shield to protect him from constantly catching up on other people's emotions. No matter how hard he would attempt to keep his hands to himself, he was bound to accidently touch on object or a person.

So far, he'd only touch the ground and bushes; what would happen if he were to touch a person?

"You can relax," he started on his way back to us. "The further they got, the less curious they felt. Perhaps they were simply surprised to see a human boy on a territory owned by a pack of werewolves."

"So you think they aren't fixated on Riley?" Rhys had leveled himself with me once more.

"A few hours have gone by and quite a few shifters have passed, but I doubt they are targeting your mate."

"I still want you to move in with me." Rhys grabbed me by the shoulders and swirled me around to face him. "As soon as possible, Riley. It will be so much easier to protect you if you are here."

"But..." I took a step back and his arms fell by his side. We had talked about moving in together, but I didn't expect it to be right away.

"I know I'm coming off as pushy, Riley," he held both of my hands this time as he stared into my eyes; I couldn't look away, "but try to see things from my perspective. If the person you loved most was in potential danger, wouldn't you want to be by their side as much as possible?"

"Don't put it like that," I quietly begged. "Don't go all I love you at a time like this, Rhys, it isn't fair!"

His mouth fell ajar.

"When you say it like that, I can't find the strength to say no to you," I muttered and he pulled me, the sudden movement causing me to bump into his chest. He released my hands only to embrace me in that perfect way only he could embrace - not tight enough to stop my breath, but tight enough to make me feel as if he never wanted to let me go.

My eyes drifted shut and I inhaled the now familiar scent that was my boyfriend.

No - my soul mate.

Boyfriend was too casual, too ordinary... It wasn't enough to describe the bond I felt between the two of us at that moment. To love and be loved - that was what I'd desired the most and I now had it. I was giddy and intoxicated by happiness so strong that my hands began to shake and my knees grew week; I was so overcome with emotion that I would fall to the ground if not in Rhys' secure embrace.

"I can't believe that not a month into the relationship and we are moving in together." I giggled. "Maybe I've gone crazy."

"You don't seem particularly bothered by that," Rhys commented and kissed the top of my head.

I looked up at him, resting my chin on his chest.

"Nope." I emphasized the p. "Not at all, not at the moment and that's thanks to you cheating."

"Saying that I love you is cheating?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I told you: I can't say no to you then. All you need to do is say 'I love you, Riley' and I go all mushy and agreeable."

I lifted myself on my tiptoes with every intention to kiss him.

"Oh, you two are so adorable together."

I froze inches away from Rhys' lips.

"Has anyone told you that before?"

I turned around to Johnathan - who had spoken - and the rest of the group, blinking a few times while I cleared my mind.

They were still here, staring at us, and yet a moment ago I'd felt as if it had been just Rhys and me, the two of us alone in our private little world.

"Did I interrupt you?" The Sentinel asked. "I'm sorry; do go on."

I stepped back from Rhys; I could still kiss him, but the magic was gone.

"We should head back," Keri swirled around and began walking towards the end of the woods that adjoined them with the Silver Bullets' neighborhood. "I'm going to contact each household to let them know that it had indeed been a shifter, but you felt no malicious intent."

Rhys and I fell into step with her.

"I'm still holding the children here, just in case," she told my mate, then turned to the Sentinels who had caught up with us; Anthony, Everett and the female shifter walked behind us, the first of them looking about, alert as always. "Would you like to stay for lunch? I could..."

A polyphonic melody sounded from Johnathan's pocket and we all stopped while he reached for his phone.

"Excuse me for a moment." He lifted one finger in the air to us, then swiped it across his screen.

"Hello?" He greeted into the receiver, placing the phone to his right ear and covering his left one with his palm.

"Yes, we are still here. We doubt it's the killer since Cliff sensed no malicious intent..."

The person on the other end of the line must have interrupted his explanations as the Sentinel paused, his expression taking on various forms in a short span of time.

At first he pulled his head back a little, his eyes rounding; he was obviously surprised.

"How can you know..."

He was cut off again.

His eyebrows furrowed, his lips parting slightly - confused.

His eyes enlarged once more and his mouth hung open - shocked.

"But there hasn't been another one." His voice was louder than usual. "How can you know for sure?"

There was another moment of him quieting down until the person we could not hear spoke; a moment in which all of us were on edge even though none of us - or was it just me? - had the slightest clue what had gotten the Sentinel so excited.

"Oh, she saw. Yes. Yes, I'll tell them."

Johnathan swiped his finger over the phone screen, ending the call.

"You can tell your people that the white wolf isn't the killer and we know that for sure," he addressed Keri.

"How?" She took a step towards him, her voice rising before she threw his own question back at him. "How can you know?"

"Because we found out where the killer is."

*****

A/N: So yeah, a short chapter, but did you enjoy it? I really hope so!

Do you think Rhys is being pushy?

What do you think of his ultimate weapon? Do you get agreeable when someone tells you 'I love you'?

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