➹BEEPER

[intheblanks]

"It had better be an emergency."
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[intheblanks]

Which one?

[Which also means no. He wets his lips after he asks, willing them to the next patch of straight road.]

[synanthrope]

Ray. Raymond.

He's an idiot.

[They're all idiots in Saya's opinion, except maybe Celina]

[intheblanks]

That's not an ideal credential. [But Chase thinks a lot of doctors are idiots.] Not uncommon, either. Which part of the beach are we headed to?

[synanthrope]

Go to the bottom tip, it's as far as we can go in this car.

[intheblanks]

All right.

[He knows the area more or less backwards, from the road to the small footpaths down on to the sand.]

Any reason you're telling me now?

[synanthrope]

Because I always think about my family on days like this one.

[intheblanks]

[It shouldn't surprise him. After all, he spends most of his failing at doing the opposite.]

When was the last time you saw him? Ray.

[synanthrope]

He came here. A year and a half ago. He scared Rosella.

[intheblanks]

Scared her? You mean she didn't make him a cake?

[A small, conspiratorial smile catches at his lips.]

Your sister, on the other hand, seemed the consummate innocent. What is he?

[synanthrope]

He was naked and she found him on the couch.

[She looks over]

He's a raven. And my sister is impossible.

[intheblanks]

Oh.

[Yes, that sounds more likely to scare Rosella than anything he'd been imagining.]

So he's a raven. Called Ray. Ray the raven. [Chase's face keeps determinedly straight until he looks at her.] Your family have a thing for alliteration?

[synanthrope]

Only if you think about it too hard. Mostly we were named by our mothers. Except me.

[Saya's always different]

[intheblanks]

[They pull in to a small makeshift layby with a view across a bay, and a steep sandy slope down to the water.]

Your dad was pretty prolific.

[synanthrope]

[She shifts a bit]

He just had the misfortune of sleeping with women who never seemed to be on birth control.

[intheblanks]

Misfortune. [He turns in his seat, letting a hand rest on her outstretched ankle.] Not a footstep you want to follow in?

[synanthrope]

[She looks at that hand]

Are you asking if I want children?

[intheblanks]

[he shrugs a little, hand still but for the slow circling of his thumb against perfectly smooth, perfectly pale skin.]

I guess so. Yes.

[synanthrope]

Eventually, I will have children. But my species doesn't raise our young.

[She's so matter-of-fact about it]

[intheblanks]

I thought you were brought up by your dad?

[synanthrope]

I was. But my father was human.

That's how it works. One shifter parent, one non-shifter parent.

[intheblanks]

Then your dad didn't just sleep with women who didn't use birth control. Not without a hell of a run of coincidences.

[synanthrope]

You would have to ask him about the circumstances. He died before he even told me I had siblings.

[intheblanks]

[Full of mysteries, Satya Wallace. But not the kind to pursue on a birthday. Chase lets his grip tighten slightly, a gentle squeeze, and leans in to kiss her cheek.]

Only around enough of them to fill an ark.

[synanthrope]

[She looks over at him, and presses a kiss to his cheek, in response]

Yes.

[intheblanks]

I can guess who helped start your birthday tradition.

[His fingers idly brush up her leg, just to the calf.]