Chapter 853 Chapter 853
Uri wanted to do a fly over of the house, but his owl had other ideas. Curious as to why they weren’t in agreement, he let him take the lead to see what he wanted so badly. It wasn’t unusual for him to be more demanding or aggressive when they hadn’t shifted in a few days.
They flew over the trees, and then, with a quick shift of flexor muscles—that Uri noted were still tender but not as bad as the long tendon near his mantle. His Aves swooped down low and then weaved between some large tree trunks until the SUV was in sight. When it came to darting through trees, he always let his owl take the lead. His instinct was much better than Uri’s.
Was his owl checking on Oryn? Uri had never known him to be so compassionate before. His bird, when in control, was a cold predator.
Gliding in, he landed on the hood and stretched his extensor muscles so his wings were completely extended.
Oryn looked shocked and then smiled and gave a thumbs up.
Confused, Uri retook control and took to the air again. Since when was his creature in the ‘look at me’ scene? Oryn probably thought Uri was saying, ‘See, it’s all better.’ This was turning out to be the strangest assignment he’d ever had.
Gaining enough altitude, he circled over the property In a wide circle. Thanks to his owl’s vision, the dim light wasn’t an issue. It would be dawn soon, though, so if he wanted a closer look, now was the time. Moving lower, he did another full circle, checking for guards or sentries. Getting shot once was more than enough for him.
When he was assured there was no one outside, he went lower, so he would do a fly-by and note how many exits the building had. There was a midsized shed at the back he hadn’t noticed until now. He didn’t like tiny buildings. Too often, they were surprised he wasn’t going to like, and he hated reporting ‘unknown’ to the teams.
The wind was picking up, and he made a mental note to check the weather forecast for the next few days.
After circling the main building three times, he confirmed there were four doors leading to the outside and a double garage. The place was a lot bigger up close than it had been in the air, which meant he would have to have Devin send more team members.
Bringing his metacarpals in, he tucked his primary feathers so he could drop down and then stretched his wings to scoop some air and rise again. He was just about to circle back to leave when he spotted something beside the shed. It was on the dark side, so he hadn’t seen it before.
Normally, he wouldn’t land near a place he was observing, but his gut told him he needed to get this right and confirm what his mind was telling him he was looking at. Dropping down, he landed silently ten feet from the object. He tapped into his owl and let him know he needed to listen for any signs of movement nearby.
With careful footing, he moved closer and stood there looking at a large, excessively so aquarium tank. It wasn’t the fact that it was outside that had him tense. In the side of it was a huge, shattered crack. The force it had been made with had sent a web of fine cracks in every direction. He needed to know if it was broken from the inside or outside. Going over to it, he stretched as tall as he could and rubbed his beak along the center of the mark. It was smooth. The break had been from the inside.
In a slow rise, he lifted his body and then perched on the edge of the tank. He could taste salt on his tongue. The shifter that had been inside this tank was from the Sea clan.
He looked at the house. Did they still have them? How was he going to find out?
Taking to the air with a full wingspan to scoop as much air and height as fast as possible, he ignored the twinge from his injured area. He needed to get back to his vehicle as quickly as possible. Did he tell Devin first or Konner?
By the time he reached where he’d left his clothes, he decided Konner needed to know the facts. Whether he told him or someone else did, he would leave that up to Devin to decide.