Chasing Fate (Sentinel & Guide)

Chapter 3

Fate let out a deep breath as she hopped out of her dinky little SUV and onto the familiar gravel of her drive. It had been a bit of a hassle getting up the winding mountain road with several charter buses driving carefully up the steep inclines as they headed towards the Bent Valley Sentinel Retreat. They had to be traveling up for the full moon excursion. It was quite a few more than she was used to seeing. Didn't Karen say something about a big-wig fancy pants alpha sentinel of some sort?

No matter. That cemented it. She'd had enough of crowds and people and expectations to last her a long time. There was no way she was going to sacrifice her hard-won peace to go schmooze with a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears sentinels and pie-eyed guides.

She didn't have anything in particular against excursions. That was the term that polite company used for an age-old guide finding tradition. It was simple biology. A sentinel would be more inclined to find their true guide if their senses were put fully to use. The added factor of the potential danger that an outdoor setting provided made these some of the most efficient ways of matching sentinels and guides.

It also meant that she'd need to turn on her perimeter alarm. Weaker sentinels who lost the trail would often make their way onto her property. Her guide pull was so strong without dampeners that even the weakest of sentinels would gravitate to her. Usually, she could persuade them to go away. Failing that, she could knock their lights out and have a coordinator drag them back to base.

Unwilling bonds were disastrous. She'd do everything in her power to prevent it from happening to her again.

Beau let out a heavy boof as he bounded out of the car to go inspect his territory. After a month with Karen and the show dog regimen, his first order of business was to stomp through as much snow as possible and pee on every tree he could find. That would take a while, so Fate busied herself with bringing in the groceries she'd grabbed before taking the hour drive in from town.

The Earthship arched over the driveway in a one-story semi-dome. In spring the solar-panel roof would be decorated with bright growing flowers like some sort of hobbit hole. The brightly colored tile-and-bottle mosaic stood in stark contrast to the white snow that covered the landscape. Inside it was quite warm and cozy. Thanks to her big paychecks Fate had added some of the fun modern amenities that her clients developed. One of which allowed her to turn on her heat from an app on the phone when she'd landed. With a practiced flick of a few more buttons, she turned on her television to play her favorite relaxation station and began warming up water for tea.

She was finally home, queen of the castle once more.

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The Bent Valley retreat was massive and beautiful, more reminiscent of a ski resort than a sentinel hideaway. The recent snow had covered everything in a powdery white blanket, but the staff had cleared immaculate pathways in from the cold.

Inside the central cabin was a large lounge that easily held the nearly fifty sentinels that had already arrived. The pecking order was clear from how they all sat in deference to one Sentinel in particular. A hush fell over the crowd as the final group entered, Jack in the lead.

Hunter was familiar with the posturing and stepped back, "I'll be back in ten minutes to go over the itinerary. I'm going to check on the guide group."

The sentinels didn't even acknowledge him as he slipped out the door. he'd been matched for three years now and could barely believe that he'd once been stiff-necked peacock as well. After matching with Karen everything had fallen into place. He was confident that she liked him far beyond his ability to smell the best produce at the store or see where she'd dropped her favorite earring.

Her face simply lit up whenever she saw him; like it was lighting up right now when she saw him entering the guide's cabin. It had card-lock entry and he was the only sentinel able to enter. It was a precaution, as having fifty unmatched sentinels in one area was about as simple as herding fifty mountain lions.

"I came to borrow my guide for a bit. She'll be back to help you prepare after a little bit, okay?" He addressed the crowd, trying to keep his emotions as neutral as possible as forty pairs of eyes assessed him. No matter how many times he did this job, it was still very unsettling to be laid so bare. Aside from Karen and her abrasive friend, he much preferred the up-front nature of sentinels to the silence of a group of guides.

He took Karen under his arm and walked her back out towards the sentinel's cabins. It was a short walk, but he'd enjoy it. In return for their work, they'd get a few days on the resort to themselves in a private cabin.

He leaned down and took a deep breath of her hair, freshly washed with natural conditioners this morning. Beyond that, he caught the scent of the dogs, smoke from driving her car with the windows cracked, and beyond that the strange null-scent of dampeners.

"You couldn't convince her to come, huh?"

Karen shrugged, shaking her head. It wasn't his business to tell, but he knew the look that always crossed Fate's eyes when she saw him. He couldn't tell quite what had happened, with the dampeners blocking any scent she may carry and her wardrobe leaning towards covering every inch of skin, but wherever she'd been before coming to Bent Valley, she'd had a rough time with a sentinel.

It would come out eventually. Dampener technology wasn't for more than temporary use, and she'd been in the town long enough for it to be nearing the end of its safety. Weaker guides could get glands removed, or use hormone treatment in combination with a cocktail of mood regulation drugs to maintain for a while after a separation. The pity with Fate was that she was too sensitive, too strong. Only a suitably strong sentinel could even hope to help her stay on even keel.

Before he'd realized it they reached the sentinel cabin. He pushed open the door, keeping his guide firmly behind him. The first thing he noticed were the two strongest sentinels still posturing in the center of the room. They broke apart reluctantly at the sound of a new heartbeat. Whatever it was, it wasn't over.

Several of the sentinel's heads turned towards Karen, other's nostrils flared and it took every fiber of Hunter's control not to punch any of them. After all, they'd just come from a room full of guides.

The rules of excursions were simple and all the same. Everybody goes out in unfamiliar territory and tries to find their match under the full moon. Disputes were settled by the guide's choice. It wasn't until he had been inducted as a coordinator that he'd learned of all the subtle things that they did to make the process as smooth as possible. As Karen introduced herself and went over the rules and important safety and vending machine information, Hunter was in charge of cataloging the sentinel's reactions and demeanor.

A few were hyper-focusing on her. She'd hugged a lot of people today. Guides tended to be touchy-feely in groups. There were stray strands of hair all over her cable-knit cashmere sweater, smudged patches of skin-oil from contact with cheeks. To a null, she'd look at neat and put-together as a Martha Stewart catalog, but to a Sentinel she had essentially carried in the menu on her shirt.

He'd have about an hour or two to input the data that would help him calculate the best starting positions for all involved. By the looks of the group, he'd need to do his best to minimize conflict. The two warring sentinels from earlier were hyper-focusing on her left shoulder, their iris' blown wide and nostrils flared. Karen's words were floating in one ear and out the other. If it continued on he'd have to call in one of the emergency teams to pull them from limbo.

Glancing over at his guide's shoulder, he focused down the area to see who it could be. That shoulder was particularly clean except for a tiny black curl no bigger than his pinky nail, spun perfectly in a circle clinging to a seam. He recognized it immediately.

Fate.

This could be a problem.