I notified the front desk that I’d be checking out and asked if they’d get me a flight back to San Antonio. I could have driven down, but it was something like 2700 miles from San Antonio and the plane flight was only about five hours. It would have probably taken me three days just to drive here and I couldn’t spare the extra time away from the hotel.
Hah, that was a laugh. There wasn’t much chance I’d be spending much time at the hotel anymore. I never really wanted to run the hotel and restaurant that my grandparents had transferred to Mom, but her sudden death hadn’t left me much of a choice. There were employees who needed their jobs and if I bailed, they’d be stuck. I had a manager running it now. Could I go on like that if I was going to be a Wanderer? Tess told me that Rafe was in his sixties and still hardly looked old enough to drink. What would I do with a motel if I were to become a roving troubleshooter for Fate? Maybe it’d be best to arrange for its sale. Oh, hell, what would my Grandparents say if I sold it?
I took the elevator back to my floor and figured I’d better start packing.
Opening the door to my room, I immediately noticed the curtains billowed inwards in a surprising breeze. The maid must have returned to clean up and opened the window to air out the room.
Entering, I called, “Estella?”
Rather than Estella, I spotted a slender man sitting in the easy chair beside the open window.
I glanced quickly to either side to make sure there wasn’t anyone else. It looked like we were alone.
“Excuse me, but you’re in my room,” I said cautiously without approaching the man.
The man stared at me silently. His face was shadowed by a wide brimmed felt hat. He looked tall, but that wasn’t easy to judge while he was sitting. He had shoulder length, auburn hair, a square jaw, and a hawkish nose. He was dressed in black, from his Stetson to his fancy boots. He wore an honest to goodness leather duster, fastened by one button near the throat. It should have had him sweating in the Cancun heat, but there was no sign of perspiration on him.
I gave him a moment to respond. When he didn’t, I backed toward the door. I’d had enough of ambushes on this vacation. If this guy was looking for a fight, he’d have to out run me.
There was a loud bang behind me as the door to my room slammed shut. I jumped about a foot and whirled expecting to see the men from the roof. The short entryway was empty.
The wind from the window must have blown the door shut.
I turned back around and found the stranger was now standing. He was tall, over six feet, but his boots might have thrown off my guess. He was older than I’d first guessed. I had pegged him as being in his thirties, but now he looked more like mid-forties. Crow’s feet radiated out from the corner of his eyes and wrinkles around his mouth made me think of a habitual smoker. He also had a few pockmarks that I couldn’t identify on his face. They didn’t look like acne scars.
“Calm down, Alexander. You’re in no danger.”
Shit! He knew my name. Was he someone from the hotel staff checking on yesterday’s distress call? If he was, he was too damn late.
“Okay, you know my name. What’s yours?”
“My name is Rowland and I’ve come a long way to find you.”
“Rowland? Just Rowland?” I asked. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’d heard it.
The man hesitated and then he grinned. “My family name was Lange. I haven’t mentioned that name to anyone in a very long time.”
“And what do you want with me, Rowland Lange?” I asked.
“Alexander, I am to be your mentor and you will be my apprentice. Welcome to the ranks of the Wanderers. We will be great friends over the decades, as such, you can call me Rowle.”
Chapter 12
Raphael
We left for New Braunfels immediately. Flying was considerably faster than traveling by road so our familiars maintained their natural forms and we flew south through a dark sky. Even at their magically enhanced speeds, it would be well after midnight when we reached the south Texas town where we last saw Alex.
It was only a few hours short of dawn, when we landed a few miles up the road from Alex’s motel. The landing woke up the wyvern and it growled plaintively.
As Beast shifted forms beneath me, I watched Tess stroking the little beastie’s head.
“He seems upset,” Tess said.
“Maybe he doesn’t like flying,” I commented.
She honored me with a frown.
I tried not to laugh. “He’s probably hungry. Small creatures usually have to eat more often than larger ones.”
“Good idea,” Tess said. While Maia shifted into Harley form, Tess dug around in her saddlebags and came up with another protein bar.
She was about to tear open the wrapper when the wyvern snatched the treat out of her hand and took about a third of it in one bite.
“Hey, don’t eat the wrapper,” Tess scolded.
She tried to take the bar back, but the wyvern let go of her shoulder and flew up until it was just out of her reach.
“You little stinker. Get back down here and let me have that wrapper,” Tess ordered.
The wyvern swallowed and took another third of the bar, wrapper and all.
I covered my mouth with a hand to hide the grin I couldn’t help.
“We’re going to have to settle who’s the boss,” Tess said.
Tess activated her shield tat and set it above the wyvern in
