Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

Yuna Hollander imprinted on her son’s heartbeat when he was still within her womb.

It was one of the perils of being a female sentinel, one of the craziest advantages. She had known as soon as his small heartbeat had fluttered into being. She had known the feel of his psionic presence growing and growing along with every physical milestone. She had known before he was born that he would be a sentinel, an Alpha.

When the nurse hands him to her and she looks down at her beautiful son, the perfect blend of her and David, she realises that Shane is special beyond the usual. He’s not online but when he emerges she knows that he’s going to be a game changer.

It doesn’t matter, Yuna thinks as she gently presses a kiss to his wrinkled forehead. She’s his mother and she will protect him from everything.

o-O-o

She can’t protect him from racists, from racism, from the goddamn truth that society still struggles with the concept of two people with different backgrounds falling in love and creating a baby.

Yuna would like to strangle her mother-in-law who almost rubs Shane’s arm raw when she gives him a bath because she can’t tell the difference between dirt and brown skin. For the first time in her life, she yells at her own father because he casually calls her son a mongrel. David’s cousin marries a woman who is so racist that Yuna refuses to be in the same room as her.

Yuna and David build walls around their small family. Grandparents become enshrined in polite cards and presents for birthdays and holidays rather than visits and cuddles.

At pre-school, Shane struggles to connect with the other children. He’s one of only three people of colour. He’s not quite ostracised but Yuna overhears one of the other mothers calling him ‘the weird Asian kid’ and there is the memorable occasion when David is asked when he adopted Shane by a new teacher.

Shane never reacts. He walks through the world differently, observing everything and filing it away without ever truly responding to it.

It is not just because he is a latent sentinel.

Yuna reads everything she can about autism when the doctor dismisses her concerns. She finds coping strategies which work for him.

Shane loves routine. He hates change. There are some textures he cannot stand. Food is a battlefield. Overstimulation of lights, noise, and activity can be a real problem.

They learn together as a family what works and does not.

Somewhere in all of the learning, she and David take Shane to an ice rink and he takes to it as though he was born with skates on his feet and a hockey stick in his hand.

The sporting world has very few sentinels and guides within its ranks. Initially it was because sentinels had been deemed to have unfair advantages then because guides were too precious for the rough and tumble.

Canada had been one of the first countries where the sporting bodies had come up with rules and regulations allowing sentinels and guides to play. Britain followed soon after. The States with its myriad of sporting bodies and state regulations has been slow to change even if they allow sentinels and guides to compete on paper.

Major League Hockey is particularly resistant, even to sentinels. Yuna can think of only one known sentinel. She knows statistically there are likely to be more but that information is not in the public domain and she realises it is probably locked down to the individuals, clubs and league.

Yuna takes a breath. Nobody is going to tell her son that he cannot achieve his dreams in the sport he loves.

o-O-o

Shane is six when his spirit protector appears for the first time.

Despite Yuna’s worries, it is not on the ice where it happens. Shane plays in a local Peewee programme and there still bumps, hits and falls. Still, he keeps his head and his protector never shows up.

They have been out for a day as a family at the local mall. They’ve gone shopping for new summer gear, enjoyed the latest Disney movie, and gone for a meal at a favourite restaurant.

David is carrying their bags of shopping while Yuna holds onto Shane’s hand as they traverse the parking lot.

A group of teenage boys lurks at the corner where they are due to pass. Yuna can smell the booze on them, the stink of cigarettes.

“Hey, chinky eyes!” One of them calls out.

“Why don’t you go back to where you came from!” Another calls out.

One of them tosses a bottle and it breaks beside them, smashing into pieces.

David turns, his guide gift rising to project calm and peace…

There is a snick of a knife.

“I know! Why don’t we shank your boys and have some fun with you? I heard Asian pussy is…”

There is a roar as a large fierce cat leaps from the psionic plane and takes down the knife-wielder, snarling into their face ferociously.

The others in the gang panic and run.

The boy – a thin, lanky white boy with straggly brown hair – pisses himself as he cowers under the weight of a fully grown cougar.

“Ma’am,” a security guard runs up, overweight, sweating and puffing away as he tries to catch his breath. “Please can you call off your…animal?”

Yuna raises an eyebrow. “It’s not mine.”

The security guard gasps and tries to speak as his eyes flit to David.

David holds up his hands, heavy with shopping bags. “Not mine either.”

Yuna focuses for a moment. Both of their protectors emerge from the psionic plane.

The guard gulps at the large Asiatic black bear which ambles forward. The golden eagle which flies above them, glides to perch on a nearby parking sign.

Yuna crouches in front of Shane and coaxes him into looking at her. “Darling, thank you for protecting us. We’re safe now. You can call off your protector.”

Shane frowns. “He’s still thinking bad things or Kitty would have let him go.”

Kitty?!

David stifles a laugh, trying to turn it into a cough. The security guard is looking at them like they’re mad.

“Maybe, but he’s not going to be able to do anything from jail which is where he is going so Kitty can let him go. Utsukushi-sa will guard him.” She looks at the security guard. “I assume you have called the police.”

The guard hurriedly nods. “We’ve called the Centre too.”

Yuna nods. “Thank you.”

Kitty gets off the teen and Utsukushi-sa takes her place.

David clears his throat. “I’ll leave Gold here too. I’m going to drop the shopping into the car and come back. You can take Shane home while I deal with the police.”

Yuna nods. David is her rock, her soulmate, for a reason. He’s as organised and as plan orientated as she is but he hides it under an unwavering calm surface.   

o-O-o

Life moves forward.

Doctor Blair Sandburg makes an address at the Sentinel and Guide Conference stating crisply that all roles in society play a part in the tribe thriving. He goes further to state that sentinels and guides can embrace everyday professions; that they have as much right to enjoy being a teacher or a trash collector or an actor without being considered odd for not being a first responder or involved with the Centres.

His Sentinel, Jim Ellison, goes on record stating his support for sentinels in American football.

Yuna folds the support into her own smaller campaigns as scouts look at her Shane and his talent with sharp eyes.

o-O-o

Shane’s heartbeat winks out of existence.

Yuna dumps her laptop at the side of the sofa, adrenaline surging as she catapults out of work mode. David is already moving, ignoring the film he had been watching…

Her son is ten. He’s a child still and his heartbeat has stopped…

She runs out of the living room and up the stairs, her senses already cataloguing that the alarm has not triggered, that there is no-one in the house except for her and David.

There is no-one in the house except for her and David.

Yuna stumbles onto the landing as her breath catches in her throat…

She throws her senses wide open, can hear a car alarm going off three streets away and can smell their dinner lingering in the kitchen and can –

She cannot hear her baby’s heartbeat. She cannot hear her baby’s heartbeat…

Suddenly there are arms around her and David surrounds her in a psionic bubble, his voice telling her to dial it back, dial it all back.

Yuna clutches at him. “David, Shane! My baby, where is he?!”

David holds her tightly enough that it almost hurts. His blue eyes are panicked. “I don’t know. He’s not in his room and I can’t feel him anywhere in the house or near. It’s like he disappeared and I…”

Shane’s heartbeat rockets back into the house.

They both run for their son’s room.

Shane sits on his small bed, clothed in the same Spiderman pyjamas he had worn for bed that night. He looks wide-eyed and bewildered.

Yuna launches herself across the room, aware David is in lockstep with her as they gather their boy up into their arms. She buries her nose in his black hair, gulping in the scent of him, the feel of him. She lets David soothe them with waves of psionic warmth.

“Where did you go, buddy?” asks David quietly as they all start to settle. His hand cups the back of Shane’s head.

Shane blinks up at him sleepily. “My guide.”

Yuna pulls back to look at her son. “Your guide? What does that…”

Suddenly, Shane slumps in her arms; he’s out for the count, asleep between one breath and another.

“Psionic exhaustion,” David says in a low voice. “His entire body is resonating with psionic exhaustion.”

“You think he physically went to the psionic plane?” asks Yuna, trying to make sense of the past fifteen minutes of their lives.

“I don’t know,” David admits, “but say his guide pulled him there accidentally? He’s strong so his match is going to be strong, Yuna. Stronger than we are…”

“Game changers,” Yuna states crisply.

She brushes a hand over Shane’s back. She and David have protected that designation even from the Sentinel and Guide Centre. She figures the Centre managers, Jacob and Allie Peck suspect, but nobody talks about it and until Shane bonds, it will only ever be speculation.

“Should we call the Centre?” asks David bluntly.

Yuna thinks about it but shakes her head. “I don’t want this in his records there. I’ve never heard of a sentinel being pulled physically into the plane before, have you?”

David shakes his head. “Shamans walk the path, but that’s…I’ve always assumed that’s just a spiritual thing.”

They slowly lower him back into the bed.

Yuna tucks him back in and kisses his forehead. “I’m surprised Kitty isn’t here.”

David shakes his head. “I’m not.” He meets her questioning gaze. “If his guide drew him to the psionic plane something must have happened, maybe something traumatic. I’m guessing Kitty is with his guide.”

Yuna nods. It makes sense. She sighs and rubs her forehead. It makes no sense.

In the end, David brings in the camping cot. She lies down on the bed by their son and David takes the cot. They’re both unwilling to leave the room in case Shane disappears again.

He doesn’t.

In the morning, Shane sleeps late. They let him miss practice and school. When he does wake, he won’t talk about what has happened with his guide. He complains about missing practice and tries to convince them to take him to the rink.

o-O-o

Shane’s hockey goes from strength to strength.

Every day he seems to find more speed, more accuracy. He competes in his age category and outshines everyone, (even if Yuna is biased, the coaches he works with are not and they agree about his talent).

Although they share Shane’s status with only those who need to know, some guess anyway. One parent tries to ban Shane, claiming as a sentinel he has an unfair advantage, only to run into the governing regulations. An observer does come to the rink to watch a few practices and games but the conclusion that Shane is just a naturally talented hockey player is quickly made. Yuna carefully keeps the report which also points out that Shane’s sentinel gifts are actually a disadvantage – the noise of the crowd, of the game, the bright lights, the smell of the arena and the locker rooms…all of it is a stressor for Shane in a way that it isn’t for the mundane players.

Shane still struggles with school, with fitting in. Even with his hockey teammates he’s not quite one of them although he makes the effort with them more than others. She can tell that he can’t quite work out why they don’t want to talk about hockey endlessly like he does, but he tries. But he doesn’t even have that connection of hockey with the boys and girls in his class.  

One day, Shane talks about how the new homeroom teacher has put him on the front row with Jeremy Hu and Sumila Khan because she thinks he’ll make friends better with his own kind and she can keep watch on them better.

Yuna gathers together the parents and they storm into the school the next day. The Principal stutters through apologies, the teacher is suspended, and Yuna decides that traditional schooling is not to her son’s benefit.

David agrees that they should homeschool Shane and Yuna resigns from her job to facilitate it. When Shane sits quietly to do his work, he smiles at her softly and thanks her, and she thinks the sacrifice is entirely worth it.

o-O-o

It feels like she blinks and Shane is sixteen.

Their world is dominated by ice hockey, Shane’s schedule of training, practice, and games. He’s been noticed by scouts and called up to the national juniors’ team. He is already noted in Canadian hockey circles as the talent to watch.

They’ve thankfully stopped mentioning his sentinel status. They still like to ‘other’ him, calling him Asian-Canadian or Asian, referencing how he is one of the few skaters of colour in the league.

Three years before it would have been a disadvantage, but diversity has become a trend for organisational culture. Yuna is not afraid to exploit it to her son’s advantage before the pendulum swings back around to discriminate against him again, especially when Shane’s talent speaks for itself anyway.

They’re on their way to a national practice.

It’s early in the morning, with the first thin slivers of light barely showing through a cloudy grey sky.

David is driving. Yuna is in the passenger seat reading through the information about the upcoming game schedule on her laptop. Shane is in the back, headphones on listening to a podcast and watching videos of other players on his phone.

The heaters blow warm air into the car which still feels chilled.

David has some classical music on; something soothing which doesn’t disturb her. She frowns at a particular date, her memory bringing up a possible conflict and…

The car skids across black ice and spins and…

There are headlights suddenly coming towards them…another car!

Impact.

Yuna is shoved hard against the side of the car and…everything is suddenly weightless as the car goes airborne and flips…

She’s already reaching behind her to keep Shane safe to…

The car lands and the last thing Yuna hears is a snarling roar…

She’s cold, very cold.

Something hurts.

Her head.

There is too much sound, too little sound. Everything goes muffled as she dials back too fast, too much.

David is saying something but it sounds like he is underwater.

Yuna tries to focus.

First step, open her eyes.

She opens them and immediately wishes she hadn’t.

It hurts.

David breathes out in a rush of air beside her. “Oh, thank God! Yuna, honey, open your eyes slowly for me.”

Yuna follows his instructions. She groans. The sky is light grey, clouds obscuring the rising sun.

They are outside of the car, lying on the ground. She glances across and finds that it is on its roof, doors open, windshield smashed. It looks like they flipped over onto the side of the highway; the car must have rolled down the verge.

Shane.

Yuna can barely hear and she can’t see her son!

“Shane?” She reaches for David. His forehead is bloody, a lump and a dark scratch visible.

David catches her hand. “He’s fine, honey.” He shifts and she sees Shane.

He’s lying curled up between Kitty and a wolf they’ve never seen before.

“I don’t know how but I think he got us out of the car,” David murmurs. “I woke up next to you about five minutes ago. We’ve…we were unconscious for around ten minutes, I think?”

“Is he alright?” asks Yuna anxiously.

She and David have agreed since Shane’s fifteenth birthday to give him privacy. He’s a boy growing into a man. She’s weaned herself off listening to his every heartbeat but now she wants to check and her senses are not cooperating.  

She wants to move but something tells her that would be a bad idea. Her body feels like one big bruise; her right leg is…damaged, maybe a break.

“Physically I think he’s got nothing but bruises and psionic exhaustion,” David says softly. “He’s…he’s online, Yuna, and something…someone is shielding him.”

“His guide?” Yuna guesses. Her throat feels raw and scratchy. Her fingers tighten around David’s.

“I think so,” David says. “It looks like he called emergency services, they’re on their way.” He holds up a phone, maybe his, maybe hers. It’s blurry.

“The other car?” asks Yuna.

David grimaces. “They’re OK. On the road still, shaken up.”

Yuna doesn’t even try to hear for them. Her senses are completely out of whack.

David raises her hand and kisses her knuckles. “We’re going to be OK.”

There is a siren cutting through the fog in her head.

She slides away again into darkness.

The next time she wakes, she’s in a hospital room. It is the beeping of the monitor keeping track of her heartbeat which wakens her. For a long moment she simply takes stock.

David sits beside her in an uncomfortable looking chair; he is fast asleep. There is bruising on his face, a bandage on his forehead, and scratches on his arms, but he looks uninjured otherwise.

In the bed on the other side of him, their son lies still as though he is simply sleeping. Shane’s heartbeat is steady and regular, and his breathing deep and even. Kitty lies on one side of him, the wolf on another.

She feels heavy.

Her right leg is encased in a cast and there is another on her left wrist. She can feel the pull of stitches in her forehead. Her abdomen aches.

Tomorrow she’ll worry about what happened. She’ll make plans and work out details to get their lives back in order. But right at that moment she doesn’t care.

She’s alive. Her boys are alive.

Nothing else matters.

o-O-o

Life moves forward, relentlessly.

Shane’s schedule becomes even more complex as he takes lessons at the Centre to adjust to his online status.

He misses the World Junior Championships and his only consolation is that the American team is also missing their star player. Nobody is happy when Russia wins the tournament.

o-O-o

Shane is almost seventeen when Jeremy Peck calls Yuna and David into the Centre. Sentinel Peck’s office is well-appointed, sunlight floods into the space giving it a natural airy feel. He sits them with them in the sofa area rather than at the desk or the more formal conference table.

“I don’t think I need to tell you that Shane is the strongest sentinel we have at the Centre,” Jeremy says directly.

Yuna appreciates Jeremy’s bluntness.

His Guide, Allie, clears her throat. She’s sitting on the arm of Jeremy’s chair. “We want your permission to transfer Shane into the Centre’s Young Sentinel programme full-time.” She delivers the request pleasantly enough, her painted smile soft and warm.

“No,” Yuna’s refusal is immediate.

David’s hand squeezes hers in support. “Shane isn’t interested in being a full-time sentinel. He wants a career in ice hockey, that’s what he’s working towards.”

Allie darts a look at Jeremy.

Jeremy sits forward, almost perching on the soft chair. “Kids don’t know what’s best for them and…”

“Shane knows what he wants,” Yuna cuts him off. “He’s known since he first stepped foot on the ice. Hockey is his passion. He will not give it up.”

“He’s still a legal minor,” Allie asserts briskly. “You’re his parents; you can overrule him.”

Yuna’s rage swamps her and takes away her voice.

“I don’t think you’re listening to us,” David says firmly. “We will not be overruling our son’s wishes in his choice of career.”

“He is a game changer,” Jeremy states bluntly. “He has a duty to the tribe.”

Yuna arches an eyebrow at him. “I don’t believe Sentinel Ellison or Guide Sandburg agree with your interpretation of what should be his duty.”

The hit lands.

Allie’s lips press together briefly. “Alright, then the Centre will be seeking to appoint Shane a conservator and…”

It’s not a surprise to hear the threat. A conservator would usurp their parental rights; they would have legal and financial control over Shane.

“You have no legal grounds to do so,” David says before Yuna can. “His gifts are under control and he is psionically balanced.”

They both get to their feet in synch.

“Try it and I’ll take the Centre to court,” Yuna states clearly. “I’ll call Sandburg and Ellison to the stand myself if that’s what it takes.” She adjusts the strap on her handbag. “I’ll be transferring our family to the Ontario State Centre immediately.”  

Finally, her threat lands with the pair and the realisation that they’ve made a tactical error washes through them. She can hear and smell their panic.

Jeremy hurries to his feet. “Yuna, David, please. Let’s not be hasty about this. You’ve been valued members of the Ottawa community for years. We only want what’s best for…”

“For you,” David counters calmly. “You only want what you think is best for you. Not for Shane. Not for us.” He stares down Jeremy and flicks his gaze to Allie. “Did it ever occur to you that Shane using his talent in ice hockey is how he changes the game for our community?”

They flush.

Yuna follows David out of the office. She is already reaching for their phone to make the necessary transfers as they head to the parking lot. She won’t have Shane even nominally under their purview for a moment longer.

o-O-o

The rink at Regina is cold.

Yuna huddles into her warm woollen coat and tries to pretend the seat is comfortable as she waits for the Americans to enter for their open practice. She wishes she had refused Shane’s request to come and watch.

It’s been a good tournament so far though. Canada has already seen off the Russians who had won the year before. Shane is picking up good press. She knows if the team wins, Shane will have a lot of opportunities open to him at the MLH draft.

Across the stadium, a thin brown-haired woman bundled up in a blue parka sits down with a sentinel and guide flanking her.

Shane cocks his head beside Yuna as he tunes in on their conversation. She is about to reprimand him for listening in when Shane says something softly.

“We can leave if Ms Rozanov is uncomfortable with our presence.”

Yuna bristles because they are not leaving because someone is uncomfortable in their presence before the name registers to her.

Rozanov.

The woman is the mother of Ilya Rozanov. They fled Russia for America because of his guide status. Yuna feels for her. She’s had a hard enough time getting people to take Shane seriously, but for a guide to try to find acceptance in the sport? Maybe Ms Rozanov believes they’ll be old-fashioned idiots who think guides belong to their sentinels. And, even if it isn’t that worry, while the media overplays it, some sentinels can sometimes be aggressive around unbonded guides. 

Yuna hears Irina Rozanov’s acceptance of their presence and Shane shifts in the seat next to her as he gives a small nod to the woman across the rink. Yuna thinks carefully about what she wants to say. The sentinel and guide accompanying Rozanov will undoubtedly relay her words.

“That was a nice offer, Shane,” Yuna says diplomatically.

Shane shrugs. He fiddles with the cord on his hoodie. “I’m looking forward to the practice. They looked great in their semi.”

Yuna hums her agreement and they turn the conversation back to hockey as the Americans take to the ice.

She freezes as Ilya Rozanov’s head snaps towards Shane almost immediately.

It feels like the world is suspended in that moment when they look at each other before the rotation of the Earth asserts itself again.

Shane gives a small nod and Rozanov’s attention shifts back to his practice.

Yuna tries to ignore how their gaze finds each other again and again as the practice continues. She’s relieved when it is over and the Americans start to leave the ice.

She gets up to walk Shane to the changing rooms but he gestures for her to stay where she is and back to where a couple of his teammates lurk at the door. She nods her agreement for him to go with them.

“Have a good practice!” Yuna calls after him.

She takes out her phone to check her email as she waits for the Canada practice to begin. She loses track of time.

There is a shiver across the psionic plane for just a brief moment which has her catching her breath. She resists the urge to check on Shane. She moves though, picking up her bag and heading out in search of a warm coffee.

Thirty minutes later she is back in her seat and Shane is practicing on the ice below with his team.

Across the rink, Ilya Rozanov sits in his mother’s place, a sentinel beside him. She can’t object to his presence, not when it is an open practice, not when Shane and the others have watched Rozanov already. She’s just glad when it is over.

Her nerves assert themselves again during the actual match because if the connection between Shane and Rozanov had been electric just when they watched each other, it’s nothing to how they are on ice, competing with each other.

David stands staunchly beside her as they watch Shane transform again, pushed by the real challenge Rozanov provides. Skill for skill, speed for speed, goal for goal.

In the end, Canada loses, America winning in a penalty shootout.

Yuna consoles Shane as they make their way back to the hotel. She’s certain his performance will still help secure him a good draft position, but she suspects the number one spot will go to Rozanov.

It’s a shame but then even Yuna can concede that maybe Rozanov needs it more as a guide.

o-O-o

Not for the first time in her adult life Yuna wants the days to crawl by rather than fly.

Shane has his own car and it gives him a level of independence. He drives himself to practice, to evenings out with teammates. He’s usually back by the curfew they’ve set with him, but he’s rarely early.

A series of training camps takes him away for a whole period of time which leaves Yuna floundering. She dives instead into managing his career, plotting endorsements and life beyond the draft.

David is a quiet comfort as the days without Shane drag on.

“I guess this is a taster,” David says quietly one night as they sit down to vodka pasta served with a robust Chianti.

Yuna looks at him quizzically.

“After the draft, he’s going to be gone,” David explains softly. “Maybe the draft will have him in Canada, but he might be in the States. Either way, we’re going to have more evenings alone like this once he’s flown the nest.”

Yuna shoves some pasta in her mouth to save herself from answering.

“We don’t have to like that he’s growing up,” David continues, a bittersweet tone to his words, “we just have to learn how to live with it.”

Yuna’s eyes sting a touch with tears she refuses to shed. She doesn’t want to let go of her baby. She doesn’t want him somewhere where she can’t track his heartbeat the instant she wants to track him so she can make sure that he’s alright.

David sets his fork down and reaches across the table. She reaches back and holds on.  

o-O-o

Rozanov gets picked first.

Of course he does.

Yuna tries hard not to resent it, tries not to think that it is favouritism towards an American player. A white American player. She tries instead to remember that Rozanov won the Junior Championship for his team; that he is an outstanding player, one Shane considers to be a competitor, a true rival. And he is a guide; that likely counted against him. Maybe the pick was favouritism or not, either way Rozanov deserved it for his talent.

Her ire is further soothed when she realises Rozanov is going to Boston. She can’t imagine Shane playing for the Raiders.

She claps loudly when Shane gets picked next and by Montreal. She grins at David because the Metros are her team and suddenly it feels serendipitous, like it’s meant to be.

“Staying in Canada,” David whispers beside her as he claps along.

Relief starts to fizz through her body as it sinks in. Her baby is staying close. They can go to all his home games. He’s only a couple of hours away. She can be with him if he needs her.

Suddenly she doesn’t hate how everything has gone down although she expects that Shane will be disappointed at not being first in the draft.

The presentation shifts into the after drinks event. Yuna happily chats away with the Montreal General Manager. Shane is polite and sincere when he chips in. David remains a silent stalwart guarding them.

They grab dinner with Shane afterwards in the hotel restaurant and say goodnight to him as he enters his own hotel room. It connects to the suite David has booked for them and it is the one concession that Yuna insisted upon when Shane had started to request his own room a couple of years before; the room was adjoining and the connecting door was unlocked for emergencies.

Yuna is almost floating on cloud nine as she dumps her handbag in the small sitting room and heads through the large bedroom to the ensuite bathroom. She’s humming as she showers and goes through her bedroom routine. David heads into the bathroom after her and, ten minutes later, they’re both settling into the massive hotel bed, Yuna in silky gold pyjamas and David in his usual boxers and t-shirt bedwear. She opens her book, grateful again that the hotel has in-built white noise machines in the rooms to enable their sentinel guests to sleep soundly. She can’t make out anything beyond their own room.

David clears his throat as he picks up his crossword puzzle. “I think Shane might have a crush on that Rozanov kid.”

Yuna’s gaze snaps to him, shock shivering through her. She reluctantly remembers how they had looked at each other during the tournament. She had put it out of her mind. “What?”

“He kept looking up at him when we were at drinks,” David says.

Yuna frowns. “Really? I didn’t notice.”

“No, you were having a crush on the Metros’ General Manager,” David teases her gently.

Yuna hushes him and lowers her book as she turns to look at her husband. “You really think that he has a crush on Rozanov? I mean, maybe his hockey, he’s chattered on about that ever since he saw his first video of the boy.”

“Maybe,” David says, putting his glasses on to read the puzzle, “but it looked to me like the two of them were exchanging interested looks about more than hockey.”

Yuna blinks. “Rozanov was exchanging looks with Shane?!”

David hums. He starts to fill in a clue.

“No,” Yuna denies it out loud, “Shane wouldn’t be interested in him that way. That boy is too cocky and loud and…”

“And very attractive,” David adds. “And good at hockey.”

Yuna slaps him lightly. “David, be serious! He’s too…too much for Shane. Shane is quiet and shy and…”

“And not a virgin,” David points out.

Yuna huffs, because she would know if Shane was not a virgin.

David sighs. “He lost his virginity with Kira Parker.”

Yuna stiffens. “The figure skater?” He’d only gone on a couple of dates with her before the Junior Championships the year before, Yuna was sure of that.

“Yes,” David says patiently. “He asked me a lot of very specific questions before their second date, Yuna. I checked in with him the next day and he…he didn’t kiss and tell but he said it had been good, but he didn’t think they were going to continue seeing each other.”

Yuna’s gaze drops to her book. She stares sightlessly at the page. She shouldn’t be shocked. Yes, she’d stopped following his heartbeat, had given him privacy but she still thinks that she would have known if Shane was…if he had…

Truthfully, Yuna sighs, she’s always thought he might be asexual.

“Why didn’t he tell me?” Yuna asks quietly.

“He’s a private person, Yuna,” David says. “I doubt he would have said anything to me if he hadn’t had questions because it was his first time. I think he may have had sex again with someone else and not told me. He also doesn’t have to tell us, Yuna, he’s an adult. He gets to make his own decisions about sex, about his romantic life, and we have no right to expect anything different.”

Which, fair.

Yuna shifts her focus back to how David had brought up the whole topic. “You really think he’s interested in Rozanov?”

“I think he’s very interested,” David says. He sets the crossword puzzle on the bedside table along with the pen. He takes off his glasses. “We always knew a male guide was very possible.”

“Yes, but Rozanov?” Yuna shakes her head. “I still don’t think you’re right.”

David kisses her cheek. “Night, honey.” He clicks off his light and settles down to sleep.

Yuna stews on the thought and sets it aside. Even if Shane is interested, relationships between unbonded sentinels and guides are not easy, and Shane knows his guide already out there waiting for him. She remembers the wolf which stayed with him for days after the car accident very vividly. Even if Shane has a crush on Rozanov, she doesn’t think that he will give into it for a quick fling when his actual guide is waiting for him.

She’s looking forward to meeting Shane’s guide. She just hopes that they won’t mind their sentinel being in hockey.

Yuna puts her book aside and switches her own light off. She cuddles up to her own guide. David shifts to bring her closer.

She falls asleep thinking about Shane bringing the Stanley Cup home to Montreal.

o-O-o

“Damn it,” David mutters under his breath. “My work phone is almost dead and I can’t find my charger for it.”

“You threw it in Shane’s backpack as we were walking out of the door,” Yuna reminds him absently, her eyes on her reflection in the mirror by the dresser. She is focused on fixing the pearl stud in her left ear to lie correctly. “Shane should be up by now.”

David hums. He heads out of the bedroom towards the connecting door to Shane’s room which is in the sitting room. He gives one brisk knock before entering…

The white noise barrier between the rooms disappears and Shane’s heartbeat snaps back into her hearing before she can filter it out, it spikes – it almost sounds like a double tempo which is wrong, wrong, wrong, and…

“DAD!” Shane’s voice alarmed and furious.

Yuna is already moving, hurrying out of the bedroom.

Another male voice speaks in a low tone soothing her son and…

David’s hurried apology follows and he steps out of Shane’s room and closes the connecting door just as she reaches it.

He turns and stops her as she tries to reach around him. “No, Yuna. Shane’s fine, just…just probably even more embarrassed than I feel right now.”

There is the sound of a lock clicking into place on the other side of the door which makes her breath catch.

“David,” Yuna growls because her guide is standing between her and her son.

David is immovable; he projects calm as his own heartbeat returns to its usual steady thump.    

Yuna huffs. She folds her arms over her chest and glares at him. “Move.”

“No,” David says firmly. “He’s safe and unharmed. I should have waited for him to say it was alright to enter his room and I won’t let us invade his privacy again right now.”

Yuna’s phone buzzes in the other room. She turns sharply to retrieve it. On the screen, a message from Shane is immediately visible.

‘We’ll be with you in five.’

We.

Yuna swallows hard at the word. She walks back into the sitting room. David hasn’t moved from his sentry position in front of the connecting door.

She sighs and sits down on the sofa. She gestures at her husband. “You can sit down,” she raises her phone, “he and his guest will be joining us soon.”

David nods and moves to sit beside her and looks at her squarely. “You’re going to need to take a breath and not go into overprotective sentinel mode, Yuna.”

Yuna frowns.

The wait seems interminable. The silence between them is heavy.

The sound of the lock clicking open has Yuna getting to her feet, David following. She watches as Shane steps into their room.

He looks like the same son she’d wished goodnight a handful of hours before; his dark hair styled into the same neat haircut, his young brown face adorned with freckles. But his eyes and the way he bites his lip give away his nervousness.

Shane looks back and Yuna breathes in sharply as Ilya Rozanov walks in and stands beside her son.

He looks younger, softer than the day before. He’s wearing grey sweatpants and one of Shane’s t-shirts. His blond curls are damp and his green gaze is guarded.

Yuna is about to say something, anything, when Kitty pads in and sits beside Rozanov. A familiar wolf follows a moment later, circling around to lie in front of Shane.

God.

Rozanov is Shane’s guide.

Yuna feels frozen.

Shane clears his throat. “So, I’m sorry. This wasn’t the way we intended to tell you.”

Yuna knows she should be saying something but she couldn’t speak.

“Uh, this is Ilya. Rozanov,” Shane offers his hand and Ilya clasps it tightly. “He’s my guide.” Her son’s gaze meets hers, a hint of defiance sparking in the depth of his eyes. “I’m his sentinel.”

Yuna doesn’t know what to think. There is a quiet joy in knowing Shane has met the other half of his soul, yet concern that it is Rozanov, although she realises that it makes sense that his guide is the boy who can keep up with him on the ice.

Yet she has no idea how they’re going to make it work when Shane is going to be in Montreal and Rozanov – Ilya is going to be in Boston. Is one of them going to have to give up their draft pick? Are they going to have to go to the same team? How is the league going to handle everything and…God, this will probably just result in some bigoted idiot saying Ilya has to follow Shane or denying them both the chance to play and…

David’s hand envelopes hers and squeezes gently, arresting her thought spiral. “How long have you…”

“We bonded at the Junior championships,” Shane admits, rubbing the back of his neck and offering a sheepish smile, “but we’ve known each other for a lot longer.”

Of course, the car accident.

“Since you came online?” guesses David, always in synch with her own thoughts.

“Uh, actually before that,” Shane admits.

“Since before Mama and I came to the States,” Ilya offers brightly.

“Not helpful,” Shane mutters as Yuna tries to get her head around that news.

She thinks about the bio she’d read on Ilya. He’d come to the States at ten. Shane’s disappearance…she remembers all too well the horrible night Shane disappeared from his bedroom.

Why hadn’t Shane told them sooner? Had she…had she done something to make him think he couldn’t tell them? She wishes she could talk to him alone but he’s never going to be alone again.

Yuna takes another breath. Shane has met his guide. It’s not a sudden thing. It is destined.

This is a good thing.

Whatever they need to do to make this work, she’ll do it. Both the boys deserve to play, to have their hockey dreams come true. She’s stood up for Shane all of his life and now, she’ll stand up for his guide too.  

David’s approval seeps through their bond; his love and acceptance for the boys vibrating through his skin.

Yuna looks at Ilya and smiles tentatively at the boy, hearing his heartbeat play out his nerves, the quick breaths he’s taking and hiding. He’s so very young; they both are. She nods at him. “It’s good to meet you, Ilya.”

And Shane’s answering happy joyful smile is everything she has ever wanted for her son.

fin.

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