Rose, Charlotte - Bayou Flood [The Shifters of Alligator Bend 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Charlotte Rose

can figure this all out when she gets here tomorrow, right?”
    “Right.”
    Adele smiled. “And on that note, I think I’m really to quit for the night and go to bed. I’ve been up way too late for my own good. I’ll probably be worthless tomorrow.”
    “I hope not,” Virgil said. “We need your brain to be runnin’ to solve this problem.”
    “I’ll do my best, then. Good night.”
    Virgil and Gabriel sat in silence for a few minutes, finishing off their beers. Finally, Virgil stood up.
    “Adele’s right. It is way late. And we’re gettin’ an early start tomorrow mornin’. I’m gonna go get some shut-eye.”
    “Night,” Gabriel said, giving him a small wave.
    “Night.”
    Virgil left the main houseboat and made his way over to the smaller houseboat where his family lived. He stopped for a moment on the main deck and looked up at the brilliant stars illuminating the bayou sky. He’d loved them all his life, but he realized they weren’t as beautiful to him now. Nothing was as beautiful as the moment when he’d first kissed Sophie’s soft mouth. He only hoped he’d have another chance.

Chapter Five

    Sophie spent most of the night tossing and turning, trying to decide whether she should even go see Virgil and Gabriel after all.
    Maybe I shouldn’t bother. Maybe it’s just going to be a waste of time. Maybe Georgina is right.
    Georgina also completely lied to me when I called her after the disaster at the club. Georgina also let me believe she thought we hallucinated because of mold. Was that really necessary?
    After several hours of fitful rest, Sophie got up and practiced her guitar for a bit, trying to clear her head. At the end of her session, she finally decided to go to the bayou, if for no other reason than to get Virgil and Gabriel’s side of the story. She at least owed them that much. Heading out to the river, she rented a boat, plugged the coordinates Virgil had given her into the GPS, and headed out toward Alligator Bend.
    The first forty-five minutes of the trip were easy. The sky was clear, and the water was smooth. As she sailed down the river, Sophie’s mind began to clear. She stopped being confused about Georgina, stopped trying to wrap her head around the idea of being mated. Sophie simply relaxed and allowed herself to enjoy the beauty of the bayou. Then her phone let out the unwelcome beep that signified a low battery.
    “Shit,” Sophie muttered. “This is what I get for staying up all night. I forget all the important things.”
    She stopped the boat and dug through her bag, but there was no charger in sight. She hoped the phone could power through until she arrived at the congregation, but she knew her distance from a reliable signal would put extra strain on the battery. She started the boat back up and started traveling faster, hoping she would get there on time. She knew she wasn’t very far away, and she tried to reassure herself that her phone could last and guide her the rest of the way.
    She’d only traveled three more miles when things got worse. Glancing at her phone to check the rest of the instructions, she realized she’d completely lost her signal. The screen was frozen on the last step and couldn’t load the next portion of the directions. The low-battery signal was coming more frequently, and Sophie realized she was in deep trouble. She was careening through the bayou with a limited sense of direction.
    Looking at the radio on board, she cursed, wishing she’d thought to get call numbers for one of the houseboats in case of emergency. Still, she knew it was her only possibility of rescue. She powered it up.
    “Pan-pan, pan-pan, pan-pan,” she said into the microphone. “All stations, all stations, all stations. I am in a Catamaran dinghy. I am unsure of my exact location. I am somewhere near Alligator Bend, Louisiana. As I said, my GPS has gone out, and I am unsure of my exact location. I am in need of assistance to guide me back to New