“Costin is the priority.”
“Pray to the Great Luna that we catch him before he comes upon a woman or child,” Vasile said as phased.
Decebel shuttered at the thought of Costin killing someone as innocent as a child. It wouldn’t come to that. He pushed his wolf harder as they ran. If all that was left of Costin at the end of this was his memory, he wouldn’t allow his friends lasting legacy be one of death.
Chapter 19
“I’m cocooned in this shelter. I’m surrounded by a love that I don’t understand but desperately want to keep. Life is going on beyond the door that I hide behind, but I’m not ready to join it. I’m not ready to face the world. I only want him. I want his smile, his touch, his voice, his strength, and his attention.” ~Bethany
Bethany was lying in the bedroom staring up at the ceiling. It was late. Drake had finally carried her to the bed when she kept refusing to leave him on the couch. That had been around eleven. It was now—she looked over at the alarm clock on the bedside table—three a.m. She hadn’t been asleep at all. She’d tossed and turned and gone over all of the words Drake had said to her during the past twenty-four hours. Some of them had been whispered against her skin, and others had been teasing statements while they played a card game.
Bethany knew they couldn’t stay this way, locked behind the door, tucked away in their own private suite, focusing only on each other. She’d heard from Drake that the others in his pack, and the Romania pack, were continuing to fight the vampires and that they were also looking for one of the females who was mated to Decebel’s Beta. She felt guilty for staying there, safe and sound, while those who’d risked their lives to save her faced more dangers.
She heard a knock on the door and rose quickly to open it. Drake stood on the other side.
“I can’t sleep,” he said gruffly. He looked exhausted. He walked into the room, grabbing her by the waist at the same time. Drake climbed onto the bed, pulling her along with him and situated them in the center. He laid her on her back and turned on his side, wrapping his arms around her. Bethany’s head was tucked under his chin and his scent relaxed her. She was so caught off guard by the action that it took her a few minutes to realize that Drake was sound asleep. Within a few minutes of him drifting off, Bethany followed. His warmth seeped inside of her and a contentment she hadn’t realize she’d been missing settled into her soul.
Something soft running across her lips and up her jaw line drew Bethany away from her dreams. Her eyes opened and she blinked several times to clear the sleep. Drake’s handsome face was staring down at her and a crooked smile drew her gaze to his lips. She licked her own and felt butterflies in her stomach as his eyes followed the movement.
“Good morning,” she rasped out.
“Morning, beautiful,” he responded gently.
“Did you sleep well?”
His smile widened and his eyes sparkled with a contagious joy. “Best three hours of sleep I’ve ever had.”
“Ever?” Her eyes widened at the declaration.
“I was allowed to hold my mate while I slept. It’s hard to beat that.”
Bethany smiled. “I liked it too. I wasn’t able to sleep before you came in either. Something inside me was restless.”
“Sounds like it could be your wolf,” Drake offered. “She wants her mate. I’ve actually been thinking about it. My wolf is so possessive of you. The bond between wolf and wolf makes the true mate bond stronger. I wonder if he senses your dormant wolf. Even though you’re a dormant, your wolf will eventually come out. Sometimes, going through a painful experience can make the wolf come to the surface, and you’ve certainly been through something traumatic.
“Will the wolf ever be a part of me the way yours is a part of you, I mean, with the fur and stuff?” she asked, slightly unsettled at the thought.
“Yes. You can even phase. There’s a ceremony to pull the wolf forward if you want. It takes fae magic and the blood of your mate. It might be something that has to wait until after Peri isn’t dealing with a bunch of vampires, though. But I’m sure as soon as she’s able, she’d be willing to do the ceremony.”
Bethany didn’t know what to say to that. She’d never even considered the possibility of changing into a wolf. She thought thatdormantmeant that she just had some werewolf blood and that nothing other than the true mate thing would come out of it. The true mate thing was certainly weird enough, but transforming into a wolf, being part of a wolf pack, that was something else entirely.
“What do you want to do today?” Drake asked her as he wrapped strands of her hair around his fingers.
Bethany thought about it, but every time she considered something they could do, all she could think about was how Jen, Jacque, and the others were all doing things that put them in danger. She felt like she was on some vacation while they were risking their lives.
“Maybe we should,” she began but Drake was already shaking his head.
“There is no way I’m letting you put yourself in danger.” Drake tugged gently on her hair. “I just got you.”
“I just feel awful that they—”
Drake held up his hand stopping her. He climbed out of bed and jogged out of the room. Bethany frowned.
He was back in less than a minute with his cell phone up to his ear. “One sec,” he said into the phone. He reached out his arm, offering the cell phone to Bethany. She looked at him and then back to the offered phone.
“It’s for you,” he said.
“Who is it?” she asked him.
