She’d warned Anna to quit picking at her wound, otherwise the germs on her hand might give her an infection. It had made Anna laugh. She was pretty sure they were bothgoingmad.
“We’re being held captive by a crazy fae, and you’re worried about infection?” Anna hadasked.
Jewel had shrugged. “The alternative would be to admit that we will be dead soon anyway, so I might as wellnotcare.”
Anna had conceded herpoint.
“How’s Gustavo?” she asked her friend who was lying on her side across from Jewel in thesmallcell.
“He’s trying to hide it from me, but I’m pretty sure he’s close to being rabid,” Anna answered truthfully, though it sounded like she hated toadmitit.
“That’s about how Dalton sounded on the phone the last time we talked. I’ve been turning it off in between conversations, attempting to conserve the battery.” Jewel was dreading when the battery finally did die. She would lose the only connection she had with Dalton. His voice alone was keeping her from slipping into the darkness that was practically choking her. In her mind it whispered to her, crooned at her to do Volcan’s bidding. It was like a snake hissing in her ear, and she couldn’t get it to go away. Only when she spoke with Dalton did itsubside.
“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” Anna whispered. “I feel his evil insideofme.”
“I know what you mean,” Jewel said. “It calls like a lover, telling us the pain will be over if we justgivein.”
“Yes,” Anna agreed. “But wecan’t.”
Jewel shook her head. “No. We cannot. If we do, Anna…” She turned to her friend and looked her in the eyes. “If we do, we will lose those we love and they will lose us. We have to hold on, five minuteslonger.”
“Okay,” Anna agreed. “Five minutes longer. And then five moreafterthat.”
“Exactly,” Jewel whispered as she closed her eyes and fought the tears that wanted to fall. Just five minutes longer, she whispered inhermind.
* * *
Dalton staredat his phone and growled, but no matter how much he growled at it, the damn thing didn’t ring. It had been a week since he’d heard from her, and it was driving him crazy. He’d thought about asking Gustavo to ask Anna when he spoke to her through their bond, but he didn’t want to intrude on their time together. The bond was an intimate thing, especially in the beginning. If he didn’t hear from her in another day, then he would suck it up and ask. Until then, he’d keep growling at his phone and sparing with the other wolves. The three mated ones where always up for a fight and, though Dalton enjoyed releasing his pent-up energy through the exercises, it was almost as satisfying to watch them fight Thad. Over and over again, the djinn put them on their backs. But it seemed to be keeping their wolves in check. He’d heard about their fight on the first night the girls had been back. Lucian had threatened them, and they’d each been very careful to keep their distance from oneanother.
Dalton envied them that their mates were here, where they could see them and know they were safe, but he absolutely didn’t envy their situation. His wolf would have been chomping at the bit to touch their mate. Lucian would have had to tie him up to keep him from repeatedly attempting it. Then again, he’d already touched Jewel and knew how she felt against him. He knew how her lips tasted and how she smelled when he touched her. Maybe that was why it was easier for them. They hadn’t had those connections with theirmatesyet.
He shrugged off the thoughts because there was nothing he could do to help them. The large man looked back at his phone. He growledagain.
“Stop growling at the damn phone and let’s go for a run,” Dillon said as he walked over to where Dalton sat on the edge of Peri’s porch. His Alpha had asked Elle to return him to his mate earlier that day. Dalton could smell the satisfaction coming offthewolf.
“Good visit?” he askedDillon.
The Alpha grinned like an idiot. “Best. I miss her like crazy, but she’s holding down the fort and understands I need tobehere.”
“You’re only here right now because of me,” Dalton pointed out. There was nothing happening at the moment. They didn’t have a clue how to find Volcan or the girls. The world became a large place when there were three people to be found with no clues as to where tostart.
“You’re pack, Dalton, and your mate is in danger. Tanya wouldn’t want me at home with her. I would be a piss poor Alpha if I didn’t take care ofmyown.”
Dalton stood and stretched. He didn’t say anything. There was nothing that would convince Dillon to go home. And thatdidmake him a good Alpha. He started to strip after glancing around to ensure there were no females about. “Let’s go then. I need to killsomething.”
* * *
Thirteen days,one hour, and thirty-three minutes, Heather thought after asking Kara the time. That was how long it had been since they’d been back from the pixie realm. In that time period, she’d been stalked like a rabbit by the wolf who was dying to claim her. She could feel it in him. His all-consuming need to mark her and makeherhis.
Heather shivered. She could smell him. He was close. “I wonder will you be this brave once you can speak to me,” she said, knowing he was listening. They’d had quite a few of these one-sided conversations, and she was pretty sure she’d told him everything under the sun about herself. It was easy to talk when the other person only had one option—tolisten.
“I gotta be honest, Kale. Right now, this feels way too much like home. Sitting talking to my Seeing Eye dog trainees. They don’t talk back either. And they’re furry. Though I’ll admit you smell much better.” She grinned as she felt something that she would have classified as an eye roll come through the bond. Gah, she couldn’t wait until he could talk to her. She imagined their verbal sparring would be fun—a form of foreplay. She was still nervous about the fact that she was blind and he probably had never considered that he’d have a blind mate. But, there was nothing she could do about it. He could take her or leave her. But if he left her, she would have to ask Peri to turn him into a turd. The high fae seemed eager to do it to one of the wolves, and he would be a prime candidate if he folded his hand on his owntruemate.
She took a deep breath and let it out. Heather didn’t want to let herself go down that rabbit hole. There was no point in thinking about it until she could properly hold a conversationwithhim.
“Did I tell you about the dog that I trained who farted so much that we debated failing him from the course?” Heatherasked.
Kale laidhis large wolf head on his paws as he listened to his mate’s voice. He spent much of his time in his wolf form over the past two weeks. It seemed to ease him a bit, and he also was able to get closer to her while he was phased. He assumed this was because they’d made the decision to defy their Alpha while in their human forms. Because of that, perhaps the punishment wasn’t as severe forthewolf.
