“Oh, my Great Goddess,” Luke scoffed. “I am a Black Bear with black fur, and he is a Grizzly with brown fur. Black bears climb. Grizzly Bears dig. We… Oh, forget it.” Rolling his eyes, he batted at the air, then looked Cyrus right in the eye and added with a growl, “How about this, how would you like it if I called you a Wyvern?”
“I might punch you in the gut.”
“Then you know how I feel.”
“Point taken.”
“Good.” In the blink of an eye, the Black Bear was back to his jovial self. All six-foot-eight inches of brawny muscle that Cyrus figured might just rival his own if it came right down to it was as relaxed as it had been two minutes before, and the guy was smiling yet another knowing smile. “Now, back to what I was saying.”
“About the whole smell thing?”
“Yeah, that.” Luke nodded as he leaned his backside against what was left of the trunk of a spruce tree and pulled two sticks of beef jerky out of the inside pocket of his jacket. Taking the offering, Cyrus listened intently as the Black Bear went on whilewondering how long he could let the gag continue without totally pissing off his new friend.
“About two more seconds, if I know Bears,”the Dragon King snarled.“Which I do.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,”The Guardsman offhandedly replied.“Luke’s a good guy. He’ll be fine.”
“I can’t believe nobody ever told you that when you meet your One True Fated Mate, you will give off a scent,” Luke continued to explain.
“No, I can honestly say that that bit of information never came to light.”
“Well, for us Black Bears, and I assume for y’all Dragons as well, it is a sign to all other women that you have met the woman made for you by the Universe, and they need not bother trying to woo you.”
“Woo me, huh?” Cyrus chuckled. Unwrapping his beef jerky, he asked, “And you’re saying that my scent only changed when you mentioned Vanessa’s name?”
“Yeah, but…” Stopping with the end of the stick of jerky at his lips, Luke narrowed his eyes and mumbled, “Come to think of it, what I smelled was spicier, kinda like the peppers Amethyst puts in her chili.” Waving the beef jerky around like a wand, he wondered, “Were you worried? That’s danged sure what it smelled like. You were worried, weren’t ya’?”
“Tell him the truth, Lad,”Dom growled.“Or I will.”
“To tell you the truth, Luke, I…”
“Put me down, you mangy fuckin’ mutt!” Vanessa's furious roar cut through the howling wind right before the coppery scent of her blood damn near smacked Cyrus in the face.
Turning so quickly not only the landscape around him, but also the mammoth Black Bear Shifter was little more than a blur, the Guardsman took off running at top speed.“You got her location?”He shot from his mind to King Domnhall’s.
“I do,”the Dragon answered.“But she’s on the move at a high rate of speed.”
“Then you better…”
“Already on it.”
Feeling the pure white Magic of theSeamrag ChapaillDragons, Domnhall had been the Ruler of for centuries, Cyrus let the King guide his feet and gave over to the breakneck speed they were traveling. Following the glittering bond he shared with Vanessa, his heart skipped a beat as the brilliant glow that had shone from the moment they met slowly dimmed with every step he took on the frozen ground.
“What the fuck? How is that…?”
“Possible?”Dom finished his thought before answering,“Feels like Voodoo.”
“Voodoo? Here? In Appal…?”
“STOP!” Luke roared a split second before he came to a screeching halt right in front of Cyrus.
“Get the hell…”
But that was as far as the Guardsman got before a great bolt of lightning hit the ground not six feet from the toe of his boot. Pushing against Luke’s hands, where they held onto his shoulders, Cyrus was just about to take off again when a chasm nearly half a mile wide and at least that deep swallowed up the part of the mountain they needed to travel to get to Dead Man’s Cave.
Before he could ask how the Black Bear knew what was about to happen, a victorious howl of a Rogue Red Wolf, who Cyrus was sure was dead and gone, echoed from the very tip of Mt. Serenity. Faking to the left, he spun to the right and made it exactly one step forward before Luke blocked the path.
Glaring, a look the Guardsman hadn’t thought possible for the well-natured Black Bear, Luke growled, “You have to the count of three to tell me what the fuck is going on before I tossyou over my shoulder and take you back to face Tamsyn. You’re hidin’ somethin’, and you’re gonna tell me right now.”
