She returns to cleaning up the kitchen, but I can tell by the tightening of her shoulders that something’s bothering her.
I’m not sure if it’s dragon related or my abrupt return.
Or something else entirely.
She’s definitely hiding things from me, though. Secrets about the future. I understand her hesitation to share, but… “When we mate, I’ll have access to your mind.” The words leave my mouthbefore I can stop them. However, they’re true. “So anything yousee, I’ll also see. How does that impact the future?”
Ashlyn finishes scrubbing the dish—which appears to be the final one to clean—then washes her hands before facing me. “Honestly, I don’t know,” she says quietly. “A lot of this is unexpected and I’m struggling to understand why.”
“Because you didn’t see it?” I ask, ensuring I understand what she means.
“Yes, exactly that. I?—”
The hairs along my arms dance mere seconds before an alarm blares through the cave.
Ashlyn’s face goes white. “You said it’s daylight,” she whispers.
“It is,” I reply, frowning at her.
Then the energy heightens, causing my wolf to growl.
“We need to go.” I grab Ashlyn and engage my shadowing gift, but nothing happens. No dematerializing of the room. No darkness. Just… standing still in the cave.
What in the hell…?
I release Ashlyn and my arm instantly starts disappear. I stop the shadowing transition, though it feels a little sluggish, almost like it’s my first time trying to teleport.
“What just happened?” Ashlyn asks, confusion and concern etched into her features.
“I can’t shadow you,” I tell her. “Why can’t I shadow you?”
“I don’t… I don’t know. You shadowed me in here…”
“I did.” And it felt fine. I also just shadowed in here myself. “Something weird is happening.”
I can sense it in my detonating wards outside, the zaps of electricity echoing through my veins.
“We’re going to have to do this on foot.”
Ashlyn gapes at me. “But there’s no door.”
“That’s not quite true,” I mutter. “We can tunnel.”
“Tunnel?”
I don’t respond to her echoed question. Instead, I head toward the bathroom, to the small escape hatch I built into this safe house long ago.
There was a time when I couldn’t shadow or do much of anything at all. A time that taught me how to rely on my physical strength alone.
While I despise that part of my life, it also framed who I am today and how I built my various dens.
“I always have a plan in place in case someone manages to collar me again,” I confide to Ashlyn.
The only other individual in the world who knows that is Cael.
“We’re going to have to crawl,” I warn her as I remove a vent cover. “And the space will be a bit tight.” I look down at her petite size. “More for me than for you.”
Her blue eyes are wide but all she does is nod. “Okay.”
