“You need more sleep, Snow,” Slade growled, interrupting my thoughts, and I wondered how he’d even known I was awake. He hadn’t turned from where he protectively blocked me with his huge frame.
“Snow?” I questioned, forcing myself to stand so I could arch my back and stretch out aching muscles.
“Your wolf’s fur is the whitest I’ve ever seen,” he explained, as he finally glanced my way, his expression neutral. His eyes burned though. “It reminds me of the purity of snow, and your arctic blue eyes only add to the vibe.”
Scooting closer, I took extra care not to touch the dragon. I was under no illusion that his break from character to comfort me during my panic attack meant I had a free-for-all to touch him now. “When did you see me shift?”
From my new position, I could finally see the full carnage from where he’d torn the bars from the concrete floor and ceiling. There was nothing stopping us from walking out of here and up the stairs, outside of the veritable army that awaited up there. Slade had already calculated the odds, and with us vastly outnumbered, his dominance tempered by the magical bands, and unable to shift, he’d decided it was best to stay put.
Maybe he was waiting for our pack to show up too. Who knew how long that’d take though.
“Your very first run with Warrick and Cora,” he told me, turning back to the stairs, “and then again when you shifted in your room. I’ve been watching you in one way or another since you arrived in Golden Claw.”
Okay, then.“Are you saying that Hunter isn’t the only stalker I have to deal with in the pack?”
It occurred to me halfway through that sentence that accusingScary Shifterof being a stalker might not be my smartest move, but hey, if he wanted to kill me, he could have done so long ago. I figured I was fairly safe for the moment.
“Every alpha in your pack has their way of keeping track of you, Emmeline,” he said nonchalantly. “Mine is just more thorough.”
I found it very hard to believe that Finley, the bear shifter who hated my guts, bothered to think about me at all. But the rest… yeah, it made sense that they’d be keeping tabs on me in their own ways.
Deciding we had more pressing issues to worry about, I directed the conversation back to the current situation. “What do you think my mom’s pack want with us? Why didn’t they leave you behind if I was the target?”
“You were the target,” he confirmed without hesitation. “They brought me because they knew I’d track them the moment they left with you. They’ve done their research, they know of my skills, and were prepared to keep me locked down. There was a reason they waited until you were alone with me.”
“The others won’t be able to track us?”
Maybe he wasn’t waiting for them to show up at all. It was stupid of me to just sit here and wait for a rescue anyway. I’d spent most of my life fighting my own battles, but my self-preservation had taken a back seat lately as I fell into pack mentality. It was a heady, dangerous, and addictive feeling to not be alone and have others at your back.
A feeling I really couldn’t afford to indulge in.
“Not like I could,” Slade said. “It will take them longer.”
Slade was a computer genius, and according to Hunter, if he had even a sliver of your digital identity, he could track you anywhere in the world. At this stage, it appeared he had a lot of mine.
“So, they took you as well to ensure they had enough time with me to do… what, exactly? What do they have planned?” For the first time since I woke up, my brain was back online, and I needed answers. “Do you think this pack has been tracking me for almost twelve years since Mom died? There’s no possible way, right? They’d have to be the worst trackers in existence.”
I’d never seen the slightest hint of their presence anywhere until I’d been captured and sent to Golden Claw. That was when I’d been registered with the pack cities, which was most likely the catalyst to catapult me back onto Blaine’s radar.
Slade turned from his vigilant position keeping an eye on the stairs, and I was once again ensnared in the vibrant green of his eyes. The color and reflection were so unnatural, like jewels had been shined, polished, and slotted into his perfect, godly face.
Every part of Slade was too much, and yet I could never get enough at the same time.
“I don’t think they were tracking you at all.” He confirmed my previous thoughts. “From what I’ve gathered, and I only had them under surveillance right before the attack, they became aware of you again when you were brought before our Alpha Council. I would hazard a guess that the attack by our guard was instigated through them, and when that failed, they waited for the chaos of the Summit to enter our city without raising any suspicions.”
His gaze returned to the stairs once more, and I sucked in a low, ragged breath, willing my heartrate to level out. “If you hadthem under surveillance, how did you not know they were part of the Summit?”
The lowest rumble sounded in his chest, and once again I was struck by the fact that loud did not equal menacing when it came to this alpha. “They sent lackies first. None of them arrived until the day of the attack, and I was occupied keeping an eye on you. They must have traveled via witch magic to our borders so as not to leave a digital trace, and then lay in wait for the opportunity to cross into Golden Claw.”
The rasp onclawtold me how angry he was that they’d slipped past his surveillance. I almost reached out and touched his arm, catching myself at the last minute. “You did nothing wrong, Slade, and you’re here now keeping me safe. I have little doubt that I’d have already been dragged upstairs by these assholes if you weren’t standing as guard dragon between us.”
Footsteps echoed from above, and as his expression hardened, he jerked his head to tell me to get behind him. Which I immediately did, because I was vastly outmatched against other alphas. “General magic doesn’t work on me the same as it does other shifters,” Slade murmured. “But if they have strong enough spells at their disposal, they will be able to hold me until they get to you. It won’t hold me forever though, so don’t give up. No matter what happens, I will come for you.”
His promise burned into my chest, and with it came a sense of calm. My anchor remained, and I would cling to the comfort of Slade for as long as possible.
Peering around his side, I waited as the steps grew louder, until Donnie hurried down the stairs. The stocky blond shifter held a large tray in his hands, and there were no witches or other alphas in sight. I should find it odd that he was appeasing Slade’s request without any fanfare, but the dragon had a way about him—even while suppressed—that commanded even other alphas.
And omegas.
