I suppressed a rising growl in my throat. Poppy didn’t need to be scared anymore. I was here. I wouldn’t let the dragons harm him.
A sharp tearing sound wrenched me from my thoughts. Saffron had ripped off a strip of white fabric from his sleeve and reached for my face with it. I jerked back.
“What are you doing?” I asked suspiciously.
“Wiping the blood off your mouth,” Saffron said, his voice unusually serious. His golden eyes sharpened. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.
I was so bewildered that I remained still. An alpha tending to a wounded omega? It was bizarre. Back home, I would’ve hunkered down in a corner to lick my wounds alone. Why did Saffron care? Unless it was just another faked display to drop my guard...
“Who did this to you?” Saffron asked. His tone brimmed with barely restrained anger. “Was it that man over there?”
I glanced over to see a few kobolds checking Kaskian’s injuries, but he grunted and shooed them away. His injuries were minor compared to mine. I’d hurt his pride more than anything.
“It’s not important,” I mumbled, wiping off the leftover blood with my arm. “It’s just a nosebleed.”
A low, rolling growl vibrated in Saffron’s throat. “Nobody hurts you on my watch.”
The unexpected gravity of his voice made me shudder. It was different than his normal casual, upbeat cadence. This tone was confident. Powerful.
My brain felt scrambled. Saffron, a supposed dragon, claimed he’d protectme?It was laughable. Dragons didn’t protect anything. They mindlessly destroyed until nothing was left.
But as I searched Saffron’s glinting amber eyes, I felt a minuscule flicker of doubt.
What if he was telling the truth?
8
Saffron
“What were you thinking,letting him play volleyball?” I barked at Jade on the sidelines. “He could’ve gotten hurt—and he did!”
The first challenge was over. After the fight broke out, Gaius gave the win to Rorik’s team by default, since he had the worst injuries—and because he knew I liked him.
Jade calmly pushed up his glasses. “People normally don’t sustain grave injuries while playing volleyball. What happened to Rorik was an accident.”
“No, it wasn’t. That grizzly guy was totally out to get him,” I ranted. “He kept hitting him in the face!”
“I can disqualify him from the Games, if you wish,” Jade suggested.
“No,” Rorik interjected.
I didn’t realize Rorik was listening to our conversation. I’d dragged Jade aside to complain about his choice of challenge, although as usual, Jade had his reasons. He’d picked volleyball due to Rorik’s physical fitness, thinking it would be a good opportunity for him to shine. Cobalt must’ve told him I was infatuated with Rorik, hence the rigged challenge adjustment.
What neither of them knew, however, was that Rorik had no clue how to play volleyball.
As much as I hated to admit it, Jade had his head on straight. He’d set this up for Rorik to win, for my sake. It wasn’t his fault Rorik got injured, but I was still pissed that it happened.
“Are you sure?” I asked Rorik.
Rorik shrugged. “Bears fight. It’s what we do.”
That didn’t temper my anger. “I have no qualms about kicking that guy off the island. He’s a dick for what he did to you.”
Rorik glanced at Jade for a long beat. I remembered he was meeting my older brother for the first time. Did Jade’s presence make him nervous? At least that was warranted, unlike with Cobalt.
Looking back at me, Rorik said, “No. Don’t bother. Because if Poppy had not intervened, I would’ve crushed that man’s skull.”
Jade sighed, rubbing his temple. He clearly didn’t care about the violence, just the incoming workload. “We’re going to have to scrub that comment in post-production…”
