She spat the words out. "They said if they get the mate, the monsters always come for their own. They called me leverage. They called you monsters."
"Look at me," I said, and when she did, I made sure she saw it. The promise. The fire.
"My mother has the girls at the safe house by now. Nobody gets past her. Not even a hunter with a death wish."
Her face crumpled, tears hotter now, but the dread in her chest loosened a hair.
I yanked off my jacket and wrapped it around her. She clung to it, knuckles white. I tucked it tight, then touched her face, thumb brushing grit from her cheek.
"Did they hurt you? Anywhere else?"
She shook her head. "Zip ties cut my wrists. Nothing major."
Kill them! Now!Caden wantedto find every mark on her and take her to Maeve to be healed after killing every hunter who'd touched her. At the same time, I wondered why this cell seemed so incompetent. Hunters were usually more than able to contain dragons once they captured them, if they didn't kill them outright.
Never again.
I agreed with Caden. Nobody would ever get this close to Tash again.
She blinked, fighting for control. Then said, "There was a woman. With the hunters, but she helped me. Kira. She told me to tell Livia, Kira is there with them. She said Livia would know what that meant. She opened one of the zip ties and showed me how to get free."
Kira. I had no idea who that was. No doubt my mother wouldn't be terribly forthcoming with the information, either.
She buried her face against my neck, voice worn thin. "If I hadn't gotten out, I don't?—"
"It doesn't matter," I cut in. "You did. You made it. And if they try for you again, they'll wish they'd stayed away."
I shifted her so she could lean fully on me, then scanned the shadows, letting Caden do his thing. The world went sharper, the woods breathing,animals on lockdown, but nothing was close enough to hurt us. No footsteps, no human stink. No threat here.
"Rest," I said, shifting to keep her off the muddy slope. "You're safe. I'll watch for any followers."
I scanned again, every muscle set to detonate at the first sign of trouble. Caden approved with a satisfied rumble in my chest. He wanted to take to the sky and torch the whole county, but he loved having her beside me more. The ripple of pride in the way she'd fought her way free, then trusted me to finish the job made my dragon want to show off.
But I kept him leashed. Tash needed warmth, not napalm.
She exhaled, finally, against my skin. "I can't believe you're here. God, I'm glad you could find me."
"Never doubt it." My voice dropped, pure iron. "This ends now. They want a war, they'll get it. They picked on the wrong people this time."
She looked up, something fierce and grateful in her eyes.
I kept my hold. Nothing would pry her away. Not now, not ever.
And when I made the promise, I meant every syllable. "As long as I breathe, nobody's getting to you. Or the girls."
Caden rumbled again. Protective, primal, locked and loaded for any next attempt.
She curled in, finally letting the fear drain away. I kept my arm tight around her, ready to fight the world if it so much as blinked wrong at us.
But for now, she was here. Exactly where she belonged.
And I wasn't going to let her go.
Tash
The sun wasn't fullyup so much as caught between branches like it couldn't believe it had to work this hard just to light the woods. My skin still shivered, nerves atomized, and even with Chance's arms wrapped like steel bands around me, it was all I could do to keep breathing.
The woods had this hush, a hush so deep the sound of our hearts beating could've made the birds jealous. Every now and then a bird's call split the air, or a squirrel barreled across a branch, but the rest was just us. The chaos from before had faded, but not the tremor in my hands or the drag of my need.
