“Son.”
“Do you know what they do to their mates? Do you know what they do to anyone who’s not a dragon?”
Lachlan pressed his chest further into my side as I clung to Kian. “They’re sick.”
“Oh, yes. I’ve heard what they do to the mates of dragons, but at least they’re preserving their species,” Bill answered in a gruff voice.
“Do you know that there is actually a Kalista-wide search for a certain firedrake’s mate?” Claude’s eyes shifted to me. “Apparently, she’s an arctic fox shifter.”
Kian held me tighter. “No. We didn’t know about that, but I am not interested in siding with the dragons.”
Bill chuckled and shook his head. “You’ve never been very opinionated. Why is this the one time you decide to be? Can’t you see that using your visions would be so good for us?”
“I’ve seen a lot with my visions, and I can promise you none of it has shown anything that you’ve decided so far to be a good thing.”
“Are you also fully mated to a firedrake?” Claude asked, his gaze not once wavering from me. “The headmaster, perhaps?”
Terror gripped my heart and flashed through the bond to my three mates. Urgency bounced back to me from them.
Kian choked out a few words that I didn’t recognize from their language, and a purple cord became visible between Kian and Claude. A lightning bolt shot from Kian’s palm, obliterating it. “I hereby cut ties with the Necromancer Village.”
Claude and Bill both jumped to their feet, but Kian grabbed on to both Lachlan and me as Nightshade held on to his hair. We were lurched into something like a mirror just before they could reach us.
We came through the other side and smacked into a hard ground full of snow. I pulled my head up and glanced around to see nothing but snow and two hills going up each side of a valley.
Lachlan sucked in a deep breath.”Fucking hell. Did that just happen?”
Kian blinked a few times as tears spilled down his cheeks, and he pushed his glasses up on his head. “Wren, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know anything like that was going to happen. If I had known, I would have never brought you there. They’ve always been evil but, I never thought—”
“I know, Kian. It’s okay,” I croaked, the fear that had splintered my heart hadn’t eased yet. “You don’t have to apologize to me. I’m the one who chose to come. I knew it could be dangerous, but I came anyway. This is not your fault.”
“She’s right,” Lachlan said as Nightshade wiped the tears from Kian’s face.
A whoosh of air blew around us as Damien’s arms wrapped around me, and Thorn dropped to his knees next to me.
“The terror that shot down the bond…” Damien’s voice broke.
“It absolutely killed us,” Thorn finished.
“Rowan is trying not to shift at the academy,” Damien rasped, and his body trembled as he held onto me.
“Do I need to go back?”
“No, it’s fine. I can go. I have to finish… something urgent.” He swallowed hard.
I hesitated for a moment. It was unlike him to refuse for me to come with him. But I also knew Kian needed me in that moment too. “Tell him I love him. I love each of you,” I said as Damien pulled back and pressed his lips to mine before fading into the shadows of the valley.
Thorn wrapped his arms around me, and I buried my face in the softness of his hair. “I don’t think I’ve felt that level of fear from you since you were attacked by that human specimen,” he murmured as his ice magic spread over my body.
“I’m okay now, but thank you for coming for me.” I pulled back and ran my hand through the length of the blue strands.
“Kit, I’ll always come for you,” he growled. “Are you certain you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, I promise. We were completely caught off guard. Kian got us out of there before anything could happen.”
Thorn glanced over at Kian. “Your teleportation magic needs some work, but thank you for saving our mate.”
“I’ll always save her.” Kian sniffed and put his glasses back on his face.
