“Rowan’s snapdragon mad. He told me to tell you all that he expects a full report in the morning.”
“He’ll get one,” Lachlan said.
Thorn pressed his lips together and worry slipped through the bond. “I will phase here if you need me.”
“You always do.” I brushed his hair out of his face before kissing the coolness of his lips. “I’ll be fine.”
Another gust of wind blew over us, and Thorn disappeared.
Lachlan scooted over to me and wrapped me in his arms. “Why is it that you are constantly scaring the fuck out of me?”
“I’m sorry.” I breathed in his earthy scent as he moved to help get us both to our feet.
Kian stood, stroking Nightshade in his arms as an expression I couldn’t quite make out appeared. “Are you sure you’re okay, Wren?”
“I’m okay,” I told them, but in all honesty, I wasn’t sure if I was okay. I knew the stories about necromancers from what Kian told me, and I knew that he was different from his kind. But I had no idea that they were like that. My heart bled for him to see his mom in the shape she was in, and I wanted to ease his pain in any way I could. “But are you?”
“I’ll be okay.”
“Where are we?” I cleared my throat.
He let out a stuttered breath, glancing around like it was the first time he noticed where we were. “My teleportation magic isn’t always the best. I kind of expected a little hiccup, but I did better than I thought I would. We’re in between the valley of the Necromancer Village and the Werewolf Village.”
“We are on Cursina land but unclaimed by a village. We are safe here,” Lachlan added. “At least we should be, but we’re in wartime now.”
“I’m not trying to freak anyone out, but did anyone else think it was strange that Damien and Thorn just up and left like that? They’d never do that,” Kian pointed out as Nightshade purred. “They would usually at least offer to take us to the village.”
I was so worked up from what happened that I hadn’t noticed, but he was right. They would never leave after the immense fear that I had shot down the bond unless something else had happened. Plus, leaving us in between villages didn’t seem like their normal actions.
“It was also weird that Rowan didn’t come with them because from what I understood, Rowan was with both of them,” Lachlan said.
“But Thorn was supposed to be in the Ice Kingdom, not at the academy,” I murmured as a heavy ball dropped in my gut.
“Let’s try not to dwell too much on it,” Kian said with a frown. “Easier said than done, I know, but let’s make it to Lachlan’s village before anything else happens.”
THIRTY-ONE
Lachlan
Wrenshiftedherselfonmy back to peep over my shoulder as we neared the Werewolf Village.
“She looks so little on your back. It reminds me of how adorable she is in her fox form,” Kian murmured, and Wren gasped.
“I’m not cute in that form,” she grumbled, and her warm breath hit the back of my neck, sending goosebumps down my spine. “I’m as dangerous as any other supernatural.”
We both chuckled at that. Her telling us how dangerous she was had become one of my favorite things about her. My kind, sweet, gentle mate trying to make us believe she was dangerous had to be the most adorable thing of all.
It was the first time we had interacted since what happened in the valley. There was a deafening silence around us since we figured out that something had to have happened at the academy. I could feel the worry in how tense her body was as I carried her on my back. I didn’t need the bond to tell me she was past the point of concern. I think we all were.
Trudging through the snow-covered path to the Werewolf Village, I realized an outsider could make the comparison that our village was somewhat like the Necromancer Village. There were wooden structures for the homes, but our village took a lot better care of our buildings with repairs and upkeep. The Werewolf Village was nestled on top of a mountain.
Since there was such a small population of werewolves, our village wasn’t very big. We preferred being in the mountains, away from any wayward travelers. Not many of the other supernaturals cared for us since we were technically descendants of humans.
Unlike the Necromancer Village, the Werewolf Village had all kinds of wildlife, minus the prey-type animals. Our village lived in harmony with mountain lions and wolves. The timid prey animals sensed the monster inside us, so they didn’t come around.
Wren wrapped her arms tighter around my neck as if the fox side of her sensed that predators were around. There were a few stray wolves trotting out of the village, and they passed without acknowledging us.
We stepped past the fence to the village, but there were no werewolves wandering around outside. I couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing, since I knew Wren was already overwhelmed. So was Nightshade. He’d stopped his little antics, and there was a quiver in my stomach that hadn’t left since the realization about Damien and Thorn’s actions earlier.
