"I fly too..." I mutter, the pang of jealousy raising its ugly head.
"You do realize your shift isn't big enough to carry her, right?" Torben offers gently.
Rolling my eyes, I glance from the road to Torben, then back again. "I wish I was..."
I shake my head, watching leaves flutter past us.
"We each bring something different to the family." Torben looks up from his phone. "Didn't you notice how different we all are?" He angles his body toward me. "You can match Feray's intellect and offer her challenges the rest of us can't."
He hikes his thumb over his shoulder toward sleeping Khal. "He's the sensitive one. He can relate to her emotionally better than any of us."
"Yet he's the one that can turn everyone to stone or poison them," I mention, keeping my head on a swivel.
"I'm her safe place, her silent enforcer. She knows I will destroy anything in my path." Torben laughs a little. "All of us would destroy the world to get to her. Each of us to different degrees."
I huff out a laugh. "Fire, acid, venom, or ripped to pieces. Talk about the new Riders of the Apocalypse."
My own words make me ponder. "I wonder if I can set Diaval's acid on fire and turn it into napalm?"
The reality of it has merit.
Before I can get lost in thought, the silhouettes of two people standing in the middle of the road come into view.
"There they are!" Torben exclaims, pointing down the road.
There's nothing more unnerving than watching a berserker Kodiak get as giddy as a child on Christmas morning. His bouncing in the seat makes the SUV rock in time with his movements.
"Before you accidentally roll us, please settle down."
He realizes how much his movement was affecting the vehicle. "Sorry..." His tone makes him sound like a kid caught stealing cookies.
"I'm excited too. Except I would turn this vehicle into an exploding fireball."
Biting my bottom lip, I pull off onto the side of the road close to Feray and Diaval. Before the vehicle is in park, Torben is out the door and down the road.
After parking, I walk slowly to where Torben is hugging the stuffing out of Feray.
"We were separated for less than two hours," I say, bored, rolling my eyes.
Turning to address Diaval, I'm impacted by a small giggling body.
Looking down, I can't stop the smile that crosses my lips. "My beautiful flame."
Carefully, I thread my fingers through her fiery tresses before pulling her in for a kiss. Feray melts in my arms, and my insecurities fade away in an instant.
This little wolf in my arms is more precious to me than any treasure in my treasury.
Feray's eyes flicker with the power of her wolf as she stares up at me. "My flame..." She traces my cheek, smiling, her eyes dancing over my features.
The way she's looking at me makes my bird rise to the surface. Her wolf is calling to my bird on a primal level.
"My mate..." When she smiles, I see the canines of her wolf.
"What's on your mind, Feray?" I've seen this before. She needs to scent-mark me again—that, and she probably wants sex.
Feray tilts her head left, then right, before she leaps into my arms. The sudden movement catches me off guard, and we fall backward.
Oof...
