“I wish we could stay like this forever.” I breathed against his neck, sucked in his familiar scent.
“We will. This connection? It’s ours. No one can take it away.”
Tressa lifted her head, her ears pricking toward the back of the house. A moment later, the sound of hoofbeats reached us, growing closer.
The peaceful bubble around us popped as reality intruded. Hail’s hand moved instinctively toward where his sword rested against the couch, while I held my breath and strained to listen.
The hoofbeats stopped and were followed by familiar heavy footsteps. Dungar’s voice carried through the night air as he spoke to someone, too low for us to make out words but recognizable enough to ease some of the tension from our shoulders.
The back door opened with a soft creak.
“Hail? Allie?” Dungar’s voice was carefully controlled, but I could hear the underlying urgency that made my stomach drop.
We rose, and Tressa padded behind us as we made our way to the kitchen where Dungar was removing his hat to hang it up, his expression tense.
“What is it?” Hail asked, though his tone suggested he already suspected the answer wouldn’t be good.
Dungar met our eyes, his jaw tight. “Will Carmichael and his men were spotted one town over, over an hour ago, though they evaded Fernandez’s team. We suspect he’ll find his way into town. Soon.”
Chapter 22
Hail
Tark’s false-bottom wagon creaked beneath us as one of the sorhoxes pulled it through the pre-dawn darkness toward town. I was hyperaware of every sound that might signal discovery. Allie and I lay hidden but exposure might be too easy.
“You alright?” I whispered.
“I’m enjoying my luxury accommodations.” Her voice sounded muffled.
Despite everything, her dry humor made me smile. Only Allie would joke while hiding from armed criminals determined to capture her. The courage it took to maintain that lightness in the face of danger made my chest swell with pride and terror in equal measure.
Tressa shifted on Allie’s other side, remaining as quiet as us. Every few minutes she’d glance up at me, her amber eyes reflecting the same tension that coiled through my muscles like wound wire.
Two of my brothers were out there somewhere, watching, though they were doing such a great job, I hadn’t seen or heard any sign of their presence. They’d join us once we were inside.
I’d tried to talk Allie into remaining hidden at Dungar’s with protection, but she was right to point out that this was her battle too. Any plan would include her participation.
Tark guided his sorhox toward the alley behind Sel’s bakery where warm light already spilled from the windows, peeking through the cracks in the boards above us.
The scent of fresh bread and cinnamon rolls drifted on the cool air.
As planned, Tark brought the wagon to a stop beside the bakery’s back door, and I was sure he was scanning the shadows one more time before climbing down. Dungar called out as he emerged from the building.
He moved to the back of the wagon to help unload the “supplies”.
Dungar grunted as he hefted me, disguised as a flour sack, over his shoulder. Tark took Tressa, also cloaked. He lowered me to the floor inside the kitchen, and I quickly climbed out of the burlap bag, tugging the fabric wrap off Tressa.
Hidden, I peered through the back window, watching as Dungar carefully shifted the false bottom to the side, revealing my mate curled up inside a wooden box labeled Spices.
Tark hefted the box onto his shoulder while Dungar took the second with the same label, and they carried them inside the bakery kitchen.
They’d already closed the blinds, blocking anyone from seeing inside.
As Tark lowered the box holding Allie onto the floor, Greel and Ostor joined us from the front room.
“Nothing,” Greel said. “If they’re out there, they’re too well hidden.”
That should give us the time we needed to put this plan in place.
