Chapter 2
Kodiak
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“I’ve got her, meetback at the car,” I bark, not even giving Raiden a chance to reply before hanging up.
Pocketing my phone, I draw my wings in as I land. They meld back into my body smoothly, the skin between my shoulder blades healing almost instantly once they’re fully retracted. It was far too easy to track her, the taste of her fear leaving an even bigger trail than her sweet scent, and that was my biggest delay. Too many wolves jumped at the chance to go after Amara when she ran, and it slowed me down.
All an unmated wolf needs is a female shifter to give them a claiming bite to release their inner beast from its cage. Their lives aren’t bound once marked, but their darkest instincts flare to life, jealousy and pride driving them to keep their women as a status symbol, even if they don’t truly want a mate, just access to their wolf. After Raiden stopped me from killing that son of a bitch, leaving a bloody trail in my wake did nothing to take the edge off, just gave me more time to grow increasingly pissed off.
Sidling towards the SUV and my sweet mate in the backseat, I make sure to make my presence known with a few scuffed steps, and approach from the front. She’s hunched over, gripping her middle and sucking down ragged gasps, shoulders shaking, and doesn’t notice. Gently rapping my knuckles on her window, I swallow, nearly choking on the taste of her abject misery.
“Hey there, firefly.”
Tensing, she slowly releases a shaky breath and swipes at her face with her shirt sleeve. Without looking, she fumbles at the door, the sound of it unlocking following a few seconds later. She scoots over without saying a word, and my eyes close briefly with a wave of relief so strong, it threatens to bring me to my knees.
“Color me impressed, you gave those wolves a run for their money. Maybe that piercing Stone gifted you is already working,” I murmur, slowly sliding into her vacated seat and softly closing the door behind me.
Sweat has her clothes clinging to her body, and her eyes are red and swollen from crying. My instincts take over completely at the sight of my mate in such distress, and I let my other half have control without a fight. I trust the demonic dragon writhing restlessly beneath my skin with Amara implicitly; he’d never do anything to hurt her. We may both want to hold her close to assure ourselves she’s safe, but he’d be the first to cut off our own hand if touching our mate would bring her any more pain.
My vision shifts, everything becoming sharper in clarity. Colors are more pronounced, and the finer details stand out a little more. I canfeelmy dragon’s effort to slow his movements, the underlying fear as he carefully reaches over to pick Amara up and drag her onto our lap. When she doesn’t flinch away from our touch, there’s a shudder of contentment, and he wastes no time burying our nose in the crook of her neck.
“Do you want to know a secret?”
“That Raiden’s on a first name basis with Malcolm, and stopped you from gouging his eyes out?” she replies dryly, slumping against me as all of the remaining fight leaves her body. “Hate to burst your bubble, but the cat’s out of the bag on that one.”
A low rumble vibrates my chest as I bite back the urge to hotwire the car and leave the others behind to fucking walk. “Close.” Against the side of her throat, I whisper, “I knew exactly where you’d run to, but sent Raiden five miles south of here anyway, claimed you might be laying a false trail and riding the river to the next town.”
I’m not even sure if she realizes she’s doing it, but with her weary exhale, she snuggles closer, unperturbed by the fact that I’m shirtless. If anything, it’s like she’s seekingmoreskin to skin contact. “Why?”
Switching our positions, I lay her head on my shoulder and palm the back of her head to keep her in place. As I rest my cheek on top of her head and nuzzle her hair, her sweet, stormy scent fills my nose, and a low, contented rumble emanates from my chest. “Because he deserved a little extra time to panic. And if our mate was forced to put in so much physical effort today, he should, too.”
“Should have made it fifty,” she snaps. Sighing heavily in resignation, she wraps her arms around her stomach. “How’d you know I’d be here?”
“Because you know damn well I’d never let anything happen to you. If I thought Raiden or Stone were a threat, I’d steal you away and the two of us would live our best lives without either of them. But in no reality would I ever betray you, and even faced with your worst fear, deep down, you knew that. I’m a good judge of character and trust Raiden, so you’d assume there must be a reason to explain what went down out there. You were just overwhelmed and hurt, and needed to escape the situation, not us. Does that about sum it up?”
A dark, watery chuckle escapes her, and she swipes at her face again before shifting closer, curling in on herself and hiding out from the world in my arms for a little while longer. “Remind me never to bet against you.”
“But think of how much fun it could be when I came to collect.”
Nuzzling her temple, I huff in annoyance when there’s a thud outside signaling Stone’s arrival, and a few moments later, Raiden’s. They give us a semblance of privacy, watching our surroundings and stewing in their volatile emotions while I console our girl, because apparently I’m the only one of her mates without his head firmly lodged up his own ass.
They think I’m convincing her to come back home, but she was never going to leave. We make her happy, and that’s fucking terrifying to someone that’s never been allowed to love anything without it being ripped away.
When she’s pulled herself together enough to keep her voice steady, she rasps, “We should probably get out of here.”
I tighten my grip, the dual sensations of my dragon being in control of my actions while I speak a mind trip that makes it hard to discern who’s doing what since we both want the same thing; her. “I could carry you, you know. If you aren’t ready to talk to him yet.”
She contemplates it for a minute before shaking her head, sliding off of my lap and into her seat. “No, I want to know.Needto know.” Finally facing me, her golden eyes shine with unshed tears and a fierce determination that has me wanting to tear my heart out of my chest and throw it at her feet in offering, if only she’ll smile again. “But if it’s a piss-poor excuse, wanna steal his wallet and run away with me? Wouldn’t hurt to have a doctor on speed dial with my run of bad luck, so Stone can come too, I suppose.”
I cup her cheek, resting my forehead against hers. “Mo chroi, we can do that any day of the week, no excuse necessary. I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth and happily hold your hand while you Sparta-kick everyone that’s ever wronged you over the edge.”
