With a watery laugh, she nods, rapidly blinking back tears and sucking down a few more deep breaths to center herself. Sifting through the myriad of emotions she’s projecting, I wait until there aren’t any sudden spikes of anxiety or anger, but the undercurrent of hurt holds steady. Once she’s composed herself as much as she’s going to be able to, I take one last lungful of my mate’s scent for the road and reluctantly open the door.
“You know, the car keys would be pretty useful in getting us home,” I call out, both of them immediately turning around.
It probably shouldn’t make me so happy to see the head of our legion sporting a black eye and wicked bruise on his jaw, but a smile breaks out on my face all the same.
Raiden narrows his eyes in my direction, but wisely says nothing. His gaze shifts to Amara and instantly softens, regret and trepidation clear as day on his face, andthathas my smile faltering. Outside of the house, Raiden doesn’t show emotion; ever. He’s renowned for his level head, diplomatic approaches, and being one of the most disciplined dragons to ever walk the earth. Defending his mate’s honor in the clearing was one thing, but to let his guard drop out here, where we know there are likely wolves lurking, watching from the shadows?
Her voice cracks as she whispers, “We can talk on the way home, but I’d like to get out of here, now. Please.”
It snaps him out of it, and he closes the distance in a few long strides. “Of course.” Once he slides into the driver’s seat, Raiden turns the key, using the rearview mirror to check her over discreetly.
Stone’s more of a wreck than I realized, climbing into the back with us. One knee on the bench, he palms Amara’s cheek, turning her to face him as he inspects her for injuries. A low growl fills the air as he takes in the state of her, carefully plucking a twig out of her hair. When he gets down to her legs, his eyes flutter shut with a shuddering sigh of relief. Lifting one leg onto his lap as he takes a seat, it puts the hole ripped in the knee of her leggings on display. She must have fallen at one point on her sprint through the forest, but the scrape on her knee has already begun to scab over.
“It really is helping your healing,” Stone breathes, gently caressing the side of her knee.
She offers him a sad smile. “Demonic jewelry for the win. And only a few murderous thoughts to go with it, but I don’t think the bloodstone is to blame for those.”
Raiden pulls out of the woods and back onto the road, his voice gravelly. “Thank you for giving me the chance to explain, for trusting us instead of disappearing.”
I pull her away from Stone enough to get her seatbelt fastened. She doesn’t fight me, but she does stiffen with coiled tension. “I’m not stupid. Malcolm's delusional and obsessed. If he's trying to pit me against you and paint you as the bad guys, I'm exactly where I should be. That doesn't mean I can't be pissed off that you know him and stopped Kodi from tearing his throat out like you've been going on about for weeks.”
She combs a hand through her snarled, dark mass of tangled hair and grimaces. “I just... I couldn't be there anymore. With everyone staring at me expectantly, knowing whatever came out of my mouth would make things worse.” Giving it up as a lost cause, her hands settle on her thighs, fingertips digging into the black fabric. “With Malcolm staring at me inpity.”
With a rattling breath, she pulls herself back from the brink and meets Raiden’s eye on the rearview mirror. “Why?”
He grinds his teeth, and I silently gag at the sound. “Because if I had let Kodiak end that insufferable bastard, I may as well have killed you myself.”
Chapter 3
Amara
––––––––
“Go on.”
Raiden’s jaw clenches as he merges into traffic on the highway. “Remember what I’d said when we first met? The men that started the breeding program and murdered my parents so they could kidnap my sister were part of the elder council that oversaw the shifters in the country, and all of them were there to... see the program get off the ground. When we slaughtered them, it demolished the system keeping everyone in check. We didn’t want to become their replacements, and thus, restructured everything so that the burden of accountability falls onto each pack, legion, or group leader’s shoulders, and communities as a whole. If one group becomes too much of a problem or threatens to reveal our existence to humans they don’t intend to take as mates, the neighboring communities step in to neutralize the threat before it requires a visit from the three of us, which tends to end in far more bloodshed; a necessary evil.”
