Page 32 of Dark Dragon’s Mate

Trish shook her head. “He didn’t want to hurt me. I only have some scratches.”

Mayah nodded. Then she said to Emon, “I’m going to stay here until he wakes up, just in case he needs anything.”

Emon narrowed his eyes, but he nodded. “I’ll call the kitchen and have them send up some food for when he wakes. They can leave it outside the door.”

“Thanks,” Mayah said. And then, when he hesitated, she said, “Shoo! Both of you. He needs rest.”

After a minute’s hesitation, they both left.

Chapter 16

Trish stopped Emon in the hall outside Mayah’s room. “There was an intruder,” she said in a low voice. “They didn’t come in through the window, but they were here. Because the person who searched Ragnor’s study was not me.”

“I know,” Emon said. “Don’t worry about it. I have an idea who it might have been.” He looked down at her, his green eyes concerned. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

She nodded. “I’m fine.” Some of the claw marks went pretty deep, but she welcomed the pain. Maybe it would make her feel less guilty about what she’d done to Tristan. “It’s less than I deserve.”

She hesitated. “I know this isn’t your responsibility, and you and Mayah have done more than enough for us tonight. But… what are we going to do tomorrow? If anyone sees Tristan’s wounds before they’re completely healed, a lot of questions will be asked. I’m not just worried about myself,” she added hastily. “It’s Tris. If any of the Enforcers find out my wolf is rogue, and that Tristan covered it up…” She bit her lip. “He’ll be in serious trouble, just for protecting me.”

Emon blew out a sigh. “How long has this been going on?” he demanded.

Trish went hot with shame. A shifter who couldn’t control their animal deserved to be cast out of her pack.

“Since Jace brought me back to Silverlake,” she admitted. “Over three years. But it’s only gotten this bad since the pack has gotten so big, in the last couple of years. Before that, She-Wolf never came out. She got suppressed when—” Trish shook her head. “It’s a long story.”

And she didn’t have the strength to tell it now.

Emon’s eyebrows were drawn together, his face dark with an emotion she couldn’t read. But she had to tell him the truth.

“But once she woke up, she was completely out of control. And she’s getting worse. You saw what she did to Tristan. She’s a rogue, and a killer. And she can’t be reasoned with; she won’t even talk to me. It used to be when Jace was around, she wouldn’t try to come out, but in the last few months even that doesn’t help.”

“You keep her locked up inside you?” Emon sounded incredulous. And angry.

“What else can I do?” Trish asked. “I can’t let her out. All she wants to do is kill. And if she kills one of the pack—or a human—they’ll put us in shifter prison. They might try to rehabilitate her, but I’ll never be allowed to be a healer again.” She took a deep breath. “And if she can’t be rehabilitated, they’ll put us down.”

Emon looked away, and she heard him mutter “fuck” under his breath. “You can’t go on like this.”

“I know,” she said miserably. She needed to ask for his help—she’d planned to—but not like this. She’d wanted to do it before he knew how messed-up she was.

“Damn it,” he muttered. He paced up and down the hallway, still muttering, raking his hands through his hair. She saw his eyes go dragon, and then human, then dragon. She began slowly backing up, ready to run if he lost control.

“Okay,” he said suddenly. He stopped pacing, eyes human again.

“What?” Trish asked, startled.

“Okay, you can stay here. I’m nobody’s alpha, and I’m nobody’s king, and there isn’t a pack here, but this is my domain and I make the rules, not the Council.”

He looked down at her, his eyes darkening with intensity.

“Nobody can touch you here. Nobody can cage you. Nobody can ever hurt you. You’ll be safe.”

Safe. She looked back at him, totally caught off guard.

She hadn’t completely realized just how heavy a burden she’d been carrying until now, when she got a taste of what it would be like to have it lifted from her shoulders. It almost made her giddy.

He was offering protection. A place where she didn’t have to hide, didn’t have to suppress her wolf. A place where, no matter how far She-Wolf ran, he could always find her and bring her home.

This was what she’d wanted to ask of him, and hadn’t dared.