Page 54 of Dark Dragon’s Mate

He tightened his hand around hers and stroked the back of it gently with his fingers.

He thought carefully about what to say.

“She’s angry,” he said finally. “Because you didn’t let her out for so long. She’s a warrior, and she thinks you don’t appreciate her strength, that you’re ashamed of her. And so she likes to take control.”

“Yeah. I figured that, from the forced Changes and the always killing of things.”

“And if you must know, she’s kind of full of herself.”

Trish laughed. “So she doesn’t need glittery purple sneakers for confidence?”

“Is that what the purple ones are for?”

“Uh huh.”

He squeezed her hand. “Then that would be a no. She does not lack confidence. I told you, she was ready to take on my dragon.”

“So… brave but delusional.”

“Something like that.”

Emon was silent for a moment. He didn’t want to sound judgy, but he hated the idea of things in cages. And Trish had kept her wolf caged up.

“Why wouldn’t you let her out?” he asked finally.

He felt Trish go quiet next to him, and he waited, still stroking her hand.

“It was when we lost our pack,” she said finally, her words dropping into the night. “Years ago. We had a different pack, in a different place, and Jace’s father was the alpha.”

Jace Monroe. The alpha of Silverlake.

“His mate—Jace’s mother—got involved with a wolf from another pack.” Emon flinched. He didn’t know wolves very well, but he knew enough to know what a betrayal that was.

“I don’t know if the other wolf really cared about her, or was just using her, but their pack attacked ours. We had prime territory, forest and mountains…” A small, sad smile crossed her face. “It was beautiful. This reminds me of it.”

She gestured with her free hand to the far mountains.

“Jace’s dad waited too long to raise the territory defenses, because his mate was outside. He didn’t realize… not until too late.”

She went quiet for a moment, taking a deep breath. “Our pack was destroyed. Most of the adults were killed in the fighting. Jace and Rafe and Jesse escaped, and Kane. And me.”

Her voice dropped. “My wolf wanted to fight. But I was so scared—wolves were getting killed all around me. I forced my wolf inside and I climbed the highest tree I could find, and I stayed up there until the fight was over, and night fell.

“In the middle of the night I finally climbed down. I still wouldn’t let my wolf out, because I knew my scent would be stronger if I went wolf. I tried to find someone—anyone—but my pack was all gone. Dead, or escaped. No one knew I was still alive. I was all alone.”

Her voice was shaking. Emon put his arm around her shoulders, trying to calm her shivering. “How old were you?”

“Fourteen.”

He nodded. What could he say? He knew what she must have felt. The disbelief, the terror. He had been much younger, but he could still remember those feelings.

Every person who cared about you, gone. Your home, your history, everything that made you feel safe.

He’d had Mayah, though, and Ragnor the Evil Bastard, who had at least fed and clothed and educated them, and given them a safe place to live. Safe-ish. Until he totally lost it and started torturing them, but that didn’t happen until they were older.

Trish had had no one.

“So what happened then?” he asked. She was still shivering. He tried to will some of his dragonfire into her.