Page 68 of Brock’s Mate

Brock hugged her to him. “We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.” He turned to Brandon. “Who’s this clan?”

“It’s an obscure one called the Habakki-ur, from deep in the Dragonlands. They look like this.” Brandon pulled out his phone and tapped on a text, showing them a picture of a silver-green dragon with golden eyes.

“I know, it doesn’t look like DB. But apparently the Habakki-ur have a long and disgusting history of selectively breeding captive females to create a slave class with powers they themselves don’t possess.”

“You think DB’s the child of a captive Draken woman?” Desi said. “Fuck.”

The tone of her voice and the emotions coming off her made Brock want to punch something. She was seeing herself in DB—both as a woman, almost forced into mating, and as a child being used for her powers.

“It would explain why DB doesn’t look like them,” Remy said.

“We need to find DB,” Desi said. “We need to get his side of the story, and we need to make sure he has a safe place to go.” She looked fiercely around the circle.

“No argument here,” Brandon said. “Nick?”

He’s not answering my calls. But I know a few places where he hangs out in the spirit world. I’ll go look.

Desi said, “And I know a place he might be hiding out in this world. Brock’s safe house.”

She turned to Brock. “The day I first met him, he told me that he’d been staying at the cabin off and on, without you knowing. I didn’t think you’d really mind, but he didn’t seem to want you to know, so I promised I wouldn’t rat him out.” She added quietly, “I know what it’s like.”

Brock gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t worry. I’ll go over there now and see if he’s there. If he’s not, I’ll leave him a note.”

“I’ll go too,” Desi said immediately.

Brandon said, “What about the dark wolves and the sorcerer? There’s a good chance they’re just waiting for you to step outside the magical boundary wards on this territory.”

“I don’t care about that,” Desi said.

“I do,” Brock and Brandon said simultaneously. Desi rolled her eyes.

Brock turned to her. “I get how you feel. But I can’t talk to DB and protect you at the same time. I’ll go wolf, through the woods. No one will see me leave.”

“You should take someone with you,” Brandon said.

Brandon shook his head. “I don’t want to spook DB, if he’s there. If it’s just me alone, maybe he’ll talk to me. And there’s no danger at the cabin—the dark wolves are probably all watching this place. They know there’s no way Desi will go back there. It’s not secure enough.”

Brandon tightened his lips, but he finally said, “All right. But take your phone and report back. Otherwise I’m sending in the cavalry.”

Less than an hour later Brock was ghosting through the woods near the cabin in wolf form, his clothes, phone, and a couple of weapons in a specially-made carry pack across his back.

He’d felt no sense of danger getting out of the territory, but for some reason, the closer he got to the cabin, the more the back of his neck prickled and his hackles rose.

I do not like this, his wolf said. Something is wrong.

I feel it too, buddy.

He stopped about a quarter-mile from the cabin and dressed, sticking his gun in the back of his pants and feeling in his pocket to make sure his knife was there.

He approached the cabin from a blind spot—out of the lines of sight from all the doors and windows. He was glad he’d brought brown camo, to blend in. Winter sucked as far as cover in the woods.

The first thing he saw was a black van on the gravel parking pad, and he glimpsed the tops of the heads of two men in black standing on the other side of it. Brock’s insides went cold, and he heard Desi’s voice. ‘There’s a lot of uses for dragons. Blood and parts.’ And, ‘Crime. Sex. And magic.’

He wanted to smack himself in the head. He and the crew were all fucking idiots—every last one of them. They’d assumed Desi would continue to be the target—but the sorcerer and the black wolves had seen DB the other night, as well. What if they’d set their sights on the dragon instead?

Keeping the van between him and the men, Brock stole noiselessly out of the trees, using his mental powers to mask his scent. When he was right on the other side of the van, one of the men spoke.

“How long is it going to take that fucking wizard to show up?”