25. Twenty-five

twenty-five

I yawned so hard my jaw popped. Several heads rose around the table, their heads cocked and their ears pricked forward.

"Sorry guys, I'm a little tired."

I hadn't finished the sentence before Drym had me in his arms, striding away from the main space toward his room.

I still wasn't used to that. His quick action to get me whatever I needed. I'd say he could read my mind, but I knew he couldn't. I'd asked. I didn't want to leave while the others still worked on getting through their binders, but I knew arguing was futile. If I tried, the others would back Drym up in shooing me off to bed. I'd learned to just go with it.

It was amazing, really, how little sleep they needed. Being able to stay alert for so long made them better soldiers, but from my perspective, hearing their low voices echo through the cavern was soothing. A lullaby of safety and comfort.

Drym snuggled against my back, his warmth making me even more drowsy.

"Why does Thurl not like to read?"

He rubbed the underside of his jaw on the top of my head. "He lost the use of one eye completely, and the other strains when he tries to read. It was kind of you to take the task from him without question."

"Did he lose his eye the same way that Roul got his scars?"

I felt his chest rumble through my back as he chuckled. "No. Thurl lost sight in one eye while on a mission. They gave us faulty gear to see how we handled failure, and the premature explosion of a flash grenade sent shrapnel into his eye. Roul's ear notches and scars were won in a different battle. You should ask him to tell you about Texas."

I think I made a noise of assent, but I was already half asleep.

I dreamed I was running.

Not from rich assholes with nothing better to do with their time and money than stage human hunts, but from skinny nerds in lab coats. I woke up alone, drenched in cold sweat, and disoriented.

The cave system was always full of small sounds. Dripping water from somewhere deep underground and the hushed voices of the wyrfangs echoing down the tunnels were usually soothing, but I couldn't shake the note of fear my dream caused.

I stumbled to my feet and grabbed the small lantern Drym left for me. I couldn't navigate the entire system by myself, but I'd learned the path from Drym's room to the main chamber.

The six of them were crammed together, staring at an open binder. My toe caught a loose pebble and I found myself with six pairs of glowing eyes fixed on me.

It was unnerving.

Even though I knew them, and they were gentle and kind to me, I'd also seen firsthand how destructive and deadly they were. A shiver ran down my spine and I reassessed my thought that Bill pissing himself was totally overreacting.

The end of Roul's tail dragged back and forth on the ground, the shush of its sweep somehow ominous.

"What's wrong?" My voice wasn't as steady as I wanted.

Drym shook, his entire body shaking like a dog ridding itself of water. "We think…"

He looked around at his five brothers, and the pause stretched until I felt like I would snap.

"Just spit it out!"

All of them startled at my shout. Cavi even took a step back. Quin pushed his way in front of the others.

"We think your hunters are connected with our lab. Or at least one of them. And it's unclear if Society's counsel was as ignorant of their activities as they claim."

Roul punched him in the shoulder, which caused him to stumble several steps to the side.

"What's that for?"

"You are so blunt. Drym would have said it in an easier way."

Quin grumbled and rubbed at his smarting bicep. "Says the one who doesn't know what easy means."

"Knock it off, both of you."

I heard Drym admonish them, but my eyes were unfocused, my head full of fog. His warm, rough palms slid up and down the outside of my arms.

"Kendal, are you okay?"

I shook my head. "I just had a dream—nightmare. I was running from men in white coats." I looked up into his eyes, craning my neck back. "Lab coats."

He growled and crushed me to his chest. "They will not touch you."

I pushed out of his arms and stared up at him in horror. "It's not me I'm worried about. What if they get you?" I stepped to the side so I could see the others. "What if they get all of you?"

Roul's fists were clenching, Cavi had backed almost entirely out of the chamber, and the others were preternaturally still. After a few heartbeats, Kragen announced, "They won't. We will not go back. No matter what it takes."

That's exactly what I was afraid of. We needed to find these assholes, connected or not, and stop them permanently. I looked at Drym and nodded. "Okay then, we need to speed up our timeline. It's time for these pricks to sleep with the fishes."

Six heads cocked in confusion and I waved my hand. "It means it's past time for them to die."

Quin whooped. "I wasn't too keen on getting fish to make them beds, but that I can get behind."

I chuckled. "We need to contact Supe Sec. Hopefully they've found something."

"It's been barely a full day, Kendal. Our follow up meeting with them isn't until the end of the week." Drym stepped in close to me and some of the tension left my body.

"I know, but we have new information that might help them." I took a deep breath. "And they need to know their council may not be as innocent as they believe."

A few minutes later, I blinked against the bright sun at the cave entrance. I was blind until my eyes adjusted, and even then I would've killed for a pair of sunglasses. I pulled my cell phone out of my back pocket and checked the signal. Two bars.

"We need to get closer to civilization. I don't want the call to drop before I tell them everything that's happened."

Drym nodded and started walking, his palm on my lower back as always. I didn't mind.

"Did you finish your binder? The one about shifters?"

"Not entirely."

"But you've learned about fated mates?"

"Yes."

Nothing changed in his pace or demeanor. He still seemed calm and loose, but one-word answers weren't like him.

"What is it? What are you nervous about telling me?"

It took eight strides for him to tell me. I counted to keep myself from yelling.

"You should know that you hold the power in this, as in all things with me."

I nodded, but he wasn't looking at me. He stared straight ahead and kept a steady pace.

"Fated mates are much like you said. For shifters, there is one person who is your soul mate.

"Many years ago, the three fates became annoyed with Fenrir—essentially the father of shifters—and withheld mates. Just recently have they begun to find each other again."

A million questions ran through my mind, but somehow I managed to stay silent.

"The mate bond is unbreakable once in place."

He stopped and crouched in front of me, putting him at eye level.

"Do you understand, Kendal? If you choose to accept me as mate, and we forge the bond, it can never be undone."