Chapter 14: Colt

Chapter 14: Colt

That day, I hadn’t been allowed to leave the mine. Not to go to work, not to return to the manor to check on Kiara, not even to hunt or retreat into my thoughts in solitude. The atmosphere turned tense and strange. Lothair’s mate Sibyelle was dead, and their daughter, who was yet to be named, was clearly suffering in the dark, damp atmosphere of the mine.

All I’d been allowed to do was take a shower come nightfall. With my hair still wet, I made my way through the tunnels and into the room where I usually found my father working, only this time, my father sat at the table, papers scattered in the disinterest of work, with the infant in his arms. My skin prickled at the sight of the little girl, thin-limbed, pale, and finally quiet, swaddled in a grey microfiber blanket without clothes. My father’s downcast stare instantly ignited accusations in the vein of his adoption of Billie. I wanted to take the little girl from him and hide her far away from his lecherous intentions.

“Has Lothair still not come back?” I asked.

David spared half a glance up at me. “No.”

The dragon Alpha had left with Sibyelle’s body, his clan performing a burial somewhere in the mountains. While most of the dragons had returned, Lothair was still nowhere to be found, leaving his daughter in our care. She was still crying when I had left for my shower, but now she seemed to have fallen quiet, exhausting herself into sleep. I inched closer to get a better look at her chubby cheeks, her light eyebrows, and the thin, silky strands on her head. Only her face was visible from among the blanket. She looked so terribly delicate, and I worried that an errant change in mood from my father would cause him to crush her in his hands.

Footsteps rang through the tunnel behind us. Garrett appeared around the corner with a plastic bag in one hand and a steaming thermos in the other. I stepped aside, watching him unload two cans of powdered baby formula, a bottle, and a few loose diapers from the bag.

“Good. Arrange a patrol next. I want two teams of five wolves and one team of five dragons. Our territory has gone unguarded for too long,” said my father, this time without looking up. “Colt, prepare a bottle for the girl. It should be one scoop to every two fluid ounces of water.”

With a nod, Garrett took off again. I unscrewed the cap and carefully poured the boiled water into the bottle. It was lukewarm in my hands. “Should it be hot?”

“No, just warm.”

Reading the instructions on the can, I measured out the formula with a scoop, then twisted the cap onto the bottle and shook it until the powder had dissolved into a milky liquid.

“Test the temperature,” said my father.

“How can I tell?”

“Put a few drops on your wrist. It shouldn’t be hot enough to burn you.”

I did as he said, squeezing a few drops on my wrist. It felt fine enough, but untrusting of my judgment, David stuck out his wrist to check as well. After leaving a couple of drops on his wrist, he wiped them away and reached for the bottle. “It’s good.”

With surprising tenderness, my father coaxed the baby awake and brought the nipple to her lips. As if on instinct, she began to suckle.

“You’re good at that,” I pointed out.

“She hasn’t eaten yet.” My father’s eyes were once more on the infant. “It’s almost as if I’ve done this before.” He spoke as though with humor, but there was nothing in his voice or face to imply lightheartedness. His eyebrows furrowed instead. “Lothair should be the one doing this.”

But neither of us knew where he was or whether he’d even be back. I couldn’t imagine the new father abandoning his daughter with us. After all we’d been through to acquire the unicorn, to undergo the Lycan ritual, he wouldn’t just run away, would he? Sibyelle’s death was a hard blow, but there were still many reasons for him to come back. He would, I was sure of it. Just nobody knew when.

“Do you still need me here?”

My father stayed silent for a few seconds. “Do you have somewhere else to be?”

“Well, no.” But I was desperate to go back to the manor and check on Kiara. “I was thinking I could go look for Lothair.”

“The patrols will find him and bring him back, or they’ll report on his location.”

“Then I should go look for Kiara again.”

This time, he frowned. “How exactly did she escape you yesterday?”

“Well, she just outran me. You know. We fought a bit, and she got away.”

“I have half a mind to suggest you let her get away.”

I sizzled with annoyance even though it might have been true. “Why would I let her get away? We have plans for her.”

“Yes… but in spite of that, she’s still your fated mate.” His cutting blue eyes snapped up at me. “The dragons say they smelled her in the trunk of your car.”

My sizzling ceased, and in its place, I felt coldness. “That’s impossible.”

“I don’t think it is.”

The infant suddenly stopped suckling, turning her face away as tears welled up. She began squirming in the blanket, letting loose sharp cries of some kind of discomfort. I had no idea what was wrong with her, and neither did my father at first, narrowing his eyes with irritation as he assessed the little girl in his arms. His gaze shifted back to me. “I don’t have the patience for this. Bring Muriel in here.”

Thankful as I was for the distraction, the infant’s shrill cries were no more reassuring. And neither was the idea of forcing a dragon baby into the arms of a poisoned unicorn. Nonetheless, I retreated and went back to the chamber where Muriel was curled up against the wall, looking worse for wear. Ever since Sibyelle’s death last night and the immense blood loss she had been subjected to, Muriel looked paler and gaunter, sickened by the gore.

I hovered a few feet away while the dragons guarding her watched us both.

“We need your help with the baby,” I said.

Muriel clutched her arms tightly around herself. “I cannot help,” she whispered without looking up.

“She could die.”

“I’ve already allowed the mother to die. How much worse can your wrath be if I let the same fate befall the child?”

“Muriel, please,” I lowered my voice for her. “It’s not your fault that Sibyelle died. The blood loss would have killed her no matter what you did.”

“I could have prevented it had I agreed to help earlier.”

“Maybe.” I sighed. “So then help the baby now. While I’m asking you.”

“My magic can only do so much. It cannot give warmth and nourishment to a premature infant.”

“We need something, anything to help. Lothair isn’t here. My father doesn’t want to have his arms full. And I have no idea how to take care of a baby.”

The unicorn slowly turned her head to me. Heavy bags under her eyes betrayed her exhaustion. “Fine,” she croaked. “I’ll see the child.” It was becoming clear that Muriel was rapidly losing the willpower to resist. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing for us.

I detached her cables from the hook in the stone, leading her once more through the tunnel, following the sound of the infant’s cries. My father was already standing impatiently. “What’s wrong with her?” he demanded.

Muriel dragged her feet to him as if the mere presence of my father continued to drain her life force away. She raised her bound hands to gently touch the baby’s cheek, looking down in hardened neutrality, but after leaning her ear to the child’s chest, her expression softened into sympathy. “Her heart is beating too fast. She’s pale, and her limbs are cold and weak. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s suffering from congenital heart failure. It’s a common defect of premature infants,” said Muriel.

“Fix her,” demanded my father.

Muriel glanced at me, reminding me of what she had said just minutes ago. There was only so much she could do. All the same, she unwrapped the child and placed a hand on her chest, closing her eyes.

Even from where I stood, I imagined the warmth of Muriel’s magic suffusing the infant’s body, attempting to mend the fragility of her little heart.

Then shouting rang through the distant tunnels, followed by the harrowing pop of a gunshot.

We all stiffened, staring down the tunnel. A racket of footsteps warned of our forces mobilizing against some unseen enemy. My father shoved the infant into my arms. “Hold onto her,” he snarled, barely giving me time to clutch the child before he stormed out of the room.

My heart slammed almost as fast as the baby’s. It wasn’t my own surprise and excitement I could feel. The adrenaline of my fated mate made my breath quicken and my blood pump hard. Our irresistible magnetism warned that she was close, and I knew immediately just who it was that had barged into the mine that evening.

I charged toward the tunnel, only to realize I still had the infant in my hands. Stupid of me to take the little girl right into danger, especially when there were guns involved. God, what if she got shot? I frantically searched the room only to focus on Muriel, extending the infant to her.

“I cannot take her,” Muriel said, backing away.

“Please.”

“No, Colt. I will not be seen by Lothair clutching his dying infant.”

She had a point, but as chaos unfolded further down the tunnel, I couldn’t rationalize. “Please! That’s my fated mate—your daughter! I have to do something!”

Muriel’s expression immediately lost its softness, rare anger flickering in her eyes. “What are you going to do, betray your father? Are you planning to deliver a shocking display of bravery at the last minute just to woo my daughter, to trick her into thinking you’re worthy of her? I won’t condone you manipulating her, and I won’t be responsible for the life of that child.”

I couldn’t tell if the fury in my heart belonged to Kiara or me. “Fine! You don’t have to be responsible for anything.” With the child in one arm, I threw the cables attached to Muriel’s handcuffs to the ground and turned away. She was so frail. I wrapped the blanket around her tighter, clutching her close and praying that Muriel’s brief sharing of magic was enough to mend her heart, at least for now. Praying that by bringing her with me, I wasn’t taking her to her death. But I couldn’t leave her alone, and I couldn’t just stand in another room while my mate stupidly charged into a mine full of wolves and dragons who were hunting her.

Muriel could decide what to do with her newfound freedom. But I was going to see Kiara no matter what.