Chapter 25

Billie

"Goodnight, Billie," Gavin intoned from the veranda of his own cabin, where he'd shifted back into his human form. The heat in his stare left me with no doubt that he was enjoying the flash of my naked body through the gloom as much as I was his.

"Goodnight, Gavin," I said breathily. My heart was racing as my gaze skated over his sculpted chest and down his muscled stomach, wanting to follow the line of hair along his treasure trail…

I licked my lips in the same way I had when licking away the juice of the strawberries that Gavin had fed to me earlier. Heat stained my cheeks as I thought of how sensual that experience had been.

He said with a wicked smile. "Sweet dreams." With his clothes in his arms, he stepped into his cabin.

I let out a breathy sigh. I knew I should go inside, too. But I stood on the veranda, taking a moment to still my mind after everything that had happened tonight.

Gavin had apologized to me, laying himself bare. Our bond, which had felt so precarious earlier in the day, hadn't just been mended but strengthened. A thrill shot through me as I realized how much closer I felt to him. Tonight had brought about a stronger and deeper understanding between us.

He'd admitted that he'd lost control with Colt and that his wolf had overpowered his judgment. I remembered how I'd had no choice whatsoever when my wolf had shifted and run out the night I'd scented Muriel in Dalesbloom. I'd been able to empathize with Gavin over such a thing.

Tonight, he'd seemed a million miles away from the proud Alpha I'd thought him a few weeks ago. And the fact that he'd admitted that he'd been jealous of the closeness between Colt and me had been another astonishing admission. He'd even agreed that should Colt wander into Grandbay again, he wouldn't hurt him again. He was going to give the rest of the pack the same instructions about Colt, too.

As I stood on the veranda, still not yet dressing, the thought of Colt still had me feeling uneasy. Gavin had said that he'd scratched his shoulder up. And when I'd asked whether he thought he was all right, he'd assured me that he would've gotten back to Dalesbloom.

But … what if he hasn't?

My stomach twisted as I imagined my friend bleeding out and alone in the woods. I was struck with the awareness that I wouldn't have another opportunity like the one I had right now. Ordinarily, either Gretel or Oslo were at home and were checking in on me. Aislin, too, was always aware of my whereabouts. But, if I were to go off now, she wouldn't miss me because she'd still think I was out with Gavin.

I realized if I were going to go check on Colt, it had to be now. Determination bloomed through me. I'd track toward the Grandbay/Dalesbloom border, looking for his scent. Gavin had said that he'd seen him at Pine Creek. It would only take me a few hours to get there and back. Colt had only passed through Pine Creek last night. His trail would still be fresh. And if he'd been bleeding, it should be easy enough to find. Once I'd found his scent, I'd be able to trace it easily enough and ensure that he hadn't collapsed in our woods somewhere. The likelihood was that he'd have made it out of Grandbay fine, and I'd return here before anyone missed me.

With the thought of being able to put my worry to rest, instead of getting my clothes back on, I shifted back into my wolf form. My sandy wolf was thrilled to be let out into the forest again, but I reined in her focus easily by centering my solemn thoughts on Colt again. The idea that he might need us drove my wolf stealthily on up the slope toward Pine Creek.

We were careful to sniff the air for any sign of Gretel or Oslo, too. They were the sentries on the border of Grandbay tonight. I didn't want to be caught sniffing around the edge of our woods tonight and have to explain myself to them. Thankfully, I knew their scents well and knew my wolf would be quick to pick them up should they come close.

With relief, as I reached the area of Pine Creek, my lupine nose found a trace of Colt's scent, the tang of iron sharp on the forest floor. My gait lengthened with thoughts of him swarming me.

The farther I traced the scent, the thicker the smell became, telling me he'd been losing more and more blood as he traveled back this way. My heart roared in my ears as I continued through the dark forest, tracking the odor of gore in the dirt. I feared that my eyes would find a black wolf inert in the undergrowth at any moment.

I'd reached the section of Pine Creek where the dragon fire was still evident in the soil and in the thinness of the tree line. Despite the prickle of unease that this place brought, I continued. Unable to ignore the bloody trail, I forced my tense limbs, teeming with agitation, to walk on. My breath grew shallower as despite needing the cool air in my lungs, something urged me to be quieter.

I tried to reassure myself—when I got to the border of Dalesbloom, I'd turn around. I had to know that Colt had made it into Dalesbloom, where he'd be found and his injuries treated.

A screech from high above me had me freezing. I shrank into the nearest pine tree, telling myself that I was hidden, that the beast above didn't see me. But my eyes shot upward and my nose lifted into the air as the scent of sulfur and ozone grew stronger.

The silhouette of a dragon circling high above was discernible to my wolfish eyes. My heart pounded, ordering me to get out of here. I careered around, telling my wolf to run as fast as she could. We needed to flee. But more wingbeats whooshed over the canopy above. I sprinted, my four limbs pounding the earth like they never had before.

But, ahead of me, one of my predators emerged. Its colossal form slid down a cluster of trees, cracking their spines.

Spraying up a cloud of dirt and pine needles, I skidded to a stop. Through the gloom, my wolfish eyes picked out the dragon's glittering obsidian scales, and my heartbeat skyrocketed. Fright fired through me as I recognized the beast as Lothair, the Alpha of the Inkscales himself.

Shit. I'm in trouble.

I hurtled leftward, everything in me screaming to get away from the dragon.

But a green-scaled dragon descended, caring nothing for the devastation it rent on the trees as it broke them, flattening the area of the forest as it blocked my way. The cracking of the trees resounded through me as the dragon raised its sinuous neck up above me. Panic thrummed through me, and I couldn't help thinking how easily one hit from this beast could shatter my bones like the trees.

I veered right instead, knowing I had to escape in whatever direction I could. This way would carry me into Dalesbloom territory, but I told myself it didn't matter. I could double back when I'd lost these dragons. But then the black, barbed tail thundered down in front of me as the obsidian-scaled beast blocked my path again. Shock and fear skittered through me as his jet-black neck arced over me. He stared down at me, his black-slitted pupils gleaming within his orange eyes.

Desperation pummeled me. In terror, I turned on my paws and tried to streak away, but then the huge female with lilac and pink scales hit the ground ahead of me. Her vast size took out even more trees than the two males had, and the sharp cracking sounds that shattered the night had my blood curdling.

My wolf stared down the vast beast, but as a growl rose in my throat, I knew my fighting was futile. The memory of trying to take on two of these beasts hadn't ended well for me.

Dread beat through me as the sound of Lothair's voice rose behind me, "I urge you to shift, Grandbay wolf, or we will be forced to use more violent methods to subdue you."

With horror, I knew I had to obey. Altering to my human one, I stood up, turning to meet his coal-black stare.

He smirked at me. "What are you doing out here, so far from Grandbay?"

I gritted my jaw, knowing there was nothing I could say that would get me out of this.

He shrugged his massive shoulders. "No matter. I'm sure David Hexen will know what to do with you."

"Sibyelle," Lothair said. The lilac-pink-scaled dragon shifted, too. I turned to see the vast dragon rearrange herself into a tall, statuesque woman, almost six feet in height. She had long brown hair to her waist. Her dragon's size made sense now, too, as I took in the fact that she was heavily pregnant. Her distended stomach showed she was very far along. She couldn't be more than a month or two away from giving birth, I reckoned. "Darling, would you lead our guest on to David?"

She flashed a smile at Lothair, "My pleasure, love." So, I realized, this was Lothair's mate.

The female shifter grasped my upper arm and pulled me on through the forest. That scent of ozone wafted from her, and I wanted to shrink away from her, but she tightened her hold on me as we walked on.

I noticed that the green dragon had shifted into another oversized man too and loomed off to the right of us, the sound of cracking twigs and brush of pine needles under his footfalls accompanying ours. Lothair's heavy steps issued from behind us, and my skin crawled with the certainty that I was hemmed in.

Alarm beat through me as Sibyelle and I crossed into Dalesbloom territory. Guilt hit me hard, too. I'd allowed myself to be captured. I thought of how Gavin and I had just managed to mend things between us tonight, and my heart squeezed. I pictured his face when he heard that I'd been captured. The look of ardor and want that had sung across his face tonight being replaced with shock and betrayal. My heart ached at the thought of him finding out that I'd gone off alone after our heart-to-heart.

But as we trekked deeper into Dalesbloom forests, I tried to reassure myself. We were going toward Colt, too. He was why I'd come into the forest in the first place. I'd at least know that he was all right. As Sibyelle gripped my arm hard enough to bruise, I thought tenderly of my adoptive brother. He'd helped me escape David's captivity before. Faith beat through me. He'd help me.

When we reached Dalesbloom meadow, my pulse resounded with how surreal it felt to walk through these grasses again. My vision just discerned the top branches of my cottonwood tree through the night. But as I saw her, regret twisted my insides as I thought of her sister cottonwood in Grandbay beneath which Gavin and I had picnicked earlier.

Too soon, Hexen Manor's imposing structure loomed over us. We proceeded up the main path, standing beneath the columned porch. Sibyelle pounded the knocker of the double doors.

My breath caught in my throat, and my chest constricted as Catrina's dark curtain of hair swished into view. Her blue eyes took me in, and a shrewd smile wound over her face. "Come in," she told Sibyelle, practically purring as she drew back the door to allow the dragon shifter in, who drew me into the hall, too.

Coming into the main vestibule, with its polished black-and-white tiles and wood-paneled walls, felt foreign. David had always had the pack use the rear door into the kitchen. But I reminded myself I wasn't one of the pack. In fact, I'd never been. He'd always been my enemy. He'd stolen me from Grandbay when I'd been a child. All my desire for answers about what had happened to my real parents and how this cruel man had gotten me awoke as I waited for the Dalesbloom Alpha to appear. As my heart struck my chest, a storm of emotions thrashed through me, a potent mixture of anger and fear dominating.

Lothair, who had come farther into the hall to stand the other side of me, said, "We found this Grandbay wolf in the woods while on patrol of the borders."

David strode into the hall, stopping abruptly as his stare hit me. His cold blue stare filled with greed. "Well, well, this is a surprise. Welcome back, Billie."

My skin crawled as I felt Catrina's stare on me, too, and I knew without looking it was as greedy and calculated as David's.

Angry heat seared through me as I knew that the two Hexens had leaped straight to scheming about how they were going to use me as a bargaining chip against Gavin and my pack.

Sibyelle had dropped my arm, and I tightened my hands into fists as I seethed at the man who had been my adoptive father. "You owe me answers, David. What did you do to my real parents?"

Catrina's laugh sounded behind me, and she sashayed past the dragon shifters and me to stand by her father. "Oh, Billie, are you seriously telling me that you came back here for answers?"

She was looking at me with mock pity, her patronizing tone telling me she thought I was a simpleton.

"I deserve to know the truth," I ground out, my eyes fixed on David, who watched me with the same indifference he'd always reserved for me.

Then he said, "We'll soon find out what you're worth, Billie. Maybe if it's a good exchange, then I'll indulge you with answers." His words and the detached tone they were spoken in had me terrified about what they were going to ask Gavin and Grandbay for.

Panic thumped through me as I thought of Muriel. I knew that David and Catrina sought my friend's horn. Disgust whipped through me as I looked at my adoptive family, hating that I was back here with them and that I'd been foolish enough to give them power against my friend.

Just then, Colt wandered into the hallway. My eyes widened in surprise at seeing his smooth movement, his arms hung perfectly at ease by his side. My gaze wound over his torso and shoulders, their definition clear beneath the tight black T-shirt he wore. There was no sign of injury or pain in the way he held himself.

Relief sputtered through me. Colt was all right. My friend's presence gave me a spurt of hope. But, as I found his eyes, I barely recognized them.

As he came to stand by his father, I felt as if I'd had the breath knocked out of me. Colt's blue stare was a mirror image of his father's: distant and unyielding.