Chapter 8

Gavin

Aislin kicked off her sneakers by the door of my cabin. She was dressed in leggings and a long-sleeved running top, and her long mahogany-hued hair was up in a ponytail. She unzipped her running top and hung it up on the Pack Rules sign, which had coat hooks beneath each rule.

"I knew I smelled steak," she said, coming over to where I sat on the couch.

I'd just cooked up some steaks on the griddle. I always did extra because, before long, someone's nose always led them to my door. My betas' house was only forty feet away, so, more often than not, Aislin, Gretel, or Oslo appeared.

"Leftovers are in the oven," I said.

She didn't need to be told twice and was already in the kitchen.

"Grab me another beer, would you?" I called through to her. They were alcohol-free beers at the moment due to the meds the pack healer had me on for my wound. Aislin returned with two cold bottles and a full plate with cutlery. She set the beers down on the coffee table and then took one of the curl-up chairs by the fire and tucked into her steak.

I stared into the dancing flames of the open fire, enjoying the warmth and ambience. The weathered wood beams and exposed brickwork of my cabin always made this place feel so perfect. The reclaimed wood mantlepiece above the fire that my mum had lovingly restored and done-up from a shipwreck in the Gunnison, added to the room's history and charm.

I hadn't changed anything since I'd inherited it from my parents. I wouldn't have changed Mum's beautiful mantlepiece for the world. But I'd always found my dad's Pack Rule's sign a little corny. Yet, I didn't have the heart to take it down.

I leaned back on the couch, making a cushion of my hands behind my head. As I stretched my arms, I relished that my shoulder no longer smarted.

Something that didn't go unnoticed by Aislin. "The shoulder's feeling better then?"

A few nights ago, when I'd returned, I'd pretty much been out of action for a day. The pack healer, Helen, had treated my injury, and by using the Grandbay power of our rich waters and the potent herbal medicines she concocted herself, I was on the mend. We werewolves healed at a much faster rate than humans, and the dragon's deep wound had now healed to a scabbed-over flesh wound, running from my right shoulder all the way down to my elbow.

Reluctantly, I nodded. "It's feeling a lot better, thanks." I may have been leaning on the whole healing thing a lot over the last few days.

Aislin swallowed a huge mouthful, then said, "Great, you can phone David then, can't you?"

I scowled. I just wanted to kick back with a beer and forget about my problems. Why did Aislin have to be so proactive?

"You're not still sulking about your wolf losing it with the dragons, are you?"

I'd told my Betas and Aislin that I hadn't meant to attack the dragon. I'd only meant to investigate, but I'd explained how his anger had gotten the better of me, and I'd gone in for the attack.

Aislin was like a dog with a bone. I knew I should alert David Hexen. I'd first scented the dragon shifters on the Dalesbloom land, but I wasn't ready to speak to David after what had happened at Hexen Manor a few days ago. I needed more time before I reached out to David … and Catrina. So, I'd been putting off getting in touch with him. It was something Aislin couldn't understand.

She tried the direct approach again. "What happened between you and Catrina?"

Aislin had been hot on my tail ever since the first day back here when I'd sent her dad to fetch my truck from Hexen Manor instead of going myself. I'd leaned on the whole healing thing then, too.

I averted my gaze, cracking my knuckles. "Just leave it, will you?"

Finishing her meal, Aislin changed tactics. "Well, I don't think it's wise that you're the only Alpha in Gunnison to know about the dragons' presence. You should tell Everett."

I picked up the fresh beer, kind of wishing that Helen hadn't told me to lay off the alcohol. I could really do with it, given how I hadn't been able to let off steam over the last few days by shifting while I'd been healing. A glimmer of hope flared as I flexed out my right arm again. I should be able to comfortably shift and go for a run later. The thought got me feeling more proactive. I was sure that Aislin would be game for some nighttime investigative work in the woods, too.

I pulled out my phone, and my friend's whiskey-colored eyes brightened.

I dialed Everett March.

"Hi Gavin," Everett greeted. "I hope you and the pack are all good?" He asked politely.

"Hey Everett, we're fine down here, thanks."

Everett and I had always gotten on well enough, but we didn't really get in touch with one another unless we needed help with pack business. It was a bit of a shame, really. I'd always thought Everett a good guy. I had invited him out for a beer a few times, but he always declined. Politely, but still, he was a bit of a loner. He liked to keep himself to himself and was more likely to be found hiking his mountains in the north than going to our local pub, the Pioneer.

"I was just calling," I said, "to let you know that I had a run-in with four dragons on the borders between Dalesbloom and Grandbay land at Pine Creek." I paused, not wanting to admit that my wolf got injured because he had slipped from my control. So, I just added, "If you could let me know if you or your pack scent them in your lands, that'd be appreciated."

I felt a prickle of self-consciousness as I considered that Everett would be thinking about Pine Creek and what had happened to my parents. He'd opened his lands to me in the months after the dragons' attack then, and I knew he was sympathetic to my loss, but it still made me feel exposed going near the subject.

"Of course I will, Gavin, no worries," Everett said. "And thanks for the heads up. I'll be sure to investigate it."

The phone wasn't on speaker, but with her shifter blood, Aislin's hearing was heightened and she'd heard Everett. As Everett said, "investigate," Aislin's eyes bugged out. The obsessive look she always got when chasing anything Mythguard related wound over her face. The reason I'd even heard about Mythguard was because of Aislin. As well as being headstrong and opinionated and a pain in my ass most of the time, she liked to seek out any rumors about the secret organization.

I'd lost count of the number of times she'd convinced me to go on wild goose chases because of some story she'd overheard in the Pioneer. Her latest wild theory was that Everett was part of Mythguard.

I rolled my eyes, biting back a smile. All Alphas would "investigate" dragon shifters being in Gunnison Park. It didn't mean he was part of Mythguard.

"Thanks, Everett," I said. "Take it easy."

As soon as he hung up, Aislin exclaimed, "What did I tell you? Didn't he sound totally official?"

"You're obsessed," I said.

Aislin flinched. "Am not," she said defensively, to my surprise.

"Sure, you totally don't have a hard-on for Mythguard."

She blinked, then shrugged, looking much more at ease. "It's healthy to have interests outside pack duties," she said, "You should try it."

"So, I suppose you want to wait for Mythguard to investigate the dragons' trail—" I began.

"And let them have all the fun?" Aislin interrupted. "I don't think so. What do you say to a nighttime stroll?"

I was up in a shot, blood zinging through my veins, eager to be back out there and one with the wild woods.

Aislin ran back to her parents before shifting and informed them where we were off to, telling them to be on call should we summon them and the pack. Despite relishing the shift to my beast's form, as Aislin and I took to the wood's trail, there was definitely a sense of expectation weighing me down.

We were on the hunt. We investigated by Pine Creek first, but the dragons' scent there was stale and days old. We took to the trail leading into Dalesbloom lands, tracking a fresher scent of ozone and sulfur. As we stalked through the dense trees of Dalesbloom, both mine and Aislin's ears swiveled lower against our skulls, as the trees were definitely tainted by the thick scent of dragons.

Anticipation zipped through my wolf as I sensed that we couldn't be far from the beasts we hunted, given the pungent aroma. But suddenly, pain fired through my left flank, and I almost buckled to the forest floor.

Instinctually, I knew deep in my bones that it had come from Billie. It was common for fated mates to have a telepathic ability, which would be sealed when they marked one another. And despite having rejected her, I couldn't ignore her pain. She was in trouble, and just as the urgency to see her after the Moondream had slammed through me, now the urge to find her shot through me. I tore through the Dalesbloom woods with Aislin hot on my heels.

We hurtled out into a clearing where four dragons stood, and not a moment too soon. My wolf's eyes hit upon two who were closing in on the obviously wounded sandy wolf on the forest floor. A deafening snarl split the air, and it wasn't until I was in front of the sandy wolf that I realized it was rumbling from out of my throat. I was twice the size of Billie's sandy wolf, and as I leaped between her and the two dragons, my bulky frame caused the ground to resound.

Distantly, another surprise hit me as I took in a unicorn fighting on the other side of the clearing with the two other dragons.

Aislin's howl pierced the night from behind me. She was summoning the Grandbay Pack to us. Thank Vana, we were on the borders of Grandbay and Dalesbloom land, near enough for our pack to hear.

In a moment, my friend was beside me. We each took on one of the dragons.

I engaged the huge female dragon. Aislin and I moved with precision, targeting the dragons' tender hides beneath their legs and darting in to bite their soft undersides whenever we got the opportunity.

We both focused on protecting the injured wolf rather than the unicorn, who seemed to be keeping the dragons at bay as she reared up on her hind legs, flashing her horn toward them. A bright light radiated from it, and the dragons kept backing away each time she presented the horn to them.

The dragons roared with fury at the unicorn, but I noticed they didn't use their fire on her. The dragons on our side of the moonlit clearing didn't use their fiery breath on us either. I reckoned that they wouldn't, as they were set against accidentally injuring the unicorn.

For a moment, anger fired through me again about Billie involving herself in this dangerous situation. But then, I focused wholly on my adversary.

The huge female snapping her jaws at me kept using her massive wings to propel herself forward. Her wingspan was so vast that she dimmed the light of the moon as she spread her leathery wings to propel herself.

Then, howls, snarls, and the beat of dozens of paws punctured the air as the Grandbay Pack careened into the clearing. In a moment, I felt the electric energy of the attack zipping through my packmates as they bit and clawed at the dragons. As I dodged out of the way of the female dragon's talons, three other wolves surrounded her as they came to my aid. With reinforcements, she twisted her long neck up, snarling at each of the wolves as it was her turn to twist and back away from each one of their attacks.

With one last futile snap of her massive fangs in my direction, my adversary took off. Within a few moments of the Grandbay Pack filling the dell, all four beasts spread their wings and climbed into the night. The thud of their wingbeats hitting the sky was like the crash of waves against cliffs until they climbed so high that they and the noise disappeared into Earth's stratosphere.

My wolf approached Billie's on the ground. The fur on my back bristled with anger as I took in the deep tear in her side. What had she been doing out here alone? She'd almost gotten herself killed. Was she so green that she thought she could take on two dragons?

But my anger waned as her bright green eyes, limned with pain, turned on me. My fur receded, and flesh clothed my bones as I crouched down to examine the wound. I scanned the wolves in the clearing for Helen, the pack healer, when the unicorn wandered over.

The ethereal beast exchanged her white coat for skin, too. In a moment, a woman kneeled on the other side of the sandy wolf. Her long, silvery hair rippled to her waist. Judging by the lines about her eyes and mouth, she was around fifty.

Her silvery stare was earnest as she said, "I have just enough magic left to close up her wound. It'll allow her to walk. But my magic is spent; she'll need more healing after we get her somewhere safe."

Astonishment thumped through me as I remembered that unicorn horns had healing abilities. Was that why the dragons had been after her? My heart leaped with relief, too, as my hazel stare fell to Billie's wolf. I wasn't a monster. I wanted to ensure she was safe and not suffering. I readily approved this new shapeshifter's offer. "Then my pack will take you both safely back to Grandbay grounds, where our pack's healer will tend to her," I said. If the dragons had been fighting to get to this unicorn, I knew my pack and I needed to give her protection.

The woman stared into my eyes, and I had the sense that she was assessing something deep within me.

After a moment, she said, "Thank you. My name is Muriel Vale."

"I'm Gavin Steele," I replied, "Alpha of Grandbay."

She laid a hand on the sandy wolf in front of her. "I don't know your name, my dear," she said, her eyes becoming gentler. "But thank you for protecting me."

My throat tightened, and for some reason, I found it hard to push the words out. "This is Billie," I shared.

Muriel smiled down at the sandy brown wolf, stroking her side. "Billie, we're going to have you back on your feet."

Muriel morphed back into her statuesque, pure-white beast, then dipped her horn to Billie's side. Pure white light poured into Billie's wound, and her sandy brown coat glimmered like moonlight. I watched as the wolf's breathing evened out, her breaths deepening as the magic worked through her.

I blinked in astonishment as the wound stitched itself back together. When Billie started to get to her paws, I didn't wait around. Instead, morphing back into my own wolf, I summoned the pack with a howl to me. Leading my wolves, we turned our step toward the trail, our pack presided over by Muriel's unicorn like a sentinel. We went gently through the night because of Billie's injury, but anticipation zipped through my veins as I wondered what fresh information Muriel could give me about the dragons hunting her.