46. Dominik

CHAPTER 46

Dominik

It's sometime after midnight my phone dings, letting me know I received a message. It's from my brother, Jayce, who alerts me on what has occurred while Aurora and I slumbered. Apparently, shit went down after we went in to relax. Now, Sebastian and Elena are on the run and missing, henceforth proving they were the rats.

According to my brother, we have to amend our original travel plans and change our course of action. Aurora's father is looking over the maps and plotting which roads we should take and which ones we should avoid in case of an ambush. It's quite suspicious that they left without any kind of vehicle. They were apparently prepared in case of discovery.

Now, I wonder exactly how much information they've already passed on to the other side. Nico is handling all the planning from this point on, only allowing us knowledge of it within moments of his adjustments to the course. He's trying to eliminate any possible threats or leakage of information between here and our destination in the northernmost part of Alaska.

I sit up in bed to shoot a message off to my brother, letting him know I understand the necessity for all these extra preparations. My eyes slide over the sleeping form of my mate, and I watch her in her restless sleep. Aurora's skin occasionally ripples with fur or scales?—depending on where the ripple occurs. I know her subconscious mind is working overtime, wanting to plot how to kill and destroy all those that stand against her. The betrayal of her mate runs deep, and it cuts her so profoundly that our hearts ache with her. Going forward now is going to be like walking around with a ticking nuclear bomb, never knowing exactly when she's going to explode.

I text my brother again to let him know about Aurora's rippling scales and her skin shifting in her sleep. I warn him that we have to be on guard. He replies quickly, saying her father knows of a way to help her sleep without dreaming. He'll figure out something within the next day to help us, so we don't have to worry about her disappearing in the middle of the night.

I know previously, long before us, her beast took advantage of her deep sleep. Somehow, it put her human thoughts to the back of her mind, allowing her to run on instinct alone. This knowledge causes me great concern, and it's why I don't sleep soundly tonight. I heard the stories of what happened before her awakening, how her beast had hunted a woman down just because Dimitri came home smelling like her.

I listen to the doorknob turn, and a little ray of light comes into the room. Slowly, my brother pokes his head in and looks around. As silently as possible, Jayce closes the door and locks it, then comes into bed and crawls on Aurora's opposite side. At least this way, we could possibly sleep in shifts to make sure both of us get some semblance of sleep. I nod to Jayce and allow him to curl up and slumber first. I feel a bit stalkerish watching them. Let's face it, taking these kinds of precautions isn't normal. But then again, our situation is anything but typical.

~Several hours later~

Dawn breaks over the horizon, painting the sky in blues and purples. As the morning progresses, the colors change to hues of oranges and reds until finally, the sun nears its apex and changes the sky to blue. I leave the room early and grab breakfast for the three of us. Nico and Dimitri are organizing our caravan and letting them know what transpired last night.

I return to our room to find Aurora and Jayce screaming from their climaxes. Well, at least someone is having a great morning. I wiggle the bag full of breakfast sandwiches. The first to turn around is Aurora, and she's off Jayce before he even has a chance to look at me. Aurora takes the bag from me and pulls out what she wants, then sits at the table to eat.

Jayce is the first to speak as he grabs his breakfast. "What's the plan?" I hop up to sit on the tabletop and look between Aurora and Jayce.

"That's a great question. Unfortunately, I don't know. After yesterday's debacle with Sebastian and his mother, Nico isn't telling anyone shit. He's going to take point when the caravan gets rolling. Nico is concerned that there might still be spies." I shrug my shoulders and dig into my breakfast sandwich. There's almost an uncomfortable silence that I have to break.

"All I know is they bailed after Dimitri launched them last night." I ponder that for several minutes. "Now I know why Great Bears are beasts of legend. Fuck, remind me to never piss Dimitri off." My brother and I nod in agreement, and Aurora shrugs her shoulders. She lowers her head and sets her sandwich down. I've never seen Aurora look so broken. I don't know what changed in her internal monologue, but I notice the minute that fire sparks back to life within her.

"I'm going to fucking destroy them all. I will tear them limb from limb and put their heads on spikes in my yard." Her voice is mostly the growl of her beast. Her mercury eyes have an eerie glow, and her hair is blanketed in frost. We can feel her rage building. Quickly, she jumps off the bed and runs out the front door. Nico meets her halfway in the middle of the parking lot.

"Father," Aurora says in a rather hollow tone. "They have stolen so much from me." Aurora's hands shift into armored scales, her long white talons lightly dusted with frost. "They will die by my hands. I will make their entire bloodline extinct." She bares her canines at everyone who gathered. Aurora is so enraged that she's not calming down for anything.

My phone rings, and it's an unknown number. I stare at it for several seconds before I answer it. It's Ellis, and apparently, Aurora's mood is sending Alaric's dragon off the deep end. Ellis instructs me to go near Aurora and put it on speaker.

I do as instructed, then I shout, "Okay, NOW!" Alaric's dragon bellows and forces Aurora's shift. Her beast whines and whimpers before she shifts back to her human form. I give Aurora my hoodie, and then she snatches my phone from me and goes to sit in her truck. I look back at Nico; the cocky fucker is just smiling. Nico looks at the truck then back to us.

"Alaric's dragon just forced Aurora's beast to submit." He shrugs his shoulders like it was nothing.

"How in the Nine Hells is that possible?" Dimitri's Russian accent is definitely more pronounced when he's angry. Nico huffs like we just asked him to perform a miracle.

"Male dragons only choose powerful females. Aurora is probably the most powerful female born in generations. His dragon basically said, if I am worthy, you will stop . Her shift and whining was her beast's way of telling him he was." Dimitri, Jayce, and I look between each other. Something is definitely missing in translation. It looked more painful than a romantic conversation. Nico huffs again. "Load up! We need to get rolling; we're burning daylight." My brother and I head back to Aurora's truck, and Klaus is right behind us.

When we get back to her truck, we find her in the backseat with her headphones on, still talking to Alaric. Jayce grabs the keys off of the center console and fires up Black Betty. Nico reaches over in front of Dimitri and honks the horn. Off we go again. This time, I sit in the back with Aurora and position her so her head lays in my lap. I've always hated road trips because my wolf hates being trapped in a vehicle. Every five to six hours we stop and refuel, switch drivers, then move on. We've been traveling like this for almost a week already. Our food is passed around while we continue our journey.

Something must have happened that spooked Nico because we suddenly take a hard right. We all snap to attention as we watch what unfolds around us. A truck comes out of nowhere and sideswipes the truck behind us, the one holding all of Klaus's men. Two more come from opposite directions as they try to box us in. Klaus cuts the wheel hard and turns our vehicle around. The rest of our caravan stops to assist. We are within one hundred yards of the impact zone when we all jump out. The shift takes us all quickly as we move as a single unit.

Klaus's Lycan is definitely heavier built than Sebastian's. His fur is grey and black, and he looks like the devil himself. He roars into the night and charges toward his pack's truck. A van speeds into the scene out of nowhere and twenty unknown Lycans pour out of the back. They head straight for the other truck and begin their attack. Klaus springs into action, clawing the back of their necks and severing their heads.

A great, white mass leaps into the fray, joining in on the action. Aurora's beast is larger and faster than Klaus, and her rage is palpable in the air. More Lycans file out of the trucks, but we outnumber them two to one. In the back of my mind, I realize this is a setup.

We fight valiantly and obliterate the opposing forces. Nico stands on the tailgate of his truck like a brigadier general. I can see him scanning the horizon for any more enemies. After we all shift back to our human forms and get dressed, we head back to Nico. He looks at all of us as we gather around. Not a single loss on our side and every one of our attackers have been killed.

"They are testing us, trying to find a weakness." Nico begins to pace before speaking again, "Check all the trucks and look for anything that may give away our position." Dimitri taps Nico on the calf, and he bends down to listen to what Dimitri has to say. "Dimitri says it's called a tracker or a GPS thing. Find it and destroy it."

We return to Aurora's truck and Jayce, who already shifted back to his wolf, walks beside Aurora as she inspects her vehicle. Jayce stops by the left side of her bumper. Quickly, Aurora slips under the vehicle and we hear something snap. She slides out and holds up a small, black box. Nico and Dimitri come over with three other trackers in their hands.

"We need to send a decoy with the trackers in it," Dimitri says in a very calm tone. I pull out my phone and look at the map program I have. There's a rather large truck stop up ahead. I show Klaus and Aurora, and she nods before taking my phone from me.

"Dad, Dom found a truck stop about fifteen miles ahead. We can hide the trackers on trucks preparing to leave to send them in different directions." Aurora shows her dad what she's talking about, and he smiles.

Nico approaches me and gives me a hug. "I am proud to call you one of my daughter's mates." He gives me a brief nod before he turns to address the others. "Roll out! We stop at the next rest area!"

Jayce, Klaus, Aurora, and I look at each other before running back to the truck. Aurora grabs a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt, then hops into the driver's seat. Several moments later, we arrive at the rest stop. Nico sends everyone out in different directions to look for trucks that seem to be ready to depart. Everyone moves quickly, hiding the little black boxes on unsuspecting tractor-trailers. Aurora sits on the roof of her truck's cab, eating a smorgasbord of tacos. Her mercury orbs scan the surrounding area, watching everything that comes and goes from the yard. It's moments like this where I feel the loss of Andre the most. Usually, he would be the one on the lookout, but it looks like Aurora tasked herself with remaining vigilant.

Nico and Dimitri are having a heated debate as they lean over a map that's spread out over the tailgate of Dimitri's truck. Neither one is speaking English, and I can only assume it's Romanian. Earlier this week, I learned that Dimitri's people were one of the proud Romani tribes of Gypsies. I clear my throat so as not to startle either of them.

"Ah, son, perhaps you can settle this for us. I want to take this route, which is about fifty miles longer. Dimitri wants to take this one because he's concerned about snow. Which do you think is better?" Shit on a shingle. Now I'm being pitted between my father-in-law and Aurora's possible new mate. I'm so fucked, and not in the good sense. Lucky for me, mother nature makes the decision easier because large snowflakes begin to fall. I look up to the sky and silently thank the wolf goddess for saving my tail.

"In light of the most recent developments, I believe the shorter route will be to our benefit. We're over three-quarters of the way to our port. We need to get as close to that land bridge as we can before we have to shift and travel by foot." Dimitri and Nico both look up at the sky. I want to tell them staring at the snow isn't going to stop it.

"He's right, my king, we may not have that much time left. We've been traveling for what seems like forever. Only four hundred miles to go and we are at the Wales port." Dimitri is trying his hardest to get the king to see reason. Our animals are getting restless from being caged in the trucks. I can only imagine what his dragon is feeling. Nico shakes his head and smirks.

"Ok, the snow wins; we take the short route. Get everyone loaded and ready to roll in twenty minutes. We don't stop until we hit the port." Nico heads back to the passenger side of the truck and gets in to wait. Dimitri and I shake our heads before heading off in different directions. I make it back to the truck to find Aurora asleep and curled up in a little ball. I furrow my brow and look at Klaus, who is standing watch over her and the truck.

"She crawled in the back, grabbed your sweatshirt, then went to sleep. She grumbled something about Ellis meeting us at some port." Hmmm, makes sense. I guess he's going to introduce us to his group. That way, we can catch their scent to prevent us from accidentally attacking them.

"Alright, we need to load up. We're driving straight through to the port. No more stops between here and there. Grab extra provisions and whatever you need to eat before we remain shifted until after whatever ambush we're walking into." The look of surprise on Klaus's face is entirely worth it. I look over and see my brother, Jayce, coming back from a different store. It looks like he bought every protein bar they had in stock.

"I've got enough to sustain the shift and then some. Aurora's going to need a lot, so we need to keep her fed." Jayce is funny when he goes all mother hen on us. I grab two of the bags from him and watch as the others walk out with similar bags in their hands—time to gorge ourselves. While we cross over to Siberia, our animals will burn more calories from trying to keep us warm through the blizzard-like conditions. With one of the bags of protein bars, Jayce slides in the back and lightly rocks Aurora. "Love, we need to start eating. We're not far from the port. You need to start storing the carbs for the crossing." Aurora pops one eye open, revealing the liquid mercury of her beast.

Slowly, Aurora sits up and rubs her eyes before rooting through the bag to grab what she wants to eat. Klaus climbs in the driver's seat and fires up Black Betty. While he is distracted, I watch Aurora's hand slide forward and snatch the cheesecake flavored bar that Klaus left on the center console. He acts like he didn't see her do it and just laughs to himself, watching her eat it in the back seat.

"About five hours before we make it to the port. Make sure you eat." Klaus's accent is heavy as he addresses us. He pulls out behind Dimitri and we're off again. I text Ellis and let him know our approximate ETA. He warns us about the storm and says it's whiteout conditions at the port. I forward the message to Klaus's brother, who's in the truck with Dimitri and Nico, to let everyone else know what happened.