Chapter 17
Everything about my mate is tense. Her jaw twitches as she grinds her teeth, her delicate hands gripping my wrists so hard it might be painful if her touch weren’t so right.
“All I know is the Butcher King heard a rumor of Starbound women returning.” His gaze stays glued to Gisele, who’s wrapped her arms around herself like that will stop the preternatural tremors. “Westshear sent a call for aid, and our Alpha answered. Hyadum’s mate was taken by the blood drinkers. There is change on the wind, my brothers and sister. Can you scent it?”
Behind him, the wolves howl, and I incline my head in agreement. Things are coming to a head, now that the women return, the Starbound men shaking from whatever spell bound us since the massacre at Inasgow.
“Mina, oh my god, Mina,” Ali sobs. She twists in the saddle, trying to bury her face in my body.
“Do not worry, wild huntress. The Butcher King’s spellmaster is no match for our Alpha. Or House Taurus. We will take care of Gisele, and we will see you again. I think our Alpha will agree that it is time for House Lupus to rejoin the world.”
“Kaus,” I say.
“Westshear?” he asks, and gratitude washes through me. I missed my brothers in arms. I missed my friends. I spent too many years locked away in a prison of my own making, in my scorpion form.
I nod.
“It will be done. I will leave you two to it.” He returns the nod, his gaze lingering on Gisele. He holds a hand out, and I grip it, forearm to forearm. “Do not worry, little huntress, we will save your sister.” Kaus raises his voice. “And then we will rain blood and pain on the Butcher King!”
The wolves howl, causing the hair on the back of my neck standing up.
Kaus takes off, streaking impossibly fast through the clearing, following the line of the woods.
“We can’t leave with him, can we?” Her eyes follow Kaus until his shape bleeds into the encroaching dark.
“We swore an oath.” I press my chin against her head, unable to resist her. Wanting to deepen the contact. Wanting to inhale her sweet scent forever. “We must finish our task. But I swear to you?—”
“Uh-huh. No more oaths.” She shakes her head. “Are you sure she’ll be okay?”
The Beta of Lupus House carries Gisele in his arms, her arms wound around his neck.
“I have faith. Lupus are an honorable sort. She needs them.”
“I believe you,” she whispers, and the words fall heavy on my heart. I don’t know what’s shifted between us, I don’t understand it, but it has. Something has irrevocably changed between us this day. “Lesath, my sister. She has to be okay. I would know if she weren’t okay, wouldn’t I?”
I hug her close, feeling selfish for the pleasure I’m taking in her closeness, the fact she is using me for comfort. “The Alpha of House Lupus is there. Hyadum is fierce. And Ras and your sister are on their way. I think the Butcher King does not stand a chance.” I frown. “I will have to think on what Lupus has said about the spellcaster amongst them, though. Come on, my love, let us collect the plant we need and make haste for Donnora.”
“You said it would take a month to get there.” Her shoulders give a shake, her voice wobbling. “A month before I’ll know if she is happy, or if she’s even okay.”
I wince. “Well, if we went on a very slow and circuitous path it would take a month…”
Her head snaps up, and she pins me with a knowing gaze over her shoulder.
“We can make the journey in a week. We will take a different route than I’d planned.”
“You were going to stretch the trip out for a month when it could take a week?” She all but screeches it.
I blink, my ears ringing, trying to find the words to explain. The only thing I can come up with under her irritated scrutiny is the truth.
“I am selfish when it comes to you. I thought I could sway you, show you who I am. I admit, I may have miscalculated the danger in my desperation to have you forgive me.”
She sniffs, her eyes still narrowed, but relaxes somewhat as she turns back around.
I scan the meadow, wracking my brains to remember the rhyme Dabin told us would help identify the plant. Thank the stars above Ali told him we planned to ride for Donnora, otherwise I would not have even known to collect it.
“Lesath.” Ali shifts forward in the saddle, pointing. “There it is.”
I squint. “Are you sure?”
“Leaves of blue, sunlight blooms.” She pauses. “I can’t remember the rest, but that’s the only yellow flower with blue leaves.”
“I see it now. Well done.” I urge Molmith forward, and the great horse stills at the edge of the meadow, allowing me to dismount.
Ali stares down at me from his back, her nose crinkled. “How much did he say to get?”
“We will take plenty.” With my hands, I dig a trench around the plant. I yank the roots until the whole thing pulls free of the dirt. I turn back to her, holding the prize.
Ali doesn’t notice, though. Her head tilts up, watching the sun set in a blaze of color behind the black silhouette of mountains and pines. Her brow is furrowed, and I can feel her worry as though it is my own.
“I promise you, my Ali, I will do all that I can to see your sister safe. In the meantime, that means keeping you safe, by every means possible.”
She doesn’t respond.
The gray horse paces behind Molmith, riderless. “Would you feel more comfortable if I rode on Dazgan?”
“Who?” Her blue eyes blink at me.
“The gray horse?”
“Oh. Wow. This whole time I thought he didn’t have a name.”
I wait, wondering if her non-answer means something that I don’t understand. “Of course he has a name.”
“What does it mean, Meat Grinder?”
A laugh bursts out of me. “No. Molmith is the only horse I own with a name like that. Do you often name animals Meat Grinder in your world?”
“I used to pet sit a dog named Meatball, but I’ve never heard of any named Meat Grinder.” She grins sheepishly at me, and I bask in it.
I don’t want this moment to end, this sudden ease between us, but the growing dark presses heavy on me. We need to find the cave system, and fast, to take cover for the night.
“Would you like me to ride Dazgan and leave Molmith to you?” I pack the plant away in one of Dazgan’s saddlebags, one Dabin helped me empty for the express purpose of storing it.
“No.” It’s so soft, that one syllable, that I nearly miss it.
“No?” I repeat, unsure I’ve heard correctly.
“No,” she agrees. “It’s been a day. I just want to sit. I’m exhausted.”
Quietly, I tether Dazgan to Molmith, so that the riderless horse will trail behind us.
Pleasure winds through me, an incredibly selfish reaction to her admission of weakness. I should be worried about her. But I know why she’s tired, and I like that she wants me to take care of her.
I want to take care of all of her.
I swing onto Molmith’s back without another word, pressing my hands into the soft curve of her waist, the small swell of her stomach.
We cannot get to the caves fast enough.