Chapter 29
Gregory
The scent of pine lost its fight against the foul stench of wet rot, the sour air scraping my lungs. Clouds gathered above, turning the purple sky gray. Another rainstorm brewed, ready to burst as Adam predicted.
I tightened the leather straps, securing the last of our supplies to Thunder’s saddle. The hide groaned under the strain, its protest piercing the dawn’s silence. My warhorse moved restlessly, agitated by the load rather than the man standing by his head.
Evan buried his fingers in Thunder’s coarse mane, his other hand clutching a linen coat around his shoulders against the chill. Thunder, who had always stomped and snapped at Imperial stable hands, now dipped down, nudging Evan’s chest with a gentleness he reserved for me alone.
Evan murmured into Thunder’s mane. “He’s incredible. I’ve seen horses in my world but never close enough to touch.”
He offered me a soft, sleepy smile, but the traces of the Qilinx nightmare still clung to him, betrayed by the slight slump of his shoulders.
I gave the final strap a hard cinch. “He was a colt when the Asterian Order assigned him to me—bred for war. We learned our roles together. I could not abandon him when I fled the Empire.”
Thunder blew out a breath, shaking his massive head.
I walked around him and closed the distance between Evan and me.
I wrapped my arms around his waist, lifted him off his feet, and held him close.
He rested his palm over my heart as I brushed my nose along his cheek, breathing in his scent. “You’re anxious.”
“A little,” he breathed out. “It’s strange, being excited when I should probably be terrified. This world is full of things trying to kill me, but I still want to see it.”
I almost smiled. But the words burrowed deeper than his casual bravery intended. This world had tried to kill him from the moment he opened his eyes in it.
My hand around his throat had been his welcome.
Mordaine’s boot crushing his fingers had been his introduction.
A Qilinx wearing a harmless face had nearly taken his tongue.
And still, wrapped in my arms on a warhorse headed toward strangers who hoarded dangerous knowledge, he called it exciting.
Either he was the bravest soul I had ever held, or the loneliness of his old life had been so complete that even a world full of teeth felt better than the silence he left behind.
“Binders twist truths into weapons. They keep the world’s lore and the world’s dangers with it.” I gave his waist a firm squeeze. “But that is a worry for when we arrive. For now, this isn’t the kind of carriage you’re used to, but Thunder is fast.”
He chuckled, and contentment radiated from where his palm pressed against my chest. He was at home here, in my arms. “I know he is,” he said, a smile playing at his lips.
I straightened, tracking the winding path below us. The clop of hoofbeats, still faint, cut through the morning mist. “Harren is on his way up the mountain.”
Evan’s playful curiosity flashed across his face. “What kind of beast are you that you hear him from so far away?”
His whispered challenge sent a primal current down my spine. “The kind that knelt for his mate.”
But talking wasn’t enough, so I covered his mouth with mine.
The kiss started sweet, a languid thing that tasted of honey and sleep.
I dragged my palms down his back, cupping the firm curves of his ass and lifting him, grinding him against me.
His arms locked around my neck on instinct.
I was stone hard in an instant, the pressure a demanding ache against his stomach.
We broke apart, and his cheeks were flushed, a mischievous sparkle returning to his gaze.
Evan leaned closer, his breath a pure invitation against my mouth. “Careful, mountain man. Don’t start something you can’t finish.”
The hoofbeats grew louder, splitting the morning silence. Harren stopped his horse a few yards away and gave a stiff nod, emanating tension from every line of his body.
“I didn’t think he would show,” Evan whispered.
I returned my focus to my mate, absorbing the stubborn set of his jaw and the unwavering trust in his emerald depths. “He has no choice. An Elder’s command is absolute.”
Evan eased back slightly, his shoulders squaring. “Then I’m ready.”
I lifted him onto Thunder’s back, then swung up behind him. Pulling Evan tight against my chest, I reached around him to gather the reins. Harren had already turned his horse toward the descending path, his spine rigid as iron.
The ride moved through a false sense of peace, and by midday, the thick forest opened up to a wide valley of grassland. We left Mossfen’s tall refuge, and with each step, the feeling of exposure on the open ground grew stronger in my stomach.
We stopped only once. I laid out small, savory meat pies, still fragrant with herbs, along with a wedge of sharp cheese.
The instinct to provide for my mate was a deep, driving force.
But the offering did little to ease the strain between the two men I traveled with.
Monsters and bandits were nothing compared to the icy, silent war they waged from horseback.
Harren rode ahead, and whenever he glanced back, Evan would angle away, a subtle dismissal sharper than any blade. My omega was a ruthless brat, but the young guard proved to be worse.
With each passing hour, Harren’s posture sagged, the color draining from his complexion until his skin paled to a sickly gray. He reeked of a chaotic mess of pheromones that set my teeth on edge—an unstable stench of weakness and curdled pride.
And it was starting to affect Evan. Each time the sour scent drifted back to us, his body stiffened against me.
The approaching tempest was another burden on my mind, a threat that meant our journey would be a race against the elements, but I wouldn’t go another second with this poisoned air between us.
The sun set behind the western peaks, staining the clouds orange as night filled the valley. I decided I wouldn’t let my mate be uncomfortable any longer.
“We camp here,” I commanded.
We had passed the valley, and a small defensible clearing sat ahead within a new patch of forest. I scanned the perimeter. The only presence nearby was the wolf-blooded alpha that had been tracking us since we left the mountain’s shadow.
Harren’s horse slowed, and he spun around to confront us. “Why?” The question was tight with an anguish he tried to hide. “Riverbend isn’t far.”
“We stop in no villages.” I urged Thunder forward until we were beside him. “The less anyone sees us, the better. Your friend’s cloaking magic will not be welcome.”
He scoffed but caught himself, his jaw tightening as he bit down on his lip. He swung down from his saddle with a stiff, sullen movement, then led his horse to the far side of the clearing without another word.
I pushed Thunder past him, taking the lead.
Evan pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t stand it,” he muttered. “This whole smelling people thing… I’m not used to it. His scent is all over the place, and it’s making me angry.”
“I can smell it too,” I rumbled. Then Adam’s words surfaced, and I lowered my tone to a gravelly imitation of the old knight. “You only lose when you forget to be yourself.” I returned to my own register. “This is a situation I brought on myself when I used my fire on him.”
Evan’s shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. “Okay, but are we going to keep ignoring the giant wolf that’s been following us since we left the mountain? The one with the backpack?”
I brought Thunder to a halt in the center of the clearing before swinging myself down.
“Come.” I reached up and grasped his waist to lift him to the forest floor.
“I couldn’t tell you yesterday, but he’s Harren’s mate,” I said, my awareness drifting to the shadows of the trees.
“A wolf-blooded alpha from the North Lands. He’s cloaking us, protecting Harren in his own way.
The reinforcement is welcome. I’ve never seen what a wolf-blooded alpha can do. ”
Evan frowned. Then his eyes widened, his mouth falling open slightly. “What do you mean, ‘wolf-blooded alpha?’”
“A man from the North Lands who transforms into a wolf,” I answered.
Evan patted my chest twice, his motion brittle and disbelieving as a strained, thin laugh broke from him. “Yeah, yeah. I thought magic and dragons were enough. Why am I even surprised anymore?”
The laughter caught in his throat, and his fingers clenched the fabric of my tunic.
He leaned in and whispered a furious hiss only for my ears.
“Look, I’m upset because of Harren, and not because he called me a whore.
” He tilted his head toward the far side of the clearing.
“His scent makes my skin crawl, and I don’t want him close to you.
It’s a childish, stupid jealousy, and I hate it—especially since Lyra doesn’t make me feel like this. ”
He pulled back, his voice rising as his gaze burned with intensity.
“And I hate that you’re acting like this isn’t a big deal!
You know exactly what’s happening to him, you saw it, right?
With your magic.” Evan gestured at me. “Being an omega, it’s clearly a huge, painful problem for him.
But I don’t understand all the rules of this world, why he hates it, or why I’m so angry. ”
My mate was claiming his territory, reacting instinctively to another omega’s pain near his alpha, and the feral part of me preened under the declaration. But his distress was a more urgent matter.
I reached up and curled my fingers under his chin to capture his focus. “Don’t let his state upset you. He’s struggling with his newfound mate.”
“Then do something about it.” Evan jerked his chin from my grip.
I dropped my hands. He snatched one of the saddlebags from me and shot me a glare over his shoulder before stalking over to a fallen log on the far side of the clearing and sitting down.