Chapter 21
Lambda wanted to torture those dragons for hours after their threats to Vallie.
But that would have put her in more danger. Now, his mission was to get her and Verona to the wall and into wolf territory. He could dream of dissecting those creatures after they were safe.
He picked her up and hurried down the stairs with Verona close behind. They needed to get out of this tower, out of the keep, and as far away from Balaur as they could before those dragons woke.
Lambda was nearly certain he didn’t kill them, but he wasn’t taking any chances. If he had, whoever found the bodies and also found Verona missing would be hot on their heels. A wolf killing a dragon on this side of the wall…now that Lambda had Vallie, the last thing he wanted was to go to war. He wanted to get her safely to Luven and never leave her side again.
Verona grabbed his arm as he neared the door.
“I’ll go first, make sure there isn’t anyone out there,” she whispered. She brushed her hair away from her face, straightened her back, and walked out of the tower like escaping was something she did every day.
“Are you all right?” Lambda asked Vallie, his forehead pressed against her cheek.
“I think so. My throat hurts a lot and my head aches, but I’m breathing normally now. I could probably walk,” she began.
“Hell, no. I’ll carry you for now.” His memory sparked. “Fuck, I sent a woman out of the keep to meet up with us and get to Luven.”
“Who?”
“Natya? She looked like hell. Once we get to her, I might have to carry you both.”
“That’ll slow you down. Carry me for now, when we catch up with Natya, you can switch. I’ll be ok,” she pressed a kiss to his cheek, “I promise.”
Lambda let his eyes close and cherished the feel of her in his arms. “I wanted to kill that dragon. How dare he touch you?”
Vallie nodded. “Believe me, I wanted to kill him too. But a wolf killing a dragon in Balaur…They would demand your life. And if Alpha didn’t give it to them, well, that would be a reason for war. War always comes with casualties. I don’t want wolves and humans to die. Only the dragons.” Vallie tightened her grip around his neck. “Thank you for saving me.”
“Honestly, you’re pretty good at standing up for yourself. I was proud you didn’t cower and fall at their feet to be a pet again.”
Vallie smirked. “Never. Now that I’ve gotten a taste of you, no one could make me give it up.”
Lambda couldn’t smother a grin.
This woman. She was stronger than he ever imagined.
Verona peeked her head around the doorway. “We’re clear,” she hissed. “Let’s go.”
Lambda nodded and tucked Vallie against his chest, then ducked through the doorway. They were so exposed now, with a dead dragon in the tower and two unconscious ones on the floor. Lambda searched their surroundings and the sky, waiting for a flight of dragons to attack at any moment.
But they didn’t. The keep stayed still, like the lake on a humid summer morning, and the three of them silently made their way to the drawbridge, crossed it, then ran like hell to the first copse of trees.
“Holy shit,” Verona gasped, falling to her knees once they had cover. “We made it. We made it out of Balaur.” She pressed her hands into the ground in front of her.
“We’ve got a way to go until the wall,” Lambda pointed out. He tried to do the math in his head. If they kept a strong pace all day, and walked through most of the night, stopped only to rest for two hours…
He hoped no one would find those unconscious dragons. He hoped they awoke in the evening with headaches so fierce, they went right back to sleep.
Fuck, he should have killed them. It would have given Vallie and Verona a better chance.
Lambda shook his head. There wasn’t time to second guess his decisions. He set Vallie down, giving her a reassuring squeeze. Then, they went to work. Lambda found the canteen and handed it to Verona.
“We can rest for five minutes,” Lambda said. He closed his eyes and tried to catch Natya’s scent. She was ahead of them. Good. At least she didn’t go in the wrong direction. “Have some water. When was the last time you ate?” he asked Verona.
“Last night. Bedek didn’t starve me.”
“Good.” He looked over Vallie. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m ok,” she answered quickly. “I’ll have Dr. Tau check me out when we get home, but I can make it to the wall.”
Home.
Vallie thought of Luven as home. His heart felt like it was escaping his chest for a moment, but then he steeled his emotions.
Vallie wanted to go home, and he needed to get her through the more than thirty miles of wilderness between them and the wall before she could.
Verona passed the canteen back to Lambda, and he tucked it in their pack and strapped it to his front.
“Climb on my back,” he said to Vallie. She raised an eyebrow, then did it.
“You promise to carry Natya?”
“Once we find her, yes. You need to rest until we do.”
Vallie nodded and kissed his cheek.
“You good to jog, Verona?” he called to his new sister.
“I’ve never been very fast, but I’ll do my best.” She kept up with him. “Never thought I’d meet my sister’s new guy in the middle of an escape and then run beside him for eons.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” Lambda chuckled. He sniffed the air again. “Natya’s about four miles ahead. She’s been moving. Seeing how she was earlier, she’s probably on the brink of collapse. Let’s get her some water.”