Chapter 9
Bastian
Come home. Right now.
Orsen’s message was short and to the point, not unlike his usual messages. He wasn’t one for idle chitchat, overtaxed on the best of days. Unfortunately for him, it also meant that I didn’t rush when I saw his text.
“Orsen wanting us back?” Greylen asked, grabbing his duffel bag.
I nodded, not looking away from the message. “Yep.”
We were camping on the outskirts of the horde lands.
It was always useful to check the perimeters for any suspicious activity, but it was also a good excuse to get away from the rest of the horde.
We loved them dearly, don’t get me wrong, and we wanted to do everything we could for them, but sometimes… their pitying looks were too much.
Like, all the time, really. And this way, I don’t snap at them.
Six years after losing our mate, they were only just starting to get the message that we’d never want to find another one, particularly me and Orsen. Not that the others were eager, by any means. No, it was more that Orsen and I were the most vocal about it.
Emmy had been it for us.
Just thinking of her hurts.
“I wish we didn’t have to head back so soon,” Greylen said. He’d been lounging on his sleeping bag near the stream for most of the day.
“I agree.”
Nature was peaceful. It was where we all felt most at ease with our dragons. Despite how much we liked the horde, we ultimately preferred our isolation, which was a problem when you were Alphas, in charge of caring for everyone. Hence, the diversion.
Socializing had lost its charm after losing Emmy. A year or two after she vanished, we’d attempted to be the people we’d been when she was around. We’d thrown ourselves into being Alphas. There was only so much sympathy we could take, though.
To a dragon, losing their mate was akin to death. And we were feeling that on the daily.
We had lost our mate, yet all four of us were still somehow standing, shells of our former selves, of course, but standing, nonetheless.
If we had never found our mate, it would have been a completely different story. Colder, for sure, but then again, you couldn’t miss what you’d never had.
“Do you think something happened when they met with Dillon?” Grey asked, tilting his head from side to side, stretching like a lazy puppy. He relished in the time outside, considering he was usually cooped up in his office dealing with the horde finances and other paperwork.
“Don’t you think he would have called if that was the case?” I said, frowning at my screen.
His message had gone unanswered; it would only take us an hour or two to get back to the den, after all. The guy could wait.
So when my phone lit up, Orsen’s name appearing on the screen as the cell buzzed, my brows rose.
A low whistle escaped Greylen. “A text and a call. Bro, that’s some serious shit. You'd better answer before he has a stroke.”
I chuckled, shaking my head at him as I lifted the phone to my ear, already regretting not letting it go to voicemail.
“Get back. Now,” Orsen growled, his voice more demanding and insistent than I’d heard in a long time.
“Hello to you, too,” I said, irked that he was barking at me.
We were all equal Alphas of our horde. We ruled as a clan. Technically, before we had found our mate, I’d been in line to be the next Alpha. The others hadn’t even been a consideration until we’d found Emmy, formalizing our status as a clan. So, the asshole had no reason to be biting my head off.
Then it hit me. Why was he out for blood?
“Is everyone okay?” A dark thought grew in my mind. Was the kid okay? Rory had been getting sicker and sicker, and while the doc hadn’t seemed concerned, the horde was getting increasingly uneasy about his status.
“Emmy is alive.”
I froze, my grip on the phone going slack as my jaw dropped. My heart pounded in an uneven rhythm, bile crawling up my throat. But that couldn’t be… For a moment, I was sure that he’d said…
No, it’s impossible.
“Dude?” Greylen stared at me with wide eyes. Dragons had excellent hearing, so there was no way he’d missed that, being only a few feet away.
“Are… are you sure?” My voice sounded strangled, my chest squeezing uncomfortably.
“Because I can fucking measure it? No, asshole,” Orsen growled, then grumbled low before sighing. “Fuck. It’s her, Bash. I’m… I’m sure. Only… she’s claiming her name is Rowan and that she’s never met us before.”
“What the hell?” Grey cut in, and I shook my head, waving a hand to get him to shut up.
“Never met us? You can’t be serious. You sound… Dammit, Orsen, you sound like you’re losing your mind.”
He scoffed, and I could picture my clanmate rolling his eyes. “I fucking may be. Or—whatever. Not the point. Look, I may have lost my temper a bit. Seeing her here was just so… There’s a possibility I scared her.”
Jesus, like we needed more shit to rain down. “Ugh, fucking hell. What happened?”
“Don’t growl at me, fucker. She was with Griffin. They were in his room, drinking and laughing, and fuck… Just thinking about it. I saw red and attacked him. Bash, he was half-fucking-naked with our mate. You’d have done the same.”
The guy wasn’t wrong. I pinched the bridge of my nose as I squeezed my eyes shut, dropping my head. After a beat, I straightened, nodding as I said, “You’re probably right. But… shit, what the hell?”
Greylen moved faster than any human could, grabbed our camping gear, and threw it into the bed of my truck without a word. I could sense the raw energy coming off him in waves. I cast him a glance. After a quick “bye, see you there,” I hung up with Orsen, shoving my phone back into my pocket.
I just stood there for a moment, far too interested in the rocks shoved into the dirt at my feet.
Fuck.
Our mate was potentially alive.
Oh, and an Alpha had attacked a beloved member of our horde, which was going to go over real well with everyone. We’d been gone for a fraction of a second, and this was what we were heading back to?
Everything was going to shit.
“Hurry up and get in the fucking truck, or I’m shifting and flying back to the den alone,” Greylen growled from the driver’s seat.
In a rush, I hopped inside. I hadn’t even closed the door before Grey took off, speeding down the dirt track.
He’d left half our belongings out in the woods, but neither of us gave it a second thought.
The shit was safe enough. We could go back for it later.
You know, if we wanted to even leave the house ever again.
None of it seemed to matter. We needed to see whether what Orsen said was true. If, against all fucking odds, our mate was indeed alive.
My heartbeat screamed in my ears, my thoughts too messy to process, and I stared straight ahead as Grey raced toward the house.
Something buzzed in my blood, but I ignored it.
I couldn’t get my hopes up. This was a mistake, a really fucking rude mistake.
Emmy wasn’t back. She couldn’t be. Life didn’t work like that; we weren’t that lucky.
And still, I rubbed my thumb over my pocket, finding the familiar circle under the denim, the one that was always there because I carried the tiny thing with me every damn day.
Don’t be a lie. Just… don’t. Please be real.