Chapter 26
DARIAL
She must be here somewhere. That’s what I tell Kelan. She is in emotional pain. The fear for her daughter deeply affected her and giving her up again must have been devastating. Our mate is accustomed to managing her pain alone and hasn’t learned to rely on us for support.
The forest smells like her. At least, that’s what Hunter says. It’s more than the scent of her skin. Nixon found blood on thorns, and Robert found more on the bark of a tree.
She ran, disregarding both danger and her own pain. Memories return to me of tending her wounds in the cave. Anger and frustration rise within, making it difficult to contain my dragon.
I crouch low, palm pressed to the damp earth. My dragon stretches beneath my skin, restless, searching. Did she come this way? Will we find her?
Ronyn paces ahead, his feet crunching over twigs and rocks he is oblivious to. His shoulders are tense, and his jaw is clenched so tightly, his teeth grind.
Kelan stands perfectly still, a clear sign of his anger.
The bears and wolves spread out through the trees, sniffing and circling as they track every inch of ground.
Nixon kneels a few yards away, still in his human form, nose close to the forest floor. “Here,” he says. “She came this way.”
His face is bruised from a beating he received, one eye almost sealed shut with swelling, yet he continues to help us search.
A few yards behind him, Scarlet stands with Ahya in her arms.
The child is wrapped in a blanket, small and unusually quiet, which unsettles me.
Scarlet’s face is tense with worry. She glances between us and then at the child, uncertain where to direct her concern.
Ahya’s gaze drifts toward the trees.
Then the child lifts her hand and presses her tiny palm against Scarlet’s cheek.
Scarlet stills.
For a moment, she remains completely still. Her eyes become distant and unfocused, as if she is listening to something only she can perceive.
She exhales shakily. “She’s… she’s scared,” Scarlet murmurs. “For your mate. I can feel it. She’s unhurt. Just… far away.”
I look up sharply.
Scarlet blinks, appearing to regain her composure, and frowns as if she’s confused about what occurred. “Ahya,” she says quietly. “When she touches me… I feel things. Feel what she feels. Like she’s showing me emotions that aren’t hers. Like pictures drawn inside my head.”
“Aura saw those same pictures of her daughter. That’s why we came to find you.”
Scarlet nods and gently kisses Ahya’s cheek. “We’re so grateful you did. Ahya… she knows her biological mother in a way that’s unusual for a child so young.”
“They have some kind of magical connection?”
“I think so.”
Robert, in his mahogany brown bear form, growls at a specific spot. The other shifters spread out around the small hollow, turning and retracing their steps in a coordinated manner.
There is no continuation of the trail, no evidence of a struggle, no dragged body, and no second set of tracks leading away.
Only absence remains.
Robert shifts back into his human form, fur receding to reveal tan skin as his posture straightens. He shakes his head. “She was here, but that’s where the trail ends. Her scent disappears.”
He shakes his head, unable to explain it, but we understand. I stare into the sky. She ascended, and her scent was carried away by the wind.
Ronyn does the same, his nostrils flaring. “She didn’t leave on foot.”
Hunter circles wider, sniffing the air. “No wolf scent either. No bear. Nothing.”
Kelan steps forward and crouches where her trail ends. He doesn’t speak at first. He presses his palm into the dirt and closes his eyes.
Hunter exhales slowly. “You’re saying—”
“Yes,” I say quietly. “A dragon.”
The forest seems to close in around us. Ronyn emits a low, wounded growl.
“Another dragon touched our mate?”
The air grows heavy with heat.
Scarlet holds Ahya more tightly, instinctively stepping back as our dragons stir beneath our skin.
Kelan stands to his full height, wings flickering into partial existence behind him like shadows forming. “The magic surge. We weren’t alone in this forest.”
I close my eyes for a moment.
I try to reach for our mate.
It is now instinct to search for the thread that connects us, the quiet hum that exists whenever she is near.
But now?
Silence.
Kelan erupts into his dragon form and takes flight, his huge wings stirring leaves and dirt, before he disappears beneath the magical cloak.
Ronyn also vanishes in a flash of scarlet scales, wings, and tail.
Ahya makes a small sound in Scarlet’s arms, her tiny hand reaching toward the sky where the dragons disappeared.
Scarlet looks down at her, then up at me. “She wants you to find her mother,” she whispers.
My chest tightens, recognizing how difficult this is for a woman who deeply loves a child who isn't her own. The fear of loss makes her hold the child even closer.
I find Hunter and nod. “Thank you for everything.”
He claps his big hand against my upper arm. “I hope you find your mate. I know what it is to be separated from her and fear for her life.”
“I fear our search will be futile,” I say. “We have no way to follow her trail.”
I take one last breath of the forest and the place where we lost her.
“I will find you,” I whisper. “Wherever they have taken you, I will find you.”
Then I let my dragon free.
Gold fire surges through my veins as I rise, wings spreading wide to catch the wind.
We circle the sky together—black, scarlet, and gold—three storms racing across the dawn.
Below us, the forest grows small.
Above us, the world opens.
Somewhere out there, our mate is in danger, waiting.