21. Ava #3
The others began to argue about how they would transport Talos to his new temporary home.
While they debated the benefits of dragging him over every rock and root versus making him walk on his own aching feet, Ava inched backward, away from the group and toward the edge of camp where she could think.
Where she could breathe.
Everything had happened so fast. Her accidental blood bonding. Dragon invading her thoughts and linking her to him and Jerrid. Talos attacking. Her experience as a dragon shifter.
A dragon shifter! Her!
A smile tugged at her lips as she found a stump to perch on while she nursed her various aches and pains. Surprisingly, she didn’t feel any worse than she had before the fight. Her old injuries were still present, but she didn’t think she had sustained any new injuries serious enough to speak of.
In fact, she felt downright energized, like she could jump right up and go for round two without even needing to take a rest.
I told you I could help with all of that. But you’ll still feel it afterwards…like a good workout.
Ava rolled her eyes. “A good workout indeed. That was a full-on battle. I can’t believe you showed me how to do all those things. I didn’t even feel like I was doing them. I was just…along for the ride.”
You played a role too, Dragon murmured. I couldn’t have shown you what to do if you hadn’t trusted me so completely.
She stirred, a little uncomfortable with the thought. “Do I trust you that much?”
You trust me more than Jerrid does. He sounded sad, almost pained.
She hadn’t realized that it bothered him, the discord between him and his human.
It’s more than that… It’s more like discord with myself.
“And now that I’m involved,” she whispered, pressing her mouth into her shoulder so that no one would see that she was talking to herself, “what is that going to mean? How deeply am I involved in this?”
Dragon didn’t answer, but she could feel him wondering the same thing in the recess of her mind. He had pulled away from her so that he sat on the very fringe now, so far away she couldn’t hear his thoughts but could only feel his vague presence. What was he doing?
What had he been about to think that he didn’t want her to know?
She sat up straight, pulse hammering. He was keeping something from her. That was clear, but what? And more importantly, why?
Brynja, Jerrid, and Finnr had begun the unpleasant task of dragging Talos out of the camp.
Ava considered getting up to help, but they hadn’t asked for her help…
And Brynja still didn’t trust her. They probably didn’t want her to know where they were keeping Talos.
And if she showed too much interest or asked too many questions, that would only arouse Brynja’s suspicions.
No. It was best to stay where she was.
Something rustled in the trees behind her. Twisting on her stump, she stared into the deep shadows, searching for movement or for something that looked out of place, something that didn’t belong…a shape that didn’t quite meld with the shadows the way it was supposed to.
How did she even know to look for those things?
Hello, Dragon said dryly, surging back into her thoughts. Still here, remember?
“Oh, right,” she murmured, still searching the shapes in the trees for signs of anything that should warrant alarm.
What had she heard? Just the wind over some dry leaves?
No.
So, he’d heard it too. Or sensed it with his dragon senses. What exactly were his dragon senses, and what could they do?
Focus, Meat Pasty.
“Sorry.” She quieted her thoughts and focused on the terrain around them and beyond them, deep in the Shadewood.
Another crackle from beyond the first row of trees, just a little south of them. She didn’t even realize that she had jumped to her feet and moved in that direction until she’d made it a dozen yards from her perch.
Instinct made her want to wrench to a stop, regain control of her body, but she had already experienced how easily Dragon could get them out of danger if she let him. And this seemed like a good time to let him do what he was best at.
Please, he urged, his emotions tense and tightly coiled.
He was onto something, and she let him flood through her thoughts, taking control of her limbs and actions and reactions. They moved as one, a ghost of a figure sneaking along the edge of the camp, so quietly no one noticed them.
Then, only a couple of yards ahead of them, something long and sinewy snaked out of the darkness pooled around a small stand of trees. Ava’s lips parted to shout a warning, but she wasn’t fast enough.
A scream cut her off, reverberating through the camp.
Moments later, a girl streaked past them, caught by the ankle.
Her fingernails dug into the dirt as she clawed to stop herself from being dragged into the forest. Ava launched to her feet, energy flooding her veins, sizzling and popping.
Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, something like music stirred in the darkness.
Was Dragon humming?
Ava stretched a hand toward the girl. Her wide eyes clapped onto Ava and held.
Then she was gone, ripped from view and dragged into the impenetrable darkness beyond. Ava stared at the place where the girl had disappeared, her pulse a loud echo in ears. Then she jerked and tore after the screaming girl.