22. Orsen
Orsen
“Orsen.” I shifted, waking up at the sound of my name being whispered insistently.
Recognizing Griff’s voice, I pushed onto my elbows to look around the room and found the dragon standing near the bed. He was spending so much time with us, keeping everything together, but worry painted his face now, and it was a hell of an adrenaline rush.
If it wasn’t for that concern, I would have grumbled at him for disturbing me in bed.
I sat up, trying not to disturb Rowan, who was passed out next to me, Bastian on her other side. She had taken to cuddling with one of us in the night, usually wearing nothing but one of our T-shirts.
“What’s wrong?” I asked quietly.
Griffin nodded toward the door. “We need to move. A patrolling scout got wind of figures encroaching on our territory. He tracked them for a minute and confirmed they’re enforcers from Byron’s horde.”
If I hadn’t been worried before, I fucking was now.
“Shit. Have they breached the perimeter yet?” Griffin shook his head, his eyes darting to Rowan, who was still passed out, snoring sweetly.
“Fuck, we need to go. Okay. You grab Nix and bring him here. He’ll need to stay with Rowan.
He was still recovering from his injury.
I’m not risking him going right back to the clinic.
We’ll get Grey. I think he’s sleeping in his office. ”
“I’m not.” His voice came from the door. I looked up, seeing him fully dressed. “I got an alert on my computer a few minutes ago. Allison’s cabin is secure, as are those closest to the intruders. Guards have been set up outside them all.”
An impressed smile lifted the corner of my mouth. “Fuck, yes. Well done.” I looked over at Bastian, who was waking up, that heightened hearing alerting him to our conversation. “We’ll leave as soon as Nix is here.”
He nodded, gently getting out of bed. “We need extra guards on Allison’s cabin. Griff?”
We had given Allison and Colin their own cabin, since the growing family needed space. It felt like the right decision, but I was doubting that now. Maybe I should have insisted they stayed in the den where they were safe?
“I’ll send some dragons there while getting Nix.”
“All right, then.” I looked at Rowan, my heart squeezing as I watched her gentle breathing. “Let’s go.”
The woods were still and quiet as we navigated through the trees in the dark, watching every step to ensure we didn’t alert anyone to our presence.
I was certain Cyrus had given the opposing enforcers directions to Allison’s cabin, because they were already on the side of the horde lands where the unoccupied cabins were located.
The bastard had told them where to look while he hid behind Byron’s walls like a fucking coward, only popping out when he thought he had the upper hand.
Stopping and crouching behind the cover of a large bush, I gestured for Griffin, Grey, and Bastian, whispering, “Where were they last spotted?”
Grey looked at his phone, pulling up a remote view of the feed. “I don’t see them at her cabin. They must be sticking to the tree line, where I can’t technically put cameras because it’s not our land.”
“Do we at least have a number?” I turned to Griffin, and he wobbled his head, prefacing the uncertainty of his answer.
“About four. They were in tactical gear, according to Blake: all black and stealthy. Hard to track. He said they appeared to be, and I quote, ‘on a mission,’ focusing on little else.”
“I have to imagine they’re here to kidnap Allison and drag her back to Byron’s horde. They knew we weren’t giving her up, so…”
Yeah, the new family was moving back into the den first thing in the morning.
Bastian let the words hang, and I nodded back at him. “As much as I hate to say it, we need to cover more ground. We might want to—”
“Split up,” he supplied. “Yeah, shitty but true. Grey comes with me, and Griffin goes with Orsen. We’ll sweep the area in a circle and see if we can pin them down.”
Silent agreement spread through us. We all separated into our units without another word, creeping through the undergrowth in a wide arch that would lead us to Allison’s cabin in the middle.
If the enforcers were trying to take her, this should put them between us when we arrived. We’d have them surrounded.
Griffin and I took off to the south. We were noiseless as we sprinted through the trees, my heart pumping hard against my rib cage.
I didn’t like this. I didn’t like that the enforcers had dared to come at all.
And I particularly didn’t like that they’d done it in the middle of the night.
Yes, it made sense, of course, but there used to be honor when two hordes were at odds. At least, I’d thought there had been.
But considering my father had been killed by his own brother for power… maybe that was just a romanticized myth I’d allowed myself to believe.
In front of me, Griffin stopped short, and I had to move to the side at the last second to avoid plowing into him.
“What the hell?” I whispered sharply. “Why are you—”
“Look.” Griffin pointed a few yards ahead, where the little-used path to Allison’s cabin was.
Not many people came from this direction anymore, so it was overgrown.
There, waiting with something large pressed against his side, was fucking Jenkins, of all people, a miserable sight for sore eyes that did not miss his stubborn ass.
I scoffed, and Griffin nodded along. “What the fuck, right? Why would he be here?”
“For Allison.” I shook my head, glaring as the slimy fuck stood there.
“I have to imagine he’s here to do something to keep her quiet.
Knock her out, or some other shit. But he’s hardly a quiet dragon.
If they haven’t found her cabin yet, they wouldn’t risk getting discovered because they’d brought him with. ”
“That makes this a damn good time to interfere with their plan, doesn’t it?” Griffin smiled, and I crouched just as he did.
The two of us snuck up behind the horde’s old doctor, silent as death until I was right behind the dragon. I grabbed his bag and threw it to the forest floor.
Jenkins screamed for half a second before I clamped my hand around his mouth, tsking at him as I said, “Ah, ah, ah. And just where do you think you’re going? I seem to recall someone saying if you ever set foot on our land again, we’d end your miserable existence.”
The dragon tried—and failed—to break free from my hold, pulling at my hand, his thin nails attempting to do damage, but not even breaking the skin.
“Let go of me!” his shouts muffled underneath my hand. “If Cyrus hears about this—”
“Cyrus is hiding in Byron’s horde because he’s too much of a coward to come out and face us.” Griffin stood to my right, glaring down at the old dragon.
“The only thing that traitor is going to hear is that I tore your throat out.” I tightened my grip, pressing down on the side of Jenkins’s neck. “You were helping that bastard, and something tells me you knew all about his plot to kill Rowan, didn’t you?”
Jenkins’s eyes flared wide above my hand still covering his mouth, but then his sneer turned from shocked to evil, brows furrowing as he squinted.
And he bit me.
“Ah.” I yanked my hand away, tossing the fucker to the ground, where he landed with a hard thud.
Unfortunately, he was also near his bag. Hastily, he reached inside, wildly searching in the dark for whatever was important to him. Griffin was on him a moment later, seizing the back of his jacket as he cursed under his breath.
Turning the old dragon around, Griffin looked at Jenkins’s hand. I followed, immediately noticing the needle sticking out of his palm. In seconds, the guy began to convulse, slipping out of Griff’s hold as he jerked erratically, foam gathering at the corners of his mouth.
I rushed over to him, having seen enough of Rowan’s healing to know this was bad.
Pulling the needle from his hand, I looked down at the label.
From what I knew, this was a sedative—a human sedative.
The plunger had been pressed in as far as it could go, and I had no way of knowing how much he’d administered.
Still, if this was for Allison, I had to imagine it was an adult dose.
“Fucking hell.” Griffin tried to hold Jenkins as he flailed, but there was no stopping the way he shook.
Until the movement ended on its own.
I jabbed my finger under his chin, checking for a pulse.
Nothing. “Fucking hell, indeed. He’s dead.
Stupid asshole was going to inject a human sedative into Allison.
This one.” I tossed the needle into his bag.
“It would’ve killed her, too. Goddammit.
The moron was going to murder the person Byron wanted them to take. ”
Griffin dropped Jenkins unceremoniously, letting him fall the few inches to the ground before standing and wiping his hands on his pants.
“That was… Wow, of all the ways I thought this fucker would kick the bucket. Though”—he shrugged—“dying because of his own hubris is kind of hilarious.”
I snorted. “Ha, you’re not wrong. But we should—”
A roar bellowed out from the trees, coming from the direction of Allison’s cabin. Griffin and I exchanged looks, taking off without another word, running at a dead sprint now and not caring whether we were loud.
The pine trunks whipped past me as I rushed forward with everything I had. Griffin trailed, only a half a length behind me, and we made it to the cabin moments later, finding Grey and Bastian facing off against four enforcers.
“Stay the fuck away!”
I shot my attention to the door, where Colin was standing in front of it, his eyes glowing with rage as he protected his mate. Jenkins had distracted us for too long. We were meant to be here, bringing up the rear behind the intruders.
If he weren’t already dead, I’d kill the fucker.
Still, we didn’t waste time, hurrying up.
Griffin got the one on the right side while I snuck up behind one in the middle, crashing into him and tackling him to the ground.
The momentary stalemate ended abruptly. I could just make out Bastian, running forward and squaring up with the enforcer to the left of where mine had been standing.
Hitting the ground knocked the wind out of the guy I was on top of, and I shot onto my knees, flipping him over to drive my fist into his face. I landed a solid punch before he blocked the second, hooking his hand to my side and laying a blow to my ribs.
I grunted low, growling at the bastard and landing another shot to his head, then another. His head dropped back, the light officially no longer on.
I pushed to my feet, assessing the situation around me. Colin still stood at the door, and I pointed at him, yelling, “Get inside and barricade the door! Don’t let them in, no matter what!”
He nodded once and then disappeared inside. Once he was secure, I turned toward Griffin, the dragon he’d gone after facing off with him. Griffin was on the ground on his ass, and I pegged the flashing metal in the enforcer’s grip as he swiped at Griff.
A blade? Fuck.
Rushing over, I grabbed hold of the assailant’s coat, flinging him away from us. He smashed into a tree trunk, crumpling to the ground.
“Thanks. Who knew these assholes would be armed?”
Dragons tended to fight with fists. Weapons weren’t unheard of, but they certainly weren’t common.
I held out a hand, pulling Griff to his feet, shifting to glance across the distance at Bastian and Grey.
Metal tore through Grey’s shoulder, Bastian reaching for his attacker’s neck and snapping it before getting to our clanmate in a flash.
The two of them disarmed the enforcer, taking his blade and dragging it through the asshole’s neck.
At least that problem was—
“Orsen!”
I spun around as Griffin called out, the guy I’d thrown barreling toward me.
He collided with my ribs as I wrapped my arms around one shoulder, my heels skidding back in the dirt, but I didn’t go down.
The moment the momentum stopped, I growled, squeezing the guy’s arm and neck.
I held tight, cutting off the enforcer’s air as he flailed.
The fight went out of him, and I jerked hard upward, ensuring he was dead with a swift crack of his spine.
Letting him drop, I panted hard, my side burning. The others gathered, taking stock of what’d happened. I walked over to the nearest tree, leaning against it as the pain in my torso pinched down, warmth noticeable at the precise spot.
I grunted, glancing at the others. Bastian kicked one of the enforcers to be sure the fallen man wasn’t getting up again.
Grey gripped his shoulder, pulling his hand away to show a smear of crimson. Blinking several times, he wobbled on his feet.
“It’s really not that bad, but…” He shook his head, like he was trying to clear his thoughts. It only occurred to me then that I’d begun to slip down the trunk I was leaning against. “…I feel…weird.”
“Shit,” I heard Griffin say, sounding like it was traveling through water. “I know that look. I’ve had that look. Remember when I got poisoned?”
I couldn’t respond, my head floating off my body like a balloon, and I only just registered the eyes turning to me, all going wide at the same time. From what I could make out, which was only odd shapes at the moment, Griffin was an off-kilter trapezoid and very angry about it.
My head swam, and I hissed, holding my hand over the rapidly bleeding wound as I sank to the ground, the world going dark around me.
My last words were, “Rowan is going to be so pissed at me.”